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How can God command to exterminates people in the Old Testament Times?
Discussion
51 comments
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Many people complain that God doesn’t step in when evil happens in the world.
But then when he does step in to stop these evil peoples who burned babies to death on alters to idols, theses same critics claim he is cruel… the hypocritical views are obvious.
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This podcast talks about this topic too btw.. definitely recommend it.
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THE LAW OF WAR
Let us begin our discussion on the “law of war” as defined as the phase of international jurisprudence which prescribes rules of conduct to guide the belligerents in their treatment of combatants and noncombatant civilian populations.
Like the civil common law it is for the most part unwritten (lex non scripta). It developed slowly over the centuries as human beings attained higher moral levels and learned the fundamentals of humanity and justice.
With respect to the prisoners, the law of war crystalized as the Geneva Convention in 1929, when a compacy was made between civilized nations of the world. The agreement provides that at all times the prisoners must be “humanely treated and protectes, particularly against actsnof violence, insults and public curiousity.”
The law requires the same type of humane treatment to be extendes to noncombatant civilians (Deut. 20:10-14)
On the other hand the Deuteronomicvlawmof war was a one way street. It was a case of”heads I win, tails you lose.”
A city marked for conquest by the Israelites was first requested to make peace, conditioned upon the inhabitants accepting slavery and parting with their wordly goods.
War ensued if the offer was refused. The Deuteronomic code spelled out the fate of the vanquished when the city fell into the hands of the Israelites. All of the men were to be killed outright. The code also provided that the women and the “little ones”(the children) should be kept alive and parceled oyt among the victorious Israelites as slaves.
It is is in the latter respect as we will move on to study biblical war crimes that the ancients broke their own laws of war. The women and children were usually butchered instead of being permitted to live in slavery.
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Because their evil has reached its fullness.
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Cuz they’re evil. Funny how people say “why doesn’t God stop evil?” And when he does it its immoral. Smh
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So are you judging God?
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Why not, God is just
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Because He is God !
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I am getting sick of this liberal handwringing. People, wake up and learn some history. The Canaanite tribes were the ancient ISIS. They had hundreds of years to repent and did not.
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Angel human hybrids. Read jude
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God flooded the whole world and saved only 8 people because of sin.
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Brandon Bobier I hope you’re genuine in your question because I’ll attempt to answer:
When Satan, who was a super angel or super cherub rebelled against the Most High, evil found a place in God’s creation. God began putting into place the redemption of His creation from evil.
The redemption plan involved the creation of the heavens and the earth, and subsequently the creation of earthly creatures and ultimately man (human beings).
The plan was that through man, God would redeem His creation. Satan was aware of this plan.
After man was created, Satan over came man, and was determined to stop the redemption plan.
We see this struggle in Genesis.
Genesis 6 is the most relevant scripture for your question.
In Genesis 6, we see the SONS OF GOD (who are angels) lusting after the DAUGHTERS OF MEN. And they took them, mated with them, and had offspring.These angels/human beings hybrids were extremely big, intelligent and very violent. They wanted to annihilate any normal human being.
The main purpose of this was to eliminate normal human beings with two objectives:
1. By polluting the offspring of normal human beings, Satan wanted to erect legal hundles to the redemption plan of God. For the offspring from angel human hybrid could never fit into the group that qualified for redemption.
Secondly, interference with the lineage of Christ.
I’ll add more as we go by if you will internalize and understs
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You nothing but a creation a creator can do whatever he wants with his creation
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Because they were sexual deviates who practised incest sex with animals child sacrifice and God wanted to keep his chosen nation pure
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Many reasons, some of which we know…and none of which you or they would accept.
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He’s God and he had his reasons. It’s ok to question though. Don’t ever let others make you feel bad for asking questions
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Because he is a Just God yet also a merciful God. Before you read the one line when God delivers judgement to a group of people, read several pages that describe their actions and the many opportunities God gave them to repent.
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JOSHUA
Let’s take number two supposedly War Crimes in the Bible. The man Joshua’s suceeded Moses as leader of the Jewish tribes (Josh. 1:1). He was contemporary of Moses, having accompanied him part of the wau up Mt.Sinai to get the Tablets.of stones (10 Commandments). As Moses’leutenant he must have been familiar with the meaning and purport of the Ten Commandments and with the provisions of the Deiyeronomic War law prohibiting the killing of women and choldren among war presoners.
Joshua’s mission in life was to establish his people on the choice lands of others. The first city marked for destruction in the wars of conquest was Jericho. Two spies were sent to the city where they were quarteres for several days by Rahab, a prostitute (Joshua 2:1)
Through her they learned that the city was vulnerable to attack. Joshua then marches on Jericho. In the campaign he was aided by a miraculous division of the waters of the River Jordan and the collapse of the city’s walls (Josh.3:14). These phenomena are said to have resultes from a timely earthquake.
After the city fell, Joshua ordered the slaughter of every “man and woman, young and old, ans ox, and sheep and ass, with the edge of the sword.”(Josh.6:21). No mercy was shown to anybody except Rahab and her family because she had befriended the spies (Josh.6:25). Everything in Jereco was destroyed except the gold, silver, and vessels of iron and brass (Josh.6:24). These valuables was placed in the public treasury.
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ACHAN’S & CHILDREN STONED/ BURNED TO DEATH
After the battle an Israelite named Achan could not resist the temptation to hold out a Babylonian garment, 200 shekels in silver, and an ingot of gold valued at 50 shekels, instead of depositing them in Joshua’s treasury (Josh.7:1-21).
This thief was said to have been the cause of Joshua’s failure in his first attack on Ai, the second city marked for destruction. Actually his defeat was due to poor generalship. He did not send a force large enough to subdue Ai in the first assault, and his men were repulsed by superior strength. But Achan was blamed for the defeat.
At Joshua’s command Achan and his sons and daughters were stoned to death and their bodies burned (Josh.7:2ff), his animals, his tent and “everything that belonged to him”to the Valley of Achor (Josh. 7:24).
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Attention has been called to the severity of Achan’s punishment. But instead of condemning it, Dr.McClintock and Strong say they prefer the supposition that Achan’s children “were included in the doom bynone of those stern, vehement impulses of semi-martial vengeance to which the Jewish people were exceedingly prone, and which, though extreme… was permitted” as a warning against mutiny and impiety (Ibid McClintock) p.51
This theory, however, overlooks that phase of Deueteronomic law which precludes the execution of children for the offenses of their fathers (Deut.24:16)
In this connection the Reverend Tuck says, “On what principles can such sharing of the innocent with the guilty in Divine judgments be explained or justified (Rev. Robert Tuck, A Handbook of Bible Difficulties, Thomas Whittaker, Bible House London, 1891) p.50
He gives no answer other than to say it was customary in the East for children to suffer for the sins of their parents. Here again, the portionnof Deuteronomic code denouncing the punishment of children for the overt acts of their parents is ignored.
Apparently the idea of justice in those days was to kill all suspects, the guilty and innocent alike, lest one of the guilty should escape. This established the preseumption of guilt by association whichbare repugnant to the present day rule that everyone is presumed to be innocent until proveb guilty.
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Because He is God and can do as He pleases. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone.
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WHAT WAS THE REASON BEHIND COMMAND ?
An examination of the command to “destroy” or to “drive out the Canaanites” in their historical and literary context makes it clear that it was given to Israel in virtue of the special covenant God made with that nation as his chosen.people. Deut. 7 records that God commanded Israel to “totally destroy” the Canaanite nafions, to “make no treaty with them, and show them no.mercy” (vs.2). The text gives a specific historical context :
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you ouy of all the peoples on the facen f the earth to be his people, his treasures possession. The LORD dis not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mightu hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt”(Deut.7:6-8)
The command to Israel to destroy the Canaanite nations, according to the biblical text, is ties to Israel’s special status as a nation chosen by God to be a treasured possession __a status rooyed in his covenant with Abraham and the patriarchs.
The same point is made in Deut. 9:5: “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land ; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathera, tobAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Israel ‘s dispossessing the Canaanite nations is ties to the specific historical purposes God bestowed on this nation, anchored in the various covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God’s purpose were for Israel to.live in the land so that eventually God promised redemption of the worls would be achieves, though this would mean dispossessing the Canaanites. No other country in history was set apary for this.purppse or party to this covenant.
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ISRAEL’S LEGAL OWNERSHIP OF CANAAN
I indebted some of this insights and discussion from Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan book, ‘Did God Really Command Genocide (Baker Books, Grand Rapids Mi.:2014)
First, the text was indicates that the Canaanites are occupying the land of which Israel has legal ownership __ and without the consent of the owner. Deut. 20 limits the command to “completely destroy” the Canaanites in “cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance” (vs.16-17) The same point is made in Exo.13:5, where Moses emphasizes that the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites” was the land which the LORD “swore to your ancestors to give you.”
As I have said, God prohibited Israel from conquering other neighboring nations such as Moab, Ammon, and Edom (Deut.2:4,9,19; 23:7) because these peoples __not the Israelites had legitimate title of their lands.
Unlike these nations, the Canaanites are squatters on Israel’s land ; hence, Israel has the right to “drive them out” or “disposses them” in a way in which they do not have a right to drive out others (Exo.23:28; Deut. 11:23).
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The Israelites were to be God’s people and a light to the world. God didn’t want them corrupted by paganism/learn pagan ways from the heathen. Even so, the Israelites still fell into paganism at various times.
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If you child is in danger of being killed are you not going to kill the attacker to protect your child?
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JOSHUA’S ON AI & OTHER CONQUESTS
Joshua’s second assault on Ai was successful. Instead of sending 3,000 men, he mustered 10 times that number. Ai was outnumbered three to one. When the city fell the king was taken alive and then hanged (Josh.8:3).
All of the inhabitants including the noncombatant women and children were slaughtered. It is estimated that 12,000 people were liquidated during this massacre (Josh.8:25-26).
Victory over Ai spurred Joshua to more glorious and gory heights. In defense of their people, five kings of nearby cities pooled their forces against him (Josh.9:1). They beseiged the city of Gibeon because its inhabitants, preferring slavery to the swors, had surrendered to the Israelites (Josh.9:3-15 ; 10:5). The Gibeonites called for help, and Joshua responded with such ferocity that the 5 kings were defeated. The sun stood still and the moon stayed during the fight to accomodate Joshua.
The defeated kings sought personal safety by hiding in a cave (Josh.10:17). When Joshua ascertained their whereabouts, he trapped them by rolling stonea in front of the entrance. He then proceedes as usual to massacre all of the inhabitants of the 5 cities, including the women and children (Josh. 10:19-40).
After the massacre Joshua releases the 5 kings from the cave. They were summoned before him. At his command, his captains put their feet on the 5 regal necks, thus manifesting complete subjugation of the kings. Joshua then killed them with a sword and hung their bodies on the trees until nightime, when they were cut down from the branches and putched unceremoniously into the cave of refuge (Josh.10:24-27).
Joshua continued his wars of conquest until a total of 31 kings and 31 cities were overthrown and all of the inhabitants were put to death (Josh. 11:1 ff.; 12:7-24). Assuming the cities averages 10,000 people, Joshua slaughtered about 310,000 people inhabiting that part of Palestine of the world.
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ABRAHAM & THE PROMISED LAND
The account of the entrance into Canaan in the book of Josbua comes after a long narrative that begins in the book of Genesis. In the book of Genesis, after the protohistory of the creation, fall, flood, Babel and so on, the story of Israel history properly begins in Genesis 12 with Abram being called by God to.leave Ur of the Chaldeans to go to unknown land. This land is later identified as Canaan.
Abram was given several promisea that wpuld ultimately lead to the renewal of all nations on earth.
“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make into a great nation and I will bless you ; I will make your name great , and you will be a blessings”(vs.1-2).
God tells Abram that he will be the father of entire nation __one that will have ita own country and land.
The point is that Abram was given this land as a means to bless the whole world. Abram and his descendants are promised a land for the purpose of carrying out this task.
This promise was reiterated and elaborated in several encounters between God and Abram (Gen. 13:7-17; 17:8). God makes a similar promise to Abraham’s son Isaac: “For to you and your descendants I will give all these landa and will confirm the oath I swore to your Father Abraham”(Gen26:3). And also to Jacob (Gen.28:13).
Not only is the land promised to Abraham and hos descendants, but Genesis.emphasizes how the patriarchs began to legally occupy this lans in their lifetime.In chapter 23, Abraham purchases a field in Macpelah from Ephron the Hittite (vs.17-20).
The reference to a burial site ia significant ; in the ancient Near East acquiring a burial plot was a sign of permanent occupation. Acquiring a burial plot for oneself and one’s descendants signified that one was staying permanently. Later, Jacob purchased a plot land in Shechem (Gen.33:19-20). And when Jacib relocates ro Egypt, it is explicit temporaru and bases on the understanding that he and his descendants will return.
So the commands occur in the context of the Canaanites living on land that Israel’s ancestors had lived on, owned property in, and to which they had legal tittle for the purpose of establishing a community through which salvation would be brought to the world.
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They were pagans worshipper & they sacrificed their children’s to their gods . God wants Israel to be holy for Him set apart from the rest of the nations surround it . And God doesn’t want His people to be influenced by those pagans, that’s why He forbid inter marital marriage with the pagans. King Solomon broke that law & we saw how later on in his life he was influenced by his pagans wives he also worshipped idols . We saw also in the book of Ezra, how the priest of Israel broke the law of inter marriage, they had to leave their wives before they go back to Israel after the exile .
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1. God owns and controls everything, which means he can do whatever he pleases.
2. God created them, so He can destroy them
3. God is all knowing and perfect, so his morality is higher than our morality. We can’t judge him because He can only rightfully judge righteously. There is no such thing as good or evil unless He declares it so. We are finite. He is infinite. We only know what He has revealed to us. He is the one who reveals anything and only He knows better. We can’t know as much, so we can never know better. If we can’t know better, then we can’t judge out of our ignorance.
4. God brought life into the world. Man brought death into the world.
5. Everybody dies. We don’t get to judge God on the circumstances. In light of eternity, life is a vapor.
6. Nobody actually stops living. You are accountable for where you spend your eternity, eternal life or eternal torment. You decide. You are accountable.
7. God holds off on destroying evil for many generations until evil reaches a fever pitch or necessary problem. He waited over a millenia to destroy the world in a Flood. Started with a dude killing his brother and got worse from there. Fever pitch. Death. Restart. Sodom and Gomorrah. Corruption, greed, sexual deviancy and rape. Fever pitch. Death. Restart. Slavery and abominable evils. Civil War. Death. Restart. Nazis, terror tactics, death camps. Holocaust. Fever pitch. Death. Restart. Canaanites. Massive evils of every kind. Massive casualties from infant child sacrifice. Fever pitch. Death. Restart. The question is not why does God kill them for their evil, but why does He extend such amazing mercy to let them live for a second past their first evil deed(or us) to people who don’t deserve it(like us). God can bring judgement on anyone He feels is right and He’s still good because He owns us and He alone is truly just. We don’t get to judge, we’re not allowed to judge and anytime we think we get to judge God, it’s really just our sinful, rebellious whining about things we are too finite to comprehend in full. We may never fully understand, but if we call any action of God evil it’s because we have evil rebellion in our hearts that needs to be amputated by a holy God. If your eye offends, cut it out. If your arm offends, rip it off. It’s not good, unless God says it’s good. End of story. -
These people were Nephilim descendants from Genesis 6.4
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Brandon, before posting a question that is posed by atheists as reason to hate God, because He is such an ogre (as if they know…roll eyes) do some research on the belief systems of the Canaanites. No disrespect but stop being a parrot. Go get some real scholarship. Hint there were no police in those days. They were independent city states. The “law” of the ancient world was that if someone is killed the family is to take vengeance. Thus wiping out your future enemies because of stopping evil was good. So what you had were these people’s evil on people and especially children belief systems caused them to do hideous things that the atheists prognosticators haven’t done any homework to determine. They just hurl stones at God. BTW when Israel started these vile practices of burning their children alive God sent the Assyrians and then the Babylonians to rid them of this evil. Yes it is ridding of evil. BTW find out if God is real and make sure that you ask Christ to forgive your sins otherwise you will die in your sins. Don’t believe in God? How do you know what is after death? Science doesn’t even know. DO some homework on that as well.
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God knows the danger of idolotry!
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UNTIL THE SIN OF THE AMORITES REACH ITS FULLNESS
Despite having legal rights to the land, Abram and his descendants could not take immediate occupation of the land. He asks, “Sovereignt Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? “(Gen.15:8). In response God enters into a covenant ritual with Abram and statea :
“Know for certain that for hundred yeara your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own land and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possession. You, however, will go to yiur generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of Amorites has not reach its full measure.”(Gen. 15:13-16)
Two things are noteworthy here. First, the nation of Israel will gain possession of the land after they have been oppressed in Egypt for several generations. It is only after Israel returns to its proper homeland out of Egyptian oppression that they will finally possess the land.
Second, in spite of having legal title and a divinely approved claim on the land, Abram and his descendants could not take immediate and total occupation of the land. They had to wait until the “sin of the Amorites” had “reached its full measure” (vs.16).
Christopher Wright, an OT scholar, notes that this passage “seems to say that the nature of Amorite/Canaanite society in Abaraham’s day was not yet so wicked as to justify God acting in such a co.prehensive judgment upon it”.(Old Testament Ethics) p. 475
So simply owning the land is insufficient to drive the inhabitants out with force. It had to be conjoined with generations of unrepentant wrongdoing on the part of the occupiers.
Centuries later, we read that Israel is divinely authorized to take the land because the Amorite iniquity was finally complete. Deuteronomy 9:4-5 states that Israel could drive out the narions on account of their “wickedness”.
The wickedness referredntobis not trivial. The most exhaustive list kinds comes from Leviticus 18, “incest, adultery, bestiality, ritual prostitution and homosexual acts. And most significantly singles out “child sacrifice” asnparticularly abhorrent.
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Because a Just God lays the law and applies it. If you truly read Scripture you will learn that God never delivers judgment to a person or nation without first providing them with warning and many opportunities to repent. In many cases this justice took decades or even centuries until judgment and retribution took place. If you read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah you will realize that these people wanted to rape even the Angels… So God is not a fairy who answers our every desires. God is the Creator, he delivers justice.
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