Mercenaries and the Message: The Treatment of Foreign Soldiers as Evangelism in Ancient Judah

This paper offers a theological interpretation of the author’s recently completed dissertation on mercenaries in Judah. In Deuteronomy 4:6-8, Moses instructs the Israelites that if they obey Torah, the wisdom of God demonstrated through it would impress the other nations and bring Yahweh glory. Although there are many avenues through which God’s wisdom would be communicated to the other nations, one that has been neglected is the use of mercenaries. This paper briefly discusses the material evidence that the kingdom of Judah hired mercenaries from the end of the 8th c. BC until the Babylonian exile in the 6th c. BC. Afterward, the paper argues that the biblical laws concerning the שכיר would guide the reception and treatment of mercenaries. These laws instruct hospitality towards the foreign worker (including foreign soldiers), yet they maintain religious distinctions for the sake of distinguishing both Yahweh from other gods, and Israel, as His covenant people, from other nations. The ubiquitous use of mercenaries throughout the Near East at the end of the Iron Age suggests that these foreign soldiers would have interacted with a diversity of cultures. Throughout their travels, foreign soldiers would carry the message of their distinct treatment in Judah, fulfilling the promise of Deuteronomy and bringing the wisdom of the Lord to the other nations.