Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel: The Case of Saul’s Height
As it turns out, the vast majority of these kings have no body as far as the text is concerned. Solomon has no body of significance. The great rulers of the northern kingdom, such as Jeroboam, Omri, and Ahab, are not attractive or tall or ugly or physically strong—or physically anything. The righteous reformer Hezekiah possesses no beauty that would attract us to him and has no particular appearance at all (though he does get sick at one point; 2 Kgs 20:1–11). Josiah is a complete ghost. These figures loom large in the tradition—why is it, then, that only Saul and David receive physical descriptions, and indeed, by biblical standards, elaborate descriptions at that?
See Also: Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel (Oxford University Press 2019).
By Brian R. Doak
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies
George Fox University
January 2020
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