Corpulency

The UPDV records bodily corpulency in two narrative moments. In each, the detail is not incidental — it sits at the center of the scene and is the immediate cause of what happens next. The umbrella is built from these two named instances.

Eglon, King of Moab

The first is introduced as the tribute is being delivered: "And he offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man" (Judg 3:17). The phrase "very fat man" is set down at the moment the assassin Ehud has come into the king's presence with tribute. The narrative places the descriptor where it will matter for the violent scene that follows.

Eli, Priest of Israel

The second instance comes at the death of Eli. The fall is sudden, the body's weight is part of the sequence: "And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that [Eli] fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years" (1 Sam 4:18). Here the descriptor is "heavy," paired with old age, and the verse links it directly to the broken neck and the end of his judgeship.

Two Instances, Two Functions

The two passages share a pattern — a body's mass becomes load-bearing in the narrative — but use different words. Eglon is "a very fat man," and the description is set up before the deed. Eli is "an old man, and heavy," and the description is set down after the fall to explain it. In both, the bodily condition is recorded plainly, without comment, and tied to the death of the person it describes.