ABSTRACT
This view was challenged by G. von Rad (1959) who claimed that the concept had its origin in the tradition of holy war, thereby building on his own work (1951: which was translated into English by M.J. Dawn and issued with an introduction by B.C. Ollenburger as recently as 1991, including a critical appraisal and a survey of the discussion which has taken place since the original publication). In von Rad’s opinion the Day of Yahweh was a projection into the future of Yahweh as this had been experienced in Heilsgeschichte. Von Rad was much influenced by what M. Noth (1930) postulated concerning an Israelite amphictyony. Although that theory has now been largely abandoned by scholars (cf. Mayes and Miller, 1977, pp. 297-308; Lemche, 1977), von Rad’s theory of holy war continues to enjoy respect (see, for example, Barstad, 1984, pp. 99-110) though it has not been without its critics. J. Gray (1974) accepted that von Rad was right in claiming that the imagery associated with the Day of Yahweh often reflects the traditions of holy war in the days of the judges, but Gray wondered whether that is sufficient evidence to claim that the concept of the Day of Yahweh had its origin in those traditions. Gray argued that the features in the description of the Day of Yahweh which recall holy war motifs have a subordinate significance and relate to the second stage of the Israelite adaptation of the theme of the effective kingship of God in the conflict against the forces of chaos in the liturgy of the autumn festival in Palestine when those forces were identified with the historical enemies of Israel and her God.
