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The Cherem

The Cherem. An Introduction to the Divine War in Deuteronomy Dr. Rolan Monje, 2018. Holy War concept. N ot a simple one fraught with difficulties U psetting modern sensitivities Potentially emotion-laden because of example of violence done in the name of religion

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The Cherem

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  1. The Cherem An Introduction to the Divine War in Deuteronomy Dr. Rolan Monje, 2018

  2. Holy War concept • Not a simple one fraught with difficulties • Upsetting modern sensitivities • Potentially emotion-laden because of example of violence done in the name of religion • I hesitate to use the term “holy war” because, as will become obvious, this sort of terminology never appears in the Old Testament (better to use Yahweh war or Divine War)

  3. Articles • John J. Collins, “The Zeal of Phinehas: The Bible and the Legitimation of Violence,” in Journal of Biblical Literature 122 (2003) 3–21. • Terence E. Fretheim, “Theological Reflections on the Wrath of God in the Old Testament,” in Horizons in Biblical Theology 24 (2002) 14–17. • Terence E. Fretheim, “God and Violence in the Old Testament,” in Word and World, vol. 24, no. 41 (2004). • J.P.U. Lilley, “Understanding the Herem,” in Tyndale Bulletin 44.1 (1993) 169-177.

  4. The command to destroy • [7:1-3]    When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally [Hebrew ch-r-m]. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.

  5. Grammatical Analysis • I translated 7:2 literally from the Hebrew and broke it down into clauses, with indentation based on priority

  6. Observations • Verbal clause 1 seems to be the main clause. It contains the main verbs nakah (=strike/smite/defeat) and charam (=ban/destroy), the latter’s root being used twice. Hebrew verbs when used twice (here, consecutively) carry more force. • The adverbial clause gives the setting for the main clause, verbal clause 1. Deuteronomy 7:1 serves a similar function, for temporal context. • Verbal clauses 2 and 3, which essentially say the same thing, support verbal clause 1, shedding light on it. Likewise the next verse, 7:3; it reinforces the no-treaty-or-alliance attitude.

  7. Comparison

  8. Root of Cherem/Charam • The Hebrew verb charam in 7:2 (also in 20:17) deserves special attention. • It means “to destroy, exterminate, banish.” The verb occurs in war narratives and carries the sense of devoting something to destruction. • The noun form cherem (=devoted destruction, ban) could well be described as carrying out a curse.

  9. Root of Cherem/Charam • The meaning of the root and the usage of the cognate verb show that the word cherem denotes the fact of ‘separating’ something, of taking it out of the profane use and reserving it for a sacred use; alternatively, it may stand for the thing which is ‘separated’ in this way, forbidden to man and consecrated to God. –Ronald De Vaux

  10. Cherem in Josh 7 justifiable? • It is possible the stolen property would have inflicted Israel with some epidemic disease (see Judges 6:17, 24). Thus it had to be burned with “purifying fire.” • To a large degree, the guilt was communal. In all likelihood, Achan’s family knew of the violation. “In biblical times,” maintains Bruce Waltke, “families acted more as a single unit under the headship of the father than in western cultures.”

  11. N.B. Since the battles are of Yahweh, it is fitting for us to correct popular terminology. It would be better for us henceforth to use the more correct term “divine war” instead of “holy war,” which is actually not used in Scripture.

  12. Notes on the command • The command was strictly religious in nature. • The command constituted only a small part of a broad narrative. • The command in Deuteronomy was unique.

  13. The ban upon Canaanite peoples was a rare one-time action. The situation was itself unique—connected to one historical event, the settling in the Promised Land.

  14. The indicated Canaanite peoples were really corrupted. Albright mentions that the Canaanite Baalism was much cruder and more debased than the religions of Egypt and Mesopotamia. His depiction of some of the acts of Canaanite gods and goddesses in From the Stone Age to Christianity (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1946, pp. 175-79) clearly bears this out

  15. Idols of Baal and Asherah

  16. Child Sacrifice to Molech

  17. 5. The timing of the command shows mercy. • God had told Abram about the exodus from Egypt and the conquest of Canaan. • [Genesis 15:13, 16] Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there…In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

  18. 6. The command was not against a particular race, but against idolatry. 7. The command was not about all-out reckless murder. • The command to “completely destroy” was qualified in the rest of the Deuteronomy 7: • General Statements (What) 7:1, 22 – “When the Lord… drives out before you many nations…” 7:2 – “When you have defeated them…” • Qualifying Statements (How) 7:17b – Israel asks, “How can we drive them out?” 7:22b – The reply: “You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once.” 7:23 – “But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.” 7:24 – “No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them.”

  19. 8. The texts convey an uncompromising attitude. • Note uses of “do not pity”: • executing of one’s relative or friend (13:9) • executing of a person brought back from the city of refuge (19:13) • executing of a false witness who has not actually committed a crime (19:21) • cutting off of the hand of a woman accused of immodesty (25:12)

  20. Review: Notes on cheremin Deuteronomy • The command was strictly religious in nature. • The command constituted only a small part of a broad narrative. • The command in Deuteronomy was unique. • The indicated Canaanite peoples were really corrupted. • The timing of the command shows mercy. • The command was not against a particular race, but against idolatry. • The command was not about all-out reckless murder. • The texts convey an uncompromising attitude.

  21. Contemporary Relevance • We must battle against inaccurate views of God. • We must battle against reckless violence. • We must battle for personal morality. • We must battle to recognize God’s sovereignty.

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