This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on May 31, 2013.
Drawing by Josh Seevers, courtesy of Boyd Seevers
Posted on 08/16/2020 12:08:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
There are only three mentions of left-handed people in the Bible -- and all of them refer to members of the tribe of Benjamin, including their deadly accurate slingers (see drawing above). Were these people from the tribe of Benjamin left-handed by nature or nurture? Modern studies in the genetics of left-handedness may be able to shed light on this curious case.
The Hebrew Bible mentions left-handed people on three occasions: the story of Ehud's assassination of the Moabite king (Judges 3:12–30), the 700 Benjamites who could use the sling with deadly accuracy (Judges 20:16) and the two-dozen ambidextrous warriors who came to support David in Hebron (1 Chronicles 12:2). All of these stories of left-handed people in the Bible appear in military contexts, and, curiously, all involve members of the tribe of Benjamin...
Benjamites may have been genetically disposed to left-handedness at birth, but the trait may also have been encouraged in soldiers to give them a strategic advantage in combat -- somewhat like left-handed baseball pitchers today -- against right-handed opponents who were unaccustomed to fighting "lefties." Warriors from the tribe of Benjamin might have been trained to be equally or more effective with their left hands.
Then again, perhaps the Biblical writers simply enjoyed a bit of word play. The name Benjamin means "son of (my) right hand." Perhaps the irony of left-handed "sons of right-handers" caused the Biblical authors to take note in these cases.
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on May 31, 2013.
Drawing by Josh Seevers, courtesy of Boyd Seevers
“Watch out for left-handed swordsmen.”
Im a hybrid. I write left handed, shoot, bowl, hold a bat right handed. Hold utensils either hand. My dad was a full blown lefty.
Or pretty much any swordsman, unless ya are one. ;^)
3 kids and hubby are all lefties. Not one of them can use scissors properly.
Right-handed scissors.
Maybe they shouldn’t use scissors.
Get them chainsaws.
=)
I’m like you. Learned stuff like aiming a rifle or holding a fork I do lefty. Natural stuff like throwing a rock or pointing my finger I do righty. Can do most things with both hands but it isn’t comfortable.
We tried the left handed scissors. Better but still hard to watch.
I’m a lefty, but my brothers taught me to bat righty. When I went to a shooting range, it was all lefty.
As a lefty with some ambidextrous tendencies I enjoyed this. It did sound by the end like the writer was saying, “I know, it’s thin gruel, but I did get an article out of it.”
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
This is sinister. Sarc
Sandy Koufax makes a lot more sense now.
JERRY: Yes! Go in there! Do a little investigative journalism. I need to know!
ELAINE: But a few more dates and you can find out for yourself!
JERRY: Don’t be so sure. Look at George - he’s on his ninth date with Betsy, he still hasn’t gotten anywhere with her.
ELAINE: What’s his problem?
JERRY: Well, every time he tries to make a move, something screws up. Like on their last date, they were on the couch, but she was sitting on his wrong side.
ELAINE: Wrong side?
JERRY: Yeah, she was on his right side. He can’t make a move with his left hand. Can’t go left.
ELAINE: He can’t go left.
JERRY: No! I’m lefty, can’t go right. What about women? Do they go left or right?
ELAINE: Nah, we just play defense.
LOL... not sure he or Nolan Ryan has an explanation.
Lefty, 3 older rights siblings. They tried to give me left-handed scissors in kindergarten and quickly discovered that I did just fine with the regular ones I grew up with.
As I type this on my smartphone, I am tapping letters out with my right index finger. Always have had more dexterity there.
Martial artist here. We always trained both sides .... cause ya never know.
We trained weak side first. The weak side then teaches the strong side. Worked for me.
“Im a hybrid. I write left handed, shoot, bowl, hold a bat right handed. Hold utensils either hand. My dad was a full blown lefty.”
Me too. The way I explain it is I do the delicate stuff with my left and everything else with my right. My right eye is dominant for shooting.
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