War, Memory, and National Identity in the Hebrew Bible

Jacob L. Wright

doi:10.1017/9781108691512

The Hebrew Bible is permeated with depictions of military conflicts that have profoundly shaped the way many think about war. Why does war occupy so much space in the Bible? In this book, Jacob Wright offers a fresh and fascinating response to this question: War pervades the Bible not because ancient Israel was governed by religious factors (such as 'holy war') or because this people, along with its neighbors in the ancient Near East, was especially bellicose. The reason is rather that the Bible is fundamentally a project of constructing a new national identity for Israel, one that can both transcend deep divisions within the population and withstand military conquest by imperial armies. Drawing on the intriguing interdisciplinary research on war commemoration, Wright shows how biblical authors, like the architects of national identities from more recent times, constructed a new and influential notion of peoplehood in direct relation to memories of war, both real and imagined. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

‘The book is a welcome follow-up to the author’s previous volume (David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory) [Cambridge, 2014] … The highlight of the work, however, is its thoroughgoing interdisciplinary character. Wright has provided an exemplar of the interdisciplinary study that should mark today’s engagements with biblical warfare texts. This interdisciplinarity includes engagement with political theory and philosophy, sociology, anthropology, classical Greek literature, and international law. Readers of this monograph will find both a compelling technical approach to specific biblical texts and an invitation to a broader social and cultural conversation much needed in our time.’

Brad E. Kelle Source: Society Of Biblical Literature

‘This monograph is impressively erudite as well as densely written, citing widely from a plethora of ancient and more recent sources. For all this, it is also readable and enjoyable.’

Johanna Stiebert Source: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

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Contents

War, Memory, and National Identity in the Hebrew Bible
pp i-ii
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War, Memory, and National Identity in the Hebrew Bible - Title page
pp iii-iii
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Copyright page
pp iv-iv
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Dedication
pp v-vi
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Contents
pp vii-x
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Preface
pp xi-xii
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Introduction
pp 1-16
Wellhausen, War, and the Creation of a Nation
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Part I - Refugee Memories: Negotiating Relations and Borders with Neighboring States
pp 17-48
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1 - Passages to Peace
pp 19-36
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2 - Edom as Israel’s Other
pp 37-48
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Part II - Kinship and Commandment: The Transjordanian Tribes and the Conquest of Canaan
pp 49-106
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3 - Mapping the Promised Land
pp 51-61
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4 - The Nation’s Transjordanian Vanguard
pp 62-78
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5 - A Nation Beyond Its Borders
pp 79-93
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6 - Kinship, Law, and Narrative
pp 94-106
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Part III - Rahab: An Archetypal Outsider
pp 107-166
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7 - Between Faith and Works
pp 111-128
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8 - The Composition of the Rahab Story
pp 129-147
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9 - Rahab’s Courage and the Gibeonites’ Cowardice
pp 148-166
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Part IV - Deborah: Mother of a Voluntary Nation
pp 167-252
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10 - A Prophet and Her General
pp 169-181
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11 - A Poetic War Monument
pp 182-193
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12 - A National Anthem for the North
pp 194-209
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13 - Women and War Commemoration
pp 210-221
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14 - Jael’s Identities
pp 222-236
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Conclusions
pp 237-252
A Movable Monument and a Portable Homeland
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Bibliography
pp 253-268
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Index of Authors’ Names
pp 269-272
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Index of Biblical References
pp 273-277
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Index of Literary References
pp 278-279
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