The

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

and the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

both contain

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...

, and instructions which describe, encourage, command, condemn, reward, punish and regulate

violent Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened o ...

actions by

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

, individuals, groups, governments, and nation-states. Among the violent acts included are

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

animal sacrifice Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of one or more animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spr ...

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

, and criminal

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular acti ...

. The texts have a history of interpretation within the

Abrahamic religions The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran. Jewish tradition ...

and

Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...

that includes both justification of and opposition to acts of violence.

Definition

The definition of what constitutes violence has changed over time. In the twenty-first century, the definition has broadened considerably to include acts that used to be seen as acceptable. Modern scholarship on violence in the Bible tends to fall into two categories: those who use modern ethics to critique what they see as the violent legacy of monotheism, and those who approach the topic from a historical and cultural perspective. The Bible reflects how perceptions of violence changed over time for its authors and its readers. Biblical writers defined and interpreted violence in culturally specific terms based upon the values of the age in which they lived. The biblical writers used their own themes, cultural explanations, and theological logic to define violence as a problem in four general categories. They define as violent anything that destroys the inter-relationship, interdependence and wholeness of life and its environment; they depict scheming, arrogant and dishonest speech, especially that aimed at oppressing the poor, as violent in its effect; violations of justice are defined as particularly egregious forms of violence in an early understanding of natural law; and violations of purity and sanctity are seen as a kind of violence that defiles the land, its people, and the sanctuary. It is accompanied by disgust on the part of the biblical writers.

In the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Terms

=Hamas

= , meaning 'violence, wrongdoing', is the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

's primary term for violence and it is first used in : "the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with ''violence''." It occurs sixty times in the Hebrew Bible, is almost always used to identify physical violence (; ), and is used to describe human, not divine, violence. "However, the word hamas in the Old Testament also appears in the contexts of sin and injustice against God and one's fellow-man, judicial affairs,

structural violence Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. The term was coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who introduced it in his ...

and the theodicy problem". ''Hamas'' may refer to verbal or even ethical violence. "Sometimes the word refers to extreme wickedness (; ) where physical violence may or may not be nvolved"= "The term Hamas sometimes appears as a cry to God in the face of injustice (Jer. 6:7)." Exodus 23:1 and Deut. 19:16 characterize a false witness as (a “violent witness”). The notion that a false witness threatens life and well-being appears in fuller form in the Psalter." In the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

the terms (rob) and (oppress) are frequently used in combination to describe the human violence of taking/robbing/plundering as

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...

of the poor which may or may not include physical, verbal or other types of harm. They are also used both separately and in combination throughout the remainder of the Hebrew Bible describing robbing the poor (Isaiah 3:14, 10:2; Jeremiah 22:3; Micah 2:2, 3:2; Malachi 1:3), withholding the wages of a hired person (cf. Deuteronomy 24:14), political oppression (Hosea 12:7), charging oppressive interest (Ezekiel 22:12), and oppressing the outsider in their midst (Ezekiel 22:7) as acts of violence.

=Haram

= The Hebrew ''verb'' ḥāram connotes omplete annihilation(

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches. Historian Susan Niditch says "the root h-r-m links together several biblical non-war and war usages of the term ... under the heading of ''sacrifice''." The early usage of the term indicates that the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

were not allowed to touch, possess, or redeem these "devoted things". However, the later usage of the term, such as its usage in Numbers 18:14-17 and Deuteronomy 7, indicates that items and first-born children were supposed to be set aside as so that they could be redeemed by the Priests. The Hebrew scholar Baruch A. Levine notes that Deut.7:1-11 shows that Hebrew ideology has evolved since the writing of Exodus 33:5-16, with its addition of the ban (see Exodus 20:19,20). Levine concludes that this is one of several indications, including extra-biblical evidence, that was a later addition to Hebrew thought. Levine says this indicates that Israel was still, as late as Deuteronomy, making ideological adjustments with regard to the importation of the foreign practice of from its source in the surrounding Near Eastern nations." Over half the occurrences of the verb and noun for the root ''ḥ-r-m'' are concerned with the destruction of nations in war, but other terms which are associated with actions which the Old Testament scholar Eric Siebert considers "divine violence" may or may not include war. Siebert says that divine violence is "violence which God is said to have perpetrated, caused, or sanctioned." Specifically, this includes (1) violence which God commits without the use of human agents (e.g., sending down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah); (2) violence God commissions, typically unbeknownst to those who are being commissioned (e.g., using Babylon to punish the people of Judah for their sins); and (3) violence which God directly commands (e.g., ordering the

to wipe out the

Canaanites {{Cat main, Canaan See also: * :Ancient Israel and Judah Ancient Levant Hebrew Bible nations Ancient Lebanon 0050 Ancient Syria Wikipedia categories named after regions 0050 Phoenicia Amarna Age civilizations ...

)." For example, concerning those who worship idols, Deuteronomy 7:16 uses ''akal'' ("consume") when saying "You must ''destroy'' (consume) all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you…". Deuteronomy 7:24, on the other hand, uses ''abad'' when saying "you shall make their name ''perish'' from under heaven…" while Deuteronomy 20:10-18 says "…you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. But you shall utterly destroy (''ha-harem taharimem'') them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you…". "Amos 1:3–2:3 uses akal to indict Israel’s neighbors for various acts of cruelty during war (e.g., the Ammonites “ripped open pregnant women in Gilead in order to enlarge their territory”; 1:13) and uses those war crimes of surrounding peoples to draw a parallel with Israel's mistreatment of the poor, thus elevating economic injustice to the level of war crimes." (2:6–8). Other terms are: ''ṣamat'' (put an end to, exterminate...annihilate); ''shamad'' (destroy, exterminate); ''nakah'' (to strike fatally, kill, in manslaughter, murder...as retaliation ...in warfare, conquest...combat...attack, rout); ''aqar'' (pluck up, often in the violent sense); ''qatsah'' (to cut off, in a destructive sense); ''shabat'' (with zeker can refer to one's "memory" being "blotted out" but in another idiom it means to "be blotted out...from... heearth" to "be exterminated, be destroyed, perish"); and ''kalah'' (kalah in Qal can mean "be finished, be destroyed).

Warfare from Genesis through Joshua

Figures Five Kings of Midian Slain by Israel

Warfare represents a special category of biblical violence and is a topic the Bible addresses, directly and indirectly, in four ways: there are verses that support

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

, and verses that support

non-resistance Nonresistance (or non-resistance) is "the practice or principle of not resisting authority, even when it is unjustly exercised". At its core is discouragement of, even opposition to, physical resistance to an enemy. It is considered as a form of pri ...

; 4th century theologian

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...

found the basis of

just war The just war theory ( la, bellum iustum) is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics which is studied by military leaders, theologians, ethicists and policy makers. The purpose of the doctrine is to ensure that a war is m ...

in the Bible, and

preventive war A preventive war is a war or a military action which is initiated in order to prevent a belligerent or a neutral party from acquiring a capability for attacking. The party which is being attacked has a latent threat capability or it has shown t ...

which is sometimes called

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

has also been supported using Bible texts. Susan Niditch explores the range of war ideologies in ancient Near Eastern culture saying, "...To understand attitudes toward war in the Hebrew Bible is thus to gain a handle on war in general..." In the Hebrew Bible warfare includes the Amalekites, Canaanites, Moabites, and the record in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and both books of Kings. In the Bible God commands the Israelites to conquer the

Promised Land The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew ...

, placing city after city "under the ban" - which meant every man, woman and child was supposed to be slaughtered at the point of the sword.. For example, in Deuteronomy 20:16-18 God orders the

to "not leave alive anything that breathes… completely destroy them …", thus leading many scholars to characterize these as commands to commit

.Grenke, Arthur, ''God, greed, and genocide: the Holocaust through the centuries'', pp 17-30 Other examples include the story of the

Amalekites Amalek (; he, עֲמָלֵק, , ar, عماليق ) was a nation described in the Hebrew Bible as a staunch enemy of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the nation's founder, a grandson of Esau; his descendants, the Amalekites; or the ...

(Numbers 13,14), the War against the Midianites (Numbers 31), and the

battle of Jericho The Battle of Jericho, as described in the Biblical Book of Joshua, was the first battle fought by the Israelites in the course of the conquest of Canaan. According to , the walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites marched around the city walls ...

(Joshua 1–6). Starting in Joshua 9, after the conquest of Ai, the battles are described as defending against attacks from Canaanite kings. About passages such as Deut 20:16–17, UCL historian Hans Van Wees (2010) stated: 'The genocidal campaigns claimed for the early Israelites, however, are largely fictional: the intrinsic improbability and internal inconsistencies of the account in Joshua and its incompatibility with the stories of Judges leave little doubt about this.' In the archaeological community, the

Battle of Jericho The Battle of Jericho, as described in the Biblical Book of Joshua, was the first battle fought by the Israelites in the course of the conquest of Canaan. According to , the walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites marched around the city walls ...

has been thoroughly studied, and the consensus of modern scholars is the battles described in the Book of Joshua are not realistic, are not supported by the archeological record, and are not consistent with other texts in the Bible; for example, the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

(chapter 10) describes the ''total extermination'' of the

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

ite tribes, yet at a later time

Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

1:1-2:5 suggests the Canaanites lived on. Similarly, claims in

Numbers 31 Numbers 31 is the 31st chapter of the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Pentateuch (Torah), the central part of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a sacred text in Judaism and Christianity. Scholars such as Israel Knohl and Dennis T. Olson ...

that 12,000 Israelite soldiers exterminated the entire Midianite population (except for enslaving the 32,000 virgin girls) and destroyed all their towns without suffering a single casualty are held to be historically impossible, and should be understood as symbolic, not least because other biblical books set in later times still refer to the Midianites as an independent people, such as Judges chapters 6–8, where

Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the Abiez ...

fights them. Historian

Paul Copan Paul Copan (, born September 26, 1962) is a Christian theologian, analytic philosopher, apologist, and author. He is currently a professor at the Palm Beach Atlantic University and holds the endowed Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics. ...

and philosopher Matthew Flannagan say the violent texts of ''ḥerem'' warfare are "hagiographic hyperbole", a kind of historical writing found in the Book of Joshua and other Near Eastern works of the same era and are not intended to be literal; they contain hyperbole, formulaic language, and literary expressions for rhetorical effect — like when sports teams use the language of “totally slaughtering” their opponents. John Gammie concurs, saying the Bible verses about "utterly destroying" the enemy are more about pure religious devotion than an actual record of killing people. Gammie references Deuteronomy 7:2-5 in which Moses presents ''ḥerem'' as a precondition for Israel to occupy the land with two stipulations: one is a statement against intermarriage (vv. 3–4), and the other concerns the destruction of the sacred objects of the residents of Canaan (v. 5) but neither involves killing. C. L. Crouch compares the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah to Assyria, saying their similarities in cosmology and ideology gave them similar ethical outlooks on war. Both Crouch and Lauren Monroe, professor of Near Eastern studies at Cornell, agree this means the ''ḥerem'' type of total war was not strictly an Israelite practice but was a common approach to war for many Near Eastern people of the Bronze and Iron Ages. For example, the

Mesha Stele The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan). Mesha tel ...

says that King Mesha of Moab fought in the name of his god

Chemosh Chemosh ( Moabite: 𐤊𐤌𐤔 ''Kamāš''; he, כְּמוֹשׁ ''Kəmōš'' ; Eblaite: 𒅗𒈪𒅖 ''Kamiš'', Akkadian: 𒅗𒄠𒈲 ''Kâmuš'') was the god of the Moabites. He is most notably attested in the Mesha Stele and the Hebrew ...

and that he subjected his enemies to ''ḥerem''.

Biblical narrative

Book of Genesis

Old Testament professor Jerome F. D. Creach writes that Genesis 1 and 2 present two claims that "set the stage for understanding violence in the rest of the Bible": first is the declaration the God of the Hebrews created without violence or combat which runs counter to other Near Eastern creation stories; second, these opening chapters appoint humans as divine representatives on earth as caretakers, to "establish and maintain the well-being or ''shalom'' of the whole creation". Creach says that violence is seen in these verses as an intrusion that disrupts this design. When Adam and Eve disobey God, he banishes them from the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

, listing the curses that will follow them in (

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

3). In Genesis 4:1–18, the Hebrew word for sin (''hattā't'') appears for the first time when

Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He wa ...

, the first born man, murders his brother Abel and commits the first recorded act of violence. God curses Cain for this, and also grants him protection from danger. In the

Genesis flood narrative The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is the Hebrew version of the universal flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre- creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the micro ...

(Genesis 6–9), God sees that the "wickedness of man was great" and grieves (Genesis 6:6). He decides to exterminate all, restarting creation with

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

and those humans and animals with him on the

Ark Ark or ARK may refer to: Biblical narratives and religion Hebrew word ''teva'' * Noah's Ark, a massive vessel said to have been built to save the world's animals from a flood * Ark of bulrushes, the boat of the infant Moses Hebrew ''aron'' * ...

. After the Flood, God promises to never again destroy all life by a flood. Pieter Schoubroeck - De verwoesting van Sodom en Gomorra

In Genesis 18–19 God resolves to destroy the cities

Sodom and Gomorrah Sodom and Gomorrah () were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). They are mentioned frequ ...

, "because their sin is very grievous". God promises

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

that he will spare Sodom if as few as 10 righteous people can be found there. The cities are destroyed, but angels save Abraham's nephew

Lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...

and most of his family from the destruction. God tests Abraham by demanding that he sacrifice Isaac, his son (Genesis 22). As Abraham is about to lay the knife upon his son, God restrains him, promising him numberless descendants. Isaac's son

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

conspires to gain his elder brother

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

's birthright, but the brothers ultimately reconcile (Genesis 25–33). In Genesis 32:22–32,

meets and wrestles with someone, a man, angel or God, who blesses him and gives him the name

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(Genesis 37–50), Jacob's favorite son, is sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers. Joseph prospers after hardship, with God's guidance, and saves his family from starvation.

Book of Exodus and Book of Leviticus

Lamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt by Charles Sprague Pearce

A new

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

sees that the

in Egypt have become many and fears they might aid Egypt's enemies (

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

1:8–10). The Egyptians make the Israelites "serve with rigour" and their lives become "bitter with hard service". Pharaoh orders two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill the newborn sons of Hebrew women, but they disobey him. Pharaoh then orders his people to drown these children.

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

, a Hebrew raised by

Pharaoh's daughter Pharaoh's Daughter is an American Jewish world music band from New York City. Formed in 1995 by Basya Schechter, their music is a mix of American folk, Jewish klezmer, and Middle Eastern sounds. Schechter is currently a member of the alte ...

, one day encounters an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He slays the Egyptian and flees Egypt. God hears the plight of the Israelites and sends Moses back to Egypt to bring them out of that land to

. At one point during the journey back, God intends to kill Moses, but he is saved by his wife Zipporah (Exodus 2–4). Moses asks Pharaoh to release the Israelites, but Pharaoh responds by demanding more work from them. Moses repeats his request several times as the

Plagues of Egypt The Plagues of Egypt, in the account of the book of Exodus, are ten disasters inflicted on Biblical Egypt by the God of Israel in order to convince the Pharaoh to emancipate the enslaved Israelites, each of them confronting Pharaoh and one of hi ...

afflict the Egyptians, but Pharaoh refuses until the tenth plague, when God kills all firstborn people and cattle in Egypt, apart from those of the Israelites, who are

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

. The biblical author writes that God hardened Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 7:3–4; 9:12), and that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:15, 32: 9:34), and that his heart hardened in response to the demands with no attribution (Exodus 7:13,22). The Israelites are allowed to leave, but God again hardens Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh changes his mind, and sends an army after them. God saves them from the army by drowning it in the Red Sea. At

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

, God gives the Israelites the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...

and the

Covenant Code The Covenant Code, or Book of the Covenant, is the name given by academics to a text appearing in the Torah, at Exodus -; or, more strictly, the term ''Covenant Code'' may be applied to Exodus 21:1–22:16. Biblically, the text is the second of t ...

(Exodus 20–23). These laws include

thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not kill (LXX; ), You shall not murder (Hebrew: ; ') or You shall not kill (KJV), is a moral imperative included as one of the Ten Commandments in the Torah. The imperative not to kill is in the context of ''unlawful'' killing resul ...

eye for an eye "An eye for an eye" ( hbo, עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן, ) is a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The principle exists also in Babylonian law. In Roman c ...

and laws about

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and other things.

Capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

is prescribed for some crimes.

Animal sacrifice Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of one or more animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spr ...

in the form of

burnt offering A holocaust is a religious animal sacrifice that is completely consumed by fire. The word derives from the Ancient Greek ''holokaustos'' which is used solely for one of the major forms of sacrifice, also known as a burnt offering. Etymology and ...

s is mentioned, and it is prescribed that an ox that kills a person is to be stoned. The Code states that "And a stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." and "Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child." The Israelites promise to follow these laws (Exodus 24:3). The Israelites break their promise by worshiping the

Golden Calf According to the Bible, the golden calf (עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב '' ‘ēgel hazzāhāv'') was an idol (a cult image) made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as ''ḥēṭə’ hā‘ēgel'' ...

. God is angered by this and intends to "consume them", but Moses persuades him not to do so. Moses is also angered, and he breaks two stone tablets with God's writing. On Moses' command, the

Levites Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew defi ...

kill about three thousand people (Exodus 32). God has Moses make new stone tablets, and gives Moses the

Ritual Decalogue The Ritual Decalogue is a list of laws at . These laws are similar to the Covenant Code and are followed by the phrase "ten commandments" ( he, עשרת הדברים ', in ). Although the phrase "Ten Commandments" has traditionally been interpre ...

, which states in part "Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest they be for a snare in the midst of thee. But ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their

Asherim An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the Ugaritic mother goddess Asherah, consort of El. The relation of the literary references to an ''asherah'' and archaeological finds of Judaean pil ...

" (Exodus 34). The

Book of Leviticus The book of Leviticus (, from grc, Λευιτικόν, ; he, וַיִּקְרָא, , "And He called") is the third book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and of the Old Testament, also known as the Third Book of Moses. Scholars generally agree ...

sets out detailed rules for animal sacrifice. The

Holiness code The Holiness code is used in biblical criticism to refer to Leviticus chapters 17–26, and sometimes passages in other books of the Pentateuch, especially Numbers and Exodus. It is so called due to its highly repeated use of the word ''holy'' ...

, Leviticus 17–26, sets out a list of prohibitions, and the punishments for breaking them. Punishments include execution, sometimes by

stoning Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. The Torah and Ta ...

burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...

Book of Numbers

Tissot The Women of Midian Led Captive by the Hebrews

God orders Moses to count "all that are able to go forth to war in Israel" (

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

1). God hears the people "speaking evil" and punishes them with fire. Moses prays, and the fire abates. God is again angered and sends "a great plague" (Numbers 11). God hears

Miriam Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Tor ...

and

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

speak against Moses, and punishes Miriam with

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

. Moses asks God to heal her which he does (Numbers 12). The Israelites reach the border of Canaan, but due to reports from spies they refuse to enter, and wish to return to Egypt. God is angered, and tells Moses "I will smite them with the pestilence, and destroy them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they." Moses persuades him not to, but God declares that the Israelites will now wander the wilderness for forty years before they can enter Canaan. They are attacked by

and

(Numbers 13–14). In Numbers 15, a man is found working on the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...

. God orders him to be killed and he is stoned.

Korah Korah ( he, ''Qōraḥ''; ar, قارون ''Qārūn''), son of Izhar, is an individual who appears in the Book of Numbers of the Hebrew Bible and four different verses in the Quran, known for leading a rebellion against Moses. Some older Englis ...

and a group of men rebel against Moses and Aaron. God destroys them (Numbers 16). The Isralites "murmur" about this, and God punishes them with a plague (Numbers 16). At

Hormah Hormah (meaning "broken rock", "banned", or "devoted to destruction"), also known by its Canaanite name Zephath (Tsfat צפת), is an unidentified city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in relation to several conflicts between the migrant Israelite peop ...

, a Canaanite king fights the Israelites, and the Israelites promise God that if he gives them victory over this people, they will destroy their cities. He does and they do. The Israelites speak against God and Moses, and God sends

venomous snakes Venomous snakes are species of the suborder Serpentes that are capable of producing venom, which they use for killing prey, for defense, and to assist with digestion of their prey. The venom is typically delivered by injection using hollow or g ...

that kill many of them. Moses prays for the people, and God helps them (Numbers 21). The Israelites conquer the cities of

Sihon Sihon was an Amorite king mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, who refused to let the Israelites pass through his country. Biblical accounts The Book of Numbers recounts that as the Israelites making their Exodus journey came to the country east of th ...

, king of the Amorites, and they "smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him remaining; and they possessed his land." (Numbers 21). When the diviner

Balaam Balaam (; , Standard ''Bīlʿam'' Tiberian ''Bīlʿām'') is a diviner in the Torah (Pentateuch) whose story begins in Chapter 22 of the Book of Numbers (). Ancient references to Balaam consider him a non-Israelite, a prophet, and the son of Beo ...

beats his donkey, it speaks. Balaam later prophesies on the future of the Israelite's enemies (Numbers 22–24). Some Israelites commit harlotry with women in

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territo ...

, and sacrifice to their gods. God is angered, orders executions and sends a plague, but "the main guilt is Midian's and on Midian fell the vengeance" (Numbers 25 and 31). God orders Moses to "Harass the

Midianites Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Ara ...

, and smite them", and to again count "all that are able to go forth to war in Israel" (Numbers 25–26). The Israelites war against Midian, and "slew every male". They take captive the women and children, and take all cattle, flocks and goods as loot, and burn all cities and camps. When they return to Moses, he is angered, and commands "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves" (

). God tells Moses "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places. And ye shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein; for unto you have I given the land to possess it." and "But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those that ye let remain of them be as thorns in your eyes, and as pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land wherein ye dwell. And it shall come to pass, that as I thought to do unto them, so will I do unto you" (Numbers 33).

Book of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...

begins with a review of previous stories, including a battle between the Israelites and the Amorites (Deuteronomy 1:41–44), and the destruction of

Rephaim In the Hebrew Bible, as well as non-Jewish ancient texts from the region, the Northwest Semitic term Rephaite or Repha'im (cf. the plural word in he, רְפָאִים, rəfāʾīm; Phoenician: ') refers either to a people of greater-than-averag ...

by the Ammonites with Yahweh's help (2:21), along with similar other displacements. Deuteronomy 2:31–37 records the complete extermination of the people ruled by Sihon king of Heshbon. Similar treatment, at Yahweh's command, was given to the people under Og king of Bashan. Moses also recounts how God destroyed the followers of Baal-Peor, and threatens to destroy the Israelites if they return to idolatry. Similar threats of destruction for disobedience, or idolatry more specifically, can be found in Deuteronomy 6, 8, 11. On the other hand, God promises that if his people obey him, he will protect them from the diseases the surrounding nations suffer from and give them victory in fighting their enemies in Deuteronomy 6, 7 and 11. Deuteronomy provides legislation to protect perpetrators of unintentional homicide from revenge killings (4, 19). The Ten Commandments prohibit murder (5:17). Scholars do not agree on the theme of Deuteronomy 7, but part of that theme includes the command the Canaanites must be cleared from the land for Israel to maintain her purity. The nations listed were all larger and stronger than Israel. Chapter 9:3 says God will destroy Israel's enemies. Chapter 9 reminds the Israelites of their rebellious nature using Exodus 32:11–14 when Yahweh became angry at Israelite disobedience and intended to destroy them, but was dissuaded by Moses. Deuteronomy 12 opens with commands to destroy the Canaanite religion. Verses 4 and 31 explain why: "Pagan worship involved practices that were detestable to God and incompatible with his character" such as the practice of burning sons and daughters as offerings. Deuteronomy 13 presents the dangers of idolatry and foreign relations, insisting that those who advocate the worship of Canaanite deities must be killed, and that a town that worships them must be entirely exterminated, including its livestock. Deuteronomy 14 forbids self-mutilation. Deuteronomy 17 punishes anyone who worships a deity besides Yahweh, or a feature of the natural world as divine, with stoning to death, and likewise imposes the death penalty on anyone who disobeys the judicial decision of a priest. Deuteronomy 19 imposes the death penalty for premeditated murder, establishes cities of refuge, and also imposes the ''lex talionis'': "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" thereby limiting vengeance (verse 21, NRSV). Deuteronomy 20 regulates warfare, allowing for various exemptions from military service, and mandating that the first act of fighting any city that is far away must be an offer of peace. If peace is refused, it must be sieged and all males put to the sword; "women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city — all its spoil" — may be taken as plunder and kept. Any city within the specified inheritance are to be completely exterminated (20) exempting only the fruit trees. Deuteronomy 21 commands the use of sacrifices to atone unsolved murders, and mandates a month-long period of mourning before an Israelite warrior can marry a female captive. If the marriage doesn't work out, she is to go free without restriction. It also mandates the stoning to death of grown rebellious children who are gluttons and drunkards to "purge the evil" from among the people. Deuteronomy 22 orders the killing of women who cannot prove that they were virgins on their wedding night, and of both the man and woman when a man sleeps with another man's wife. It also mandates the death penalty for a man who has sexual relations with a betrothed virgin, and of the virgin if she does not cry out for help when raped. Deuteronomy 24 imposes the death penalty for the kidnapping of a fellow Israelite, and forbids putting parents to death for crimes committed by their children, and vice versa. Deuteronomy 25 allows for judges to have people punished in legal disputes by flogging, but limits the number of strikes to forty. "If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, you shall cut off her hand; show no pity" (25:11–12). This chapter also urges the extermination of the Amalekites (verses 17–19). Deuteronomy 28 contains blessing and curses: blessing, including the defeat of Israel's enemies, if Israel obeys; and curses if Israel disobeys. These curses include disease, famine, defeat and death in warfare, insanity, abuse and robbery, enslavement, and cannibalism due to extreme hunger. Similar threats appear in the following chapter (29) and in Deuteronomy 32.

Book of Joshua

God commands

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

to take possession of Canaan (

1). The Jericho-woman

Rahab Rahab (; Arabic: راحاب, a vast space of a land) was, according to the Book of Joshua, a woman who lived in Jericho in the Promised Land and assisted the Israelites in capturing the city by hiding two men who had been sent to scout the city ...

aids two Israelite spies, and she and her family are promised to be spared in the coming conquest if they hang a scarlet thread in the window (Joshua 2). The Israelites enter Canaan, carrying with them the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an e ...

. Joshua conquers the city of Jericho. The city is burned, and apart from Rahab's family, every person, ox, sheep and donkey is killed (Joshua 6). Joshua attempts to capture the city of Ai, but fails (Joshua 7). A second attempt, advised by God, succeeds. The city is set on fire and all the inhabitants are killed (Joshua 8). Several kings ally together to fight the Israelites. The people of Gibeon, learning of the city's destruction, tricks the Israelites into a peace-treaty. When Joshua learns of the trickery, he curses the Gibeonites (Joshua 9). When the king of Jerusalem hears of the treaty, he and several other kings attack Gibeon, who then call on Joshua for help. God attacks Joshua's enemies with hailstones, the Israelites are victorious, and the enemy kings are captured. Joshua goes on to conquer more cities but never completes the conquest (Joshua 10). More kings gather to fight the Israelites. The Israelites defeat and kill them all. Joshua 11 commands the hamstringing of horses. Joshua finishes most of the conquest of Canaan, with the exception of Gibeon and possibly some Canaanites and Amelakites: "For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that they might be utterly destroyed, that they might have no favour, but that they might be destroyed, as the LORD commanded Moses." "And the land had rest from war" (Joshua 11). The

tribe of Manasseh According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh (; Hebrew: ''Ševet Mənašše,'' Tiberian: ''Šēḇeṭ Mănašše'') was one of the Tribes of Israel. It is one of the ten lost tribes. Together with the Tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh also fo ...

is given cities with Canaanites they can't drive out, but Joshua tells them that they will be able to (Joshua 17). In Joshua 20, God tells Joshua to assign

Cities of Refuge The cities of refuge ( ''‘ārê ha-miqlāṭ'') were six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum. Maimonides, invoking talmudic lit ...

, so that "the manslayer that killeth any person through error and unawares may flee thither; and they shall be unto you for a refuge from the avenger of blood."

Book of Judges

The

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom i ...

contains a number of violent incidents. There is a graphic description of the assassination of the Moabite King Eglon, who defecates while rolls of his fat suck in the blade used to kill him (Judges 3:22). Later on,

Jael Jael or Yael ( he, יָעֵל ''Yāʿēl'') is the name of the heroine who delivered Israel from the army of King Jabin of Canaan in the Book of Judges of the Hebrew Bible. After Barak demurred at the behest of the prophetess Deborah, God turned ...

hammers a tent peg into an enemy commander's head while he slept after fleeing from a battle (Judges 4:21). During a time of conflict with

Ammon Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...

Jephthah Jephthah (pronounced ; he, יִפְתָּח, ''Yīftāḥ''), appears in the Book of Judges as a judge who presided over Israel for a period of six years (). According to Judges, he lived in Gilead. His father's name is also given as Gilead, ...

makes a vow to God that he will sacrifice whatever comes first out of the house and ends up sacrificing his own daughter (Judges 11). Towards the end of the book, an unnamed

Levite's concubine The episode of the Levite's concubine, also known as the Benjamite War, is a biblical narrative in Judges 19–21 (chapters 19, 20 and 21 of the Book of Judges). It concerns a Levite from Ephraim and his concubine, who travel through the Benjami ...

is raped, and dies shortly afterwards. The Levite dismembers her, and has parts of her body distributed across Israel to inform people about what happened (Judges 19:29). This triggers a civil war between the Benjamites and the Israelites that kills thousands of people.

Books of Samuel

In the

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshu ...

, The Israelites war with the

Philistines The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...

and are defeated at the

Battle of Aphek The Battle of Aphek is a biblical episode described in the First Book of Samuel of the Hebrew Bible. During this battle the Philistines defeated the Israelite army and captured the Ark of the Covenant. Among biblical scholars, the historicity of t ...

. The Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant, but God makes his displeasure known, and they later return it. The ark arrives at

Beth-shemesh Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in . History Tel Beit Shemesh The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...

, where God slays fifty thousand men for gazing upon it (1 Samuel 6).

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

urges Israel's people to "put away the foreign gods" and serve only God, which they do. The Philistines attack and are defeated at Mizpah.

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...

is made

king of Israel This article is an overview of the kings of the United Kingdom of Israel as well as those of its successor states and classical period kingdoms ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty and Herodian dynasty. Kings of Ancient Israel and Judah The Hebr ...

and wars with many enemies. Samuel commands Saul "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" (1 Samuel 15:3). Saul does not fully obey, which angers God and Samuel. Samuel kills the captured Agag, king of the Amalekites.

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, anointed king in secret (1 Samuel 16), comes into Saul's service and "loved him greatly". The Philistines attack Israel, David slays their champion

Goliath Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) a ...

, and they flee. David becomes popular, which makes Saul fear him and plot his death. David and Saul's daughter

Michal Michal (; he, מיכל , gr, Μιχάλ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, ...

wish to marry, and Saul asks for a dowry of one hundred foreskins of the Philistines. David delivers two hundred, and becomes the king's son-in-law (1 Samuel 18). Saul again wishes David dead, but they are reconciled by Saul's son

Jonathan Jonathan may refer to: *Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...

. War comes again, David is victorious. Saul again wants to kill David, and he flees with help from his wife. Saul searches for him and slays the inhabitants of the city

Nob , also known by the name NoB, is a Japanese singer. He is the former lead singer of the band Make-Up and a Project.R member. Overview With Make-Up, he recorded several songs for the anime ''Saint Seiya'', including the first opening song " ...

for aiding David (1 Samuel 22). David defeats the Philistines at

Keilah Keilah (), meaning Citadel, was a city in the lowlands of Kingdom of Judah, Judah (). It is now a ruin, known as ''Kh. Qeila'', near the modern village of Qila, Hebron, Qila, east of Beit Jibrin, Beit Gubrin, and about west of Kharas.Amit (n.d. ...

, then flees the city pursued by Saul (1 Samuel 22). David and Saul reconcile. David seeks refuge with

Achish Achish ( he, אָכִישׁ ''ʾāḵīš'', Philistine: 𐤀𐤊𐤉𐤔 *''ʾāḵayūš'', Akkadian: 𒄿𒅗𒌑𒋢 ''i-ka-ú-su'') is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for two Philistine rulers of Gath. It is perhaps only a general title of r ...

, king of Gath, and claims he is raiding Judah but is actually raiding and killing in other places (1 Samuel 27). The Philistines begin a war against Saul. David's wives

Ahinoam Ahinoam ( he, ''ʾăḥīnōʿam'') is a Hebrew name literally meaning ''brother of pleasantness'', or ''my brother is pleasant'', thus meaning ''pleasant''. There are two references in the Bible to people; who bear that name; *A daughter of Ahi ...

and

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married ...

are taken in a raid on

Ziklag Ziklag ( he, צִקְלַג) is the biblical name of a town that was located in the Negev region in the south-west of what was the Kingdom of Judah. It was a provincial town within the Philistine kingdom of Gath when Achish was king. Its exact loca ...

, but he rescue them (1 Samuel 30). The men of Israel flee before the Philistines, and three of Saul's sons are slain. Saul asks his armour-bearer to kill him, but is refused, so he takes his own life. The armour-bearer also takes his own life. Saul's body is beheaded and fastened to a city-wall by the victorious Philistines, but it is retaken by inhabitants of

Jabesh-Gilead Jabesh-Gilead ( ''Yāḇēš Gīlʿāḏ''), sometimes shortened to Jabesh, was an ancient Israelite town in Gilead, in northwest Jordan. Jabesh is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible primarily in connection with King Saul battles against t ...

(1 Samuel 31). A man tells David of Saul's death and that he himself killed Saul. David has him killed (2 Samuel 1). A long war starts between David and Saul's son

Ish-bosheth Ish-bosheth ( he, , translit=ʼĪš-bōšeṯ, "man of shame"), also called Eshbaal (, ; alternatively spelled Ishbaal, "fire of Baal") was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second monarch of the Kingdom of Israel who succeeded his father, Sau ...

(2 Samuel 3). David demands and is granted the return of his first wife Michal, despite the public grief of her new husband Palti. Two men assassinate Ish-bosheth, and David has them killed (2 Samuel 4). David wars victoriously with the Philistines. While transporting the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, a man called

Uzzah According to the Tanakh, עזה, Uzzah or Uzza, meaning "Her Strength", was an Israelite whose death is associated with touching the Ark of the Covenant. The account of Uzzah appears in two places in scripture: 2 Samuel 6:3-8 and 1 Chronicles 1 ...

carelessly touches it and is killed by God (2 Samuel 6). David defeats and plunders several enemies, and "executed justice and righteousness unto all his people." (2 Samuel 8). The children of Ammon mistreat David's emissaries, and are defeated by David's army (2 Samuel 10). In order to make

Bathsheba Bathsheba ( or ; he, בַּת־שֶׁבַע, ''Baṯ-šeḇaʿ'', Bat-Sheva or Batsheva, "daughter of Sheba" or "daughter of the oath") was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, according to the Hebrew Bible. She was the mother of ...

his wife, David successfully plots the death of her husband. This displeases God, and David is told that "the sword shall never depart from thy house." God kills David's and Bathsheba's child, that was conceived during her previous marriage. She then conceives again and gives birth to

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

. David conquers and plunders the city

Rabbah Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman i ...

(2 Samuel 11–12). David's son

Amnon Amnon ( he, אַמְנוֹן ''’Amnōn'', "faithful") was, in the Hebrew Bible, the oldest son of King David and his second wife, Ahinoam of Jezreel. He was born in Hebron during his father's reign in Judah. He was the heir apparent to the th ...

rapes his half-sister Tamar.

Absalom Absalom ( he, ''ʾAḇšālōm'', "father of peace") was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maacah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. 2 Samuel 14:25 describes him as the handsomest man in the kingdom. Absalom eventually rebelled ag ...

, her full brother, in return has him killed (2 Samuel 13). Absalom conspires and revolts against David. Absalom is finally defeated and dies in the

Battle of the Wood of Ephraim According to 2 Samuel, the Battle of the Wood of Ephraim was a military conflict between the rebel forces of the formerly exiled Israelite prince Absalom against the royal forces of his father King David during a short-lived revolt. Scholarly opi ...

, and David mourns him (2 Samuel 15–19).

Sheba son of Bichri In the Old Testament, Sheba was a Benjaminite leader who revolted against King David, recounted in 2 Samuel. In the Bible Sheba was a son of Bichri, of the family of Becher, the son of Benjamin, and thus of the tribe of King Saul. When David r ...

revolts, but is ultimately beheaded (2 Samuel 20). In 2 Samuel 21, David has seven of Sauls sons and grandsons killed, including "the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul", though he spares Sauls grandson

Mephibosheth Mephibosheth (Biblical Hebrew: , ''Məfīḇōšeṯ'', also called Meribaal, , ''Mərīḇ-Baʻal'') was the son of Jonathan—and, thus, a grandson of Saul—mentioned in the Biblical Books of Samuel and Chronicles. Mephibosheth was five yea ...

. More wars take place. 2 Samuel 23 names and praises several of David's warriors.

The Prophets and Psalms

Characters like

Phinehas According to the Hebrew Bible, Phinehas or Phineas (; , ''Phinees'', ) was a priest during the Israelites’ Exodus journey. The grandson of Aaron and son of Eleazar, the High Priests (), he distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim with h ...

(Num. 25),

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...

(1 kg. 18:39–40; 2 kg. 1), and

Elisha Elisha ( ; or "God is my salvation", Greek: , ''Elis îos'' or , ''Elisaié,'' Latin: ''Eliseus'') was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eli ...

(2 kg. 2:23–25; 9) killed, ordered killing, participated in killing and foretold killing in the name of God. Elijah called down fire from Heaven to consume the sacrifice, then followed this display of God's power by catching and personally killing all the prophets of Baal; he twice called the fire down from heaven to consume the Captain and the fifty men with him sent by the King (2 Kings 1:10); Elisha called bears from the woods to maul the 42 "youths" who mocked him, and visited leprosy on Gehazi his deceitful servant, (2 Kings 5:27); Amos pronounces judgment on the nations including Israel offering a vision of Divine judgment that includes a swarm of locusts and divine fire; Ezekiel said, "The word of the Lord came to me" repeatedly pronouncing violent judgment against the nations and Israel, and a feminist interpretation of the book of Nahum speaks of the "rape" of Ninevah, the book's "fascination with war, and the glee with which it calls for revenge."

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the ...

(13:16) declares that Samaria's fate is that "their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open." As a response to the violence of the wicked, numerous psalms call on God to bring vengeance on one's personal enemies, for example Ps. 109 calls for vengeance on the entire family as "payment" to the Psalmist's accusers beginning with his childre

including his wif

and all his ancestor

Psalm 137 speaks against Babylon and expresses a desire to dash "their infants against the rocks".

New Testament

Brooklyn Museum - The Merchants Chased from the Temple (Les vendeurs chassés du Temple) - James Tissot

Gospels

In the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...

Herod the Great Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renov ...

is described as ordering the execution of all young male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Matthew 10:34 and Luke 12:49–51 reference

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

as saying he comes to bring fire or a

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

. G. Stroumsa writes that these verses are sometimes interpreted as violent, but he goes on to reference Theissen as saying they are actually about conflict in the family. The

cleansing of the Temple The cleansing of the Temple narrative tells of Jesus expelling the merchants and the money changers from the Temple, and is recounted in all four canonical gospels of the New Testament. The scene is a common motif in Christian art. In this acc ...

is sometimes considered to be a violent action by Jesus.''War, A Catholic Dictionary: Containing some Account of the Doctrine, Discipline, Rites, Ceremonies, Councils, and Religious Orders of the Catholic Church'', W. E Addis, T. Arnold, Revised T. B Scannell and P. E Hallett, 15th Edition, Virtue & Co, 1953, Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Philips, Imprimatur: E. Morrogh Bernard, 2 October 1950, "In the Name of God: Violence and Destruction in the World's Religions", M. Jordan, 2006, p. 40 There are also multiple sayings of Jesus that oppose violence, such as

Turning the other cheek Turning the other cheek is a phrase in Christian doctrine from the Sermon on the Mount that refers to responding to insult without retort and allowing more insult. This passage is variously interpreted as accepting one's predicament, commanding no ...

and the passage about

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (or the ) is a passage (pericope) found in John 7:53– 8:11 of the New Testament. It has been the subject of much scholarly discussion. In the passage, Jesus was teaching in the Second Temple after com ...

. The earliest detailed accounts of the killing of Jesus are contained in the four

canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical example ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

s, with other implicit references in the New Testament epistles. All four Gospels conclude with a narrative of Jesus' arrest, initial trial at the Sandhedrin and final trial at

Pilate's court In the canonical gospels, Pilate's court refers to the trial of Jesus in praetorium before Pontius Pilate, preceded by the Sanhedrin Trial. In the Gospel of Luke, Pilate finds that Jesus, being from Galilee, belonged to Herod Antipas' jurisdict ...

, where Jesus is flogged, forced to carry his cross through Jerusalem, and then

crucified Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

. The metaphor of

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

is used in reference to His death, both in the Gospels and other books of the New Testament. In each Gospel these violent events are treated with more intense detail than any other portion of that Gospel's narrative. Scholars note that the reader receives an almost hour-by-hour account of what is happening.Powell, Mark A. ''Introducing the New Testament''. Baker Academic, 2009. Gustave Doré - Christ on the Cross - Google Art Project

Gustave Doré - Christ on the Cross - Google Art Project

Apocalypse

The

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

is full of imagery of war, genocide, and destruction. It describes the

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

, the

last judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

of all the nations and people by God, which includes plagues, war, and economic collapse. Some other books of the Gospels also use apocalyptic language and forms. Scholars define this as language that "views the future as a time when divine saving and judging activity will deliver God's people out of the present evil order into a new order...This transformation will be cataclysmic and cosmic." Whenever Jesus calls people to a new vision in light of God's impending kingdom, judgment, or a future resurrection, he is using apocalyptic speech. For example, Jesus uses apocalyptic speech in Matthew 10:15 when he says "it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town," and in Mark 14:62, where he alludes to the book of Daniel with himself in the future "sitting at the right hand of God." Bailey and Vander Broek go on to say, "In the material about John the Baptizer there also appear apocalyptic images: 'the wrath to come' (Luke 3:7); 'the axe ... lying at the root of the tree' (Luke 3:9); the Coming One with 'winnowing fork ... in His hand' (Luke 3:17); and chaff burning with 'unquenchable fire' (Luke 3:17)." Charles B. Strozier, psychoanalyst historian says: "The most troubling dimension of 'endism' is its relation to violence. ... fundamentalists generally believe... transformation can only be accomplished violently, and that the move from our time into the next requires mass death and destruction when '...this earth will be purged in the fires of God's anger, that Jesus will return, and that a new heaven and a new earth will be reborn'". The Book of Revelation has been used to justify violence and has served as an inspiration of

revolutionary movements A revolutionary movement (or revolutionary social movement) is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution. Charles Tilly defines it as "a social movement advancing exclusive competing claims to control of the state ...

. According to Richard Bauckham, the author of the book of Revelation addresses apocalypse with a reconfiguration of traditional Jewish eschatology that substitutes "faithful witness to the point of martyrdom for armed violence as the means of victory. Because the Lamb has won the decisive victory over evil by this means, his followers can participate in his victory only by following his path of suffering witness. Thus, Revelation repudiates apocalyptic militarism, but promotes the active participation of Christians in the divine conflict with evil".

Theological reflections and responses

Texts of violence have produced a wide variety of theological responses.

Various views

Collins

As part of the many reflections on

religious violence Religious violence covers phenomena in which religion is either the subject or the object of violent behavior. All the religions of the world contain narratives, symbols, and metaphors of violence and war. Religious violence is violence that ...

inspired by the

that followed

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, John J. Collins wrote a short book called "Does the Bible Justify Violence?". In the book he reviews the passages in the Bible describing violence done by God, commanded or promised by God, and done by people, as well as how these texts have been used by religious people and governments throughout history. For example, he discusses

The Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the ...

and the conquest of the Canaanites in the subsequent

, as two sides of the same coin; the Exodus story has inspired hope for millennia as well as civil rights movements; at the same time people identifying with the liberated Israel supported by God have cited the conquest to justify actions ranging from

genocide of indigenous peoples The genocide of indigenous peoples, colonial genocide, or settler genocide is elimination of entire communities of indigenous peoples as part of colonialism. Genocide of the native population is especially likely in cases of settler colonialis ...

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Collins concludes that the Bible speaks in many voices. He writes that: "....historically people have appealed to the Bible precisely because of its presumed divine authority, which gives an aura of certitude to any position it can be shown to support -- in the phrase of Hannah Arendt, 'God-like certainty that stops all discussion.' And here, I would suggest, is the most basic connection between the Bible and violence, more basic than any command or teaching it contains....The Bible has contributed to violence in the world precisely because it has been taken to confer a degree of certitude that transcends human discussion and argumentation." Collins, writing as a Christian scholar, also notes: "It is not unusual for Christian interpreters to claim that 'the Biblical witness to the innocent victims and the God of victims demystifies and demythologizes this sacred social order' in which violence is grounded. Such a selective reading, privileging the death of Jesus or the suffering servant, is certainly possible and even commendable, but it does not negate the force of the biblical endorsements of violence that we have been considering. The full canonical shape of the Christian Bible, for what it is worth, still concludes with the judgement scene in Revelation, in which the Lamb that was slain returns as the heavenly warrior with a sword for striking down the nations."

Schwartz

Regina Schwartz Regina Schwartz is a scholar of English literature and elements of Jewish and Christian religion. Editor's note: Parts of this news service report appear to have been drawn, near to verbatim, from the title subject's self-published faculty biograph ...

is among those who seek to reimagine Christianity and the Christian biblical canon in ways that reduce violence. She describes violence as arising from the ancient Israelite invention of monotheism and the ways ancient Israelites conceived of themselves in relation to that one god and to other peoples. Christians inherited this view but only in part. She writes that: "The Other, against whom Israel's identity is forged is abhorred, abject, impure, and in the "Old Testament," vast numbers of them are obliterated, while in the "New Testament," vast numbers are colonized (converted). The tying of identity to rejection runs counter to much of the drive that could be found elsewhere, both in the Bible and throughout religious myth and ritual, to forge identity through analogy, even identification....Among all the rich variety, I would categorize two broad understandings of identity in the Bible: one grounded in Negation (or scarcity) and the other in Multiplicity (or plenitude). Near the end of her book, she says: "My re-vision would produce an alternative Bible that subverts the dominant vision of violence and scarcity with an ideal of plenitude and its corollary ethical imperative of generosity. It would be a Bible embracing multiplicity instead of monotheism."

Geller

Stephen Geller notes that both the Deuteronomist and the Priestly authors working in the

Axial Age Axial Age (also Axis Age, from german: Achsenzeit) is a term coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers. It refers to broad changes in religious and philosophical thought that occurred in a variety of locations from about the 8th to the 3rd centu ...

were re-evaluating and reformulating their traditions, like their neighbors were, using the literary means available to them. The Deuteronomists expressed their new notions of the transcendence and power of God by means of ideas and associated laws around unity—the one-ness of God, worshipped at the one temple in Jerusalem, by one people, kept distinct from the rest of world just as God is; zealously and violently so. Likewise the Priestly author adapted the myths and rituals of the ANE and the specific traditions of the ancient Israelites to forge different meanings for blood sacrifice than their neighbors had, specifically in the elaborate and precarious rituals on the

Day of Atonement Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...

when the High Priest had to enter the Holy of Holies and the presence of God; in their work the Priestly authors also attempted to express the transcendence and unity of God who is yet in a relationship with humanity with all its variable sinfulness. In Geller's reading the blood is not magical nor is the animal just a substitute for a human sacrifice; instead blood is at once an expression of the violence of the fallen world where people kill in order to eat (unlike Eden) and the blood itself becomes a means for redemption; it is forbidden to be eaten, as a sign of restraint and recognition, and is instead offered to God, and in that action the relationship between fallen humanity and God is restored. The Priestly authors underline the importance of all this by recalling the mortal danger faced by the High Priests, through the telling of the deaths of

Nadab and Abihu In the biblical books Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Nadab () and Abihu () were the two oldest sons of Aaron. According to Leviticus 10, they offered a sacrifice with "foreign fire" before the , disobeying his instructions, and were immediate ...

when God refused their "strange offering" and consumed them with fire. One result of this reformulating work, is a God with aspects of terrifying and powerful otherness; as Annie Dillard wrote in

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek ''Pilgrim at Tinker Creek'' is a 1974 nonfiction narrative book by American author Annie Dillard. Told from a first-person point of view, the book details Dillard's explorations near her home, and various contemplations on nature and life. Th ...

: "Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return."

Others

Evan Fales, Professor of Philosophy, calls the doctrine of

substitutionary atonement Substitutionary atonement, also called vicarious atonement, is a central concept within Christian theology which asserts that Jesus died "for us", as propagated by the Western classic and objective paradigms of atonement in Christianity, which ...

that some Christians use to understand the crucifixion of Jesus, "psychologically pernicious" and "morally indefensible". Fales founds his argument on

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...

’s statement that revelation must conform to our understanding. Philosopher and Professor

Alvin Plantinga Alvin Carl Plantinga (born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosopher who works primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology (particularly on issues involving epistemic justification), and logic. From 1963 to 1982, ...

says this rests upon seeing God as a kind of specially talented human being. Historian

Philip Jenkins Philip Jenkins (born April 3, 1952) is a professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He is also the Edwin Erle Sp ...

(quoting Phyllis Trible) says the Bible is filled with "texts of terror" but he also asserts these texts are not to be taken literally. Jenkins says eighth century BCE historians added them to embellish their ancestral history and get readers' attention. Old Testament scholar Ellen Davis is concerned by what she calls a "shallow reading" of Scripture, particularly of 'Old Testament' texts concerning violence, which she defines as a "reading of what we think we already know instead of an attempt to dig deeper for new insights and revelations." She says these difficult texts typically have internal correctives that support an educative reading.

The problem of evil

Ary Scheffer - The Temptation of Christ (1854)

Discussions of the Bible and violence often lead to discussions of

theodicy Theodicy () means vindication of God. It is to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Some theodicies also address the problem of evil "to make the existence of ...

- the question of how evil can persist in the world if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and good. Philosopher

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

summarizes: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then from whence comes evil?" According to

John Kemp John Kemp ( – 22 March 1454, surname also spelled Kempe) was a medieval English cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor of England. Biography Kemp was the son of Thomas Kempe, a gentleman of Ollantigh, in the parish ...

, evil cannot be correctly understood on a simple scale of pleasure vs. pain, since the National Institute of medicine says pain is essential for survival. The first systematic reflections on the problem of evil by Jewish philosophers is traceable only in the medieval period. The ancient books of the Hebrew Bible do not show an awareness of the theological problem of evil, and even most later biblical scholars did not touch the question of the problem of evil. While there are secular responses to the problem, the problem of evil is primarily a challenge to Christianity. The Christian ethic includes three main responses. The freewill defense by

assumes that a world containing creatures who are significantly free is an innately more valuable world than one containing no free creatures, and that God could not have made a world containing complexity and freedom without including the possibility of evil and suffering. The soul-making theodicy advocated by

John Hick John Harwood Hick (20 January 1922 – 9 February 2012) was a philosopher of religion and theologian born in England who taught in the United States for the larger part of his career. In philosophical theology, he made contributions in the are ...

says God allows the evil of suffering because it produces good in its results of building moral character. Christian ethicists such as

David Ray Griffin David Ray Griffin (August 8, 1939 – November 26, 2022) was an American professor of philosophy of religion and theology and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.Sources describing David Ray Griffin as a "conspiracy theorist", "conspiracist", "conspirac ...

have also produced process theodicies which assert God's power and ability to influence events are, of necessity, limited by human creatures with wills of their own. In one version of this, Jon Levenson resolves the problem of evil by describing God's power not as static, but as unfolding in time: "The operative dichotomy, thus, is not that between limitation and omnipotence, but that which lies between omnipotence as a static attribute and omnipotence as a dramatic enactment: the absolute power of God realizing itself in achievement and relationship. What this biblical theology of dramatic omnipotence shares with the theology of the limited God is a frank recognition of God's setbacks, in contrast to the classical theodicies with their exaggerated commitment to divine impassibility and their tendency to ascribe imperfection solely to human free will, the recalcitrance of matter, or the like." Philosopher

Eleonore Stump Eleonore Stump (born August 9, 1947) is the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University, where she has taught since 1992. Biography Stump received a BA in classical languages from Grinnell College (1969), where she was va ...

says the larger context of God permitting suffering for good purposes in a world where evil is real allows for such events as the killing of those intending evil and God to still be seen as good. Toby Betenson writes that "Theodicies mediate a praxis that sanctions evil". Generally, Christians ethicists do not claim to know the answer to the "Why?" of evil, pain and suffering.

stresses that this is why he does not proffer a theodicy but only a defense of the logic of theistic belief.

Genesis and violence at creation

In 1895

Hermann Gunkel Hermann Gunkel (23 May 1862 – 11 March 1932), a German Old Testament scholar, founded form criticism. He also became a leading representative of the history of religions school. His major works cover Genesis and the Psalms, and his major inte ...

observed that most Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) creation stories contain a

theogony The ''Theogony'' (, , , i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 10 ...

depicting a god doing combat with other gods thus including violence in the founding of their cultures. For example, in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, the first step of creation has

Marduk Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...

fighting and killing

Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creati ...

, a chaos monster, to establish order. Kenneth A. Mathews says, "It has been typical of scholarship since Gunkel's ''Schöpfung und Chaos'' (1895) to interpret Genesis 1's subjugation of 'the deep' and division of the 'waters' as a remnant of the battle motif between Marduk and watery Tiamat, which was taken up by the Hebrew author and demythologized, utmost contemporary scholars now see the association of the Hebrew tehôm ('deep,' 1:2) with Tiamat as superficial." "The fact he Genesis creation accountwas likely part of the last stages of the creation of the Pentateuch may indicate that the portrait of God in Gen. 1:1–2:4a was normative for those who gave the Old Testament canon its present shape. Hence, it seems that the account of God creating without violence in Gen. 1:1–2:4a “now serves as the overture to the entire Bible, dramatically relativizing the other cosmologies." Canaanite creation stories like the ''Enuma Elish'' use very physical terms such as "tore open," "slit," "threw down," "smashed," and "severed" whereas in the Hebrew Bible, Leviathan is not so much defeated as domesticated. Theologian Christopher Hays says Hebrew stories use a term for dividing (bâdal; separate, make distinct) that is an abstract concept more reminiscent of a Mesopotamian tradition using non-violence at creation. Most modern scholars agree that "Gen. 1:1–2:4a narrates a story of God creating without violence or combat. In he Genesisaccount, the elements do not represent rival deities, and the story declares the creation “good” (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). What is more, in Gen. 1:1–2:4a the elements participate in the process of ordering at God's invitation (Gen. 1:9, 11, 20).” Old Testament scholar

Walter Brueggemann Walter Brueggemann (born March 11, 1933) is an American Protestant Old Testament scholar and theologian who is widely considered one of the most influential Old Testament scholars of the last several decades. His work often focuses on the Hebrew p ...

says "God's characteristic action is to "speak"... God "calls the world into being"... "The way of God with his world is the way of language." These stories in Genesis are not the only stories about creation in the Bible. In Proverbs 8, for example one reads of personified ''Wisdom'' being present and participant in creation. There is also what is called the "

agon Agon (Greek ) is a Greek term for a conflict, struggle or contest. This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece. Agon is the word-forming element in 'agony', ...

" (meaning struggle or combat) model of creation in and in which God has victory in battle over the monsters of the sea. Historian theologian Christopher Hays says, there is similarity to the Canaanite myths in these Hebrew verses. However, he also says the differences are more pronounced than the similarities. Hays says ''Enuma Elish'' and Memphite theology are focused on a certain locale, where Genesis one does not mention a location (Isaiah 66:1); as has been noted, there is no theogeny in Genesis; and in the Canaanite stories the creators are glorified by being identified with other known deities whereas in Genesis, YHWH is glorified by the denial of other deities. The intent of Genesis 1:1-2n concerning "creation from nothing" is disputed.

Jon Levenson Jon Douglas Levenson is an American Hebrew Bible scholar who is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School. Education *A.B. ''summa cum laude'' in English, Harvard College, 1971. *A.M. Department of Near Eastern ...

, writing Jewish

biblical theology Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define. Description Although most speak of biblical theology as a particular method or emphasis within biblical studies, some scho ...

, asserts the creation stories in Genesis are not ''

ex nihilo (Latin for "creation out of nothing") is the doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act. It is a theistic answer to the question of how the universe comes to exist. It is in contrast to ''Ex nihilo ni ...

'', but rather a generation of order out of chaos, similar to other ANE creation myths; the order allows life to flourish and holds back chaos which brings violence and destruction, which has never been obliterated and is always breaking back in. He finds that the writers of the Hebrew Bible referred to God's actions at creation as a statement of faith in a God who could protect and maintain them, or who could also step back and allow chaos to rush back in, as God did with the Flood. He finds that the writers of the Hebrew Bible also held up God's actions at creation as a challenge for God to act, and a challenge for themselves to work in covenant with God in the ongoing work of generating and maintaining order. In this, the Bible story is dissimilar to both the Memphite story and the Babylonian in that the Hebrew Bible says the divine gift of working with God in creation is limited to humankind, meaning, for the Hebrews, humans alone are part of God's being. This sense of honoring or empowering humankind is not in any of the Mesopotamian or Canaanite myths.

The Book of Judges and violence against women

The Levite finds his concubine lying on the doorstep, James Tissot

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Clement, Tenancingo, Mexico State, Mexico04

Violence against women appears throughout the Old Testament. Many have attributed this to a

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...

society, while some scholars say the problem stems from the larger context of a male dominated culture. Women are treated in differing ways in the Bible. For example, the Book of Judges includes the judge

Deborah According to the Book of Judges, Deborah ( he, דְּבוֹרָה, ''Dəḇōrā'', " bee") was a prophetess of the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel and the only female judge mentioned in the Bible. Many scholars ...

, who was honored, as well as two of the most egregious examples in the Bible of violence against women:

’s daughter (Judg. 11:29–40) and the Levite’s concubine (Judg. 19). Scholar author

Phyllis Trible Phyllis Trible (born October 25, 1932) is a feminist biblical scholar from Richmond, Virginia, United States. Trible's works centres on the Hebrew Bible, and is considered by some in her field as a prominent influence on feminist biblical interpr ...

looks at these instances from the perspective of the victim making their

pathos Pathos (, ; plural: ''pathea'' or ''pathê''; , for "suffering" or "experience") appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is a term used most often in rhetoric (in which it is c ...

palpable, underlying their human reality, and the tragedy of their stories. Some feminist critiques of Judges say the Bible gives tacit approval to violence against women by not speaking out against these acts. O'Connor says women in the Old Testament generally serve as points of reference for the larger story, yet the book of Judges abounds with stories where women play the main role. O'Connor explains the significance of this, saying: "The period between the death of Joshua and the anointing of Saul...was a period of uncertainty and danger... lack of human leadership is viewed as disastrous, for when "every one does what is right in their own eyes, the results are awful". Beginning with the larger context, the decline of Israel during this period can be traced by following the deteriorating status of women and the violence done to them. The promise of life in the land turns into chaos and violence. The biblical authors see this as the effect of the absence of authority such as a king (Judges 21:25): violence against women occurs when government fails and social upheaval occurs.

Non-violence and Shalom

The term for peace in the Hebrew Bible is SH-L-M. It is used to describe prophetic vision and ideal conditions, and theologians have built on passages referencing it to advocate for various forms of

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

The violence of Hell

The concept of hell as a place of punishment in the afterlife arose in

Second Temple Judaism Second Temple Judaism refers to the Jewish religion as it developed during the Second Temple period, which began with the construction of the Second Temple around 516 BCE and ended with the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The Second Temple pe ...

and was further developed in the Christian tradition. Judaism subsequently moved away from the idea of an afterlife, yet there are Hebrew Bible verses indicating early Jewish thought did contain some belief in one. For example, Isaiah 26:14 which is part of

proto-Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

(chapters 1–39), speaks of "the dead who live no more" as being "punished and destroyed". And Daniel 12:2–3, which is generally believed to date to the second century BCE, asserts "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt." The word

Sheol Sheol ( ; he, ''Šəʾōl'', Tiberian: ''Šŏʾōl'') in the Hebrew Bible is a place of still darkness which lies after death. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the d ...

, seen as the resting place of departed spirits, appears 65 times in the Hebrew Bible, and the term "Tartaros" appears frequently in Jewish apocalyptic literature where it refers to a place where the wicked are punished. More evidence comes from Second Maccabees, written in the second century BCE, containing the dying words of seven pious Jewish brothers and their mother who have full confidence in their physical resurrection by Yahweh. By the first century CE, friction between the Sadducees and the Pharisees over this issue is documented by both the New Testament writers and Josephus giving evidence of its presence in Jewish thought. In the New Testament there are three words translated in English as ''Hell'': the Greek word ''

hades Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...

,'' which is a general equivalent of the Hebrew ''Sheol'', is used to identify the temporary place of the unsaved after death, and is not used in relationship to the lake of fire or eternal punishment. Secondly, there is ''

gehenna The Valley of Hinnom ( he, , lit=Valley of the son of Hinnom, translit=Gēʾ ḇen-Hīnnōm) is a historic valley surrounding Ancient Jerusalem, Ancient Jerusalem from the west and southwest. The valley is also known by the name Gehinnom ( ...

'' which is uniformly translated ''Hell'' and refers to eternal punishment; a literal interpretation includes violence. There is one occurrence of ''tartaros'' which appears in 2 Peter 2:4 and is considered equivalent to ''gehenna''. All the references to ''gehenna'' (except James 3:6) are spoken by Jesus himself. Jesus also taught that punishment in Hell would be by degrees (an idea Dante later developed) with one servant receiving a lighter beating than others, hypocrites receiving more condemnation than others, and so on. Different Greek terms and their differing translation and interpretation have produced controversy over the nature of Hell in Christian theology. In a famous excerpt from the book ''William Barclay: A Spiritual Autobiography '' titled "I am a convinced universalist", William Barclay argues that the Greek adjective ''aionios'' translated from Matthew 25:46 as ''eternal'' has been misapplied to the wrong noun as it can only properly be used to describe God not punishment. Steve Gregg quotes Douglas Jacoby as arguing that most modern exegetes reject the view ''aionios'' always represents an infinity in time. Josephus used the term to describe an imprisonment that lasted three years. As a result, Charles Seymour, philosopher at Notre Dames, asserts there are multiple views and differing doctrines of Hell within Christianity. For example, Aquinas' Hell differs from the Hell described by

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

in the ''Great Divorce''. Lewis's Hell is filled only with those who have chosen it rather than repent and submit to God. Jerry Walls in his book ''Hell: The logic of damnation'', looks at the 'traditional popular view', the 'modified orthodox view', the 'traditional Calvinist view', and others".

Miroslav Volf Miroslav Volf (born September 25, 1956) is a Croatian Protestant theologian and public intellectual and Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University. He previously taught at the Ev ...

justifies the doctrine of final judgment by saying it provides a necessary restraint on human violence. Tim Keller says it is right to be angry when someone brings injustice or violence to those we love and therefore a loving God can be filled with wrath because of love, not in spite of it. Oliver O'Donovan argues that without the judgment of God we would never see the love in redemption. According to Steve Gregg, there are three primary views of Hell in Christianity. First is Hell as the righteous condemnation of rebels and evildoers like Hitler where God will not mitigate the misery by any degree. This doctrine of hell as a place of never ending punishment is attributed to Augustine in the fourth century and later to Aquinas. For another group, Hell is simply death where the unbeliever dies and is not revived. Others interpret Hell as a temporary place where sin is purged through suffering that ultimately produces "

universal salvation In Christian theology, universal reconciliation (also called universal salvation, Christian universalism, or in context simply universalism) is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ulti ...

". Universal salvation was the view of the Eastern churches before 500 CE and of many of the early church fathers. After Augustine's views were adopted as the official dogma, these early leaders of the church were condemned and excommunicated. For example, the early church father Origen . 184 – c. 253"believed that after death there were many who would need prolonged instruction, the sternest discipline, even the severest punishment before they were fit for the presence of God. Origen did not eliminate Hell; he believed that some people would have to go to Heaven via Hell. He believed that even at the end of the day there would be some on whom the scars remained. Therefore, he did not believe in eternal punishment, but he did see the possibility of eternal penalty.” Origen believed this process would, in the end, produce universal salvation. After the church decided Augustine had sufficiently proven the existence of an eternal Hell for them to adopt it as official dogma, the Synod of Constantinople met in 543, and excommunicated the long dead Origen on 15 separate charges of anathema. Alice K. Turner says "To make sure that he was properly serving his time, subsequent synods in 553, 680, 787 and 869 damned him to eternal flames over and over again. Nevertheless, Origen's ideas persisted".

Richard Bauckham Richard John Bauckham (born 22 September 1946) is an English Anglican scholar in theology, historical theology and New Testament studies, specialising in New Testament Christology and the Gospel of John. He is a senior scholar at Ridley Hall, C ...

writes that,

"Until the nineteenth century, almost all Christian theologians taught the reality of eternal torment in Hell... Since 1800, this situation has entirely changed, and no traditional doctrine has been so widely abandoned as that of eternal punishment. Among the less conservative, universal salvation, either as hope or as dogma, is now so widely accepted that many theologians accept it virtually without argument."

Marcionism and supersessionism

As the early Christian Church began to distinguish itself from Judaism, the "Old Testament" and a portrayal of God in it as violent and unforgiving were sometimes contrasted rhetorically with certain teachings of Jesus to portray an

image of God The image of God (; ) is a concept and theological doctrine in Christianity, as well as in Judaism. This concept is a foundational aspect of Christian and Jewish understandings of human nature. It stems from the primary text in Genesis 1:27, which ...

as more loving and forgiving, which was framed as a new image.

Marcion of Sinope Marcion of Sinope (; grc, Μαρκίων ; ) was an early Christian theologian in early Christianity. Marcion preached that God had sent Jesus Christ who was an entirely new, alien god, distinct from the vengeful God of Israel who had created ...

, in the early second century, developed an early Christian dualist belief system that understood the god of the Old Testament and creator of the material universe, who he called the

Demiurge In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term ''demiurge''. Al ...

, as an altogether different being than the God about whom Jesus spoke. Marcion considered Jesus' universal

of compassion and love, who looks upon humanity with benevolence and mercy, incompatible with Old Testament depictions of divinely ordained violence. Accordingly, he did not regard the Hebrew scriptures as part of his scriptural canon. Marcion's teaching was repudiated by

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

in five treatises titled
Against Marcion
and Marcion was ultimately excommunicated by the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

Supersessionism

According to Michael Vlach, "It is undeniable that anti-Jewish bias has often gone hand-in-hand with the supersessionist view." Supersessionist thought is defined by "two core beliefs: (1) that the

nation of Israel Israel is a country in Western Asia. Israel may also refer to: Places *Land of Israel, the traditional Jewish name for the geographical region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River ** The Holy Land, a common appellation for rough ...

has forfeited its status as the people of God through disobedience; and (2) the New Testament church has therefore become the true Israel and inheritor of the promises made to the nation of Israel." It has three forms: punitive, economic, and/or structural supersessionism. Punitive supersessionism is the 'hard' form of supersessionism, and is seen as punishment from God. Economic supersessionism is a moderate form concerning God's economy: His plan in history to transfer the role of the "people of God" from an ethnic group to a universal group. The third form involves the New Testament having priority over the Old Testament by ignoring or replacing the original meaning of

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

passages. For example, within the early church, the rise of the use of Greek philosophical interpretation and allegory allowed inferences to be drawn such as the one

drew when he interpreted the statement "the older will serve the younger," (concerning the twin sons of

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...

and

Rebekah Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

( Genesis 25.23)), allegorically to mean that Israel would serve the church. There is no agreement on when supersessionism began. Tracing the roots of supersessionism to the New Testament is problematic since "there is no consensus" that supersessionism is a biblical doctrine at all. Vlatch says one's position on this is determined more by one's beginning assumptions than it is by any biblical

hermeneutic Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...

. Scholars such as W. C. Kaiser Jr. see the fourth century, after Constantine, as supersessionism's true beginning, because that is when a shift in Christian thought on eschatology took place. The church took its universally held traditional interpretation of Revelation 20:4-6 which is called

Millennialism Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future ...

, and its hope of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah on earth, centered in Jerusalem, ruling with the redeemed Israel, and replaced it with a "historicized and allegorized version, that set up the church" as the metaphorical Israel instead. Many Jewish writers trace anti-semitism, and the consequences of it in World War II, to this particular doctrine among Christians. Twentieth-century Jewish civil rights leader

Leonard P. Zakim 350px, The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River was named to honor Zakim's civil rights and race relations work in Boston. Leonard Paul "Lenny" Zakim (November 17, 1953 – December 2, 1999) was a Jewish-American re ...

asserts the accuracy of what theology professor Padraic O'Hare writes: "despite the many possible destructive consequences of supersessionism, supersessionism alone is not yet anti-semitism".

John Gager John Goodrich Gager Jr. (born 1937 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American scholar of Christianity. He retired from his position as William H. Danforth Professor of Religion at Princeton University in the spring of 2006. Biography The Gager f ...

makes a distinction between nineteenth century anti-Semitism and second century anti-Judaism, and many scholars agree, yet there are also many who see early anti-Judaism and later anti-Semitism as the same. sees the development of anti-semitism as part of the paradigm shift that occurred in early modernity when the new scientific focus on the Bible and history replaced the primacy of theology and tradition. Christopher Leighton associates anti-Judaism with the origins of Christianity, and anti-semitism with "modern nationalism and racial theories". Supersessionism has never been an official doctrine of the church, and has never been universally held. Millennialism was the traditional and more universally held view of the first two centuries, and has remained an aspect of Christian thought throughout its history. Theologian Steven D. Aguzzi says supersessionism was considered a ''"normative view"'' in the writings of the early church fathers, such as Justin, Barnabas and Origen, and has been a part of Christian thought for much of the church's history. Some

supersessionist Supersessionism, also called replacement theology or fulfillment theology, is a Christian theology which asserts that the New Covenant through Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ has superseded or replaced the Mosaic covenant exclusive to the Jews ...

Christians have sometimes focused on violence in the Hebrew Bible while ignoring or giving little attention to violence in the New Testament.

Sociological reflections and responses

Jože Krašovec describes the

ancient near east The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...

ern (ANE) context in which the stories and text of the Hebrew Bible originated, in which gods were identified with peoples, and the flourishing or destruction of a people were a reflection of the power of its god or gods. While the ancient Israelites conceived of their deity as one being in contrast to the polytheistic conception of its neighbors, they remained like other ANE peoples in considering themselves a single whole unit in relationship with god. From this foundation arose notions of the nation flourishing or failing together as a whole rather than individually, and the view that individual sin leads to communal suffering and

collective punishment Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member of that group, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends and neighbors of the perpetrator. Because ind ...

René Girard René Noël Théophile Girard (; ; 25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science whose work belongs to the tradition of philosophical anthropology. Girard was the aut ...

, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science says that, "desire is mimetic (i.e. all of our desires are borrowed from other people), that all conflict originates in mimetic desire (mimetic rivalry), that the scapegoat mechanism is the origin of sacrifice and the foundation of human culture, and religion was necessary in human evolution to control the violence that can come from mimetic rivalry, and that the Bible reveals these ideas and denounces the scapegoat mechanism."

Jacques Ellul Jacques Ellul (; ; January 6, 1912 – May 19, 1994) was a French philosopher, sociologist, lay theologian, and professor who was a noted Christian anarchist. Ellul was a longtime Professor of History and the Sociology of Institutions on t ...

says: "I believe that the biblical teaching is clear. It always contests political power. It incites to "counterpower," to "positive" criticism, to an irreducible dialogue (like that between king and prophet in Israel), to antistatism, to a decentralizing of the relation, to an extreme relativizing of everything political, to an anti-ideology, to a questioning of all that claims either power or dominion (in other words, of all things political)...Throughout the Old Testament we see God choosing what is weak and humble to represent him (the stammering Moses, the infant Samuel, Saul from an insignificant family, David confronting Goliath, etc.). Paul tells us that God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty..."

Genocide

Scholar

Nur Masalha Nur-eldeen (Nur) Masalha ( ar, نور مصالحة ''Nūr Maṣālḥa''; born 4 January 1957) is a Palestinian writer and academic. He is a historian of Palestine and formerly professor of religion and politics and director of the Centre for R ...

writes that the "

" of the extermination commandments has been "kept before subsequent generations" and served as inspirational examples of divine support for slaughtering enemies. Scholar Leonard B. Glick states that Jewish fundamentalists in Israel, such as

Shlomo Aviner Shlomo Chaim Hacohen Aviner (, born 1943/5703 as ''Claude Langenauer'') is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi. He is the rosh yeshiva (dean) of Ateret Yerushalayim (formerly Ateret Cohanim) and the rabbi of Beit El, an Israeli settlement. He is considere ...

, consider the

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

to be like biblical Canaanites, and that some fundamentalist leaders suggest that they "must be prepared to destroy" the Palestinians if the Palestinians do not leave the land. Arthur Grenke quotes historian, author and scholar

David Stannard David Edward Stannard (born 1941) is an American historian and Professor of American Studies at the University of Hawaii. He is particularly known for his book '' American Holocaust'' (Oxford University Press, 1992), in which he argues that Europea ...

: "Discussing the influence of Christian beliefs on the destruction of the Native peoples in the Americas, Stannard argues that while the New Testament's view of war is ambiguous, there is little ambiguity in the Old Testament. He points to sections in Deuteronomy in which the Israelite God, Yahweh, commanded that the Israelites utterly destroy idolaters whose land they sought to reserve for the worship of their deity (Deut 7:2, 16, and 20:16–17). ... According to Stannard, this view of war contributed to the ... destruction of the Native peoples in the Americas. It was this view that also led to the destruction of European Jewry. Accordingly, it is important to look at this particular segment of the Old Testament: it not only describes a situation where a group undertakes to totally destroy other groups, but it also had a major influence on shaping thought and belief systems that permitted, and even inspired, genocide.Grenke, Arthur, ''God, greed, and genocide: the Holocaust through the centuries'', New Academia Publishing, LLC, 2005, pp 17–18: "Discussing the influence of Christian beliefs on the destruction of the Native peoples in the Americas, Stannard argues that while the New Testament view of war is ambiguous, there is little such ambiguity in the Old Testament. He points to sections in Deuteronomy in which the Israelite God, Yahweh, commanded that the Israelites utterly destroy idolaters whose land they sought to reserve for the worship of their deity (Deut 7:2, 16, and 20:16-17). … According to Stannard, this view of war contributed to the .. destruction of the Native peoples in the Americas. It was this view that also led to the destruction of European Jewry. Accordingly, it is important to look at this particular segment of the Old Testament: it not only describes a situation where a group undertakes to totally destroy other groups, but it also had a major influence on shaping thought and belief systems that permitted, and even inspired, genocide." Arie Versluis says, "... indigenous populations have also appealed to the command (in Deut.7) in order to expel their colonizers. This is shown by the example of

Te Kooti Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (c. 1832–1893) was a Māori leader, the founder of the Ringatū religion and guerrilla fighter. While fighting alongside government forces against the Hauhau in 1865, he was accused of spying. Exiled to the Cha ...

...in the nineteenth century who viewed the Maori as the Israelites and the colonizers as the Canaanites." Sociologists Frank Robert Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn question "the applicability of the term enocideto earlier periods of

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, and the judgmental and moral loadings that have become associated with it." Since most societies of the past endured and practiced genocide, it was accepted as "being in the nature of life" because of the "coarseness and brutality" of life. Chalk and Jonassohn say the Old Testament contains cases they would consider genocide (if they were factual). Historian and author

William T. Cavanaugh William T. Cavanaugh (born 1962) is an American Roman Catholic theologian, known for his work in political theology and Christian ethics. Biography Cavanaugh received his Bachelor of Arts degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame in ...

says that every society throughout history has contained both hawks and doves. Cavanaugh and John Gammie say that laws like those in Deuteronomy probably reflect Israel's internal struggle over such differing views on how to wage

References

External links

from the

Testaments of the twelve patriarchs The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Oskan Armenian Ort ...

in "The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementia, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First." Volume 8 in The Ante-Nicean Fathers. Translated by Philip Schaff. 1885 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bible and violence, The Bible-related controversies

Violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...

Christianity and violence

Judaism and violence Violence in fiction