Here is the fifteenth in a series of Bible studies that presents the Bible as being on the side of pacifism.  This essay, “Sometimes Repentance Isn’t Enough”, takes up the story of Judah’s “boy king,” Josiah.  Josiah follows a long line of corrupt kings characterized by injustice and idolatry. During his kingship, the scroll of the Law is discovered in the dusty corners of the Temple. When it is read to Josiah, he realizes its importance, repents, and seeks to reform Judah in line with the demands of Torah.

Josiah meets with some success, but ends up killed on the battlefield with the task uncompleted. His successor moves the nation back on the track of corruption and within a few years Judah’s temple and king’s palace lie in ruins.

The failure of Josiah’s reform shows just how far Israel had moved from the expectations of Torah, and marks the end of the nation-state as the possible channel for God’s work of blessing all the families of the earth. From now on, it is God’s people in faith communities separate from state domination that fuel the outworking of the promise.

Josiah’s main accomplishment, in the end, was to recognize the Law scroll for what it was and to bring back into the community this essential resource. When the nation-state falls, Torah provides the orienting point that enables the people of the promise to sustain their identity.

Here is the thirteenth in a series of Bible studies that present the Bible as being in the side of pacifism. This essay, “The Battle with Baal: King Ahab vs. Elijah” focuses on a story that highlights the evolution of human kingship in ancient Israel away from loyalty to Torah and toward self-aggrandizement and power politics. King Ahab expropriates an Israeli’s land (his “inheritance”) in defiance of the message of Torah and has the man killed. He doesn’t quite get away with it and the great prophet Elijah embodies the loyalty of true prophets to Torah and challenges the King.

Here is the tenth in a series of Bible studies that present the Bible as being in the side of pacifism. In this essay, “Israel, Kingship, and Violence,”  I look at the emergence of the institution of kingship in ancient Israel and its consequences. When we take into account the conclusion to the book of Judges and the early chapters of 1 Samuel, it is understandable how this move toward kingship would have been attractive to Israel’s elders. However, Samuel challenges this move, predicting dire consequences centering on the likely transformation of Israel toward social injustices characteristic of the nations. Deuteronomy gives us a glimpse at a theologically acceptable form of kingship–however, as the story makes clear, the guidelines in Deuteronomy primarily serve as criteria for judging Israel’s kings as failures.

Here is the ninth in a series of Bible studies that present the Bible as being in the side of pacifism. In this essay, “Chaos and Order,” I look at the book of Judges, a challenging book to understand in relation to peace theology. I suggest that Judges helps us understand the context for Israel’s disastrous choice to turn toward human kingship with its picture of how, when “there was no king in Israel,” everyone did “that which was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). The story told in Judges is important for peace theology primarily in its account of the struggles of Israel to live in the land–struggles that only grew in the years to come until, finally, the entire idea of God’s promise being channeled through a nation-state had to be abandoned.