Violence of God in the Old Testament: Exposing the Problem

2. Violence of God in the Old Testament: Exposing the Problem

4. “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” • Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006, p. 51.

7. Old Testament Portrayals of violence: • Humans behave violently— • Sometimes the text frowns on this: Cain killing Abel • Virtuous violence is celebrated and praised in the text • Jael slaying King Sisera with a tent peg through his temple (Judges 4-5). This is celebrated by the text—Deborah’s song. Jael’s actions are praised. • David/Goliath (1 Samuel 17). Not only were David’s actions portrayed as virtuous but as empowered by God. • Such violence, though may be critiqued by readers, attributing both the action and praise to human sin.

8. Virtuous Violence? • God behaves violently in mass killings • Flood narrative in which God “depopulates the planet” (Seibert, Violence of Scripture, 33) Gen 6.9-8.22 • “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” (Gen 6.5) • Sodom & Gomorrah—Gen 19.12-26 • “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous…” (Gen 18.20) • Exodus: God destroys plants, animals, kills every firstborn, and annihilates the entire Egyptian army (Exod 7.14-12.32; 14.26-31) • Egyptians had enslaved and oppressed Israelites • God’s violence is explicitly praised—Exodus 15

9. Virtuous Violence? • God behaves violently in individual killings • Er and Onan (Gen 38.6-10) • Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10.1-2) • Uzzah (2 Sam 6.6-7 [8-9]) • God sanctions violence • Laws to enforce the death penalty for the following: • Kidnapping (Exod 21.16) • Adultery (Lev 20.10) • Cursing a parent (Exod 21.17) • Working on the Sabbath (Exod 31.15) • God sanctions war on Midianites (Num 31.2), Amalekites (1 Sam 15.2)—divine judgment d/t their transgressions

10. God Sanctions Genocide • Command to total annihilate 6 Canaanites nations • Directives: Deut 7.1-5, 17-26; 9.1-6; 12.1-3; 20.16-17 • Implementation: (ḥerem)Joshua 6.17, 21; 10.1; 11.11, 12, 20, 21-22; 1 Sam 15.3

11. God Behaves Violently against Israel • Setting: Moab, just prior to entering the land of Canaan. • Context: Some Israelites begin having sex with Moabite women and worshiping their gods (Num 25.2) The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. (Num 25.4-5)

12. What does this “virtuous” Divine violence DO? • Does it lead to violence? • Has been used to justify our own violent behavior (war, colonialism, slavery, violence against women and children …) • It creates difficulty for those who look to the Bible for moral guidance, crossing purposes with Christian values as it emphasizes: • Retribution rather than forgiveness • Bigotry rather than religious tolerance • Domination rather than servanthood • It raises serious ethical and moral questions about the character of God: How do we harmonize the warrior God of Israel with the God of love incarnate in Jesus?

13. Approaches to Interpreting Divine Violence Two categories of responses: • The Bible precisely reflects God’s true nature, and God actually did what the Bible claims. • Images of a violent God are either non- literal or not accurate.

14. 1. The Bible precisely reflects God’s true nature, and God actually did what the Bible claims. • Ignore offensive violent texts in Scripture • Trust God While Acknowledging Unanswered Questions • Defend God’s Violent Behaviour • Divine violence is justified by the moral depravity of certain people or groups • Violence (e.g. annihilation of Canaanites)was for the greater good of maintaining Israel’s religious purity • Divine violence reflects progressive revelation (God’s accommodation to the limitations of finite and fallen humans) • The Bible is engaged in a conversation about the nature of God. It contains different—and sometimes mutually exclusive—ideas about the character of God.

15. 2. Images of a violent God are either non- literal or not accurate. God is not Violent • OT stories portraying violence may have a spiritual rather than literal meaning • Joshua uses ancient conventional warfare rhetoric depicting total devastation in the exaggerated manner of the Ancient Near East. Hearers from that cultural context knew this was massive hyperbole and not literally true. • Stories about the genocidal conquest and other portraits of divine violence were written long after the events that they portray. They served a polemical function: • In their earliest form in King Josiah’s time they may have served as a dramatic narrative portrait of what it meant to be exclusively devoted to God. • In their final form, completed in the defeat and humiliation of exile, and in the time that followed as people dominated by various world empires, these texts may have been a subversive against empire

16. 2. Images of a violent God are either non- literal or not accurate. God is not Violent (cont.) • Humans had a progressive understanding of God. Their interpretations in the OT were true as they understood them, but their understanding was flawed; they spiritualized war, suffering, and natural disasters and wrongly attributed them to God. Therefore, not every violent image of God in the Bible portrays God accurately.

17. Problem

18. Where Do We Go From Here? • Some principles for interpretation: • Read with God’s purposes of creation in mind: Genesis 1.1-2.4a is normative for our interpretation of violence in the Old Testament because of its position at the beginning of the biblical canon. • Read with a sense of God’s overall mission in mind—to restore creation to life-giving right-relationships • Read with a hermeneutic of love. Love is central to who the God of the OT is and who God calls his people to be: “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (OT mantra) Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deut 6.4-5) “Love your neighbour as yourself (Lev 19.18)

19. Where Do We Go From Here? • Some principles for interpretation: • When our interpretation of a text is inconsistent with the principles above, for example in these portrayals of God sanctioning or perpetrating violence, we need to see if there is another non-violent interpretation • Look for internal critiques of violence

20. Example 1: Internal Critique of Violence 1 Kings 18—19 Elijah’s slaughter of the prophets of Baal (18.40) When Elijah flees in response to what he has done, God questions him (19.9ff). The text also portrays an alternate, peaceful method of dealing with an unjust regime in the story of Obadiah (18.4). Hosea 1.4 explicitly condemns this massacre (Jehu, king of Israel, and his house would be punished)

21. Example 2: Internal Critique of Violence Esther: after the plot to kill the Jews was exposed, an edict was issued: The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies. (Esther 8.11) So when the fateful day arrived: The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. (Esther 9:5-6) Then, at Esther’s request, the killing was extended another day, resulting in an additional 300 casualties (Esther 9.13-15). This was followed by “a day of feasting and joy” (Esther 9.18)

22. Where Do We Go From Here? • Some principles for interpretation: • When our interpretation of a text is inconsistent with the principles above, for example in these portrayals of God sanctioning or perpetrating violence, we need to see if there is another non-violent interpretation • Look for internal critiques of violence (see examples) • Look for dissonant (non-violent) voices in the text (example)

23. Example: dissonant (non-violent) voices in the text “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.” Exodus 23:27-33

24. Where Do We Go From Here? Faith Seeking Understanding Trust God while acknowledging unanswered questions