The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Violence in the Hebrew Bible: Between Text and Reception collects the papers presented at the 2018 joint meeting of the Society for Old Testament Study in the Netherlands and Belgium, the British Society for Old Testament Study, and the Old Testament Society of South Africa, held in Groningen.

The nineteen essays, produced by an array of well-known scholars and lesser-known researchers, are divided into five sections. After a general part entitled "Violence in the Hebrew Bible" consisting of three essays (Jacques van Ruiten, "Religious Violence and the Hebrew Bible"; David J. A. Clines, "The Ubiquitous Language of Violence in the Hebrew Bible"; and Heather McKay, "Violence with Humour: Is This Possible in the Hebrew Bible?"), the following four sections are arranged according to the traditional structure of the Hebrew Bible, namely, Torah (Koert van Bekkum, "Violence in the Flood Narrative: Text and Reception"; Christo Lombaard, "The Murderous God of Genesis 22 [the Akedah] in Three Recent Public Discourses: A Popular Anti-Religious Book, a US Television Series, and a South African Poem Or: Criteria for Godhood and Faith in Secular Media"; Miracle Ajah, "Narratives of Violence in Numbers 25: Between Text and Reception"; and Jacques van Ruiten, "The Canaanites in Deuteronomy 7 and the Book of Jubilees"); Former Prophets (J. Cornelius de Vos, "Violence in the Book of Joshua"; Ntozakhe Simon Cezula, "Two Poles of the Exodus: Conquest as the Oppressive Pole in Joshua 6:21"; June Dickie, "Jael: Mighty Hero or Slippery Man-Slayer? Perspectives on the Interpretation of Judges 4–5, Then and Now"; Klaas Spronk, "Benjamin's Brides: Different Forms of Violence in Judges 21"; Paul Sanders, "God Appeased by Homicide? 2 Samuel 21:1–14 in View of Some Hittite and Assyrian Parallels"; and Izaak J. de Hulster, "Yhwh's War with Whom? Foreign Deities and the Biblical Portrayal of Kings"); Latter Prophets (Eric Peels, "Divine Tears over Divine Violence: God's Lament in the Oracle against Moab in Jeremiah 48"; Wim de Bruin, "Reading the Book of Micah as Mediation between Two Perspectives on the Enemy"; [End Page 161] and Wilhelm J. Wessels, "A Critical Reflection on the Presentation and Reception of Yahweh as a Violent Deity in the Book of Nahum"); and Writings (Matthew Lynch, "Scheming Violence in the Psalms"; Arie Versulius, "'Knock the Little Bastards' Brains Out': Reception History and Theological Interpretation of Psalm 137:9"; and Tsaurayi K. Mapfeka, "Esther 9 through the Lens of Diaspora: The Exegetical and Ethical Dilemmas of the Massacres in Susa and Beyond"). The volume is completed with two indexes, one of modern authors and a second of ancient sources, both biblical and extrabiblical. Each of the articles provides its own complete bibliography.

The collection of essays takes the reader not only through the texts but also through different methods and perspectives. Some texts are set in their contemporary context, whether ancient literature or apocryphal writings, while others are studied from the classical historical-critical method. The authors variously represent narrative, canonical, or semantic methods as well as reading the texts from more modern points of view such as liberation theology, postcolonial perspective, or a local South African interpretation of the text. Given the broad range of the contributions, one cannot summarize each of the articles in this review; I note some of the most interesting aspects of the whole.

One of the focuses of the collection is the reception history of the texts within the biblical corpus, down through the centuries, and in the present time. Several articles use Jubilees and 1 Enoch in comparisons. It is clear and well defended by several articles that the biblical text cannot be used to justify present-day violence. On this topic, Cezula makes a valid reflection on the Book of Joshua according to the categories of liberation theology. Using that paradigm, Cezula interprets this story as a warning to today's oppressed because they might become tomorrow...