Left-Handed Benjaminites and the Shadow of Saul

This article examines the occurrence of left-handedness in the book of Judges and argues that the double mention of the left-handed abilities of Benjaminites in this book is significant and rich in meaning. The notice of this ability, both in the story of Ehud (Judg 3) and in the tale of the Benjaminite-induced civil war (Judg 19–21), serves as a connecting motif that ties these pericopes to those of the most infamous Benjaminite, King Saul. The symbolic connotations associated with left and right in different cultures as well as the various occurrrences of left-handedness in Judges foreshadow the rise and eventual fall of Israel’s first monarch.