Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: Herem (was terminology)

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Charles David Isbell" <cisbell AT home.com>
  • To: "Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>, "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Herem (was terminology)
  • Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 16:59:57 -0600


Dear Samuel,
Liz is right on target about the language of the Mesha stela. I would like
to add another point. The language used in Joshua, etc., is stylized and
used to describe a situation that may have been the vision of editors who
longed for a pure society free of non-Yahwists, but other biblical texts
indicate that total destruction of these populations [herem] does not
describe what was actually done. The very people supposedly totally
exterminated under Joshua remained a constant source of religious temptation
and political opposition for hundreds of years after the era of Joshua, as
even a cursory reading of the Deuteronomic History shows.
Regards,
Charles David Isbell>





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page