Establishing Narrative Analogy in Biblical Literature: Methodological Considerations

One of the primary modalities through which narrative analogy in biblical narrative is established is through shared lexical terms. Yet can we justifiably contend that very common terms also contribute to the analogical base when their appearance in each narrative may be attributed to happenstance? Building upon Russian structuralist Vladimir Propp's approaches to the study of the folktale, the present article posits a new approach to this question, one that counters the classic view laid down by Moshe Garsiel in his 1983 study, The First Book of Samuel: A Literary Study of Comparative Structures, Analogies and Parallels. The study is executed through the examination of a narrative analogy between the trial of Achan in Joshua 7 and the second battle against Ha-Ai in Joshua 8.