The Empty Men: The Heroic Tradition of Ancient Israel

Mobley, an Old Testament scholar who has taught at Harvard, Union Theological Seminary and Andover Newton Theological School, sets out to reclaim the raw adventure stories in "the heroic tradition of ancient Israel" from the layers of didactic moralizing and political spin likely added by biblical writers capturing centuries-old oral traditions. After a lively and eloquent introduction, Mobley switches abruptly to dense scholarly prose. Like an archeologist on a dig, he peels back and exhaustively examines every textual detail and linguistic possibility to get to the core stories of Israelite warriors from Joshua to Joab. The bulk of his analysis devotes one chapter each to the heroes Ehud, Gideon and Samson. That so much of the book revolves around understanding the stories of these three individuals suggests that its title is off the mark. Although "empty men"—described here as the portionless younger sons or sons of secondary wives who were excluded from the economy of primogeniture and had nothing to lose—certainly figured prominently in the books of Judges and Samuel, perhaps most notably as the men who joined up with David during his exile, they are not the primary focus of Mobley's attention. This study demonstrates excellent scholarship, but lacks some coherence as a whole. (Nov. 15)