CB 39: The Hebrew Bible
Fall 2016
Lecture 14: Idolatry and Intolerance,
Holy War and Holy People, Religious Warfare
Lecture by Matthew Hass
Assigned Passages:
 Destroy Canaanites, Amaleqites, and those who worship foreign gods: Deuteronomy 7:1-4, 16; 12:1-5;
12:29-31; 13:13-19; 17:2-7; 20:10-20; 25:17-19
 Exceptions to the pattern: Deuteronomy 2:26-30; 21:10-14
 Other passages: Exodus 17:8-16; 23:27-33; 34:11-17; Leviticus 18; Numbers 31; 33: 50-56; Joshua
13:13, 16:10; 23:1-13; Judges 1:17-3:6; 1 Samuel 15; 1 Kings 9:16, 20-2
Those who argue that the chosenness of Israel inevitably leads to hatred of and
violence against non-Israelites often do not reckon with the fact that the Hebrew
Bible envisions a tri-partite division of humanity into the elect, the non-elect, and
the anti-elect (these terms were coined by Dr. Joel Kaminsky).
A. The elect is Israel, who stands in a covenantal relationship with its God,
mediated by observance of the commandments. It is crucial to note that key
texts in Deuteronomy stress the mysteriousness of Israel’s election. They did
not do anything to deserve this special status and should not think they are
somehow inherently superior to other nations. (See Deut. 7:6-8; 9:4-7).
B. The vast majority of foreign individuals and nations are members of the nonelect. They are not doomed for destruction. Many biblical texts view nonIsraelites quite positively. Some examples:
1. Abimelech, King of Gerar, is portrayed as more pious and God-fearing
than Abraham (Genesis 20).
2. Deuteronomy and Leviticus contain repeated injunctions to “love”
resident aliens and protect them (e.g. Deut. 10:19 and 24:17-22;
Lev.19:33-34).
3. The anonymous author of Third Isaiah presents a view of foreigners
(Isaiah 56:3-7) that is more positive than his view of certain sinful
Israelites (Isaiah 65:11-16).
The anti-elect are those individuals and nations that are doomed to annihilation.
Primarily Canaanites and Amalekites (but cf. Midianites in Numbers 31). The
Israelites are commanded to kill man, woman, and child in a brutal military
campaign. Programmatic statement in Deuteronomy 7:
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CB 39: The Hebrew Bible
Fall 2016
When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to
enter and occupy and he clears away many nations before you…and when
the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you
must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them
no mercy. Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons
or taking their daughters for your sons, for that would turn away your
children from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord
would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But this is
how you must deal with them: break down their altars, smash their pillars,
hew down their sacred poles, and burn their idols with fire. For you are a
people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of
all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deut.
7:1-6).
Note:
1. Strange sequence of clauses. Why is there a potential for intermarriage with
Canaanites if they no longer exist?
2. Annihilation meant to prevent future lapses into idolatry.
Most scholars are in agreement that anti-Canaanite texts are more imaginative than
historical. Several factors contribute to this conclusion:
1. Conquest of Canaan prescribed in Deuteronomy and carried out in Joshua
(according to Joshua 10. But cf. Joshua 9, 13:1-7, 16:10 and 17:12-13 where
other groups of Canaanites are said to survive) is contradicted by the
opening chapters of Judges.
2. There is no archaeological evidence for a large invasion of Canaan by an
outside population around 1300-1200 BCE.
3. Specific sites like Jericho do not support invasion/conquest.
4. MBS suggests an immigration model (from within Canaan or without), a
peasant revolt model, or a gradual emergence model.
5. Note: This removes the moral problem from history, but not from the text.
Membership in the anti-elect does not always correspond with ethnic boundaries:
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CB 39: The Hebrew Bible
Fall 2016
1. An Israelite named Achan and his family receive the same treatment as the
anti-elect when they violate God’s commands concerning warfare (Joshua
7).
2. Deuteronomy 13:13-19: An Israelite city that is seduced to idolatry must be
completely destroyed and all its inhabitants killed. In other words, it is
treated like a Canaanite city (compare Deuteronomy 7). Interesting parallels
in this chapter to Neo-Assyrian vassal treaties (see notes in the JSB).
3. Some MBS therefore suggest that texts regarding the anti-elect are
concerned with stifling internal dissent during a period of instability
(perhaps opposition to Josiah’s reforms?)
Other texts in the Torah envision the removal of the Canaanites differently than
Deuteronomy. Two examples:
1. Exodus 34: 10He said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I
will work such wonders as have not been wrought on all the earth or in any
nation; and all the people b‐ who are with you ‐b shall see how awesome are
the LORD's deeds which I will perform for you. 11Mark well what I command
you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the
Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12Beware of making a
covenant with the inhabitants of the land against which you are advancing,
lest they be a snare in your midst. 13No, you must tear down their altars,
smash their pillars, and cut down their sacred posts; 14for you must not
worship any other god, because the LORD, whose name is Impassioned, is
an impassioned God. 15You must not make a covenant with the inhabitants
of the land, for they will lust after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and
invite you, and you will eat of their sacrifices. 16And when you take wives
from among their daughters for your sons, their daughters will lust after
their gods and will cause your sons to lust after their gods.
A. Note conceptual and terminological parallels to Deuteronomy.
B. Note key difference: God Himself will drive out the Canaanites by
“working wonders.” (Allusion to “plagues” in Egypt?). The
Israelites’ only active role is to destroy the cult sites.
C. What is the relationship between this text and Deuteronomy 7?
2. Leviticus 18: 24Do not defile yourselves in any of those ways, for it is by
such that the nations that I am casting out before you defiled themselves.
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CB 39: The Hebrew Bible
Fall 2016
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Thus the land became defiled; and I called it to account for its iniquity,
and the land spewed out its inhabitants. 26But you must keep My laws and
My rules, and you must not do any of those abhorrent things, neither the
citizen nor the stranger who resides among you; 27for all those abhorrent
things were done by the people who were in the land before you, and the
land became defiled. 28So let not the land spew you out for defiling it, as it
spewed out the nation that came before you.
A. Inhabitants are cast out by actions performed by the land itself.
B. It seems that according to H the land is already empty by the time the
Israelites reach Sinai.
C. The “expulsion” of the Canaanites serves as a warning to the
Israelites. (Cf. Ezekiel 22—same moral sins contribute to the
expulsion of the Israelites when they are exiled to Babylonia).
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