Abstract
Ritual Violence is an eclectic collection of articles about interpretations of violence in the Hebrew Bible. Olyan's introduction explains that the “ritual dimensions” of violence in the Hebrew Bible have been relatively unexplored. Therefore, one of the central goals of the volume is to introduce the “full range of violent rites represented in the Hebrew Bible” (p. 1). Ritual does not quite meet this ambitious goal, as the “full” range is extraordinary, as briefly described by Olyan in his introduction. Ritual nevertheless does offer a nice collection of articles loosely connected to the theme of violence as ritual.
Olyan and his contributors are especially keen to examine sociopolitical aims of Hebrew Bible violence. But when we apply the word “ritual” to biblical texts, shouldn't we take a look at the cultic realm as well? Early in his introduction, Olyan mentions a few examples of Yahweh's violence in cultic contexts, including the wholesale slaughter under ḥērem (“the ban”) addressed in the Lemos and Wright pieces. The sociopolitical aspects of ritual violence are certainly important, but at some point we might also explore the breadth of Hebrew Bible cultic violence.
Debra Scoggins Balentine discusses the dismemberment of bodies in 2 Samuel 4, a passage which features two acts of killing and bodily mutilation. Balentine supplies a complete list of the cutting off of hands, feet, heads, thumbs and big toes in the Hebrew Bible, as well as instances of hanging, supplying the Hebrew verb utilized in each case. The evidence is rather scanty and scattered, rendering conclusions difficult; however, it is safe to say that the ideal is to bury the whole corpse, rather than to separate body parts. King David honors Ishbaal by reuniting his head and body in burial, while dishonoring Ishbaal's assassins by scattering their hands and feet.
T. M. Lemos looks to the 1994 Rwanda genocide to explain features of Israelite conquest narratives and the Mesha inscription. Lemos notes that it took some time for researchers to determine that a confluence of factors—“ecological, sociological, cultural, and psychological” fostered the grotesque, widespread ethnic violence. Her examination of biblical texts featuring the word ḥērem (“devote to the ban”) shows that the ancient episodes of genocide also demonstrated multiple motivations. In particular, land scarcity, a major problem in Rwanda, is more of a factor in ḥērem passages than is the desire to maintain ethnic purity.
Mark Leuchter argues that 2 Kings 23:15–20 relies heavily on the mythology of Yahweh overcoming the forces of chaos. Josiah's assault on Bethel is a positive representation of this struggle, representing a “ritual purge” consistent with priestly thinking. Leuchter cites poetic passages from the Hebrew Bible and the Ugarit Baal cycle to create an expansive picture of Yahweh's destructive action, properly mimicked by Josiah.
Nathaniel B. Levtow offers a largely theoretical exploration of iconoclasm and iconism through a cognitive lens. The ritual destruction of objects strengthens “intuitions” about the connections between living and inanimate things. Deuteronomistic iconoclasm is a kind of “strategic violence” directed inward, ideally engendering group cohesion around the aniconic central royal cult. In this way iconoclastic practice helps to distinguish royal Judean religion from its iconic surroundings.
Drawing from the work of religion anthropologists, Susan Niditch discusses the Hebrew Bible's use (I would describe it as “abuse”) of women as “mediating, culture-forming exchange items transferred by men to other men” (p. 115). Working primarily through the lens of a 1975 article by Gayle Rubin, Niditch briefly analyzes three groups of texts: the rapes of Dinah in Genesis 34 and the Levite's concubine in Judges 19; women as spoils of war in Deuteronomy 21, Numbers 31, and Judges 21; and the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter in Judges 11.
Saul Olyan surveys the display of severed heads and mutilated corpses in 1 and 2 Samuel and in 2 Kings 10. These displays publicize the death of the deceased, and, in the case of a king, the loss of his kingdom's political influence. Yet lessening the severity of expected ritual violence can lead to new alliances, as in the case of David and Eshbaal in 2 Samuel 4.
Drawing from archaeological and iconic data from the Iron II period, Rüdiger Schmitt describes the area before the city gate as a place of public ritual for war preparation. These rituals are particularly important when royal legitimacy is in danger, so that loyalty displays become essential.
Jacob L. Wright writes about “urbicide,” the destruction of cities for more than purely tactical reasons. Working with royal annals, iconography, and various genres of the Hebrew Bible, Wright explains that ancient civilizations exerted effort to obliterate architecture in order to project power and to erase cultural memory. Ritual urbicide symbolically reverses normal processes of city life, as with, for example, the burial of Ai's king under a heap of stones at the gate, and the prophesied animal habitation of the ruins of Nineveh.
This diverse collection is loosely unified only in that all have something to say about ritual violence as described at the top. The articles use a range of methods, and lean toward narrative texts. All are well written, and everything here will appeal to someone. Ritual Violence is a nice book to have around.