Contained in this volume are the Proceedings of the Midrash session of the SBL's annual conferences in 2008 and 2009. Chairs Rivka Ulmer and Lieve Teugels are the editors of this and the three previous Proceedings volumes published in this series. This fourth volume contains eight essays by leading scholars in Rabbinics, dealing with various aspects of rabbinic interpretational activity. Rachel Adelman investigates the origin of God’s footstool in rabbinic sources, based on the verse describing the theophany at the ratification of the Sinai covenant (Exod 24:10). Isaac Kalimi investigates how the Rabbis tried to reconcile the intermarriages mentioned in genealogical lists in Chronicles with the opposition against intermarriage stated in Ezra-Nehemiah. Simon Lasair studies two passages from Song Rabbah using a methodology based on an intersection of literary and political theory. Erica L. Martin focuses upon the rabbinic exegesis of the elliptical episode of Noah’s drunkenness in Gen. 9:20-25. David Nelson asserts that the text of the Mek. RaShBY is best understood as a written embodiment of the diverse pedagogical and transmissional culture within which it functioned. Jesse Rainbow states that in its emphasis on the motif of Ishmael as hunter, Genesis Rabbah 53:11 is informed by a larger typology of the rejected first-born son in Genesis. Ishay Rosen-Zvi claims that Babylonian rabbinic sources not only show a more positive attitude toward sexuality than Palestinian sources, but multiply and increase sexuality itself. Nehemia Polen investigates the practice of derashah in the tannaitic period which was a mode of communication with God rather than the application of hermeneutic rules.