Donald F. Murray, «Under Yhwh’s Veto: David as Shedder of Blood in Chronicles», Vol. 82 (2001) 457-476
As grounds for Yhwh’s veto on David’s building the temple, the charge of shedding blood, in Chronicles made against David alone (1 Chr 22,8; 28,3), poses questions both about what is being referred to, and how the charge explains the veto, given that in the Hebrew Bible no other Israelite warrior incurs the charge for killing in warfare. This article explicates the charge, highlights how surprising it is, and then develops a line of argument, drawn principally from Num 31 and 35, that can explain how the Chronicler understood the charge both to be warranted, and to justify Yhwh’s veto.
Moreover, it is abundantly clear that in the biblical perspective Md Kp# constitutes a heinous offence that merits both human and divine condemnation, and incurs the penalty of death for the perpetrator.
Of the 33 non-Chronicles instances of Md Kp# used of human agents shedding human blood three, and only three, use the expression of lethal violence perpetrated by warriors in war25. The warriors in Ps 79,3.10 are the nations, God’s enemies, and the context is one of appeal to Yhwh to avenge the undeserved slaughter of his not-so-guilty servants. In Joel 4,19 [3,19] Egypt and Edom are threatened with desolation for their bloody violence against the innocent of Judah. Although neither context makes perspicuous why Md Kp# appropriately characterizes their deeds, it is noteworthy that in both texts the charge is laid against Israel’s enemies. Furthermore, granted that the violence so characterized in both is perpetrated against an enemy people, it is perpetrated against non-combatant civilians, not combatant soldiers.
A point that emerges clearly from this evidence is that the expression Md Kp# is never, outside of Chronicles, used to denote killing by Israelite warriors in the context of war. Moreover, that a fundamental distinction could be made between fatal violence against an opposing fighter in a military context (hmxlm ymd) on the one hand and against a fellow citizen in a civil context (Md Kp#) on the other, is demonstrated by comparing what David says to Solomon in 1 Kgs 2,5 with what Solomon says to Benaiah in 2,31. In his last words to Solomon, David exhorts him to punish Joab, whom David accuses of having pursued a vendetta in peace-time against Abner and Amasa. David alleges that Joab, wrongly and culpably, counted Abner’s killing of Joab’s brother Asahel in war (2 Sam 2,18-23) as on a par with peace-time killings (Ml#b hmxlm-ymd M#yw [1 Kgs 2,5ab]), and thus as subject to the same responsibilities for blood-vengeance