Sotah 092

נושא: Sotah

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of people who have set themselves against me on every side. Arise, God! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek. You have broken the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to God. Your blessing be on your people. [Psalm 3:7-9]

When is this so? – in a political war, whereas in a religious war everyone goes [to the front], even "a bridegroom from his chamber and a bride from her canopy". Rabbi Yehudah says, When is this so? – in a religious war, whereas in a compulsory war everyone goes [to the front], even "a bridegroom from his chamber and a bride from her canopy".

6:
Rambam, thus, gives three scenarios which answer to the definition of a 'religious' war, a war mandated and required by Heaven. The first is 'the war against the seven nations'. The Torah [Deuteronomy 7:1-5] requires Israel to embark upon a war of annihilation against the seven nations from whom it must wrest the Land of Canaan so that it may become the Land of Israel.

When God brings you into the land of which you are about to take possession, and casts out many nations before you – the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite – seven nations greater and mightier than you; and when God delivers them up before you, and you strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them: you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them; neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall you take to your son. For he [the Canaanite] will turn away your son from following Me, so that they serve other gods: so will God's anger be kindled against you, and he will destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their engraved images with fire…

Thus, upon entry into the Land Israel is required to physically and culturally oust the present inhabitants in a holy war. The conduct of that war is dutifully and graphically described in the Book of Joshua. However, modern scholars are of the opinion that both Deuteronomy itself and the historical books of the bible that come from the same school are idealized in the extreme. If Joshua succeeded in physically subjugating and culturally annihilating the former inhabitants of the land as described in the book which bears his name, whence come the later Canaanites who wreak such havoc with Israel's religious beliefs? From whence came the Canaanites of the time of King Solomon? From whence came the Canaanites against whom the prophet Elijah acted so vigourously? From whence came the Canaanites against whose insidious religious influence prophets such as Hoshea pleaded and harangued so earnestly?

7:
According to rabbinic tradition the War against the Seven Nations was fought by Joshua and brought to a successful conclusion by him. Therefore, according to rabbinic tradition that mitzvah has been fulfilled and can never be invoked again. Modern scholars opine that at least some of the present inhabitants of Eretz-Israel are genetically descended from those same Canaanites whom Israel was instructed to annihilate. If the book of Joshua reflects historical accuracy this is an impossibility; if it is only idealized history then Israel's failure to conquer the land culturally surely brought in its wake the fulfillment of the divine warning [Numbers 33:55-56]:

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those who you let remain of them will be as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land in which you dwell. It shall happen that as I thought to do to them, so will I do to you.

8:
The war against Amalek is also mandated in the Torah in two places. First of all, after the initial battle with the Amalekites described in the Torah [Exodus 17:14-16] we are told that

God said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky." Moses built an altar, and called it 'God is my Banner'. He said, "God has sworn: 'God will have war with Amalek throughout all generations.'"

And then later the Torah [Deuteronomy 25:17-19] gives a specific instruction:

Remember what Amalek did to you on the road as you came out of Egypt; how he met you by the way and struck the hindmost of you – all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall be, when God has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which God gives you as your inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky; do not forget.

The fulfillment of this command is described later in the bible [1Samuel 16] as having been carried out by King Saul. However, as the story there readily admits, the task was not carried out as it should have been. Indeed, Amalekites continue to appear in Israel's later history – certainly well into the reign of King David and, according to persistent rabbinic tradition, as late as the time of Mordechai and Esther. Whilst rabbinic tradition seems to view the command to wage war against Amalek as having been fulfilled there are also voices which require God's fight with Amalek to be continued 'throughout all generations' whenever and wherever the vicious and evil spirit of Amalek is perceived.

To be continued.

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