Legal Parables in Mishnah and Tosefta

This short paper introduces the NWO funded research Project on comparative study of Synoptic (New Testament) and Rabbinic Parables, ‘Parables and the Partings of the Ways’ (2014-2019, Utrecht University and Tilburg University). As a short case study it discusses the relation between genre and rhetorical setting of parables. In the Mishnah and Tosephta, we find 13 legal analogies that are explicitly labelled as meshalim. However, their origins are not clear, and furthermore, in some cases their relation to the legal issue they have to illustrate is rather strained, as is clear in the parable on the slave spoiling the meal (m.Sukka 2:9). The theory that locates these meshalim to Rabbinic homilies is farfetched and misses any ground. This paper addresses the issue of genre in locating these parables to their rhetorical function and social setting. As such, they appear rather close to the legal comparisons adduced in synoptic debates between Jesus and Scribes. An example is Luke 14:7-11, discussing meal-etiquette as well. Does Luke reveal a similar genre awareness of parables as legal analogies, as well as of their ‘Sitz im Leben’?