How Could Something So Right Be So Wrong? OT References to the Left and Right Hand

Abstract

Cross-culturally the left hand is considered the lesser member of the right-left pair, giving rise to right- and left-based linguistic expressions favoring the right hand. In West Africa, left-handedness has positive and negative connotations: while often evoking virility and military prowess, it also connotes impurity, weakness, awkwardness, and sometimes stupidity. After exploring literal and figurative uses of the right and left in the OT, we ask, How does/can an African audience interpret the favoring of the right hand in biblical texts? What are possible readings of the left-handed Benjaminites in the Book of Judges? What are the implications for translation and translator helps?

Keywords

Left-handedness purity West Africa right and left in the Bible Judges

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