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Nothing so permeates the tone and texture of the story as does the spirit of the Old Testament. The themes, the attitudes, and frequently the very words and prose rhythms derive from the written account of the \"pre-Christian\" experience. Specifically, the story as a whole has strong overtones of the Book of Job. Salvation, religiosity, tribal solidarity, the importance of sex as an almost religious act--these and other Old Testament themes assert themselves...
. Above all, there is the brooding Old Testament spirit of despair, hope, endurance--tensions as old as mankind--with which man faces the darkness and mystery of the world around him.
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