M. Sternberg’s Poetics of Biblical Narrative, there is a clear statement of principle that historical and literary approaches are not mutually exclusive. But in his practice Sternberg consistently opts for literary rather than historical explanations of puzzles in the text, even when there is a reasonable prima facie case for a historical explanation; the only historical insight that is consistently utilized is a knowledge of Hebrew as an ancient language. There is, however, no instrinsic reason