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Genocide in the Hebrew Bible

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Several passages in the Hebrew Bible are interpreted as referring to genocide that God commanded the Israelites commit, notably the case of Amalek, and the Canaanites.

Biblical text

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In Exodus 17, Amalek is introduced as a partially nomadic group that attacked the Israelites following their departure from Egypt. Moses defeats Amalek by a miraculous victory.[1] In 1 Samuel 15:3, Israelite king Saul is told by God via the prophet Samuel: “Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe [kill and dedicate to YHWH—MZB] (3) all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses!”[2]

Deuteronomy 20:16–17 reads "From the cities of these peoples which Yhwh your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not let anything that breathes remain alive. You shall surely annihilate them (haḥărēm taḥărîmēm) ... just as Yhwh your God has commanded you so that they may not teach you to do any of the abominations that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against Yhwh your God".[3]

Many scholars interpret the book of Joshua as referring to what would now be considered genocide.[4] T. M. Lemos argues that the genocides commanded by God resemble some modern genocides in that they are committed as part of a struggle for land and other resources.[5]

Jewish interpretations

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Some Jewish scholars including Maimonides argued that the commandment to destroy Amalek was still active. Rashi wrote that "the throne of God is incomplete as long as one of Amalek’s descendants is alive", endorsing the persecution of Amalek across many generations.[1]

Christian interpretations

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Defense of a divine call for genocide is fairly common in contemporary academia, especially from evangelicals.[6][1] Christian Hofreiter writes that for Christians, the plain meaning of the Bible and modern ethical beliefs give rise to five contradictory premises: "(1) God is good. (2) The Bible is true. (3) Genocide is atrocious. (4) According to the Bible, God commanded and commended genocide. (5) A good being, let alone the supremely good Being, would never command or commend an atrocity."[7] Of early Christians, Marcion was most bothered by this dilemma, but his proposed resolution—denying that the God of the Old Testament was the same as the Christian God—was soon condemned as heretical by the Great Church.[8] Origen argued both that the texts were metaphorical and that they represented a different stage of development than the modern Christian church which was not an earthly kingdom.[9] Augustine suggested resolving the perceived contradiction through divine command theory—whatever God wills is good, thus (3) is false.[10] Some more modern interpretations reject the historicity of the biblical accounts without rejecting any of Hofreiter's five propositions.[11]

Criticism of Judaism and Christianity

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Although these verses were not a major feature of ancient pagan criticisms of Judaism and Christianity, some pagans highlighted these verses and argued, in Hofreiter's words, "if (2) is true, then (4) is also true; however, if (4) is true, then (1) is false because (3) and (5) are true; if, however, (1) is false, then Christianity is false". Christians at the time believed in biblical inerrancy and therefore (2) being false would have also invalidated their interpretation of Christianity.[8]

Justification for violence

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Further information: Genocide justification

"Pope Urban II (d. 1099) portrayed the Crusaders as Israel fighting the Amalekites; Martin Luther pointed to the Jews who persecuted Jesus as Amalek; Calvinists used the title in the defamation of Catholics, and White Settlers used it against Native American Indians."[1] Some perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide also identified Tutsi as Amalek.[12]

Anyone perceived by religious Jews to be an enemy of the Jewish people may be branded Amalek.[1] The biblical story was cited by Israeli leaders to justify their actions in Nakba[13] and the Israel-Hamas war that many have characterized as genocide.[14] Netanyahu's Amalek reference was cited in South Africa's genocide case against Israel.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Kugler 2021.
  2. ^ texts, Marc Brettler notes the moral imperative of speaking out against injustice and abhorrent violence even in sacred (25 March 2024). "Destroying Amalek | Center for Jewish Studies". jewishstudies.duke.edu. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  3. ^ Lemos 2016, p. 27.
  4. ^ Lemos 2016, pp. 27–28.
  5. ^ Lemos 2016, p. 46.
  6. ^ Hofreiter 2018, p. 251.
  7. ^ Hofreiter 2018, p. 247.
  8. ^ a b Hofreiter 2018, p. 248.
  9. ^ Hofreiter 2018, pp. 248–249.
  10. ^ Hofreiter 2018, p. 249.
  11. ^ Hofreiter 2018, pp. 249–250.
  12. ^ van ’t Spijker, Gerard (2017). "Focused on Reconciliation: Rwandan Protestant Theology After the Genocide". Transformation. 34 (1): 66–74. ISSN 0265-3788.
  13. ^ Rabinovich, Silvana (2022). "Victims and Victimizers 2: Amalek, the Canaanites, and the Nakbah". Biblical Figures in Israel's Colonial Political Theology. Springer International Publishing: 87–113. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-03822-8_6.
  14. ^ El-Affendi, Abdelwahab (18 January 2024). "The Futility of Genocide Studies After Gaza". Journal of Genocide Research: 1–7. doi:10.1080/14623528.2024.2305525.
  15. ^ "Why a biblical story is central to South Africa's ICJ case against Israel". ABC News. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2024.

Sources

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  • Flannery, Frances (2021). ""I will be an enemy to your enemies": the genocidal ideal in the Hebrew Bible and its legacy". Religion and Violence in Western Traditions: Selected Studies. Routledge Studies in Religion. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-40908-6.
  • Hofreiter, Christian (2018). Making Sense of Old Testament Genocide: Christian Interpretations of Herem Passages. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-881090-2.
  • Jacobs, Steven Leonard (2021). The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Mass Atrocity, and Genocide. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-47190-8.
  • Kelley, Shawn (2016). "Genocide, the Bible, and Biblical Scholarship". Brill Research Perspectives in Biblical Interpretation. 1 (3). Brill: 1–71. doi:10.1163/24057657-12340003. ISSN 2405-7649.
  • Kugler, Gili (2021). "Metaphysical Hatred and Sacred Genocide: The Questionable Role of Amalek in Biblical Literature". Journal of Genocide Research. 23 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1080/14623528.2020.1827781.
  • Lemos, T. M. (2016). "Dispossessing Nations: Population Growth, Scarcity, and Genocide in Ancient Israel and Twentieth-Century Rwanda". Ritual Violence in the Hebrew Bible. Oxford University Press. pp. 27–66. ISBN 978-0-19-024958-8.

Further reading

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  • Trimm, Charlie (2022). The Destruction of the Canaanites: God, Genocide, and Biblical Interpretation. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4674-6326-3.</ref>
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