![]() ![]() ![]() The main body of the army consisted of infantry, assisted by a corps of chariots. In Late Bronze Age western Asia, including Palestine, war was the business of professional, mostly relatively small armies. Rather little is known about the development of warfare in ancient Israel. No one escaped their fate, except in Jericho’s case: the prostitute Rahab who had assisted Joshua’s spies (Joshua 2 6). Thus, when Joshua conquered Jericho and Ai, he placed a ban on these sites. The Hebrew technical term was herem, the ban of God imposed on the enemy, spelling disaster for Israel’s vanquished foes. Wars were cruel, including mass executions of prisoners and the total extermination of the enemy, men, women, and children. On such occasions Israel and its kings had transgressed the will of the Lord and were accordingly punished by defeat. ![]() On the reverse side, when a battle was lost, it was never the God of Israel who lost it. Also the story in 1 Samuel (see Samuel, Books of) about the Ark of the Covenant that was carried into battle against the Philistines relates to this idea of the holy war. The victory hymn of Deborah (see Deborah, Song of) provides a fine example of this ideology. Whenever Israel fought a righteous battle, it was not Israel which fought but the God of Israel. Wars were always considered holy in one way or another. In the Old Testament war was considered inseparable from human life. Approximate map of the Iron Age kingdom of Israel (blue) and kingdom of Judah (yellow), with their neighbors (tan) (9th century BCE) ![]()
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