A Few Observation About
Judaism,
Christianity,
Islam, and War
by Nile
Stanton
Sunday - April
2, 2023
Although people
may think it is
difficult to
find any
reasonably
consistent core
values in the
Torah, Bible,
and Qur'an, and
some have
obtained the
notion that
there are none,
I urge that you
consider the
following
analysis.
Keep in mind
that the mere
fact that these
sacred books are
religious tomes
does not mean
they don't
provide some
historical
perspective and
interesting
ideas. Now,
let's go to
well-known
Deuteronomy 20
and take a good
look at it.
In his essay
"War and Peace
in the Jewish
Tradition,"
Michael Walzer
notes that
Deuteronomy 20
is central to
later rabbinical
analysis of any
"Jewish" theory
of war, such as
it is. Written
around 1400 B.C.
(tradition says,
although recent
analysis puts it
around 700 years
later) by Moses,
this is
Deuteronomy 20
in its entirety,
verses 1-20.
["Deuteronomy"
approximately
means "repeating
(or copying) the
law."] Please
read this
carefully, and
think about it:
- 1 When thou goest out to battle
against your
enemies and
see horses and
chariots and
an army
greater thou,
do not be
afraid of
them, because
the LORD your
God, who
brought you up
out of Egypt,
will be with
you.
- 2
When you are
about to go into
battle, the
priest shall
come forward and
address the
army.
- 3 He
shall say:
"Hear, O Israel,
today you are
going into
battle against
your enemies. Do
not be
fainthearted or
afraid; do not
be terrified or
give way to
panic before
them.
- 4 For
the LORD your
God is the one
who goes with
you to fight for
you against your
enemies to give
you victory."
- 5 The
officers shall
say to the army:
"Has anyone
built a new
house and not
dedicated it?
Let him go home,
or he may die in
battle and
someone else may
dedicate it.
- 6 Has
anyone planted a
vineyard and not
begun to enjoy
it? Let him go
home, or he may
die in battle
and someone else
enjoy it.
- 7 Has
anyone become
pledged to a
woman and not
married her? Let
him go home, or
he may die in
battle and
someone else
marry her."
- 8
Then the
officers shall
add, "Is any man
afraid or
fainthearted?
Let him go home
so that his
brothers will
not become
disheartened
too."
- 9
When the
officers have
finished
speaking to the
army, they shall
appoint
commanders over
it.
- 10
When you march
up to attack a
city, make its
people an offer
of peace.
- 11 If
they accept and
open their
gates, all the
people in it
shall be subject
to forced labor
and shall work
for you.
- 12 If
they refuse to
make peace and
they engage you
in battle, lay
siege to that
city.
- 13
When the LORD
your God
delivers it into
your hand, put
to the sword all
the men in it.
- 14 As
for the women,
the children,
the livestock
and everything
else in the
city, you may
take these as
plunder for
yourselves. And
you may use the
plunder the LORD
your God gives
you from your
enemies.
- 15
This is how you
are to treat all
the cities that
are at a
distance from
you and do not
belong to the
nations nearby.
- 16
However, in the
cities of the
nations the LORD
your God is
giving you as an
inheritance, do
not leave alive
anything that
breathes.
- 17
Completely
destroy
them--the
Hittites,
Amorites,
Canaanites,
Perizzites,
Hivites and
Jebusites--as
the LORD your
God has
commanded you.
- 18
Otherwise, they
will teach you
to follow all
the detestable
things they do
in worshiping
their gods, and
you will sin
against the LORD
your God.
- 19
When you lay
siege to a city
for a long time,
fighting against
it to capture
it, do not
destroy its
trees by putting
an ax to them,
because you can
eat their fruit.
Do not cut them
down. Are the
trees of the
field people,
that you should
besiege them?
- 20
However, you may
cut down trees
that you know
are not fruit
trees and use
them to build
siege works
until the city
at war with you
falls.
I submit that
some noble
values are to be
found in verses
5-8 above.
(Scroll up and
re-read those.)
Consider
this: The
Israelites of
olden times were
well known as
fierce, bloody,
brutal fighters.
So, what did
Moses do? He
dared to
forthrightly
challenge the
military to
alter prevailing
practices. As
Walzer notes in
his article,
what Moses did
was to present
almost any
reasonable out
for those who
wanted to avoid
going to war.
Consider the
main thrust of
Moses' relating
of what the Lord
God instructed.
Soldiers who had
new homes,
vineyards, or
fiancées -- and
just plain old
chickens such as
the
"fainthearted"
-- got
exemptions from
fighting. Not
only that, we
also find that
God forbids
attacking a city
without making a
peace offer. I
suggest that
these selected
passages
accurately
reflected core
values that
Moses attempted
to instill. In a
real sense,
people were
provided with
every sort of
excuse to avoid
war.
Consider another
Old Testament
passage: 2
Chronicles
28:1-15. Ezra
condemns jus
in bello
violations even
when there is jus
ad bellum,
here a
sanctioned "holy
war."
- 1 Ahaz was twenty years old when
he began to
reign, and he
reigned in
Jerusalem
sixteen years.
Unlike David
his father, he
did not do
what was right
in the eyes of
the LORD.
- 2 He walked in the ways of the
kings of
Israel and
also made
idols for the
worship of
Baal. [Or Val, the Bull, the consort of Astarte, aka/ Ishtar,
Isis,
Ashtoreth, the
main goddess
of the Middle
East in
ancient times,
in honor of
whom King
Solomon's
temple was
built. --ns]
- 3 He burned sacrifices in the
Valley of Ben
Hinnom and
sacrificed his
sons in the
fire,
following the
detestable
ways of the
nations the
LORD had
driven out
before the
Israelites.
- 4 He offered sacrifices and
burned incense
at the high
places, on the
hilltops and
under every
spreading
tree.
- 5 Therefore the LORD his God
handed him
over to the
king of Aram.
The Arameans
defeated him
and took many
of his people
as prisoners
and brought
them to
Damascus. He
was also given
into the hands
of the king of
Israel, who
inflicted
heavy
casualties on
him.
- 6 In one day Pekah son of
Remaliah
killed a
hundred and
twenty
thousand
soldiers in
Judah--because
Judah had
forsaken the
LORD, the God
of their
fathers.
- 7 Zicri, an Ephraimite warrior,
killed
Maaseiah the
king's son,
Azrikam the
officer in
charge of the
palace, and
Elkanah,
second to the
king.
- 8 The Israelites took captive
from their
kinsmen two
hundred
thousand
wives, sons
and daughters.
They also took
a great deal
of plunder,
which they
carried back
to Samaria.
- 9 But a prophet of the LORD named
Oded was
there, and he
went out to
meet the army
when it
returned to
Samaria. He
said to them,
"Because the
LORD, the God
of your
fathers, was
angry with
Judah, he gave
them into your
hand. But you
have
slaughtered
them in a rage
that reaches
to heaven.
- 10 And now you intend to make the
men and women
of Judah and
Jerusalem your
slaves. But
aren't you
also guilty of
sins against
the LORD your
God?
- 11 Now listen to me! Send back
your fellow
countrymen you
have taken as
prisoners, for
the LORD's
fierce anger
rests on you." [It appears that some people who lived in Samaria took
to heart this
advice
favoring human
decency and
passed values
relating to it
down to at
least a few
descendants.
Consider, for
example,
Luke's
recounting, in
the New
Testament, of
Jesus' parable
of the good
Samaritan.
(Luke
10:30-37)
--ns]
- 12 Then some of the leaders in
Ephraim--Azariah
son of
Jehohanan,
Berekiah son
of
Meshillemoth,
Jehizkiah son
of Shallum,
and Amasa son
of
Hadlai--confronted
those who were
arriving from
the war.
- 13 "You must not bring those
prisoners
here," they
said, "or we
will be guilty
before the
LORD. Do you
intend to add
to our sin and
guilt? For our
guilt is
already great,
and his fierce
anger rests on
Israel."
- 14 So the soldiers gave up the
prisoners and
plunder in the
presence of
the officials
and all the
assembly.
- 15 The men designated by name
took the
prisoners, and
from the
plunder they
clothed all
who were
naked. They
provided them
with clothes
and sandals,
food and
drink, and
healing balm.
All those who
were weak they
put on
donkeys. So
they took them
back to their
fellow
countrymen at
Jericho, the
City of Palms,
and returned
to Samaria.
What happened
here? It seems
that God okayed
Israel's attack
on Judah, but
the violence
went far beyond
what God would
tolerate.
Israel's army
had slaughtered
many civilians
and kidnapped
others. Oded, a
prophet,
reprimanded the
soldiers for the
war crimes
they'd committed
during their
rage. While the
Israelites had
fought a war for
just cause (viz.,
to punish those
who, among other
ways, offended
God by making
human
sacrificial
lambs out of
their children),
they had failed
to show justice
during war. So,
Oded persuaded
them to give up
their plunder
and prisoners
and to make
restitution.
Accordingly,
Israel's army
fed and clothed
the POWs, gave
them sandals and
medicine, then
put them on
donkeys and sent
them home.
Also interesting
is what we find
when we examine
what the Old
Testament tells
us God warned of
when called upon
to select a
king. Take a
look at 1 Samuel
8, especially
verses 6-18,
which I quote
below.
- 6 But when they said, "Give us a
king to lead
us," this
displeased
Samuel; so he
prayed to the
LORD.
- 7 And
the LORD told
him: "Listen to
all that the
people are
saying to you;
it is not you
they have
rejected, but
they have
rejected me as
their king.
- 8 As
they have done
from the day I
brought them up
out of Egypt
until this day,
forsaking me and
serving other
gods, so they
are doing to
you.
- 9 Now
listen to them;
but warn them
solemnly and let
them know what
the king who
will reign over
them will do."
- 10
Samuel told all
the words of the
LORD to the
people who were
asking him for a
king.
- 11 He
said, "This is
what the king
who will reign
over you will
do: He will take
your sons and
make them serve
with his
chariots and
horses, and they
will run in
front of his
chariots.
- 12
Some he will
appoint as
commanders of
thousands and
commanders of
fifties, and
others to plow
his ground and
reap his
harvest, and
still others to
make weapons of
war and
equipment for
his chariots.
- 13 He
will take your
daughters to be
perfumers and
cooks and
bakers.
- 14 He
will take the
best of your
fields and
vineyards and
olive groves and
give them to his
attendants.
- 15 He
will take a
tenth of your
grain and of
your vintage and
give it to his
officials and
attendants.
- 16
Your menservants
and maidservants
and the best of
your cattle and
donkeys he will
take for his own
use.
- 17 He
will take a
tenth of your
flocks, and you
yourselves will
become his
slaves.
- 18
When that day
comes, you will
cry out for
relief from the
king you have
chosen, and the
LORD will not
answer you in
that day.
These admittedly
very select
passages
indicate that
the Old
Testament has
passages which
can be construed
as reflecting
certain ideals
that many people
-- Jews, then
Christians, and
later Muslims
alike -- shared.
Remember that it
is written in
the Qur'an that
the sacred books
of the Jews and
Christians are
indeed Holy
Books.
Mohammad's
message from
Gabriel
recognizes that
God (Allah, YHWH
[Yahweh,
Jehovah] -- one
and the same)
wants the
Prophet to wage
war only to
secure peace. In
this important
sense, the
Qur'anic
teachings are
consistent with
those found in
the sacred books
of the
Christians and
Jews.
But, isn't
it true that
religious
differences
often lead to
war? No,
not at all. It
is political and
military leaders
who stir up
emotions over
religious
differences;
they urge that
religious
differences are
a threat when
they rarely are.
In a
BBC-sponsored
study titled "God and War: An Audit & An Exploration" by Greg
Austin, Todd
Kranock and Thom
Oommen (link is
to the 42-page
.pdf) the
authors wrote,
that:
One organising feature of this article is
what it calls
the ‘Religious
War Audit’.
BBC asked us
to see how
many wars had
been caused by
religion. After
reviewing
historical
analyses by a
diverse array
of
specialists,
we concluded
that there
have been few
genuinely
religious wars
in the last
100 years. The
Israel/Arab
wars from 1948
to now, often
painted in the
media and
other places
as wars over
religion, or
wars arising
from religious
differences,
have in fact
been wars of
nationalism,
liberation of
territory or
self-defense.
The Islamist fundamentalist terror war being
led by Osama
bin Laden,
also often
painted in
media
commentary as
a war about
Islamic
fundamentalism,
is more about
political
order in the
Arab
countries, and
the presence
of US forces
in Muslim
countries,
than it is
about
religious
conversion of
foreigners or
expansion of
territory in
the name of
God. * * * *
(Emphasis added.)
See
also Micke
Wooldridge's
short February
24, 2004, BBC
piece titled "Can religion be blamed for war?"
Conclusion. -
"Let us fight
our enemies" is
not the
salutation all
three of the
major
monotheistic
faiths have in
common. Rather,
it is "Peace Be
With You.” Many
Jewish, Muslim,
and Christian
fundamentalists
have over the
course of
history appeared
to believe this
can be honestly
wished only upon
those who share
the same faith,
i.e.,
are members of
the same
in-group. The
Torah, Bible,
and Qur'an all
contain
passages,
however,
favoring the
notion that life
should be highly
valued and war
avoided, and
further
indicating that
it would not
constitute
heresy in any
faith to wish
peace upon
members of all
faiths. Further,
it seems to me
that the
so-called
"realist" "just
war" scholars
frequently
overlook some
important basic
teachings in the
Holy Books. The
singular value
of the quest for
peace is one.
_______
___________________________
* Nile
Stanton lives in
southern Spain. He
was a professor for
the University of
Maryland University
College for 20
years, where he
taught U.S. active
duty service members
on U.S. military
bases in Spain,
Italy, Bosnia, and
(mostly) Greece as
well as online to
troops throughout
Europe and Asia. The
course he taught
most often (32
iterations) was the
upper-level
government course
called “Law,
Morality, and War.”
Thereafter, he
taught for the
University of New
England at its
Tangier, Morocco,
campus for two
years, where his
signature course was
“War and Public
Health.” He was born
and raised a Quaker
and tends to examine
the excuses for war
and lack of
diplomacy more
carefully and from a
different
perspective than
many people.
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