Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Overtures to Biblical Theology) by Phyllis Trible

Author:Phyllis Trible
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2008-09-06T23:24:00+00:00

17. See Conroy, Absalom Absalom! p. 29f, especially note 43; Fokkelman, King David, pp. 105-6; cf. Hans Wilhelm Hertzberg, I & // Samuel, OTL (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1964), p. 323.

18. Two of Amnon's telling phrases David omits: "before my [his] eyes"; "that I [he] may eat from her [your] hand." Further, though Amnon has requested the bread (lbbt) his heart desires, the bread (bryh) David orders reverts to the vocabulary of Jonadab. Hence, David avoids these dangerous words but retains the ominous verb make or do (`Th) that the narrator introduced (13:2), Jonadab appropriated (13:5b), and Amnon embraced (13:6b).

19. On the importance of command and response, see Conroy, Absalom Absalom! pp. 19, 37-38.

20. Note that the narrator views the occasion through the eyes of Amnon to designate the bread as special food (lbbt), the desire of his heart, rather than as the standard nourishment that Jonadab and David have specified.

21. See Long, "Wounded Beginnings," p. 28.

22. This central unit is the D section in the overall composition; see the schema given in the second paragraph of this chapter.

23. Though parallel in form, these sections diverge in length and content. Longer than the beginning (13:9de), the ending (13:17-19) contains a parenthetical note from the narrator (13:18a) that separates direct command and response.

24. Note that the structural collapse follows the rape. Thus defects in structure mark the injury to the characters themselves; rape violates the orderly patterns of life.

25. While the surrounding sections mix direct and narrated discourse, only the latter reports the rape, thereby distancing it.

26. See the comments on 13:1-3 above.

27. On the narrator's role in the story, see Conroy, Absalom Absalom! pp. 22-26; cf. Whybray, The Succession Narrative, pp. 15-16. On the omniscience and inobtrusiveness of the biblical narrator, see Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, pp. 183-85.

28. Shrewdly, Amnon switches to the neutral word for food (bryh instead of lbbi) as he speaks to the woman his appetite craves.

29. The epithet "her brother" underscores the familial theme that permeates-the. story.

30. On hzq, cf. Judg. 19:25, 29. See chapter 3, below.

31. In Hebrew each of these four short words ends with the same vowel sound (f) to yield emphatic assonance (cf. 13:4). They also play with earlier vocabulary. "Come (b6')": As much as any other, this word (b6') has moved the story to its center. Following the plans of Jonadab, David came to Amnon to hear the request, "Let Tamar my sister come" (13:5, 6). "Lie (dikbi7": Used three times to describe the position of Amnon (13:5, 6, 8), this verb (.>`kb) assumes now a different meaning. The sick son lying down is the lustful brother seeking to lie with his sister. "Lie with me (`immif": The pronoun me recalls the emphasis with which Amnon confessed his selfish longings to Jonadab. "I ('ant)," he stressed, "desire" (13:4). "Come, lie with me, my sister ('ahdti)": The vocative calls forth conflicting associations. In the love poetry of Israel, "my sister" is an address of respect and endearment (cf. SS 4:9, 10, 12; 5:1-2), but on the lips of Amnon it is betrayal and seduction (cf.

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