Biblical narratives strategically withhold information to enforce theological lessons about human limitations versus divine knowledge, argues Meir Sternberg in *The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Reading*. Through structuralist analysis, Sternberg reveals how biblical texts operate as sophisticated semiotic systems governed by ideological, historiographic, and aesthetic codes. His examination of pivotal narratives, including Solomon's judgment and Dinah's rape, demonstrates how the anonymous omniscient narrator deliberately creates informational gaps that compel readers into interpretive exercises. These gaps serve a dual purpose: humbling readers while prompting moral evaluation. While Sternberg's framework brilliantly illuminates biblical literary mechanics and provides sophisticated interpretive strategies, questions emerge about his assumptions regarding narrative coherence, divine omniscience, and whether his interpretive framework reflects inherent textual structures or imposed hermeneutical prescriptions. Despite these limitations, the volume stands as the most comprehensive analysis of Hebrew Bible narrative techniques, offering invaluable insights into biblical literary craftsmanship.