Tre compravendite di terreni, Gen 23, 2Sam 24 e Rt 4, e la ‘peripezia’ di Aristotele

Abstract

Within the Hebrew Bible there are relatively few texts dealing with the buying and selling of land for private use. Three of them, namely Gen 23, 2 Sam 14:18-25, and Ruth 4:1-12, display two common features: they employ the technical vocabulary of the legal-economic sphere, and the negotiation between the contracting parties is constructed using a literary device akin to the περιπέτεια defined in Aristotle’s Poetics. The resolution of the περιπέτεια in favour of the protagonist is not only an element of more intense pathos, but also represents a crucial moment in the protagonist’s story and entails consequences relevant to the whole narrative.