Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BAN

Heb. ḥērem is not employed in a consistent manner within the OT. It sometimes appears as a voluntary practice undertaken by the Israelites (Lev. 27:28; Num. 21:2) and other times seems to be commanded by God (Deut. 20:17; Josh. 6:17-18). In general, there are many more occurrences in which God orders the ban as opposed to instances in which it is done as part of a vow. The voluntary idea of the ban occurs primarily in texts of priestly origin (Lev. 27:21, 28; Num. 18:14; Ezek. 44:29). In Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic history the ban never appears as a vow and often, although not always, it is explicitly ordered by God (Deut. 7:2; 13:15[MT 16]; Josh. 10:40; 11:14, 20; 1 Sam. 15:2-3). On some occasions one is allowed to keep parts of the booty (Josh. 8:2), and at other times everything is to be destroyed (Deut. 13:15-17[16-18]; 1 Sam. 15:3). It is possible that this practice changed over time, or perhaps different texts represent this institution in different ways.

Thus Josh. 6–7 refers to a ban in which everything was to be killed, destroyed, or dedicated to God. But at least two instances in Deuteronomy allow one to plunder the livestock and booty of a nation that has been put to the ban (Deut. 2:34-35; 3:6-7). Interestingly, after the misfortune resulting from Achan’s misappropriation of the banned goods in Josh. 7, , the ban is reduced in ch. 8 and the people now permitted to keep the booty and the livestock (vv. 2, 27). This instance along with 1 Sam. 15 may suggest that the total ban was difficult to implement and that the more moderate versions developed out of the necessity to reward the troops.

Often the language surrounding the concept of the ban indicates that the object is consecrated or dedicated in an almost sacrificial manner (Lev. 27:28-29; Deut. 13:16[17]). A further sacral property of such banned goods is their apparent ability to transfer their dedicated status to those who misappropriate them (Deut. 7:26; Josh. 6:18). This is the most likely explanation for why Joshua executes Achan’s whole family and all his livestock as well (Josh. 7).

Analogues to the idea of the ban appear in other ancient Near Eastern cultures. Such parallels strongly suggest that this practice did occur in certain periods and should not be viewed as a fictional concept invented by biblical writers who were romanticizing about the glorious past. The single closest analogue to the way in which the ban functions in the OT can be in the 9th-century Mesha Stone. Line 17 uses the root ḥrm to describe the Moabite king’s killing and utterly dedicating a whole city to his god.

A similar usage is employed in 2 Kgs. 19:11. Here the Assyrian king Sennacherib instructs his official to tell Hezekiah: “You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them utterly.” Whether the Assyrian delegation actually used the verb ḥrm cannot be known for sure, but the fact that much of ancient warfare was understood explicitly as fighting either to protect or expand various gods’ territories certainly makes this a possibility.

Akk. asakku, found in texts from Mari, carries a similar connotation. The person who ate the asakku became contaminated by it and, originally, would have been killed for this offense. This taboo may have originated elsewhere, but it does occur in military contexts as well. Although it is clear that the notion of asakku sheds some light on the biblical notion of ban, it is also certain that it is not an exact analogue because the asakku can belong to a king and even a soldier, as well as a god.

Bibliography. M. Fretz, “Herem in the Old Testament,” in Essays on War and Peace: Bible and Early Church, ed. W. M. Swartley (Elkhart, 1986), 7-44, 67-95; J. S. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible. JSOTSup 196 (Sheffield, 1995); S. Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford, 1993); P. D. Stern, The Biblical µerem. Brown Judaic Studies 211 (Atlanta, 1991).

Joel S. Kaminsky

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BAN

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)