Judaism’s doctrines and texts have sometimes been associated with violence. Laws requiring the eradication of “evil,” sometimes using violent means, exist in the Jewish tradition. Judaism also contains peaceful doctrines. This article deals with the juxtaposition of Judaic law and theology to violence and non-violence by groups and individuals. Attitudes and laws towards both peace and violence exist within the Jewish tradition. Throughout history, Judaism’s religious texts or precepts have been used to promote as well as oppose violence.
Some critics of religion such as Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer argue that all monotheistic religions are inherently violent. For example, Nelson-Pallmeyer writes that “Judaism, Christianity and Islam will continue to contribute to the destruction of the world until and unless each challenges violence in “sacred texts” and until each affirms nonviolent power of God”.
Bruce Feiler writes of ancient history that “Jews and Christians who smugly console themselves that Islam is the only violent religion are willfully ignoring their past. Nowhere is the struggle between faith and violence described more vividly, and with more stomach-turning details of ruthlessness, than in the Hebrew Bible”. Similarly, Burggraeve and Vervenne describe the Old Testament as full of violence and evidence of both a violent society and a violent god. They write that, “[i]n numerous Old Testament texts the power and glory of Israel’s God is described in the language of violence.” They assert that more than one thousand passages refer to YHWH as acting violently or supporting the violence of humans and that more than one hundred passages involve divine commands to kill humans.
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Author: Wikipedia
Keywords: Capital punishment, eye for an eye, total destruction, Tooth for tooth, destroy Amalek, warfare, stoning, beheading, lapidation, execution, massacre
Bible reference(s): Exodus 19:12, Exodus 21:12, Exodus 21:15, Exodus 21:16, Exodus 21:17, Exodus 21:29, Exodus 22:19, Exodus 22:20, Exodus 31:14, Exodus 31:15, Exodus 35:2, Leviticus 20:2, Leviticus 20:9, Leviticus 20:10, Leviticus 20:11, Leviticus 20:12, Leviticus 20:13, Leviticus 20:15, Leviticus 20:16, Leviticus 20:27, Leviticus 24:16, Leviticus 24:17, Leviticus 24:21, Leviticus 27:29, Numbers 1:51, Numbers 3:10, Numbers 15:35, Numbers 18:7, Numbers 21:2, Numbers 21:3, Num 31:17, Numbers 35:16, Numbers 35:17, Numbers 35:18, Numbers 35:21, Numbers 35:30, Numbers 35:31, Deuteronomy 2:34, Deuteronomy 3:6, Deuteronomy 4:26, Deuteronomy 7:2, Deuteronomy 13:5, Deuteronomy 13:10, Deuteronomy 13:15, Deuteronomy 13:16, Deuteronomy 17:5, Deuteronomy 17:6, Deuteronomy 20:17, Deuteronomy 21:21, Deuteronomy 22:21, Deuteronomy 22:24, Deuteronomy 24:16, Joshua 1:18, Joshua 2:10, Joshua 6:21, Joshua 8:26, Joshua 10:1, Joshua 10:28, Joshua 10:35, Joshua 10:37, Joshua 10:39, Joshua 10:40, Joshua 11:11, Joshua 11:12, Joshua 11:20, Joshua 11:21, Judges 1:17, Judges 6:31, Judges 21:11, 1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 15:8, 1 Samuel 15:9, 1 Samuel 15:15, 1 Samuel 15:18, 1 Samuel 15:20, 1 Samuel 17:57, 1 Samuel 22:19, 2 Samuel 1:1, 1 Kings 2:24, 2 Chronicles 32:14, Esther 9:5-13, Est 9:16, Judith 1:15, 2 Maccabees 5:26, 4 Maccabees 2:19
Source: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Judaism and violence,” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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