David A. Bosworth

“You Have Shed Much Blood, and Waged Great Wars”: Killing, Bloodguilt, and Combat Stress

ABSTRACT Are all warriors who have killed somehow polluted and prevented from an intimate relationship with God? This essay seeks to answer this question both affirmatively and negatively by correlating biblical literature, psychology, and the experience of veterans. Although killing in war defiles soldiers with bloodguilt and mars their relationship with the divine and with humans, ritual acts of purification in conjunction with appropriate psychological and pastoral care may cleanse this bloodguilt and restore relationships.

Weeping in the Psalms

AbstractThe motif of weeping in the Psalter has not been a subject of previous study. Scientific study of weeping indicates that crying is a behavior motivated by the need for relationship and care-giving and that tears generate powerful reactions in those who witness them. In the Psalms, speakers draw on the powerful non-verbal eloquence of weeping by mentioning their tears in the contexts of their prayers in order to motivate God to help. This article describes how the motif of weeping functions in the Psalms and analyzes its distribution in the Psalter.

Daughter Zion and Weeping in Lamentations 1–2

Weeping is a powerful non-verbal behavior by which people signal their pain and distress, and communicate a need for comfort and assistance. The book of Lamentations verbalizes the phenomenon of weeping to describe the tears of ‘daughter Zion’ and the empathetic tears of the narrator who addresses her in ch. 2. Thus, the eloquence and power of the poetry is augmented by verbal descriptions of a non-verbal behavior. In Lamentations 1–2, the motif of weeping is inextricably bound up with the personification of Zion both as a daughter and as the mother of the people. This article examines the personification of Jerusalem and its functions within the poetry in order to understand the expression ‘daughter Zion’ and how ‘daughter Zion’ heightens the emotional impact of the poetry and becomes a source of comfort in the midst of deep despair. As a daughter, Zion stands in solidarity with the suffering children of Lamentations, and as the mother of the community, she intercedes on their behalf and weeps for her suffering and missing children. All the instances of weeping occur with reference to the death of children.

David, Jether, and Child Soldiers

David’s enthusiasm for killing ‘this uncircumcised Philistine’ (1 Sam. 17.26, 36) contrasts with Jether’s refusal to kill Zebah and Zalmunah (Judg. 8.20). David’s victory over Goliath lives in cultural memory as a famous victory of youth over experience and weakness over strength. Jether’s reluctance to kill is almost entirely forgotten. The widespread celebration of the youthful David’s heroics overlooks aspects of the text that characterize David negatively, implicitly denigrates Jether, and tacitly endorses child soldiering. This article contrasts David and Jether and correlates their narratives with information about child soldiers in ancient Israel and the modern world.

REVISITING KARL BARTH'S EXEGESIS OF 1 KINGS 13

The present article seeks to re-present Karl Barths exegesis of 1 Kings 13 with additional support that Barth neglected to include. Changes in biblical scholarship over the past few decades have resulted in an environment in which Barths interpretation may not be as readily rejected as it was in the past. Barths exegesis of 1 Kings 13 was not accepted among biblical scholars for several reasons. He was thought to be an enemy of historical criticism whose exegetical work was not a serious contribution to biblical studies. Furthermore, he interpreted the chapter holistically at a time when scholars were preoccupied with analytical questions concerning sources and composition. Barth related the chapter to the whole history of the divided kingdom by suggesting that the man of God and the old prophet represent the kingdoms from which they come and that the relationship between the two prophetic figures mirrors the relationship between Israel and Judah as told in Kings. This analogy seemed unlikely to scholars convinced of the fragmentary nature of Kings. The present article begins with an overview of Barths relationship to modern biblical scholarship followed by a summary presentation of his exegesis of 1 Kings 13. Next, the major objections to Barths interpretation are critically assessed, and recent research on the chapter is evaluated. Finally, the analogy indicated by Barth is elaborated, so that his interpretation may seem more plausible and future research may benefit from his insights.