War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence

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Summary: This book is extremely informative, but often hard to read.
Review: A reader seeking a resolution of the ethical contradiction implicit in a just and loving God who demands the total annihilation of those that oppose his arbitrarily adopted people groups will probably be disappointed. She states that such an inquiry is beyond the range of this book. She does, however, offer a complex identification of the various implementations of warfare in relation to God, and she suggests some well justified theories as to their particular sources and cultural contexts that gave rise to each of the trajectories. The material for engaging in an exploration of the ethical paradox of the Merciful God versus the Destroyer God exists in this book, and the library of reference material furnishes a field for beginning an inquiry of this kind. This book helps us in our study of the Old Testament because it supplies a means of identifying various literary systems of violent passages and a method of analyzing these systems. It also provides an extremely rich portrayal of the warring facets of Hebrew culture that is helpful in understanding the culture as a whole. I personally learned a great deal not only about the Old Testament's approach to violence but also about intensely academic and technical writing in general. All of this knowledge will be useful to my study of the Old Testament as well as any further contact with similar writing.

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Summary: The book on this subject
Review: Susan Niditch has produced an invaluable study of a vital subject. This is not, however, primarily a book about the ethics of war, which draws upon the resources of Hebrew Bible to address a modern topic. The subtitle is, therefore, a bit misleading. This is a thorough examination of biblical texts on warfare using Niditch's own reformulation of tradition-history. It functions as a brilliant updating of the work of Gerhard von Rad on Holy War. She is able to bring the developments of the last several decades, including some contemporary literary observations which combine well with her tradition-history perspective, into the discussion. To her credit, Niditch does not hesitate to challenge and correct the venerable von Rad when necessary. Of course, the end product has much to say about the problem of war in our own time. It does so indirectly, but not inadvertantly. Those hoping for a discussion of the ethics of war need to be prepared for a deep dive into the Hebrew Bible and a long journey through it before coming up for air. Nevertheless, it is a journey well worth the effort.