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  • From: Rob Barrett <rcbarrett AT gmail.com>
  • To: bill.rea AT canterbury.ac.nz
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] XSD (really Uriah)
  • Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:11:41 +0100

Bill Rea wrote:

I see Harold Holmyard agrees with you. But if you're both right
why does Uriah explicitly mention lying with his wife if he did not
understand David's intention for him to do precisely that.

On a literary front we could say that the writer is using this to
heighten our awareness of David's problem. He turns the heat up on
David. But underlying any literary purpose there must be a context
within the society it was written for. If there was no pre-existing
connection in the minds of the readers between David's ``wash your
feet'' in v8 and Uriah's ``lie with my wife'' in v11 then I
think the dialogue takes on a contrived feel.


In Sternberg's "The Poetics of Biblical Narrative", he has a fascinating discussion of the use of ambiguity in Hebrew narrative. He uses this story as an example of extended ambiguity around the question of whether Uriah knew what David was/had-been up to or not (see pp. 201-9. He argues that the story works both ways.

If Uriah does not know, he is a simple idealist who is itching to get back to the battlefield where he belongs -- it is the reader who must generate the contrast between the simple, faithful Uriah and the ugly, conniving David. This Uriah simply brings up sex as an example of what he must not allow himself while Israel is in battle (unlike David, of course).

If Uriah does know, he is a complex tactician who is trying to outwit David. He knows what David has done and what he wants Uriah to do, but he's not going to fall for it. He knows David wants him to lie with Bathsheba, and he also knows that the king may have him killed at any moment. But he refuses to let David's offense lie hidden, so he brings up David's unspoken intention in an innocent-sounding way that points the finger at David, as the reader watches.

While one may not agree with Sternberg that both meanings are simultaneously intended by the narrator, both interpretations are fully plausible and neither demands that "feet" be read as anything other than "feet".

(I take no stand on the larger philological debate)

all the best,
Rob






  • Re: [b-hebrew] XSD (really Uriah), Rob Barrett, 08/30/2005

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