Hate and Enmity in Biblical Law

Description

Enmity between individuals was an ubiquitious phenomenon in the ancient world. Using the method of legal anthropology this book examines patterns of hate-driven feuding in kinship-based and segmentary societies and applies these insights to biblical law. It defines the fundamental categories of enmity, love, revenge, honor and shame in the context of feuding and it illustrates certain legal actions, such giving false witness, and shows how they are expressions of hateful relationships. Adam proposes that we should understand hate between individuals as a legal construct that becomes visible when lived out as private enmity, a social status that exhibits distinct hallmarks. In kinship-based societies, private hate/enmity was publicly declared and, consequently, was publicly known in one’s own kin and beyond. Private enmity was acted out in feud-like patterns, with a flexibility that allowed opponents to choose between various measures to hurt their opponent. Acting out hate was reciprocal, and it typically escalated and swiftly expanded into one party’s attempt to kill the other and to trigger a blood feud. Finally, private enmity was “transitive” in the sense that opponents at enmity naturally expected solidarity from kin and friends. Adam uses textual analysis to illustrate how the legal construct of hate informs biblical law from the Covenant Code, to Deuteronomic and Priestly Legislation, including the Holiness Code. He also demonstrates how hate forms the backdrop of conflict settlement. Ultimately, by ways of tracing back through the category of private hate and enmity, this book unpacks the meaning of the quintessential command to “Love your neighbor!” Cover Title Copyright Contents List of Tables Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Introduction 1. Definitions of Blood Feud 2. Functional vs. Evolutionary Theories of Conflict Settlement 3. Feuding and Conflict Settlement in Ancient Israel in Evolutionary Legal Theory 4. Hatred and Enmity in the Old Testament: A Proposal Chapter 2 “If two are quarreling with each other…”: Long-term Enmity in the Covenant Code 1. Enmity in the Covenant Code 2. Exodus 21:13aα: “he has not intended…” 3. Exodus 21:13aβ: “The God” Initiating Homicide—A Legal Fiction 4. Reading Exodus 21:14 through a Redaction Critical Lens 4.1. “My altar” in Verse 14b 4.2. Verse 12 in its Relation to Verses 13-14 4.3. The Relevance of the Parties’ Social Status in the Compositional Logic of 21:12-34 רע . 4.4 – Everyday Neighbor זיד/זוד* . 4.5 Exodus 21:14 (Proverbs 21:14; Psalm 86:14) 4.6. Conclusion: The Relevance of Enmity for Procedural Law 5. Injury Law 5.1. Exodus 21:18-19 5.2. Reworking of Exodus 21:18-19 5.3. Reception History of Exodus 21:18-19 6. Exodus 22:1-2 as a Test Case for Long-term Enmity 7. Long-term Enmity in the yeshallem-laws of Exodus 21:33–22:14 8. Enmity Legislation in Exodus 23:4-5 and Proverbs 25:21-22 8.1. Exodus 23:4-5 in Exodus 23:1-8 8.2. Legal Procedure between Opponents in Exodus 23:1-8 8.3. Proverbs 25:21-22 9. Conclusion: Intentionality and Long-term Enmity 9.1. Intentionality in Ancient Near Eastern Law חמד . 9.2 : Intentionality and Long-term Enmity in the Decalogues 9.3. Early Judaism 9.4. Summary and Outlook Chapter 3 Long-Term Enmity and Legal Procedure in Deuteronomic Law 1. Private Long-term Enmity: A Legal Construct and Its Implications 2. Hate and Enmity as Themes of the Composition Deuteronomy 19 and 21 3. Deuteronomy 19:1-12 (19:2a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, 11-12) 3.1. Translation, Source Criticism, Outline 3.2. The Continuous Nature of the Slayer–Victim Relation 3.3. Subcase I (v. 4b) 3.4. The Case Law (v. 5) 3.5. Subcase II (vv. 11-12) 3.6. Conclusion 4. “Hate” as a Legal Category in Deuteronomy and Beyond 4.1. Deuteronomy 22:1-4 as Interpretation of Exodus 23:4-5 4.2. Marriage Law in Deuteronomy 22:13-21a; 24:1-4 4.3. “Hate” in Biblical Marriage Law and in “Wifehood” Documents from Elephantine 4.4. Inheritance Law in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 4.5. Conclusion 5. Cultural and Literary Historical Contexts:Deuteronomy onomy 19:4, 11 ( (אח ,רע 5.1. Fictive Kinship 5.2. The Singular “Your Brother” in Witness Law 5.3. Kinship Ethos and Social Justice 5.4. Private Enmity as a Result of Economic Injustice 5.5. Brother Ethos and Honor: Deuteronomy 25:1-3 5.6. Conclusion 5.7. Excursus: “Neighbor” in Proverbs 5.8. Deuteronomy 19:3b: רצח – “to kill in a community” 5.9. Conclusion 6. Outlook: Deuteronomy 19 as Response to an Agonistic Society? Chapter 4 Enmity and Hate in Priestly Law: Numbers 35 (Deuteronomy 4; Joshua 20) 1. Source Criticism: Enmity in Priestly Law 2. Outline and Legal Thought 3. Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19:1-12: Parallels, Modifications, Clarifications 4. Legal Categories בשׁגגה . 4.1 – “Inadvertently” or “Tragically”? 4.2. Distinction of Tools and Modes of Action in trauma ek pronoias 4.3. Nominalizations and Modes of Action as Evolutions of Homicide Law 4.4. Modes of Action: To Push, to Throw and to Drop, to Slay צדיה . 4.6 4.7. Conclusion 5. Legal Procedure and Social Background 5.1. Israelite, Metic, Settler 5.2. Jurisdiction of the עדה 5.3. The Local Congregation as Jury and עיר מקלט as “City of Refuge” 5.4. Verses 25-29 as Regulatory Statutes 5.5. Asylum Cities as Places of Refuge in Classical Athens and in the Hellenistic Era 6. Reception History (Deuteronomy 4; Joshua 20) 7. Conclusion Chapter 5 Brotherly Love in Leviticus 19:11-18 1. Brotherly Love 1.1. The Composition of Leviticus 19:11-18 1.2. Prohibitive Rows and their Themes 1.3. Themes Relevant to the Community of H 2. Leviticus 19:11-18 in Leviticus 19 3. Conflict Settlement, Patriarchal and Communal Authority 3.1. Verses 11-12 3.2. Verses 13-14 3.3. Verses 15-16 4. Outlook—Religious Historical Parallels 4.1. Hate and Urban Carnage 4.2. Conflict Settlement and Enmity in Religious Associations 4.3. Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors Index of Hebrew Terms Index of Subjects