ABSTRACT
The crime and punishment theme continues throughout the story of the Israelites' rise and fall as a nation. They conquer the peoples who had been living in Canaan and establish a kingdom in the Promised Land, but they then become divided, turn away from God, and eventually get conquered by Assyria and Babylon. This chapter explores the literary legacy of the following questions. If God is all-powerful, then why did he create a world in which injustice often thrives and the good suffer? Why do some biblical stories depict God as doing or commanding things that seem unjust? Why do different biblical texts imply different notions of justice and morality? Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, who famously wrestled with one of the most morally challenging episodes in the Bible: the story of how God asks Abraham to kill his son, Isaac, as a holy sacrifice.
