The Interpretation Of The Kings’ Narratives In Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible is not only the canon of Judaism, but also the cornerstone of westerncivilization and the archetype of the western literature. Narratives account for a largeproportion of the Bible, and more than one third of the Hebrew Bible consists of narratives. Itis generally recognized that these are of the greatest artistic quality. Among biblical narratives,the kings’ narratives are perhaps the most artistic and popular. The classic stories of HebrewKings, such as Saul, David and Solomon, etc., have exerted great influence generation aftergeneration.This thesis attempts to interpret the kings’ narratives in Hebrew Bible from theperspective of narratology. And it consists of three chapters.Chapter One focuses on the ideological principle in the kings’ narratives. It is analyzedfrom two aspects, the first aspect is the primacy of God and the subordination of kings, thesecond aspect is the dominance of patriarchy.Chapter Two explores the kings’ narratives from the angle of point of view. This chapteradopts the classification of point of view proposed by Uspensky. It comprises two divisions:phraseological point of view and space-temporal point of view.Chapter Three probes into the kings’ narratives from the perspective of narrative voiceproposed by Susan S. Lanser. It consists of three aspects: the authorial voice consolidating theauthority of kings, the personal voice complying with the male-centered ideology, andalternation of authorial voice and personal voice embodying the conflict between the kingand God.The conclusion of the thesis is reached based upon the three chapters above. In HebrewBible, the kings’ narratives are governed by the ideology of the primacy of God and thedominance of patriarchy, which is revealed not only from the content aspect, but also fromthe technique aspect of space-time and narrative voice.