Holy War in Ancient Israel

by John H. Yoder, Marva J. Dawn (Translator), Gerhard von Rad

From the earliest days of Israel's existence as a people, holy war was a sacred institution, undertaken as a cultic act of a religious community. The concept of holy war, an intriguing and sometimes disturbing theme in the Old Testament, is given its most articulate expression in this classic study by the distinguished German scholar Gerhard von Rad. For Israel, the most important feature of holy war was the demand for faith in Yahweh's saving acts. However, von Rad argues, it was not Yahweh alone who acted; rather, because they envisioned Yahweh fighting on their behalf the Israelites themselves were inspired - and obliged - to fight even harder. In this regard, the actual events differed vastly from the picture given by the biblical narratives, which downplay and often exclude the human factor and stress the exclusive warlike action of Yahweh, thus equating holy war with absolute miracle.

Genres: Theology

Paperback

First published May 1, 1996

Reviews

[Zeke Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn’t sure what his thesis would be, turns out “holy war” is more of a purely defensive, sometimes passive waiting for the human-less miracle of God. Though obviously in reality human activity and fighting takes place.

Good to go through von Rad since he appears to be well-respected

[Michael Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

German scholar von Rad's short, thought-provoking work was unique for its time, and led to further research on the meaning of the biblical "holy war," to the point that, although considered a "classic," its findings have been superseded by more recent works. He discusses the concept of the holy war in biblical Israel. The weakness in his work is over-relying on the form-critical method in an effort to sharpen his findings: but in this reviewer's opinion, it has just the opposite effect, obscuring some otherwise germane remarks about an interesting subject.

[Ralph Orr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding bibliography