War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of ViolenceTexts about war pervade the Hebrew Bible, raising challenging questions in religious and political ethics. The war passages that readers find most disquieting are those in which God demands the total annihilation of the enemy without regard to gender, age, or military status. The ideology of the "ban," however, is only one among a range of attitudes towards war preserved in the ancient Israelite literary tradition. Applying insights from anthropology, comparative literature, and feminist studies, Niditch considers a wide spectrum of war ideologies in the Hebrew Bible, seeking in each case to discover why and how these views might have made sense to biblical writers, who themselves can be seen to wrestle with the ethics of violence. The study of war thus also illuminates the social and cultural history of Israel, as war texts are found to map the world views of biblical writers from various periods and settings. Reviewing ways in which modern scholars have interpreted this controversial material, Niditch sheds further light on the normative assumptions that shape our understanding of ancient Israel. More widely, this work explores how human beings attempt to justify killing and violence while concentrating on the tones, textures, meanings, and messages of a particular corpus in the Hebrew Scriptures. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
1 The Ban as Gods Portion | 28 |
2 The Ban as Gods Justice | 56 |
3 The Priestly Ideology of War in Numbers 31 | 78 |
4 The Bardic Tradition of War | 90 |
5 The Ideology of Tricksterism | 106 |
6 The Ideology of Expediency and Biblical Critique | 123 |
7 Toward an Ideology of Nonparticipation | 134 |
Conclusions | 150 |
157 | |
Additional Readings | 171 |
Index of Biblical Citations | 173 |
178 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abner Achan Amalek Ammonites ancient Israelite attitudes ban as God's ban as sacrifice ban texts bardic tradition battle blood booty cause child sacrifice Chron Chronicles concerning conquest context contrast crusade culture David death defeat deity described destruction Deut Deuteronomic History Deuteronomy 13 devoted Dinah discussed divine Edom enemy ethics explored fight Genesis 14 Gibeah Girard God's justice Goliath guilt Hebrew Bible Hebrew Scriptures herem holy human sacrifice ideology of expediency implicit Israel Israelite Jephthah Joab Josh Joshua Judah Judean Judges jus in bello killing king land Lord Mesha Mesha Inscription Midianite Moab Moabite narrative non-Israelite Numbers 31 offering Old Testament one's passage peace Philistines political portrayals portrayed priest priestly prophet rape ritual Samson Saul scholars sexual Shechem Sihon sort spared spoil suggest sword tale taunt theme tion trajectory trickster unclean vengeance victory violence warriors wars woman women world-view Yahweh
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