rom Joshua's memory but from "under the heavens." Roche speculates that the entire episode is misplaced textually. To be sure, Exod. 17.8 explains that Amalek attacked first. But it is difficult not to infer that God becomes an accessory both during and after the fact, using His power to order the universe as if the massacre never happened and as if Joshua and the Israelites might otherwise be accused of murder. To put it another way, Moses receives the commandment not to kill in the wake of having participated in a mass killing, an ambiguous state of affairs.
The ambiguity of Thou shalt not kill in the decalogue emerges as Exodus continues to explain the law. In the matter of personal injury, for example:
Whoever strikes a man a mortal blow must be put to death. He, however, who did not hunt a man down, but caused his death by an act of God, may flee to a place which I will set apart for this purpose. But when a man kills another after maliciously scheming to do so, you must take him even from my alter and put him to death. . . . A kidnaper, whether h
...