Once Again, the Problem of War in the Old Testament: Some Wisdom from the Late Peter Craigie (Part 3)
Once again, I belatedly return to my series on the late Peter Craigie on the problem of war in the Old Testament. The first part was an introduction to Cragie's work on this subject from his book, The Problem of War in the Old Testament . The second part of my series dealt with the first of three problems to be addressed-- the problem of God's character in these narratives. Quotes from Craigie's book will be presented in italics. My own comments are in parentheses in standard block type. Today's post highlights the second difficulty-- the problem of revelation (pp. 97-100).. Craigie begins the discussion: A part of the problem of revelation has already been examined... God revealed himself to his chosen people through warfare.. But a further problem remains; granted that much of ancient history is characterized by warfare, why is it that so much of the literature of war has been included in the canonical books of the Old Testament as a revealed book , the contents...