Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Norman Swift <neswift AT earthlink.net>]

Consider the case of Ehud in Judges 3, who apparently counted on the posited
left-handed prowess of Benjaminite warriors as part of his strategy of
surprise in the assassination of Eglon:  a sudden movement of the left hand
to the -herev- on his right thigh will not instanteously be construed by the
king as a movement of a weapon hand. You might check _The Art of Biblical
Narrative_ (BasicBooks[Perseus]:1981).  Alter is professor of Hebrew and
Comparative Literature at UCal Berkeley and offers his often fascinating
view of narrative prose in the HB, type-scenes, dialogue, reticence, etc.
Best!
Norman E. Swift


>surprise [geschnippen]
> 1.  Does anyone know of general discussions of this subject, by anyone
> other than Sternberg (_The Poetics of Biblical Narrative_)?  I understand
> (from a vague reference in T. Cave's _Recognitions_) that Piero Boitani may
> have covered this subject in ancient and medieval literature (including
> Bible), but I can't find the title.
> 
> 2.  Are there any articles / book chapters dealing with specific Biblical
> surprise stories?  I've found a few, but they're hard to look for,
> especially as surprise is mentioned only in passing in many of my
> references.

> 
>