War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence
Susan Niditch
(New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993), 192 pp., $29.95.
Reviewed by [James VanderKam]
Niditch explores the varied biblical images of war, devoting many pages to that most painful of biblical war strategies—the ban, or annihilation of the entire population and their property. She distinguishes two types of ban texts: those which picture the ban as a sacrifice to God, the portion that he demands (for example, Numbers 21:2–3, in which Israel vows utterly to destroy the Canaanites in exchange for military victory); and those which depict the mass destruction as a just sentence from God for the wickedness of those eliminated (as in 1 Samuel 15). Niditch also describes other images of war: the priestly ideology of Numbers 31 (recognizing that war defiles, it commands the virgin women be spared because of their purity); the bardic tradition of war, in which fighting often involves taunting and is considered good sport done according to mutually acknowledged rules (David and Goliath, the contest in 2 Samuel 2 between the followers of David and the followers of Saul); the ideology of tricksterism (some Samson stories, Jael); and the ideology of expediency (war as business-as-usual, although the combatants may seek a just cause, as Jephthah and the Ammonites do in Judges 11). The final chapter studies passages in which God does the fighting instead of people. Niditch does not try to soften the harshness of the difficult passages, but tackles head-on the problems they pose and explores the assumptions that lie behind the varied portrayals of war and fighting. Naturally her book does not offer solutions to all the hard questions that arise, but it does provide a helpful collection of passages that are relevant for the ongoing discussion of scriptural violence.
The Hebrew Bible in Its Social World and in Ours
Norman Gottwald
(Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993), 425 pp., $59.95.
Reviewed by [Ronald S. Hendel]
Norman Gottwald’s major work, The Tribes of Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel, 1250–1050 B.C.E., burst onto the scene in 1979 like fireworks. No one before had seen a work so thoroughly informed by Marxist social theory yet so essential to read. After getting over the shock of the subtitle and the dedication (with its poetic tribute to the people of Vietnam!), one realized that this huge book of over 900 pages was a serious and learned synthesis of biblical and archaeological data with a sophisticated sociological method. Scholars either loved the book or hated it. As the years have gone by, many of Gottwald’s ideas about the formation of Israel have entered the mainstream, and his book is regarded as a standard point of departure for historical inquiry into Israelite origins. The use of sociological and anthropological methods—whether derived from Marx or other modern theorists—has similarly become a respected and necessary dimension of biblical scholarship. The fact that Gottwald recently served as president of the Society of Biblical Literature testifies to the impact and importance of his work. His new book of essays and occasional pieces show the growth of his thought both before and since Tribes. For many this will be the best place to begin to understand Gottwald’s contributions, since many of the chapters are more accessible that his initial formulations in Tribes. Gottwald is a remarkable scholar in whom love of the Bible and its value in modern theology is combined with a broad historical imagination and scholarly dedication. Many will disagree with him, but he has argued with learning and passion for the necessity of studying Israel’s materiality in order to grasp its profound spirituality.
War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence
Susan Niditch
(New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993), 192 pp., $29.95.
Reviewed by James VanderKam
