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Leadership in the Land: Judges, Kings, Priests and Prophets

Leadership in the Land: Deuteronomy 16 – 18              

Fill in the table based on your reading of Deut. 16:18 –18:22.   Then answer the question below.

What is the purpose of the restrictions placed on the king?

Is the "Ban" Justified?

Looking at the Ban and Just War Theory                         

Read the three documents on this handout and respond to the questions using these and any other sources you wish to cite.  Answer on a separate sheet of paper.

The Just War Doctrine
From The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2309)

The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:

• The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
• All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
• There must be serious prospects of success;
• The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the 'just war' doctrine. The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

The Ban and the Book of Joshua

Excerpt from Joshua and the Promised Land, pp. 23-24 by Roy H. May, Jr.

The most disturbing aspect of the Book of Joshua is the divine command to commit mass slaughter. In Hebrew, this is herem or "ban." God required that certain things be "devoted" only to death and destruction. Some things were reserved for religious functions. According to the ban, enemies were to be completely exterminated. This idea was not unique to ancient Israel. Other ancient Near Eastern societies also practiced the ban. However, the idea is part of the Book of Deuteronomy and the work of the Deuteronomistic Historians. In this theological tradition, such destruction was to be dealt out because "foreigners" or non-Israelites, were viewed as impure idolaters. They deserved to die because their ways were opposed to Yahweh. The ban was required to remove obstacles to Yahweh.

This was especially important to the editors of the first edition of the Book of Joshua. They were writing in a time of national renewal. They wanted to underscore the covenant requirement of righteousness by showing what would happen to the unrighteous. For the editors of the final edition of the Book of Joshua, working as they were in a time of exile and loss of nationhood, the idea of the ban was a dramatic reminder that foreign conquerors were evil. It raised the hope of their eventual removal and Judah's freedom. Either way, the ban was a theological justification for taking Canaan.

…In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign by whose command the war is to be waged. For it is not the business of a private individual to declare war, because he can seek for redress of his rights from the tribunal of his superior. Moreover it is not the business of a private individual to summon together the people, which has to be done in wartime. And as the care of the common weal is committed to those who are in authority, it is their business to watch over the common weal of the city, kingdom or province subject to them. And just as it is lawful for them to have recourse to the sword in defending that common weal against internal disturbances, when they punish evil-doers, according to the words of the Apostle (Rm. 13:4): "He beareth not the sword in vain: for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil"; so too, it is their business to have recourse to the sword of war in defending the common weal against external enemies. Hence it is said to those who are in authority (Ps. 81:4): "Rescue the poor: and deliver the needy out of the hand of the sinner"; and for this reason Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 75): "The natural order conducive to peace among mortals demands that the power to declare and counsel war should be in the hands of those who hold the supreme authority."

Secondly, a just cause is required, namely that those who are attacked, should be attacked because they deserve it on account of some fault. Wherefore Augustine says (Questions. in Hept., qu. x, super Jos.): "A just war is wont to be described as one that avenges wrongs, when a nation or state has to be punished, for refusing to make amends for the wrongs inflicted by its subjects, or to restore what it has seized unjustly."

Thirdly, it is necessary that the belligerents should have a rightful intention, so that they intend the advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil. Hence Augustine says (De Verb. Dom. [*The words quoted are to be found not in St. Augustine's works, but Can. Apud. Caus. xxiii, qu. 1]): "True religion looks upon as peaceful those wars that are waged not for motives of aggrandizement, or cruelty, but with the object of securing peace, of punishing evil-doers, and of uplifting the good." For it may happen that the war is declared by the legitimate authority, and for a just cause, and yet be rendered unlawful through a wicked intention. Hence Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 74): "The passion for inflicting harm, the cruel thirst for vengeance, an unpacific and relentless spirit, the fever of revolt, the lust of power, and such like things, all these are rightly condemned in war."

Questions:

1.  Does the Ban (Deuteronomy 20.10-18) fit the criteria for a just war? Explain.

2.  Does the War in Iraq fit the criteria for a just war? Explain.

Links:

The Ban as Theological Justification for War

http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/joshua/may2324.stm

Aquinas on War

http://ethics.acusd.edu/Books/Texts/Aquinas/JustWar.html

 

NPR: A Just War (Is the war on Terrorism justified?)

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jan/justwar/020125.justwar.html

 

Lyrics about War and Religion

With God on Our Side - Bob Dylan         

O, my name it ain’t nothing, my age it means less.

The country I come from is called the Midwest.

I start and brought up there the laws to abide,

And that the land I live in has God on its side

O, the hist’ry books tell it, they tell it so well:

The cavalries charged, the Indians fell;

The cavalries charged, the Indians died.

O, the country was young with God on its side.

The Spanish-American War had its day.

And the Civil War too was soon laid away.

And the names of the heroes I ’s made to memorize

With guns in their hands and God on their side.

The First World War, boys, it came and it went.

The reason for fighting I never did get.

But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride

For you don’t count the dead when God’s on your side

The Second World War came to an end.

We forgave the Germans and then we were friends.

O, they murdered six million in the ovens they fried.

The Germans now too have God on their side.

I learned to hate the Russians all through my whole life.

If another war comes it’s them we must fight.

To hate them and fear them, to run and to hide,

And accept it all bravely with God on my side.

But now we we’ve got weapons of chemical dust.

If fire them were forced to, then fire them we must.

One push of the button they shock the world wide

And you never ask questions with God on your side

Through many dark hour I’ve been thinking about this:

That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss.

But I can’t think for ya, you have to decide

Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.

So now as I’m leavin’ I’m  weary as hell.

The confusion I’m feeling ain’t no tongue can tell.

The words fill my head and then fall to the floor-

That if God’s on our side He’ll stop the next war.

The Last Stop - Dave Matthews

Judges: The Pattern as it appears in the story of Jepthah                                           

1. Read chapter 10:6 to the end of chapter 11 of Judges.   It includes the story of Jepthah.
2. The pattern that repeats itself in Judges is the following: sin, punishment, repentance and forgiveness.   Identify the verses that are associated with this pattern in the reading.
1. Sin: ______
2. Punishment: ______
3. Repentance: ______
4. Forgiveness: ______