Yalkut Shimoni - Order and Arrangement

Order and Arrangement

The work is divided into sections, which are numbered from Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, and are numbered anew from the beginning of Joshua, the first non-Pentateuchal book, so that the Yalḳuṭ falls into two parts:

• The first division treats of the Pentateuch and contains 963 sections, relating to the Bible as follows:
  • §§ 1-162 to Genesis
  • §§ 163-427 to Exodus
  • §§ 428-682 to Leviticus
  • §§ 683-788 to Numbers
  • §§ 789-963 to Deuteronomy

• The second part deals with the non-Pentateuchal books (the Prophets and the Hagiographa), and contains 1,085 sections. In this part the redactor followed the Talmudic order of the prophetic books (B. B. 14b):
  • §§ 1-252 being devoted to the first prophets (Joshua, Samuel, and Kings)
  • §§ 253-335 to Book of Jeremiah
  • §§ 336-384 to Book of Ezekiel
  • §§ 385-514 to Book of Isaiah
  • §§ 515-595 to the twelve minor prophets
  • §§ 596-609 to Book of Ruth
  • §§ 610-890 to Psalms
  • §§ 891-928 to Book of Job
  • §§ 929-965 to Book of Proverbs
  • §§ 966-979 to Ecclesiastes
  • §§ 980-994 to the Song of Solomon
  • §§ 995-1043 to Lamentations
  • §§ 1044-1059 to Book of Esther
  • §§ 1060-1066 to Book of Daniel
  • §§ 1067-1071 to Ezra and Nehemiah
  • §§ 1072-1085 to Book of Chronicles

In the arrangement of the Hagiographa the author deviates from the Talmudic order (B. B. l.c.) by placing Book of Esther before Book of Daniel, while the reverse order is followed in the Talmud. The division into sections is arbitrary, and the sections are very unequal in length; Deut. 818, for example, in the Wilna edition containing only five lines, while Deut. 938 comprises eighteen columns. In his exegesis of each passage, often in the text itself, the author indicates the sources from which his explanations are derived. In the Salonica edition they are given at the beginning of each corresponding Biblical passage, although in later editions they were placed in the margin. In many instances, however, the sources are given in an inconvenient place or are entirely eliminated, while some references are even indicated by a later redactor, as, for example, Job 921, where the source (Ex. R.) is a later addition, the original redactor being unacquainted with Exodus Rabbah (comp. A. Epstein, Rabbi Shimeon Ḳara weha-Yalḳuṭ Shim'oni, in Ha-Ḥoḳer, i. 137).