Leading word: a key word is repeated frequently in a story to draw the reader\u2019s attention to an important motif or message.<\/p>\n
EXAMPLES (Exodus 2-3):<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the most important ways in which the Bible gets its messages across is by means of what Buber called the \u201cleading word\u201d principle.\u00a0 In this technique, a key word recurs in large swath of text, highlighting an important concept or image. The leading word, through its sound, encourages the reader to make connections between diverse parts of a story or group of stories and trace a particular theme. This is not a static process: the word or word root may appear in varied contexts and forms, which changed meaning, lending a sense of movement and development to the text and its personalities.<\/p>\n A classic example occurs in the stories of Moshe\u2019s early biography. When he is born, under the shadow of Pharaoh\u2019s persecution of the Israelites, his mother hides him; the text reads:<\/p>\n When she saw him\u2014that he was goodly, she hid him, for three months.<\/p>\n When this is no longer possible, she sets him afloat in the Nile, under the watchful eye of his sister. He is rescued by Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, as she bathes in the river:<\/p>\n She saw the little-ark among the reeds Typically for the Bible, the hero\u2019s childhood is passed over. Now a young man who has presumably been raised in the Egyptian court, he goes out \u201cto his brothers\u201d (intriguingly, we are not told how he knows he is an Israelite):<\/p>\n he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. \u00a0To this point, it is clear that the verb \u201csee\u201d plays a role in the early life of Moshe. An occurrence of wider significance appears in a narrator\u2019s aside, in v. 25, referring to God\u2019s taking note of the Israelite slaves\u2019 suffering:<\/p>\n God saw the Children of Israel, But the theme of seeing comes to a head at the key story of the Burning Bush:<\/p>\n And YHWH\u2019s messenger was seen by him Two significant points emerge from this hammering in of the word \u201csee.\u201d First, the repetition draws all the strands of Moshe\u2019s early life and destiny together. He who was rescued by being \u201cseen\u201d is chosen because he does not turn away from his brothers in need, but rather \u201csees\u201d their plight and acts on it. And this \u201cseeing\u201d is linked to God\u2019s active role in history, which he will display partly through Moshe.<\/p>\n Second, the verb \u201csee\u2019 is highly charged in the Bible. It is often connected to prophecy, which is not only foresight, but more pointedly, insight. <\/em>And Moshe is the pre-eminent example early in the Bible of a prophet, a spokesperson for God. When he dies at the end of Deuteronomy, it will be said that \u201cthere no further prophet in Israel like Moshe\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Such use of a leading word occurs again and again in biblical texts. I encourage you to find your own.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nand sent her maid, and she fetched it.
\nShe opened [it] and saw him, the child\u2014
\nhere, a boy weeping!<\/p>\n
\nHe saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, [one] of his brothers.
\nHe turned this way and that way, and, seeing that there was no one [there],
\nhe struck down the Egyptian
\nand buried him in the sand.<\/p>\n
\nGod knew.<\/p>\n
\nin the flame of a fire out of the midst of a bush.
\nHe saw:
\nhere, the bush is burning with fire,
\nand the bush is not consumed!
\nMoshe said:
\nNow let me turn aside
\nThat I may see this great sight\u2014
\nwhy the bush does not burn up!
\nWhen YHWH saw that he turned aside to see,
\nGod called to him out of the midst of the bush\u2026.
\nNow YHWH said:
\nI have seen, yes seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt,
\nTheir cry have I heard\u2026.<\/p>\n