In the studies collected in this volume, the author aims at highlighting salient literary modes which can be identified in the books of the Hebrew Bible. The application of such modes is illustrated by analysing the biblical writers' technique of underscoring the concurrency of events by splitting a narrative account, intersplicing it with a second account, and then resuming the first. Thus they steer clear of conveying the impression of a chronological succession of the events in question which would be unavoidable in a one-line sequential presentation.
A reinvestigation of the question whether biblical literature ever knew a 'national epic' culminates in the conclusion that ancient Israel rejected this Gattung because of its intrinsic affiliation with pagan cults. In its stead it developed the genre of the 'historiographical psalm'. In a group of studies, identifiable literary traits are brought to bear on the investigation of principles and problems relating to the 'comparative approach' in biblical exegesis. Initial methodological considerations are illustrated by their application to the analysis of aspects pertaining to the spheres of religion and myth, such as 'divine kingship', 'navel of the earth', and 'repha'im/rpu(i)m', and to social and political phenomena, such as 'nomadism', 'desert ideal', and 'democratic' institutions.
In a concluding analysis, the book of Esther, is shown to be woven around a literary core which narratively illuminates the applicability of proverbial wisdom teachings to the handling of actual life situations.
These essays will be of interest to scholars and students of the Bible, theology, sociology of religion, and comparative literature.