The Call Narratives of Gideon and Moses: Literary Convention or More?

Abstract

Comparison of the Gideon (Judg 6:11–24) and Moses (Exod 3:1–15) call narratives raises the question of whether they are different manifestations of the same literary convention—a biblical “type-scene” of appointment and investiture—or display literary dependence. I suggest that their affinity goes beyond the shared features of the call-narrative convention and argue that the author of the Gideon narrative deliberately created direct literary links between the protagonist’s investiture and that of Moses—the archetypical biblical leader—as a means of elevating Gideon’s stature.