Chapter 2 tests the claim that the biblical god Yhwh is uniquely aggressive by rereading a sample of six memorial inscriptions, including the Mesha Inscription, the Zakkur Inscription, the Tel Dan Inscription, the Hadad Inscription, the Azatiwada Inscription, and the Amman Citadel Inscription. The chapter finds that in these inscriptions, the aggression of the patron god targets external enemies of the king and country, while the king himself is wholly exempted from the god’s destructiveness. However, an important complication obtains: the curse sections of the memorial inscriptions pray vengeance on anyone who harms the inscription—including members of the king’s own community and country, and, in a couple cases, his own family. The loyalty of the god to his one individual king trumps all other loyalties.

Chapter 1 introduces a contrast that has played an important role in biblical studies. Pivotal figures like Julius Wellhausen and Walther Eichrodt alike claim that the biblical god Yhwh is distinct from his ancient divine counterparts in that he alone acts destructively against his own king and country. To test this long-standing thesis, the chapter argues that memorial inscriptions from the Levant constitute the most interesting and productive comparand available for assessing the uniqueness of Yhwh’s aggression, and this for several reasons: their relative cultural and linguistic proximity to ancient Israel and Judah; their relative length as texts, as over against other royal inscriptions like dedicatory inscriptions; the relative richness of their deity profile; and especially their closing curse sections that provide examples of divine aggression.