that they continued for any time at all was simply a result of their willingness to defend themselves in warfare. In all these military undertakings, it should be stressed, ancient Israel was behaving in a manner essentially common to the ancient Near East as a whole.6 The existence and survival of states in the ancient world was dependent to a very large extent on military might. The great nations and empires of the Biblical period, Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt, all maintained armies. They were not