The idea of 'holy war' is at the present a very muddled affair in biblical studies. Many OT theologians use the term but give different meanings to it. The term "holy war" is itself not mentioned in the Bible, but is often associated with the OT concept of the cherem, i.e., the commandment found especially in Deut 10 & 12 to the Israelites to totally annihilate the Canaanites () in the land, a commandment often seen, unhelpfully, as 'divine genoncide.'1 Others more helpfully view it as any war in which Yahweh is seen as the main protagonist, and often called 'Yahweh's war.' The term 'holy war' happens to be one of those ideas that, overtaken by circumstances, got served before it was cooked well enough; we suggest it is best avoided for the following reasons: 1) the term is misleading and invites the inevitable but un-necessary and unhelpful association that will be made between Christian use of the term with the 'holy war' or jihad of militant Islam,2 and 2) it is itself not a meaningful expression of the idea that OT scholars hope to mean by it. We propose sticking to Yahweh's war instead.
Footnotes
1. See e.g., Show Them No Mercy: Four Views on God and Canaanite Genocide, ed. by Stanley N. Gundry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003).
2. Theologians—whether career or lay—have a duty to shape the social-cultural context in which we live; if we cannot improve it we should at least not muddy it more than what it already is.
Further Reading:
Peter C. Craigie, The Problem of War in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.
Millard Lind, Yahweh Is a Warrior. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1980.
Tremper Longman III & Daniel G. Reid, God is a Warrior. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.
Susan Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Gerhard von Rad, Holy War in Ancient Israel, ed. and tran. by Marva Dawn. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.
) in the land, a commandment often seen, unhelpfully, as 'divine genoncide.'1 Others more helpfully view it as any war in which Yahweh is seen as the main protagonist, and often called 'Yahweh's war.' The term 'holy war' happens to be one of those ideas that, overtaken by circumstances, got served before it was cooked well enough; we suggest it is best avoided for the following reasons: 1) the term is misleading and invites the inevitable but un-necessary and unhelpful association that will be made between Christian use of the term with the 'holy war' or jihad of militant Islam,2 and 2) it is itself not a meaningful expression of the idea that OT scholars hope to mean by it. We propose sticking to Yahweh's war instead. 