A Follow-Up on the Bible's Authors

With tongue firmly in cheek, the other day I suggested that the Hebrew Bible was written and edited by people who seem, to put it mildly, to have disliked the Israelites and their god; that is, by antisemites. My point is that the 24 books consist virtually of nonstop defamation of an entire population over millennia along with its tribal deity. (The children of Israel were polytheists most of the time.) Mass murder, slavery, collective punishment, and divine petulance and vindictiveness are to be found on nearly every page. How else to explain these illustrative passages?

2 Kings 21:10-14 

The Lord said through his servants the prophets: “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies; they have done evil in my eyes and have aroused my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.” [Emphasis added.]

And, 

1 Samuel 8:7-8 

And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.” [Emphasis added.]

According to the Bible, then, these habitually sinful people were Yahweh's favorite among all nations. Yahweh, let us remember is said to be omniscient: he knows the future, including what people will do, perfectly. So what's up? He created and "favored" the people who would sin against Him at every turn. And when it suited Him, He created and aided this people's enemies in order to punish His beloved "children" for their iniquities. 

Doesn't Yahweh have some explaining to do?

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2023 at 8:41 AM

    But 1 Samuel Chapter 8 is one of my favorite anti-government Bible passages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousApril 5, 2023 at 7:12 AM

      In fact, it's the first (and only) Bible chapter in David Boaz's _The Libertarian Reader_.

      Delete
    2. Sheldon RichmanApril 5, 2023 at 8:14 AM

      I take your point. Samuel's warning about what a king would do was spot-on.

      Delete

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