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War is not only waged on the battlefield, but is written and read in contexts that influence meaning and reception. The essays in this collection examine how ancient Israelites wrote about war and how war-related texts in the Hebrew Bible have been read in ancient and modern contexts. They explore writing and reading war in contexts ranging from ancient Israel to early Judaism to contemporary Christianity. The contributors—both established and newer voices—apply a variety of historical, literary, and comparative methods to biblical texts and present new perspectives on the rhetoric, gender, and ethics of war. A foreword by Susan Niditch and introduction by Victor H. Matthews offer a literature review of recent major works in this field and orient readers to past research and future directions for the study of the discourse and realities of war.

Brad E. Kelle is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Point Loma Nazarene University. He is the author of Hosea 2: Metaphor and Rhetoric in Historical Perspective (Society of Biblical Literature), Ancient Israel at War 853–586 BC (Osprey), and the co-editor of Israel’s Prophets and Israel’s Past: Essays on the Relationship of Prophetic Texts and Israelite History in Honor of John H. Hayes (T&T Clark). Frank Ritchel Ames is Director of Library Services at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine and a contributor to the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (Zondervan) and the Encyclopedia of Protestantism (Routledge).