Why the infrequent use of epithets in the Old Testament?

In the book, "*The Art of Biblical Narrative*", which I gather is a fairly common and well-regarded book, [Robert Alter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Alter) makes an interesting observation that we rarely see epithets used in the Old Testament. Namely, he points out that we typically see "Jacob" and not "wily Jacob" and "Moses" as opposed to "sagacious Moses" -- contrasting with what we might find in Greek texts, such as the Homeric epics. Aside from the obvious inference that Greeks and Jews are two different peoples and two different cultures, Alter also asserts that the absence of epithets allows for a greater potential for intra-character change. This allows for story arcs over the life time of a character to unfold in a way that amplifies man's precariousness in the world, the importance of heeding the Lord's message and striving not to sin. I don't dispute that. However, it seems that there are cases when this general rule seems to not fit. It would seem that Balaam is a good example here. He has many epithets: "open-eyed", "eyes-unveiled", etc. In fact, it could be argued, it is because of these epithets that makes his ultimate failure so poignant. A cherry-picked example, perhaps, but it still shows that epithets can conform to and effectively complement the biblical narrative.

Question

Given that there are a handful of cases where epithets are used, rather successfully, to accentuate the biblical narrative, why weren't they used more? Thus taking the form of the epithetless-approach highlighted by Alter?