(Part 1)

JBTM Robert D. Bergen
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2. Pay special attention to actions performed by the most socially powerful human being in the
narrative. By far the most common subjects in Old Testament narrative are human beings;
roughly three-quarters of all verbs in the narrative framework have humans as their subject.
People of different social ranks and societal roles participated actively in the recorded
events. As a rule, the more social power a person had, the more thematically significant
the actions they carried out within the narrative world. Consistent with this is the fact
that within the majority of narratives the most significant actions were performed by most
socially powerful males—clan patriarchs, kings, top military leaders, prophets, and priests.
The person in the narrative closest to the top of the social power pyramid are the ones to
pay closest attention to.
3. Note where non-human subjects show up on the event line. To enhance key actional moments
within biblical narratives, the Old Testament writers sometimes used three relatively
rare categories of verbal subjects: 1) subsets of the human being (e.g., Eglon’s belly
fat [Judg 3:22], Absalom’s head [2 Sam 18:9]), 2) animals (e.g., Snake [Gen 3:4], Balaam’s
donkey [Num 22:28]), and 3) objects (e.g., Jericho’s walls [Josh 6:20], Ehud’s sword handle
[Judg 3:22], the stone David used to kill Goliath [1 Sam 17:49]). Turning animals, inanimate
objects, and human body parts into subjects of action verbs in Hebrew narratives is a rare
phenomenon. These types of subjects constitute only about 2% of the total subjects in
the non-quotational sections of Old Testament narrative. But when they are employed as
subjects of action verbs, you can be certain the biblical writer was trying to create a focal
event in the account. (Keep in mind, however, that the key actional moment in a story may
be different from the thematic center; thematic centers are usually consist of speech acts.)
C. Actions
Within the vast world of biblical literature narratives differ from poetry, wisdom sayings,
laws, prophecies, and other genres by the fact that they emphasize chronologically
sequenced verbal actions. While they mostly depict the actions of human beings, biblical
narratives affirm the truth that God also participates in human affairs. In order to gain a
clear picture of the actional flow in an Old Testament narrative, it is a good idea for you to
make the effort to summarize the story by writing one short paragraph that includes every
key action. In your paragraph be sure to indicate who performed the key events and the
order in which the events occurred.
1. Summarize the actions of the narrative’s main human character. What was the situation
at the beginning of the narrative? What was it like at the end? What role did the central human
figure play in the change? For example, Israel was gravely threatened by an advancing
Egyptian army (Exod 14:9). However, due to Moses’s godly and forceful leadership, Israel
was saved and Moses became revered (Exod 14:30–31).
2. Summarize what God did in the narrative. As in the case of the central human character,
it is helpful to ask the three questions one more time. What was the situation at the beginning
of the narrative? What was it like at the end? What role did God play in the change?
In the story of Ruth, arguably the key event in the story was not Ruth’s daring midnight
actions at the threshing floor or Boaz’s benevolent and socially responsible deeds, but the
Lord giving Ruth a pregnancy (Ruth 4:13) that paved the way for coming of King David (see