Is There A Doctrine of "Collective Retribution" in The Hebrew Bible?
The passages of Exod 20:5—6 (= Deut 5:9—10), 34:6—7, Num 14:18, Deut 7:9—10, and Jer 32:18 are similar in their basic antithetical structure and constituent parts. Their fundamental similarity and characteristic participial style provide sufficient evidence to show that we have here a more or less f...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
1995
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1994, Volume: 65, Pages: 35-89 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The passages of Exod 20:5—6 (= Deut 5:9—10), 34:6—7, Num 14:18, Deut 7:9—10, and Jer 32:18 are similar in their basic antithetical structure and constituent parts. Their fundamental similarity and characteristic participial style provide sufficient evidence to show that we have here a more or less fixed credoformula summarizing a generally valid understanding of God's attitude toward Israel. Because it comprehends two opposed aspects of the divine activity, it represents both promise and threat, emphasis being laid on the one or the other in accordance with particular circumstances. After all attempts to explain the threat of punishment have been exhausted, the only possible conclusion is that it reflects a feeling that ancestral guilt is inheritable. Other biblical passages dealing with collective retribution make clear that collective punishment is of relative character. On the one hand, God makes use of it only in special circumstances. On the other hand, human institutions are not allowed to practice it. Consequently, general statements of collective divine punishment should not be regarded as a doctrine or principle, but as an anthropomorphous expression of the fact that operation of natural law implies collective or inherited punishment. The point is that children are victims of "natural" consequences of their father's guilt. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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