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.
Num 31,19-24, there are some terminological and conceptual links between Num 31,19-23 and Num 35,30-34 such as might have led the Chronicler to exegete the former in terms of the latter. Before we explore these links, however, we must first examine Num 31,19-24.
A decontamination ritual for warriors is specified by Moses in Num 31,19-20, to which the priest Eleazar adds a further detail in 31,2438. Warriors who have killed (#pn grh lk) or had contact with a corpse (llxb (gn lk [31,19b]) are to remain outside the camp for seven days, undergoing a purification ritual on the third and seventh days, and washing their clothes on the seventh (31,24). Though no form of either the verb Pnx ‘pollute’ (Num 35,33) or )m+ ‘be defiled, contaminated’ (Num 35,34) occurs in these verses, the verb rh+ ‘cleanse, purify’ in 31,24, the semantic and ritual opposite to )m+, signals the successful completion of the ritual. The verb )+xth ‘to decontaminate’ used in 31,19.20 (and 31,23) also occurs in Num 19,12.13.20, but elsewhere in this sense only in Num 8,21. Moreover, the seven-day period of decontamination (so Num 19,11.16)39, with purification rituals performed on the third and seventh days, using the ‘water for purification’ (hdn ym) as may be inferred from 31,23 (so Num 19,12-13.18-19), as well as the washing of the clothes on the seventh day (so Num 19,19), all link the ritual specified here closely with that specified for purification from corpse-contamination inNum 19,11-20, where forms of )m+ occur some eight times (19,11.13.14.15.16.17.19.20)40. So, notwithstanding the occasional