'Exum is one interpreter who faces the dark side of biblical reality without flinching. With a refreshing fidelity to a tradition that struggles with the unintelligible and the contingent … Exum demonstrates a remarkable literary sensitivity that delights the reader with a well-crafted work of deep insight.' Catholic Biblical Quarterly

• Acknowledgements; About translations and transliterations; Part I. Biblical Narrative and the Tragic Vision; Part II. Saul: the Hostility of God: Excursus: hostile transcendence in the Samson story; Part III. Jephthah: the Absence of God: Excursus 1: The awful and sustaining power of words; Excursus 2: Jephthah and his daughter: a feminist reading; Part IV. The Fate of the House of Saul: Michal and Jonathan; Jonathan; Michal; Abner and Ishbosheth; Rizpah's vigil and the tragic end of the House of Saul; Part V. David: the Judgement of God; Afterword; Notes; Bibliography; Index of authors; Index of proper names; Index of citations.

'Exum is one interpreter who faces the dark side of biblical reality without flinching. With a refreshing fidelity to a tradition that struggles with the unintelligible and the contingent … Exum demonstrates a remarkable literary sensitivity that delights the reader with a well-crafted work of deep insight.' Catholic Biblical Quarterly

• Acknowledgements; About translations and transliterations; Part I. Biblical Narrative and the Tragic Vision; Part II. Saul: the Hostility of God: Excursus: hostile transcendence in the Samson story; Part III. Jephthah: the Absence of God: Excursus 1: The awful and sustaining power of words; Excursus 2: Jephthah and his daughter: a feminist reading; Part IV. The Fate of the House of Saul: Michal and Jonathan; Jonathan; Michal; Abner and Ishbosheth; Rizpah's vigil and the tragic end of the House of Saul; Part V. David: the Judgement of God; Afterword; Notes; Bibliography; Index of authors; Index of proper names; Index of citations.

'Exum is one interpreter who faces the dark side of biblical reality without flinching. With a refreshing fidelity to a tradition that struggles with the unintelligible and the contingent … Exum demonstrates a remarkable literary sensitivity that delights the reader with a well-crafted work of deep insight.' Catholic Biblical Quarterly

• Acknowledgements; About translations and transliterations; Part I. Biblical Narrative and the Tragic Vision; Part II. Saul: the Hostility of God: Excursus: hostile transcendence in the Samson story; Part III. Jephthah: the Absence of God: Excursus 1: The awful and sustaining power of words; Excursus 2: Jephthah and his daughter: a feminist reading; Part IV. The Fate of the House of Saul: Michal and Jonathan; Jonathan; Michal; Abner and Ishbosheth; Rizpah's vigil and the tragic end of the House of Saul; Part V. David: the Judgement of God; Afterword; Notes; Bibliography; Index of authors; Index of proper names; Index of citations.