The rhetoric of the book of Judges / / by Robert H. O'Connell.

• Superior document: Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, v. 63
• Author: O'Connell, Robert H.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, New York : : E.J. Brill,, 1996.
• Year of Publication: 1996
• Language: English
• Series: Vetus Testamentum, Supplements 63.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xix, 541 pages) :; illustrations.
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Other title: Preliminary material /; Introduction /; Chapter One: Rhetorical Concerns of Judges’ Tribal-Political and Deuteronomic Schemata /; Chapter Two: Rhetorical Concerns of Judges as a Literary form /; Chapter Three: The Rhetorical Stra Tegy of Judges /; Chapter Four: The Rhetorical Situation Implied by Judges /; Conclusion /; Excursus One: Compilation, Redaction and the Rhetoric of Judges /; Excursus Two: Scribal Developments and the Rhetoric of Judges /; Appendix: A Compilational Stratigraphy of the Text of Judges /; Bibliography /; Index of Biblical References /; Index of Authors /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. 486-504) and indexes.
• ISBN: 9004275878
• ISSN: 0083-5889
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: by Robert H. O'Connell.

This volume describes how the rhetorical devices used in Judges inspire its readers to support a divinely appointed Judahite king who endorses the deuteronomic agenda to rid the land of foreigners, to maintain inter-tribal loyalty to YHWH's cult, and to uphold social justice. Matters of rhetorical concern interpreted here include the superimposed cycle-motif and tribal-political schemata, concerns reflected in the plot-layers of each hero story, the force of narrative analogy for characterization, the strategy of entrapment which foreshadows portrayals of Saul and David in 1 Samuel, and the relation between Judges' implied situation of composition and its compiler's intention. In addition to offering new insights into the rhetorical strategy of the Judges compiler, this book illustrates a new method for understanding how plot-layered stories work.