^{page 625 note 1} By ‘midrash’ I understand a way of reading the Biblical text, usually a few verses or several short passages, so as to seek out a new interpretation giving a lesson for practical living. Those who seek to pin down its precise meaning are, like Jacob, wrestling for a fall! To discover what midrash is one must simply delve deeply into Rabbinic literature.Google Scholar

^{page 625 note 2} See the excellent article by Joel, Marcus, ‘The Evil Inclination in the Epistle of James’, CBQ 44 (1982) 606–21.Google Scholar

^{page 626 note 1} Ancient writers wrote their works to be proclaimed orally. Sophocles and other dramatists often cite Homer freely, or in paraphrase. The Church Fathers do the same with Scripture. See for example Clement of Alexandria's free use of Ezek 33. 20 in Quis Dives Salvetur, 40. Obsession with exact word for word quotation they would have regarded as a sign of pedantry rather than of great scholarship.Google Scholar

^{page 626 note 2} Contra Sophie Laws, ‘Does Scripture speak in vain? A reconsideration of James IV.5.’ NTS 20 (1974) 214–15.Google Scholar

^{page 626 note 3} Quoted in Urbach, E. E., The Sages (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1975).Google Scholar