War In The Hebrew Bible
It is commonly thought that the Hebrew Bible is a violent, warmongering book, and when read out of context and without an understanding of the ancient middle east- or a thorough, careful reading of the actual Hebrew Bible- it is easy to come to this conclusion. In truth the issue of militarism and war are much more comolicated than this in the Hebrew Bible, and the over all picture is quite different then a superficial aquaintance with the text would suggest.
Both warfare and the rhetoric of war were brutal in the ancient Near East. Yet as Christian theologian Preston Sprinkle points out in his excellent book on violence in the Bible, Fight, “Israel was less violent (than surrounding cultures) and had a stripped down- almost absurd- warfare policy.”
In the Near East, kings and upper class men maintained control through a professional army which stockpiled weapons, horses, and chariots. They were paid through taxation. Torah law, fascinatingly, does not provide taxes for the army and actually limits the Kings ability to stockpile horses and weapons. As odd as it may seem to our ears, Sprinkle seems to have it right: “God doesn’t need a human army to protect his land. He is quite capable of defending it himself.” The Torah repeatedly tells stories of ancient Israelis fighting off much bigger armies when they are in God’s graces, and failing when they are not- even if they have…
