No more heroes

Something strange that occurs to me about Hebrew culture--at least as preserved in the Bible.

Hebrew culture is really not interested in heroes going out in a blaze of glory. There is no celebration of a noble death at a young age--no King Arthur. No Ned Kelly. No Horatius, single-handedly warding off an army on a bridge. No Custer's last stand. No Charge of the Light Brigade, or the wasteful slaughter of Anzacs. No noble sacrifices.

It is not as if such characters do not exist. King Josiah's attempt to halt the Egyptian armies was vainglorious and fatal (2 Kings 23:29-30). Nevertheless, some scholars suggest that this delay of the Egyptian army contributed to the Egyptian defeat at the hands of Babylon.

And yet this episode isn't celebrated, merely noted as a footnote in the decaying Davidic monarchy.

It is only when we get to Jesus that, perhaps, we celebrate a tragic death at a young age, the victim of political intrigue and religious persecution. After Jesus do we start to get martyrs (which would lead, in due course, to hagiographical treatment of martyrs.)