Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Lee R. Martin wrote:

> Today my first-year Hebrew class read 2 Samuel 12.  They loved it.
> One student asked an interesting question: Why did David react so
> passionately to a narrative that was obviously a parable?
> I replied that the Hebrew text contains no indications that Nathan's
> story was a parable.  Nathan's story begins just like 1 Samuel 1, which
> is not called a parable.
> My question to this list is: Can you think of any biblical narratives
> that are presented as fiction?  How can we determine a factual narrative
> from a fictional narrative?

The story of the widow from Tekoa in 2 Sam 14 is known to be fictitious by 
the reader from the
outset -- unlike 2 Sam 12, which just launches into Nathan's story without 
any narrative preamble.
But, the two stories serve very similar functions.

Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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