Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
Violence in the Hebrew Bible; Between Text and Reception
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2020) 161-176
Keywords:
Rahab
;
Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Violence in the Bible
;
Wit and humor in the Bible
;
Gibeonites
Abstract:
There is a lot of violence in the book of Joshua. However, this does not seem to pose a problem for its authors and editors. The book is about God’s gift of the land to the people of Israel, and violence “simply happens.” However, according to Joshua 2 and 9, not all the inhabitants of the land are destroyed, as the laws in Deuteronomy demand. Both narratives are full of irony. In chapter 2, Rahab, the prostitute, provokes an oath from the spies (or her clients) that the Israelites will spare Rahab and her family. The text is full of ironic wordings and settings. In chapter 9, the Gibeonites deceive the Israelites by claiming to come from a far country. The setting is grotesque, and one gets the impression that the Israelites wanted nothing more than to believe the Gibeonites in order to spare them. Both Rahab and the Gibeonites know the Deuteronomistic law very well; indeed, it seems as if they know these laws better than the Israelites. Joshua 2 and Joshua 9 prove that some authors and editors seem to have had problems with the Torah’s harsh prescriptions regarding ban and warfare. However, as the Torah already had an authoritative status, they commented upon or even criticised these prescriptions implicitly and by way of irony.
DOI:
10.1163/9789004434684_010
URL:
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