Is peace on earth possible? Can there ever be a time in our future when there is no war? The Bible’s blueprint on civilization is not the most helpful here. But can we learn from our ancestral mistakes how to transcend and heal our collective traumas?
National Geographic went around the world to ask this question, the responses, not surprisingly, were split. Watch this short clip:
Human history shows us that we repeatedly and tragically resort to weapons instead of words when it comes to conflict. Whatever the future may hold - the past, including the biblical drama we're in the middle of, is often one war after another, even with many pockets of relative peace. As the second Book of Samuel begins, the blood between the two camps who both descended from Jacob begins to boil and starts to spill into the streets.
As soon as David finishes lamenting Saul and Jonathan, the tensions rise. With Saul’s crown in hand, David moves his wives, men and families to Hebron, the large city in Judea where he is now officially crowned as the King of Judah - just one of the tribes. Still, it’s a start.
Meanwhile, there is one remaining son of Saul, and this heir to the throne of Israel is quickly dispatched across the Jordan river for safekeeping, all supervised by Abner son of Ner, Saul’s trusted general.
The new king’s name is a mystery. This chapter names him as ‘Ish-Boshet’ - loosely translated as ‘Man of Shame’ but most scholars agree that this is a later slur added by the writers loyal to the House of David. His real name may likely have been IshBaal - the Man devoted to the god Baal. Either because of Anti-Saul sentiments, or anti pagan deities - his name gets changed. IshBoshet becomes king of the tribes of Israel - though really a puppet in Abener’s hands, and the war between the two houses is officially launched.
A set of skirmishes and public fights begin between the fighters of Abner and those working under Yoav, David’s army chief. One of Yoav’s younger brothers, a champion runner, provokes Abner who stabs him to death activating a blood feud that will complicate matters for both men and the houses they work for. And just as things start getting out of control, Abner opens a negotiation channel with Yoav to call a ceasefire, getting poetic along the way:
וַיִּקְרָ֨א אַבְנֵ֜ר אֶל־יוֹאָ֗ב וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הֲלָנֶ֙צַח֙ תֹּ֣אכַל חֶ֔רֶב הֲל֣וֹא יָדַ֔עְתָּה כִּי־מָרָ֥ה תִֽהְיֶ֖ה בָּאַֽחֲרוֹנָ֑ה וְעַד־מָתַי֙ לֹא־תֹאמַ֣ר לָעָ֔ם לָשׁ֖וּב מֵאַחֲרֵ֥י אֲחֵיהֶֽם׃
“Abner then called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? You know how bitterly it’s going to end! How long will you delay ordering your troops to stop the pursuit of their kinsmen?”
Yoav blows the shofar and calls his men off - for the night. But the battle will commence in the morning, and for the next seven years.
In 1981, Moshe Dayan, Israel’s celebrated and contested general, minister, amateur archeologist and diplomat, published his last book with a focus on the peace talks with Egypt in which he took an active part. He chose to name the memoir ‘Will the Sword Devour Forever?’ - hoping that the peace between the two nations will open up doors of hope and bring on better peaceful days between Israel and more of its neighbors. That hope for that region and the rest of the world still seems to be a very aspirational goal.
Are we anywhere better than our people were 3,000 years ago?
TODAY! Curious to know what happens next?
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Having been doing a lot of reading lately about the latest scientific thinking about pre-history based on archeological and dna evidence there is no basis to support the accepted claim that setting conflicts through violence has always been part of human life. Small bands were able to avoid each other in the open spaces and when encountered avoided conflict, as far as the fossil record shows. And, also contrary to myth, there is plenty of evidence to show that at certain times of year small bands got together in larger groups of at least several hundred for ceremonial, hunting or other food gathering activities. And did so without any formal authority. So it is only with the advent of so-called "civilization" that violence became the way to resolve conflicts.