Michal's Moral Dilemma proposes that attention should be paid to the moral goods that feature in the text, before arguing that the family, a central feature of Old Testament morality, should be understood as a set of practices rather than an institution. Jonathan Rowe discusses the use of "models" of social action to comprehend the social world of the Bible, and suggests a modified version of Bakhtin's theory of heteroglossic voices can help readers appreciate how authors present a moral vision by approving some characters' actions whilst undermining others.

The discussion of...

Rowe examines David and Jonathan's friendship in the context
of what ancient readers would have understood as the 'natural' loyalty to their
families. Rowe focuses on the conflicting moral goods between which the men
choose, seeking to understand the dynamics of the narrative consonant with
ancient society.

Rowe discusses theoretical issues of interpretation and
summarises how Bakhtin's theory of heteroglossic voices can be utilised to
understand the narrative. He deliberates over the key aspects of family life in
the world described by the Old Testament,...