History: Hebrew Civilization

The ancient culture of war is known best by many from reading the Hebrew Bible. The books of Exodus and Numbers describes how the Israelites escaped from Egypt and after long wanderings, under the leadership of Moses and the "command" of their god, they conquered the peoples and occupied the "land of Canaan." As part of this campaign, the Israelites conquered the walled city of Jericho, which we know from archaeology as one of the most ancient of all walled cities, dating from before 10,000 BC, long before the earliest empires of which we have record. The account in the book of Joshua of the siege and destruction of Jericho is especially interesting because it illustrates an important and recurring theme in the culture of war, the betrayal of one side in a war by a woman:

"They took the city . . and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, 'Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.' So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord's house. But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho."

At a later time, as described in the books of Samuel, the celebrated warrior David became the King of Israel, following his victory in what amounted to a civil war with the forces of the previous ruler, King Saul. The Bible describes the exploits of King David and King Solomon, his son and successor, in a way typical of the leaders of ancient civilizations, emphasizing their victorious military campaigns and the building of the great temple. In addition, King David is renowned for his poetry, the Psalms, and King Solomon for his wise judgments. Among King David's poetry is thanks to God for his help in battle:

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet."

The Bible includes many references to slavery, including the following from the laws in the book of Leviticus: "If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property." And slaves were taken in the wars such as those of King Solomon as described in the 9th Chapter of I Kings:

"Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord's temple . . All the people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites), that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites could not exterminate--these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day. But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers."

As mentioned previously, the male domination of the Hebrew culture of war is expressed, in addition to their use of slaves, in the final commandment of the Biblical "Ten Commandments"

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