Teaching biblical violence: a rabbi's ethical interpretation approach

Religion and Violence

Throughout history, violence and religion have often gone hand in hand, and particularly during times when social change caused upheaval and insecurity. Religious violence most often occurs when a group of believers believe in the correctness of their own paradigm to the exclusion of all others. Hence, in their zeal to convert others, they often perpetrated a regime of fear rather than the converts they were looking for. Examples of this include the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades. A religious leader such as a Rabbi is therefore faced with a difficult problem: how to help believers understand that peace and love are God's will, particularly when there are so many passages describing divine violence in Scripture.

The first important thing is that the Rabbi needs to understand the nature of religious violence. Human beings tend to believe in a higher power than themselves, which is not only good but also just. It follows that a just God cannot idly let evil pass by, and therefore some very zealous believers begin to believe themselves to be the instruments o God's wrath on earth (Traer). The Rabbi is then to impress upon his followers the importance of distinguishing the context of scripture with that of contemporary society.

Violence in scripture occurs in a certain context, and with the direct sanction of God. While some imagine themselves to be instruments of God on earth, it has to be taken into account that we no longer live in a world where violence is at the order of the day. We no longer live and die in wars to gain territory or to fulfill prophesies. Instead, the main purpose of religion today is comfort in times of trouble as well as a guide for living well. The Rabbi should therefore emphasize these qualities.