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O'Brien - Divine Warrior
O'Brien - Divine Warrior
O'Brien - Divine Warrior
101
' 102 Challenging Prophetic Metaphor
. d
.th G0 d's pending wrath. These folks want nothing of punitive
tbem wi th.
ers and no mg o
f a punitive God, and they often leave traditional Chripr~ach.
. h h
t away from both. Whtle umans ave a1ways feared
stianity
m or er to geany people today beheve . th
at g
1b 1 . 1
o a v10 ence
.
1s on the
War
.
anct
bloodshed , m . d' . . dh nse anct
1 held religious behefs fue1 1v1s1on an atred. Many peo 1
that strong Y . f f . . P e are
.d f ar and violence and are afrrud o any aspect o rehg1ous langua
afrai o w . . . h . ge that
the potential to enflame rehg1ous zeal agrunst t e enemy. Fmally, many
has . . hi h . peo-
le see anger itself as a negative emotion, somet ng t at rational and controU
p h . 1· If . ed
people can and should eradicate from t. eir 1~es_. anger 1s no~ a good thing for
humans, then certainly it has no place 1n Christian understandmg of God.
For those who read the Prophetic Books and pay special attention to the
fate of women, the problems of the image of God as warrior run deeper still.
ln the prophetic depictions of the punishment that God the Warrior will exact,
the one who receives punishment is usually described in feminine terms:
when Judah, Israel, or the nations are slated for destruction, they become
women, and the language used for their devastation is that of graphic sexual
assault. God's vengeance ori those who oppose the divine will is portrayed as
a warrior's sexual humiliation of a woman.
If a reader does not condone violence, war, and/or violence against women,
what value can come from reading texts that describe a deity as angry and
vengeful? How can feminists value the image of a Rambo-like, testosterone-
crazed God who threatens to destroy all who challenge bis honor and his
absolute control? ln a world such as ours, the stakes for reading these texts
seem very high.
Precisely because the stakes are so high and because our own issues are so
pressing, it seems appropriate to pay careful attention to the contours of these
particular texts before we consider our response to them. How do the
Prophetic Books depict the Divine Warrior? How do these texts work? What
ideologies inform them?
There is no escaping the image of God the Avenging Warrior in the Prophets.
~e s;:aces in Isa~ah, in J eremiah, in Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Am:os-to ~~
0
od's puni shm ent on their unfaithfulness. God is angry not just a
unce G
ann0 . but a Iot, in the Prophets.
Iittle bit,
Else whe re in the Cano n
ior. ln orde r
th parts of the bibli cal cano n also desc ribe Yahweh as a warr
O e;
to se
the distinct way that hthe Prop . .
hets use this image, a look at the Warrior
.
. the Hebrew Bible as a w o1e 1s 1nstruct1ve.
his suc-
Aline of scholars train ed at Harv ard unde r Fran k Moore Cross and
10
. This "Har-
cessors has argued that the Divi ne Warrior moti f evolved over time
in texts dated
vard school" maintains that the first stage of the moti f is reflected
ayed as bat-
to the earliest periods of Israe l's history. Here, the Warrior is portr
t the vocabu-
tling other gods and personified cosmic forces. These texts adop
and challenge
lary of the mythologies of othe r ancient near Eastern cultures
s by po~i ting Yahw eh's ultim ate pow er over all othe r powe i's. 1
their claim
formed as
ln both Canaanite and Baby lonia n mythologies, the world was
the god Baal
the result of combat betw een gods. ln the Canaanite account,
the Babylon-
fought and defeated Yam (Sea) to create orde r in the world; in
ian myth, the god Mar duk slew the chao s monster Tiamat
and created the
uage in praise
heaven and the earth from her body. Biblical texts adapt this lang
from com-
ofYahweh. Exodus 15 ·and Deut. 33, for example, seem to draw
who tri-
mon ancient Near East ern mythological motifs to portray a deity
s of dragons
umphs against cosmic forces; in Ps. 74, Yahweh breaks the head
and of the beast Leviathan; and in Ps. 89 Yahweh roles the sea
and crushes the
mythical Rahab.
ars in bibli-
Toe second stage in the deve lopm ent of the warrior moti f appe
cal texts written during the monarchy. Here, the Divine Warr
ior supports the
that Yah-
power of the Davidic king. For example, Ps. 18 recounts the ways
med with
Weh strengthens the king for battle. Whe n the king was overwhel
Woes ' Yah weh desce nded, from on high to grant dehv · erance: "H e de1·1vered
rne from my strong enemy, / and from those who hated me; / for they were
too .
.
Thg~ty for me" (Ps. 18: 17).
a new, third
stag : arvard school expl ains that the Prophetic Books mark
rnot~ in_ the development of the Divine-Warrior motif. Whi le mythological
hs hnge r th d' · ctive contribution of the prophet1c · mate n·al s was to
Portr '
ay the o·ivme ·
e 1stin
as willi ng to
· evil inside the commum·ty as
fight
WeJJ War rior · h
as 1d e 1·t. ln keep ing with the prop hetic task ofJudgip.ent, the prop ets
outs·
Portra
. .
Thi 6~~ eh as the cham pion of justi ce-a gain st all foes.
tic htera-
tUre. ln 0 :,ne~ War rior ?1otif reach~s its final stage in _apocalyp
. 7 12, certain passages 10 Isa. 56-6 6, and ulttmately m the New
-·'
-.
\
~ \;:
-~
... :'[ ·- .. -:: -~ .:
'"
hetic Metaphor
104 Challenging prop Warrior's p0 rs
. th e co sm ic sc op e ofhth e we
ng ev
Th ' lit
is
·. va hw eh th.e w
tl, .r,
·nst their enem1es.
ar
.
no r w1
·11 d'isr up t h uman histo
ry to
ts
The W ar rio r in th e Pr op he
ent an
pe rsu ad ed th at th e Di vi ne -W ar rio r m ot if underw
f under-
11Y tion the pr es en tat io n of th e Ha rv ar d sc ho ol does
Wbile I ~ not u 1 , . d1. fferent wa ys 1n . d. " .
111erent s1tuations
unbro ke n Itnea r ev o u nc tio n 1n
·mage can fu Je o f th e W.am·or m · (re-)estab-
(1 ) th ªt the l
s fo cu s on th e ro
scodre( ) that the Prophetic Book
an
2 . . . .
al i fo es . . y tha t the
lishing justice againstcru cia l fo r un de rst an di ng _ th e d1st1nct1ve wa
This last point is t1 c Bo ok s. ln th es e books, the
tio ns in th e Pr op he
Divine-Warrior image func ns ist en t pa tte m : ( 1) there
is injus-
vin e W arr ior fo llo ws a co
march of the Di it; (2) th at in ju sti ce enrages Ya
h-
co mm un ity or ou tsi de
tice, either inside the or ch es tra te th e destructions of
ra ge lea ds hi m to
weh; and (3) Yahweh's
lly thr ou gh the me an s of m ili ta ry de fe at by ot he rs.
nations, usua
Step 1: Injustice
ap pe ar in th e pr op he tic de sc rip tio ns of the War-
~ le cosmological motif s e. Cos-
ay s se t in the co nt ex t of th e ad m in ist ra tio n of justic
nor, ~e y are alw th eo ph an ie s, in wh ic h Ya
hweh's
ap pe ar m os t of te n in
mologtcal elements hw eh fig ht s Ri ve r and Sea,
. ln Ha ba kk uk 3, Ya
a~ e: an ce shakes the earth hets, God
th e na me s of Ca na an ite de iti es . Th ro ug ho ut th e Prop
w c ar_e also
appearsHa m a sto nn as mo unt ai_. ns and h'ill s sh ak e an d th e ea rth heaves (Nah.
1:2-8; b. 3. Am .
these cases, Ya hw e~ Isa
ea
.
rs
1'
29 , 5?= l5 a- 18 ; 63: 1- 6; Ze ph . 3: 17 ). But, in all of
to ng ht th e wr on gs of th e wo
rld .
y in wh ich {p y of
Th is da
ah we h_ ac ts fo r th e sa ke of ju st ic e is ca lle d "the da1
Yahweh"; in Eng!'18h fY an-
. translations ' "the d ay of th e LO RD " To e milita
guage m Isa. 13.4- 13 s th at th is fa te fu l d~ y is th e day of rec
k-
º~ er fu lly sh ow
oning by the Di~ine ,E vvamor:
Listen, a tumult
as of a great C::º1 ~he mo
!
untains
Listen a u htu de
' n uproar of ki ngdoms,
of nations ath .
er!
The LORD of io st8er.mg togeth·
an is mustenn g
T anny for battl
hey come fro m a d' e.
from the enct f istant lan ct
o the heav s '
en
'
Goct as (A
ngry) W: .
oRD and the weapons of his indi'g . éltrior 105
the L h 1 • nation
'
to destroy the w o e earth.
,,, .1 &0 r the day ofdthe LORD is near·
vYa1 , i 1 'k . ,
·t will come h e estruction from the AI. .
r:erefore all hands will be feeble, mighty !
and every human heart will melt,
and they will be dismayed.
pangs and ago~y will ~eiz~ them;
they will be 1n angu1sh hke a woman in labor
They will look aghast at one another; ·
their faces will be aflame.
See, the day of the LORD comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation,
and to destroy its sinners from it.
As stressed by the H~var_d school, the Warrior can march either against the
nations or the commun1ty 1tself. The classic example of th~ former is the
prophetic Oracles against the Nations, in which Yahweh announces pending
judgment on countries such as Egypt, Babylon, Moab, and Edom. For exam-
ple, Amos 1-2, Isa. 13-23, and Ezek. 25-32 announce Yahweh'sjudgmenton
aseries of nations. Jeremiah 46 begins with the explanation that these are the
words that Yahweh speaks conceming the nations:
That day is the day of the Lord Goo of hosts,
a day of retribution,
to gain vindication from his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated,
and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord Goo of hosts holds a sacrifice
in the land of the north by the river Euphrates.
(46:10)
Th . .
ry at the neighbor-
18
. e book of Obadiah claims not only that Yahweh an.~1 eceive their just
ing country of Edom, but also that soon all nations wt r
deserts:
For the day of the LORD is near against all the nations.
As You have done, it shall be done to you;
Your deeds shall retum on your own head. (15)
. st the conunu-
lbe p h words again dfor Judah
llity • .rophetic Books launch equally hars ainst Israel an
, •ns1sting that the Warrior soon will march ag
. Prophetic Metaphor
106 Challengmg
.e example of this usage of the Warrior against Is .
themselves. The e ass1 1 . raeI is
. Amos 5·18-20.
foun d m ·
ho desire the day of the LORD!
Alas for you w f h LoRD?
Why do you want the day o t e .
lt is darkness, not light; .
as if someone fled from a hon,
and was met by a bear; .
· to the house and rested a hand aga1nst the wall,
orwent m •
and was bitten by a snake.
Is not the day of the LORD darkness, not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?
Sometimes these texts spell out the injustices the offending party has com-
mitted. ln Obadiah, Edom is to be punished for its treatment of Judah; in Amos
and Micah, Israel will be conquered because of its mistreatme nt of the poor;
in Hosea, Israel will fall because of its failure to worship. Yahweh alone.
Sometimes, however, the injustices that spark Yahweh's anger are only
implied via the use of generic language such as "sin," "transgress ion," or "sin-
ners" (as in Isa. 13:4-13, quoted above).
ln her study of the language used in the Hebrew Bible to describe emotions,
Ellen van Wolde explains that both people and Yahweh become angry when
someone thwarts their intentions: "the emotion of anger must always have an
2
object; an individual cannot be angry without being angry at something." ln
the Prophets, the object of Yahweh's anger is injustice.
Not only in Isaiah b~t throughout the Prophetic Books, Yahweh's passion for
justice is expressed m terms of the Deity's fury.
1:he hope of repentant people is not that an angry God will decide not t~
purush
. but. rather thªt G0 d wi·11 cease being angry, since anger "automattc· ally
entails drre consequences:
Th e Wa rri or and Wo me n
ve, ho we ver , the re is ano the r fea tur e of the pro phe tic Div ine -
ested abo . . bl e ste p 1n . h pro ces s of the Wa rrio r's
As sugg texts, one mo re ne arIy 1ne v1t a . t e
warrior r. ln the
e to inj ust ice , a ste p tha t com pb cat es the ses tex ts eve n furthe .
ons · . on th at th e ,u: .
resp tic Books, the phy s1c . al ret a1iat1 n am or exa cts 1s usu ally
Prophe ·
se per son ifie d as wo me n.
depicted as taken ou t on wo me n or tho
to the wa y in wh ich the Wa rrio r's
Feminists hav e giv en mo st att ent ion
on wo me n or com mu nit ies per son ifie d as wo me n is des cri bed as
vengeance i-
ual ize d nat ure of the pun ish me nt env
sexual violation. Ex am ple s of the sex arl y
thr eat to "lif t up yo ur ski rts " is cle
sioned by the pro phe ts abo un d. Th e t
to cou ntr ies im agi ned as wo me n: in Na h. 3:5 the thr eat is ma de aga ins
applied
h, and in Jer . 13 :26 -27 it is Iod ged aga ins t Jud ah, wh o is als o
woman Nineve
e a ma re.
accused of "w hor ing " and nei gh ing Iik ns
lenc e aga ins t a wo ma n's gen ita ls is als o thr eat ene d. En gli sh translatio
Vio ued
bu t Ra che l Ma gd ale ne has we ll arg
often obscure this asp ect of the tex ts, rd-
tra nsl ate d "ga te" in the NRSV is a wo
tbatin texts such as Isa . 3:26 the wo rd
the wo rd for "op eni ng " or "va gin a": 4 "A nd her gat es sha ll lam ent and
play on y
gro un d " ln fac t, thi s wo rd is clo sel
mourn; 1ravaged, she sha ll sit up on the ·
re1 ~t0th Isa . 3: 17 as "se cre t par ts" :
e wo rd tra nsl ate d in the NR SV of
N ah um as a Ca se St ud y
To e bo ok of Na hu m pr ov id es
a go od ca se stu dy of Di vi ne-W
as we ll as of th e difficulty th arrior imag~ry,
at Ch ris tia n in ter pr ete rs ha ve
to bib lic al vi ol en ce . Th is sh in respondmg
or t bo ok de vo tes sin gl e- mi nd
announcing Ya hw eh 's pu ni sh me ed attention to
. n Emp · · h nt ag ain st Ni ne ve h, th e capital of the ~s~yr-
1a rre 1n t e 8t h ce nt ur y BC E. ln · g, 1t
· all ow
. ...o h n· . W so do1n s us greater .ms1ght
in\ .
ow a 1v1ne- am or tex t wo rk
s an d als o ho w 1t . ev ok 1
responses. es very d1fferen
Na hu m as a Di vi ne -W ar rio r Te
Na h xt
um exh.b . A
1 1ts all th e fe atu re s of pr op he tic Di s 2..-"
· t xts Step ,t,
as described above, ar e es pe cia vi ne -W ar no r e · God s
lly ev id en t. Th is pr op he t anno
anger and readiness to ma rc h in unces
ve ng ea nc e:
A jealous and avenging Go d is the
the LO RD is LO RD
avenging and wrathful; '
1
God as (Angry) Warrior 11
s
takes ve
D ng ea nc e on .hi s adversarie
theLO R . h. s.
d rages ag am st 1s enem1e (Nah . 1:2)
an
.
fo llo w de sc rib e th e W at rio r's m ar ch in co smo1og1ca1 terms:
that
fhe verses
sto rm. ,
. ay is in wh irl wi nd an d
H1s w
d the clouds ar e tb e du st
of bi s feet.
es it dry,
H a;:bukes the se a an d m ak
ers;
:n d he dries up all tb e riv
,
Bashan and Ca rm el wither
fades.
and the bloom of Le ba no n
e bi m ,
The mountains qu ak e be for
and the hills melt;
the earth heaves be fo re bi
m,
in it.
the world an d all w bo liv e
(1 :3 b- 5)
r re tu m s:
Attention to Y ah w eh 's an ge
di gn at io n?
Who can sta nd be fo re bi s in
bi s an ge r?
Who can en du re th e he at of
e fire,
His wrath is po ur ed ou t lik
ok en in pieces.
and by hi m tb e ro ck s ar e br (1:6)
Re sp on se s to N ah um
h
ha ve re ac te d in ve ry di ffe re nt wa ys to the book ofN a um
ws • h tw~
. s and le, os ea 's m ar na ge m et ap or, re sp on se s have fallen on
Cb!Ístl~ case of H en ~e wer ha ve succeeded, in find-
at t~ m pt e~ , an ~ ev
;.s ill _tb oles. Fe w ha ve ta ki ng Id eo lo gi ca l criti• que of the book se n
._
um w hi le
oPPºs1tevPal ue 1-0 N.ah . ,, d. l .e sea
Y it or ba te It I em m a ia ce d by Interpreters of Ho
jng aJ1 The "Iove
ous1Y• readers of N ah um
as we ll.
onts
confr
. .
gate /t .
ba st ed fo r Its VI ol en ce . Fo r example, professional
ahunl most often IS la m d in 19 52 to call Na hu m a prophet
as e re fu se
N tator Mary El le n Ch . .
conunen bis violent, th ou gh be au tif ul , rh et on c:
of
t,ecause
as a po et an d no t as a pr op het. : .. A complete and
[Nahum deserves praise] oo dy cit y of Ni neveh.. .. It is a poem
te d th e bl
confirmed nationalist, he ha nc e an d de str uc tio n, with Iittle to relieve
ve ng ea
of bloodshed and horror, of t be ad m ire d fo r the sheer power and
bu t it m us
its savagery and violence; fu l, bu t br ill ian t imagery. 7
fo r its aw
force of its expression an d
to di sli ke N ah um . W he n in th e cl as sr oo m and in
Lay interpreters also te nd r th e fir st tim e, they ra re ly see the
N ah um fo
churches I have pe op le re ad ys th ey re ac t ne ga tiv el y to its
vio-
; in ste ad , al m os t al wa
beauty of the book ge t pa st th e description of God as
er s str ug gl e to
lence. In fact, m os t re ad
vengeful in 1:2 and an gr y in
1:6. y that
fe m in ist co m m en ta to rs ha ve pr ot es te d th e wa
Not surprisingly, as th ou gh th e city we re a woman.
sa ul tin g N in ev eh
Nahum depicts Yahweh as th Sa nd er so n ca lls readers to see the
en ta ry , Ju di
ln tbe Women 's Bible Co m m ua ge fo r Ni ne ve h an d claims th
at it
e of fe m in in e Ia ng
danger of Nahum's us
hasno
posit
· value fo r th e pr es en t:
· tve
hu m an ki nd can be repr esented in
la tio ns hi p wi th f
~ho aspect of Go d's
ld
re
at de pe nd s on a de struc t1ve v1· ew 0
·
e modern wor by an im ag e th .
ip a God who
Women's b d'
ha t wo ul d it m ea n to wo rsh
O
ted selves. . . . W d in an
is Port w he n an gr y? . . . To involve· Go
itna rayed as ra·pi ng wo m en
to JU Stl·tY 1·t and
ge of sexu I a pr of ou nd wa y so m eh ow
thereb s ª · Vtolence is ' in ' r any reason angry wt'th ª
fo
Y to m al es wh o ar e
Woman. s anction it for hu m an
. .
Sanders on ac kn ut al ity ga ve ns e to th e In tense an~er
at A ss yr ia n br t resIS t
e.xpressect in ow le dg es th th at m od em re ad er s mu S
the book of N ah um bu t m ai nt ai ns · co uche d ·
· IS
lhe contin · ho r in wh · h It
ic
h
Ued Use of t e fil lso gy ni sti c m et ap
. Prophetic Metaphor
t l 4 Challenglilg
dy of Nahum argues that gender is sues are e
s 9 Thven lllore l'lt
My ownbstuk than Sanderson's commentary indicate · e pu · t' ev
· the oo nient a,
lent 10 . t the only aspect of the book hthat hrefl. ects ge qderllJ.sh
Nineveh is nothe feminin . vu1nerabl e.. J ud a , w o 1s also Port ideologi of
. 1s
e
Toroug h t ~
ou ' dueto the Hebrew 1orm f he word " you," is dep rayed asfer-nes.
. . . 1..15 o t endent ,,1,
imne lil 1· . . d fi as pow er and on \'.!11.
er And true mascu 1n1t y 1s e ned . cont ra
weh to save h ·. taunted 1n . . . . 1. 'l
•111-
ne
1.14, 2.13, and 3.18-19 as imp ot
. f A yria 15 ent to det
king o ss end
bis people:
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
(Nah 3:18)
is described as a lack of
Similarly, the ineffectiveness of Assyrian warriors
manliness:
Look at your troops:
they are women in your midst.
Toe gates of your land
are wide open to your foes;
fire has devoured the bars of your gates.
(3: 13)
Love It
· · value of lhe
On the other extreme, some interpreters argue for the positive . . ts that
book of Nahum p eter Cra1.g1e . . .
inte rpre ta0·00 .10s1s
h co!ll·
· 1s one examp le. His
. wb1c h e
readers take seriou 81~ the brutal nature of the Assyrian Empire , ds those wh0
pares to the N .
. He scol knºirledge
conside th az1 regime of the early twentieth century
failing to ac
the evilrth emN~elves ethically superior to Nahum for
at ineveh represents. f thÍ5
.
If' from the comfo tirnents o e
st com plain that the sen ives that w
book are neith rt of udy or pew, we
ourse
have not suffe erdnoble nor uplifting, we need to remind
re at Assyrian hands.11
Goct as (A.ngry) W .
one who appr . arr1or 11s
An other example of eciates Nah
African , Wessels has suggested th at Nah um is W'Ih 1 elrn Wi
sou th . .
Iiterature, much hke the kind pr d um is best unct essels. A
ranCe . o uced · erstooct .
eid years. 1t IS poetry meant to 1.b in South A.fri ~s res1s-
aparth 1 h
e t e con
fi
dence
1 erate th unagina
that J·ust·ice Wdl . e
. ca dunng the
t·10n, to .
ssed peop
opPre _o_ne day carne. N h g1ve
,,f'(Jues, "is not so much a call to violence or a 1eg1tim ti' a urn he
(11.t, • • • f ª on of violen b'
the Imagma t10n o the people to PI. t ce, ut a
eali 00 . e ure the d D
the hands of a sovereign power." 12 Nahum all owed anc1ent e. eat of their enern
. th th y at
ence something at ey could not witness in the fl . readers to experi-
th
tively witness the spectacle of Assyria's defeat whi :s?· ey could irnagina-
for the future. ' e m tum gave them hope
Wbile the prophets' insistence on the anger of G0 d .
1 seen as their
asa1ackof failing, some interpreters have argued to the contrary th atisd?f~en
1vme angeris good
· .
news. A generatlon ago, the Jewish theologian Abraham H h 1. .
· · · • . esc e ms1sted that
God's anger agamst mJustic e Is a sign of God's goodnes s , th at a God who
.
cares about humamty must be angered at its suffering. According to Hesche1,
. d G d'
the prophets perceIve o s wrath notas a fundamental characteristic of God
but as a temporary respon se to human sin:
Toe ultimate meaning of history lies in the continuity of God's concem. His
wrath is not regarded as an emotional outburst, as an irrational fit, but rather
as a part of His continuai care. Because the prophets could not remain calm
· who defendi in the face of crimes committed by men and disaster falling upon men, they 13
had to remember and to remind others: God's heart is not made of stone.
1 as rnascu]iil
out, notasin- For interpreters such as Heschel, the book of Nahum reve_al~ God's care f~r
ary for anget humanity. For Nah. 1:7 to claim that God is good after clannmg that_God is
er. 10 'fhe th(l'· · ·1 1 according to Ehzabeth
worki ng vengeance is not an oxymoron. SIffilt arhY,man violence but rather
. God 's vengea nce does not promo e u .
hose wbOcare Aehteme1er,
forgive, suhstitutes for it:
b . s however, not about
Nahum is not primarily a book about human emgb, t book about God.
.
human vengeance and hatred and m1·1·1tary conquest ' bu at God that has d1s-
And It• has been our failure to let Nah um be a14book a ou
torted the value of this prophecy in our eyes.
Aoct, likewise, Duane Christensen maintains, bout human
N d' justice, not ª
ahum is primarily a book about Go1s s
ven t f NahUJ.11 is to den-
geance, hatred, and military conques ·
A.cc d' d . rate the book o
· or Ing to these commentators, to emg
igrate th
e cause of justice.
. hetic Metaphor
116 Challengmg Prop
f
. on the Responses jCi
Reftectmg . discussion of other images of God in the Pro h oí
~
re::~::m
As was the case in our to the Divine Warrior in Nahum take two opp e~s,
interpreters'_ is a bad book-violent and misogynistic-o,~~~:te
extremes. Eitb th hampions justice for the oppressed. ª 1
0
d book one at e " 1 .
goo ' t of the discussion so f ar ouer exp anations for why th 0
Several elemen s d b e
m differ so greatly. (1) As suggeste a ove, the two cam ~
responses to Nahu f y ah h' Ch ps
focus on different steps in the process o . weh ~ anger. . ase, Sanderson,
and those who generally dislike the book drrect t err atten~1on to the final out-
Yahweh's anger, while Craigie, Wessels, Achteme1er, and Christensen
comeof · · · (2)
stress the O riginating cause ofYahweh's concem:
. .. 1nJust1ce. , ln the. previous
chapters, I argued that some responses pnontize a metaphor s vehicle while
other interpretations focus on its tenor. ln the case of N ahum, Sanderson' s cri-
tique obviously focuses on the metaphor's vehicle, the all-too-familiar depic-
tion of women's bodies as the battlefields for men's wars, so well outlined by
Susan Brownmiller in Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. 16 On the con-
trary, Wessels, Achtemeier, and Christensen focus on Nahum's tenor, its con-
cem with justice; they ignore the frame invoked by gendered language. While
in our study of other metaphors we saw some commentators attempt both
appreciation and critique, I have not found commentators on Nahum who
acknowledge that it is both concemed with justice and also violent and sexist.
Apparently, there is no middle ground to hating or loving Nahum.
But, as in the case of other metaphors for God in the Prophets, neither of
these polarized positions helps readers decide "what to do" with Divine-
Warrior texts like Nahum. Focusing on how evil the Assyrians were may
a . 1
ppropnate Y challenge modem readers who think of themselves as superior
to_Nahum, but any interpretation that fails to take seriously the violence and
rrulsogyny of Nahum clearly fails to consider the whole of the book or the prob-
ems that most read h · · t
ing Nah ers ave in appreciating it. At the sarne time, simply reJec ·
readers ~m as a bad book, offensive to modem sensibilities, provides little for
o engage The "hat .t" d e that
the problems the · find . e 1 strategy gives readers a f alse confi enc be
solved by a simpi f with Nahum remain in the world of the text and can d
ers who find wa~~ u:al to read, or at_least to approve of, the book. For r~s~
leaves unresolved f; ~ay from a b1blical text difficult, this strategY e
allowed either to ap e ~1lemma that gives rise to my project: readerths ar
Perhaps even w prec1ate or to critique biblical texts but not to do bo . b
th orse whe th ' . t eac
º. er as mutually excl~si n . ese two approaches are pitted agains res·
s1on matters most w·u :e options, readers are left to decide whose opP bO
1
· t ey read, like Wessels, for the sake of those w
God as (Angry) W .
arnor 117
der the weight of empire? Or will they r d~
roanu n . 11 . ea iorwo
g nd metaphonca y raped 1n war? Having t . men who are phys
icallY a ses a moral problem for readers. it also k o p1ck the greater victim no;
nlY po . . b . , eeps them fr
o rtiplex relat1onsh1p etween vanous forms of . om recognizing
the co1u . h . . oppress1on
ee that tendency 1n t e way 1n wh1ch "liberation" d' · ·
1 1
ft s exclude women from such liberation. For examp:e~ ~~s of t?e Prophets
o en ation of the "daughters of Zion" in Isa. 3: 16-24
dernn d h . .
i,
NID p1scussmg the con-
, · • remnath ex 1 ·
t wealthy women eserve t e1r pun1shment because th P ams
tha ey oppress the poor:
WhY should Isaiah go to such lengths to condemn the wom f h .
f h · en o t e ehte
group? One can see ~om t e hst of !he personal items that only the rich
could afford_ the_se. Th1s rel~tes to their_penchant for Iuxury items .. . . It is
this lack of Justice and den1al of a bas1c decent living to the peasants that
led the prophets to speak out against the situation and those who were
responsible for it. 17
Wbat Premnath does not consider, however, is that women did not enjoy inde-
pendent wealth in ancient Israel; the seizure of land that would have made
ancient Israelite elites rich remained the prerogative of men.
Forthese reasons anda host of others, neither of these responses to Nahum
or to the metaphor of the Divine Warrior rises to the challenges posed by this
text and its critique. As in the case of other chapters, I suggest a different
approach to reading N ahum.
t "J·ust ang er," or "rig hteo us ang ert or eve n mor e often "ri ght-
1 . h "
aJks aboU
cive t . . nation.'' For exa mp e, in er poe
m A Just Ang er" Mar ge Piercy
s 1nd1g
eoU
c1aiIJ1S that
d anger acte d upo n
Agoo . .
Is beautiful _as hgh tmn g
and swift w1th power.
A good anger swallowed,
od anger swa llow ed
a gO • 19
clots the bloo d to shm e.
er invests ene rgy in cau ses that mat.ter. A 1t mot ivat es and imp els action, a
Ang . . dd r ' s ""1orce can fuel indi vidu al
unterbalance to pass1v1ty an epress1on. nge
take it any mor e." It can also
:~tion: "I'm mad as hell , and I'm not goi ng to
energize social pro test aga inst inju stic e .
y peo ple con side r ang er a
. 4. Anger as diagnostic of values: Alt hou gh man
c, num erou s thin kers with in
fickle emotion, one that ove rrid es reas on and logi
hav e argu ed that ang er is
philosophy, psy cho logy , and pas tora l cou nse ling
instead a form of inte llec tual resp ons e. ln Lov
e 's Knowledge, phil oso phe r
whe n that whi ch we mos t fun -
Martha Nussbaum insi sts that ang er onl y aris es
damentally believe is thre aten ed. º For exa mpl e,
2 I mig ht hav e a phy sica l, vis-
r-ol d in a red spo rts car cuts in
ceral response of ang er whe n a twe nty- five -yea
he has cha nge d lane s quic kly
front of me. But if I get new info rma tion -tha t
et-m y ang er will eva por ate,
to avoid hitting a chil d who has run into the stre
is stro nge r than my beli ef in
because my beli ef in the valu e of a hum an life
0rder~i~ess. Nus sba um sug ges ts tha t rath er than den yin g anger, we liste n for
may diff er from our idea lize d
what It 18 telling us abo ut our true min d ' whi ch
V •
ers1ons of ours elve s.
ter talces Nus sba um' s
casln The Angry Christian, pas tora l cou nse lor And rew Les b .
east ep furth H e agre es wit h Nus sba um that "an ang er eve nt alway s eg1ns
With . er.
21 that pay ing attention to wha t
ang an Interpretation of a life situ atio n" and . . h
ers us might reve al wha t we real ly beli eve , eve n 1f that differs from w at we
Wou}ct 1.k . . .
I e to think ter how eve r exte nds bis disc uss1 on to 1nsi st
that Chri . we beli eve . Les ' ' •
. stian for wha t ang ers the ~. Wn t-
~ngfrornac ~ e~ and sho uld bea r resp ons ibil ity gro w-
tng into gett?11 stian per spe ctiv e he clai ms that true gro wth in faith enta tls . . .
be ing , es Chri sttaruty
ars som ang ry onl y at the righ t thin gs: one who pro fess
801lleone e culp abil ity if ove r tim e she con tinu es to get mor e ang
ry abo ut
scratchi ' ' the world.
A.n exp . ng her Lex us tha n she doe s abo ut pov erty in
°
~hofogy IJ,~11~en t rep orte d in a 2007 issu e in
Personality and Social Psy-
d · ·
"s sununan ~ etzn
ges ts tha t ang er eve n help s peo ple mak e bett er ecis ions .
sug
pro ved tbat
Zed on ww w.I ives cien ce.c om, the exp erim ent
. h ti'c Metaphor
I 20 Challengmg Prop e
making a .
le focus 00 the cues that matter ·most to sion-mraakiti~nat
ang~~ helpsdp~op re cues that are irre levant to the task of deci ng
an ign o e anger is design • d to mot1v · peo ple to take acf .
dec1s10n ld b becaus e ate
. right action. 22 Ion_
Thls cou. et ally helps people to take the
and that 1t ac u
different, even com .
d·ng that contemporary readers hold ,
st why responses to the anger opfetGing
. Uo<lefr ange: offers one explanation for h oct
v1ews o anhets differ. If readers cannot agree on t fe value of human anger
. th p . . ?
1n act, I wou~d suggest tha~
m e rop ang er.
how will they agree on the value _of ~1v1ne
peo ple val ue div ine ang er 1s dir ect ly related to the way m which they
how
value anger in themselves and others.
human anger as a failing, both those
On the one hand, those who understand
sid er it to be "na tur al" and tho se wh o consider anger to be "treatable,,
who con
nce that Yahweh gets angry. They s~e
find little value in the prophetic insiste
tex ts as ref lec ting anc ien t, lim ited un derstandings of God, understand-
such
New Testament and continuing into
ings that evolved to higher planes in the
pect that ancient writers attempted to
the present. Toe skeptically minded sus
m afraid of God.
manipulate their readers by making the
d human anger as an appropriate
0n the other hand, those who understan
God's anger against mistreatment of
response to injustice in tum highly value
ak, as do tho se wh o und ers tan d hum an anger as diagnostic of deeply
the we
g example of the connection between
held values. Heschel provides a strikin
mitting oneself to causes of justice.
viewing divine anger positively and com
orte d tha t his stu dy of the Pro phe tic Books convinced him not only of
He rep
human injustice but also of his own
God's suffering and anger in the face of
d to tak e up the cau se of soc ial act ion. At the encouragement of Martin
nee
g Jr., He sch el bec am e act ive in the civil rights movement and was
Luther Kin
ders in a famous photo of the 1965
photographed with other civil rights lea
ma ma rch . He sch el als o enc our age d King to speak out against the Vietnam
Sel
sch ola r of the Pro phe ts hel ped fou nd the anti-Vietnam War orga-
~ar, ~nd this
about Vietnam. His daughter Prof.
ruzation, Clergy and Laity Concemed
a ~es ch~ l exp lain s tha t her fat her 's understanding of the prophets car·
~usann
ned over mto h1s own social action:
pro fou ndl y emotional and resonan t to
Thhe p~o phe ts pre sen ted Go d as · GOd 18 thr·
· cha
um aruty,
acteriz d b
wh eth er ·
m anger, love, or forgiveness;
prophe~s : ove all as compassionate.. . .
the prophe tic
Acting on bis conviction that I;
engaged i::m ~lodels fo~ ~ewish behavior today, Hesch
oc1a and pohtical issues. 23
el becarne deep
e wward
White I have likel n ad<lressed all perspectives that humans haV to we
anger the ones ct· Y ot ders' responses
' iscussed here help demonstrate that rea
Godas (Angry) W: .
of God in the Prophets are not O 1 élrrior 121
ange;y related to their own understandi: y theologicaI; those
;t
c1oser Engaging these texts fully invites tof (and persona} ~~:P~nses are
~ge inforrn readers, responses to biblical t o explore how cultur~~es With)
uons h ~ exts, and it 11 assump-
e more accurate1y w at 1eatures of the Pr h a ows individ 1
naJll d h op ets lead th ua s to
what they fin t ere. . em to love or bate
For me an exploration of the different funcf
ctly what offends me about Nahum. ln re t~~s of anger led me to clarify
exalaized that my problem with Nahum is not theaf tntghHeschel and Wessels I
re . ac t at God t8 '
do believe that the emot1on of anger arises fro . ge angry, since
I m an att1tude of
than the lack of concem. Rather, my problem with Nah . th
weh is described as acting on his anger and the way
symbol of all that is evil.
t:~ care rather
is e way that Yah-
ª women become the
Ancient and Modem Understandings of Justice
Wben I first encountered the writing of Wessels, who compares Nahum to the
antiapartheid poetry of South Africa, I felt convicted: like other commenta-
tors, I had too easily read the book from a position of privilege, not paying
enough attention to the way that this book sets the anger of God in the con-
text of speaking against the Assyrian Empire. By focusing only on the vio-
lence against women in N ah. 3, I had ignored the significance of Assyrian
violence in the world of the writer.
My first reaction was to feel tom: Is Nahum the voice of the Judean
oppressed by Assyria or the voice of the male oppressor of women? How
could I insist on feminist critique of a book that offered liberation to others?
Toe more I reflected on this tension, however, the more I realized that r~ad-
1th
ing Nahum from different ideological perspectives had confront_ed me ~ ª
• rt through competmg clrums of
Very real, very contemporary 1ssue: how to so
juStice. Why did commentators only focus on oneaspect of Nahum? And wdh_Yd,
wh . Of ur els and Sanderson, 1
en confronted with competing perspectives ness
1 the need to choose between the two? thi bout me but I
feel
My initial impulse to choose sides may reveal som~ ng ~s one ca~se of
~us~ect it also reveals something about the way our cu ~~p; arn especially
JUSltce against another. Dozens of examples come to mm i~ply overlooked
~Ware of how women's issues so often take a backseat or ~te rys when the rigbts
inof the fight tor "bigger issues." Tbroughout American h1s o ' th oals
·a1 movements, o erg
Women were raised in the context of other soei ed their own cause
;e~e Understood to be more important: women who pre:e abolition of slav-
unng th fi & th United States, . . tices were
ery e ght for independence 1or e . til other 1nJUS
'Prohibition, and civil rights were told to watt un .
. Prophetic Metaphor
122 Challenging
time the feminist movement has been rounctI
d At the same ' h YchaI
d · . the conc ems of some wom en at t e expe nse of h -
ad resse
lenged for ad<lr~ssihng feminist movements of the 1960 s and 1970s asot ers.
en 1ll t e · sumect
Wh1.te wom. . the right to work , the strug g1e agai
h
nst male pow er-
Were
h t their 1ssu es- . ave argu ed that their .
t ª f li men Afric an Ame ncan wom en con.
the issues o a ºth wo . . 1 d .h
all men but with wh1te. ma e power an not with the ng
cems are not .th w1 f 1 . the wor t at they have n t
k h
the abilit y to be treat ed air y 1n "..: . . ,, ever
to work but w1 . rust but "wom
. 'lege of not doing·' thetr concems are not 1emt. . -
had the pn v1
. ,, As1•an and Latina women have argu. ed, too,
. that their hves
. are notJ·ust
amst. ding race
determined by gender but also by other d1mens1ons of power, 1nclu
and class. al
On a global scale, many in the United States are quick to criticize politic
?" com-
struggles beyond our borders as stymied by the "wh o's the real victim
way. Yet
petition. Toe Palestinian-lsraeli conflict is often po~ra~e~ in this
s com~
these critics often fail to see how they do the sarne, as 1nd1v1duals anda
the class-
munities-arguing whether girls or boys are more disadvantaged in
African
room, whether the discrimination against same-sex couples or
are more
Americans is more egregious, whether conservatives or liberals
silenced in the media.
not
These and other examples reveal that a simple appeal to "justice" does
s to sup-
resolve debates. As a colleague reminded me once, everyone claim
fact, any
port justice; what people differ on is how they defin e justice. ln
se jus-
appeal to justice can be trumped with the qualifier "whose," as in "who
not likely
tice?" If "justice" means ·"what is fair and right," then humans are
do not
to reach consensus on when justice has been achieved because they
share a common definition of the "right."
ln terms ofNahum, this observation compels me to look beyo
nd the clai~s
lik~ ~
tbat the book supports generic "justice" to consider wha t justice looks
d, it 18
Nah~m ªnd who benefits from its particular definition of justice. Indee
ogies-:
precisei~ those "gaps" injustice, the "blind spots," that reveal ideol
gend er_in
~ahsumptions about what is right and natural. When my atten·tion toh desp1te
. oppression I reveal t at,
• poht. tcal
m
um does not extend t notic° · 1ng
Y own self-percepti on, I am 1ess aware of political oppr ' f gen·
f °
der O ession than
.
. forJI1S o
ppression When th e ªttent10n of other interpreters to different
oppressio d ·
womdenr~
they reve~ t~ee_s not extend to noticing the book's violence thagain- sts rea e
· · to patriarchy. ln bo c~se , . .
· iv1ty
ir own lack of .sens1t
reveal how much th . 008
err own biases and self-inter ests inform thetr defin ttl
of justice.
Engagin· g Nahum throu h h . e rnore
. g t e lens of 1deological critique make s I11 at
aware of my own . .ce in ways that bene
. Justi fit sorne
potential for defi rung
Goct as (An
. gry) Warrior 123
se of others; at the sarne time it remi'nd
. expe º s me th t
the
d no
t be brushed off for the sake of "bigger .
. .
ª rny own concems
1ssues" Nah .
nee manifesto for equal Justice for all, but my · urn 1tself might
no~dbe ~ogical critique helps me tak:e up that cau:ngageme?t with it in light
of 1 eo .. 1 d . e yet again Th .
. hideological cnt1que ea s me to cntique not sim 1 N
wit also to critique myself and the institutions in
:; of us fall short of truly inclusive justice.
:h~ · e dialogue
h ~um anct my worlct
Ic hold power when