Millard C. Lind

Lind conveniently summarises his thesis in the Introduction:
"What does it mean for biblical theology that Yahweh is a warrior? My purpose in this work is to identify and discuss the main aspects of ancient Israel's theology of violent political power. Th three theme to be developed in these chapters are: (1) that Yahweh as God of War fought for his people by miracle, not by sword and spear, (2) that this method of fighting affected Israel's theo-political structure in a fundamental way; and show more (3) that Yahweh's warfare was directed not only against Israel's enemies but at times against Israel herself. In such cases not by means of miracle but by the armies of the enemies of Israel" (23)

Lind makes an important contribution by showing how significant this strand is, running as it does through all the 'primary history (Gen-2 Kings) in it is easy to show that it is strong in the prophetic tradition also, especially Isaiah and Jeremiah. However Lind skips far too lightly over texts which present a different picture. For example he dismissed the Ban (herem) as an inherited practice, even though it plays a central role in several texts. So overall a useful volume somewhat marred by being overstated. show less