Rewriting Nationlism
This week's Torah portion has three chapters that talk about all of the battles that Israel had, how they were undefeated, and how nothing could stop them.
There is this image of the Hebrew, marching, all two-million-plus of them, with the special golden box, upon which there were images of a pair of supernatural beings, and upon, within, or over (depending upon the verse), Yahweh was there, leading them to war. (see verse 3:22, the last verse of this week's portion).
The portion lists a lot of their conquests, but one that we read in Numbers 20:20-21 is that when the Hebrews approached Edom, they were told to go away, and the Edomites came out and the Hebrews left, feeling discouraged (21:5).
The Deuteronomist wasn't comfortable with Yahweh not fulfilling his job as a "man of war" (Ex. 15:3), and so changed the story a bit, and in verses 2:4-2:7, we read that they didn't run away because they were afraid, but, instead Yahweh told them not to attack Edom, and told them to interact nicely and buy food and water from them. And while Numbers 20:19 does have the Hebrews offering to pay for food and water, the only response that we read is "Go away!", or more accurately (Numbers 20:19-21):
And Edom said to him, You shall not pass by me, lest I come out against you with the sword.
And the people of Israel said to him, We will go by the high way; and if I and my cattle drink of your water, then I will pay for it; I will do you no injury, only pass through by foot.
And [Edom] said, You shall not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.
The Deuteronomist changed the nationalistic folklore to be more of "We were undefeated! Oh, Edom? Well, God wouldn't let us, so technically, we were still undefeated!"
It should be noted that Edom would eventually be subdued and forced to convert by the High Priest Yochanan Hyrcanus in the 2nd century BCE, and the view of the Edomites in Numbers (fierce, unwelcoming) and in Deuteronomy (brothers whom God does not want harmed) is likely politically motivated.
And this brings us to Moab, which is also a rewrite. In Deut. 2:9, Yahweh tells them not to bother the Moabites. This is likely a response to the story in numbers where the Moabite women bring their idols and have sex with the Hebrew men, and Yahweh's response is to harass and wipe out Midian!
I explained in another blog post that it is more likely that Moab was the original target, and for political reasons, certain portions were changed as political landscapes changed, to make Midian the evil one in the post-Balaam story.
So, the Deuteronomist seems to be explaining why the Hebrews traveled from Moab all the way south to Midian, and then came all the way back north to Moab because a single Midianite woman, who was not participating in idolatry, and whose only "crime" was having sex with the prince of the tribe of Shimon.
After justifying why Edom and Moab were spared from Yahweh's otherwise perfect record of defeating other nations, the narrator goes on to tell how they defeated giants, and then, explained why they left Ammon alone, because, again, Yahweh said so. (Deut. 2:9)
In Numbers 21:24, it tells us that while the Israelites were taking over this city and that town, when they got to the border of Ammon, they stopped "because the border of the sons of Ammon were strong".
They must have been very strong, since Deut 2:10-11 tells us that the land of Ammon was previously be the home of a nation of giants.
A final note about Ammon - the apocryphal text, "The Book of Judith" tells the odd story of the Jews defeating an army of Nebuchadnezzar with the help of an Ammonite (who converts at the end of the story), and it depicts a more cooperative relationship between Israel and Ammon.
Summary
The Deuteronomist has written a completely different narrative, updating the stories to be applied to a newer and more nationalistic expression, where the nationals can declare "We are great! Our God is the Greatest! We are unstoppable! He can do anything!" And as for the earlier stories where the other nations were tougher, well, they weren't really that tough, and the only reason that they weren't defeated is because God didn't want them to be subdued.
Why?
Mysterious ways, I suppose!
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