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Experience shows that the numerous passages in the Old Testament treating of war, and particularly those which represent Yahweh as bringing about and rejoicing in the destruction of Israel's enemies, present an immediate obstacle to the minds of many people. This contributes to an attitude, disquietingly common among worshippers, that most of the Old Testament is no longer suitable for use in Christian worship; and itself reflects the widespread but mistaken notion that, if any claim is made for the authority of the Bible as a whole, each and any part of it may be taken at its face value, and immediately related to Christian doctrine or practice. In contrast to this, it can hardly be over-emphasised that the Old Testament as a whole, and any part of it in particular, must be interpreted in the light of its historical context.
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- Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1964
References
page 326 note 1 For a brief summary of the characteristics and procedures of the Holy War, see G. von Rad, Studies in Deuteronomy, pp. 46–49.
page 326 note 2 I Samuel 25.28.
page 326 note 3 I Samuel 17.45
page 326 note 4 Amos 9.7.
page 326 note 5 Genesis 15.18–21, Exodus 3.8, 17; 13.5.
page 327 note 1 Numbers 33.51–53.
page 327 note 2 See also Deuteronomy 7.26 for the noun herem.
page 327 note 3 Joshua 7.11, 12.
page 328 note 1 For the significance of the ark in battle, cf. I Samuel 4.3, 7–8.
page 328 note 2 cf. also Deuteronomy 20.4, I Samuel 17.46–47, Psalm 44.3.
page 328 note 3 Joshua 23.10, Judges 7.2.
page 328 note 4 Judges 7.22.
page 328 note 5 Joshua 10.11, I Samuel 7.10.
page 328 note 6 Exodus 15.7.
page 328 note 7 i.e. victory, deliverance.
page 328 note 8 Exodus 14.13–14, 25
page 328 note 9 Deuteronomy 2.33; 3.3.
page 329 note 1 Exodus 17.16.
page 329 note 2 Deuteronomy 25.17–19.
page 329 note 3 I Samuel 15.2–3.
page 329 note 4 I Samuel 23.2, 4 and especially 9–12; II Samuel 5.19, 23–24 (where Yahweh even directs the strategy). For the use of the ephod in divination see further I Samuel 14.36–42 (RSV).
page 329 note 5 I Kings 22.5–6, II Kings 3.7–19.
page 330 note 1 Jeremiah 21.4–6 Cf. Lamentations 2.5.
page 330 note 2 Jeremiah 7.13–15.
page 330 note 3 Amos 3.2.
page 330 note 4 Amos 5.18, cf. also Jeremiah 46.10, Ezekiel 30.3, Obadiah 15.
page 330 note 5 Amos 2.6; 5.20; 8.2.
page 330 note 6 Zephaniah 1.7–8.
page 330 note 7 cf. also Zechariah 1.15.
page 330 note 8 Ezekiel 14.21.
page 330 note 9 It is not possible to discuss here the anger and judgment of God, for those to whom they are a problem. But it is worth pointing out that these themes are not confined to the Old Testament, cf. Mark 9.42, Romans 13.4, Revelation 19.15. Cf. also the review of Hanson's, A. T.The Wrath of the Lamb by S. C. Neill in Theology, LXI (1958), pp. 119–121.Google Scholar
page 331 note 1 cf. Psalm 76.10