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Big Questions on Old Testament Passages and Issues

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As we work through some of the questions that were submitted during our “Big Questions” series, I wanted to tackle some that may arise as many of us read the Old Testament Book of Joshua as part of the 4-Year Bible Reading Plan and as we study it in our “Faith Over Fear” sermon series as well as others dealing with topics in the Old Testament..

The Question of Genocide and Killing the Canaanites

One question people have when they read the books of the Old Testament is why God commanded the Israelites to destroy cities and “wipe out every man, woman, and child” as you see ordered in passages like Deuteronomy 7:2; 20:16-17 and Joshua 6:17; 11:15, 20. There are a number of factors we need to consider related to this topic.

Something to know is what the societies were like that God had told the Israelites to destroy. The people of the land were not the sort of people a parent would want their child to be friends with or even associate with (read the description in Leviticus 18:6-23)! Their gods were involved in things like incest and violence – the people then modeled these qualities since people tend to  become like those they worship. In fact, we see the practice of child sacrifice among these people (Leviticus 18:21). While all are sinners, the sins of this society seem particularly heinous. In commanding the people to kill those in the land, this was God’s act of judgment upon the people for their sin. (This judgment had been delayed for a number of years, as God told Abraham in Genesis 15:16 that the people would be punished. God’s mercy is found even here!) God does not establish a precedent here for His people to kill people of other nations as this was at a specific place and time at God’s command. There are other places where it is not commanded, such as Deuteronomy 20:10-20, and God does not have the people of Israel destroy the Philistines. It was God’s judgment upon these nations at God’s command, with the people of Israel being the instruments through which God made this judgment. We also see in the Bible that God uses other nations to judge His own people of Israel, taking them out of the Promised Land that had been conquered, reminding God’s people  that they had no right to the Land and could lose it just as the Canaanites had lost it before. Therefore, the judgment upon the nations should be a reminder to all of us that we deserve to be punished but also points us, on this side of the cross, to the way that our Savior Jesus has taken our place and the judgment that he took in our place.

The destruction of these nations also seems to be a way to try to protect the people of Israel from falling into the same immoral practices that consumed these people; for example, Exodus 23:32-33 says, “They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” While we may look at other possibilities like the people being moved to a different land, in the ancient world that was a less feasible option (this is also why you see more death sentences in the Old Testament law; they did not have prisons to keep people). In fact, we see that when the people remained in the land, it led to the Israelites falling into idolatry. The destruction of these nations was thus a way to try to spread the worship of God and cut off the practices of idolatry and false worship. The book Hard Sayings of the Bible compares this idea to removing a gangrenous limb to prevent further infection. The destruction of these cities is a reminder of how subtle sin can work its way into our lives and destroy us.

In addition, you should note that this does not happen often; it only occurred in the conquests of southern Canaan (Numbers 21:2-3), including cities of Jericho (Joshua 6:21), Ai (Johsua 8:26), Makedah (Joshua 10:28), and Hazor (Joshua 11:11).We also see this sort of warfare in 1 Samuel 15:18 and Numbers 25:16-18 and 31:1-18 in which God has the people of Israel destroy nations that have sought to discredit God’s name and relentlessly attack His people. Archaeological digs have shown that a number of these cities were military strongholds and may have had very few, if any, civilians in them – making some of the language about their complete destruction more symbolic than at first glance (see Paul Copgan, Is God a Moral Monster?). In destroying these cities and nations, we also see that there is mercy, as Rahab was spared from destruction based upon her faith in action in hiding the spies in Joshua 2; this would imply that the people in these cities had heard about what God had done and could have turned to Him in faith but did not. Therefore, we see God’s mercy on display at the same time as His holiness. 

Other Questions Related to Issues in the Old Testament

Here are a few other questions we received:

Were there any people left in the region after the Israelites came in and conquered? 
While there are places (as noted above) in which the cities were destroyed, this was not every city; there were people left as the people of Israel entered the land. In fact, we read in the book of Judges that Israel did not drive out these nations completely and as a result, they would fall into sin.

If one of the 10 Commandments is not to kill, why are people commanded to be put to death in the Old Testament?
Reading the commandment as “thou shalt not kill” is reading it a bit too broadly, as the word used is more akin to our word for “murder” than for kill, as it refers to unlawful killing — the execution of a person as punishment would not be this sort of killing. In fact, we see in Genesis 9:6 that God says a person should be put to death for killing another person. 

Deuteronomy 28:63 talks about the Lord taking delight in completely ruining someone’s life. This person sinned, but I thought it made God sad when we went astray and He had to punish us, like a parent. I don’t take delight in punishing my kids. Why does God?
This is an astute question that shows careful reading of the text. We see in places like Ezekiel 18:32 that God takes no pleasure in the death of others, so is this a contradiction? One thing that we may need to remember is that all language used about God is in some sense figurative – God is infinite and greater than we are, but uses language and imagery we can understand to help us comprehend a part of Him, but there are also mysteries we will never understand. Therefore, there may be a sense in which God can experience both pleasure in justice and also not delight in it — something we are not capable of. When it comes to the punishment of the sinner, we have to remember that we also seek justice when someone has wronged us or done awful things. We need to remember that the sinner has offended God and violated His Word, thus the “punishment fits the crime”; while we are God’s children, we are also His creations and He is our ruler. There are multiple analogies that we use to describe our relationship with God and each one may capture a part, but never in its fullness. Therefore, it seems possible to believe that in one sense God does not delight in punishment (from the parental lens) but in another sense, the punishment brings pleasure in that God’s name and holiness is being honored as it should (the judicial lens). In addition, it should be noted that Deuteronomy 28:63 and Ezekiel 18:32 use different Hebrew words showing that there may be a difference here, and Deuteronomy 28:63 is in context of blessings and curses and discussion of God’s delight in blessing them. We should not use God’s desire to give us good things to allow us to think (like we sometimes do with people, including parents) that He will only do good things and will never give us what we deserve. The use of “delight” in Deuteronomy 28:63 thus might have a rhetorical purpose to call the people to obedience, showing them that God is not going to hesitate or be afraid of punishing them for their sin if there is no repentance. 

If jealousy is a sin, why does it say that God is a jealous God” [see for example, Exodus 20:5]?  It is helpful to look at the context to realize that the jealousy of God is different than sinful, human jealousy. We are jealous when someone else has something we would like, and this can even cause us to do bad things to get it or harm the person. God’s jealousy, however, stems from what is rightfully His going to someone else, as He describes Himself as a jealous God when we give worship to idols. In fact, His jealousy is for us, as when we give worship to other things, we lose out on knowing Him and experiencing Him as we should.

In Genesis 19, it is written that two daughters seduce their father and sleep with him. This sounds a lot like victim blaming. How is this OK? Even if it happened the way it was written, why would God want it included in the Bible? What are we supposed to take away from such an awful and confusing story?
This story referred to is of Lot and his daughters after they have escaped from Sodom (Genesis 19:30-38). While earlier Lot was willing to give his daughters over to the men of the town, now they are afraid that the experience in Sodom will mean that they never live in a city and will never marry and have children, which leads them to plot to get him drunk and get them pregnant. This is one of the most disturbing stories in the Bible. One thing it reminds us is that what happens is not always a positive example: the Bible recounts both great things that happened but also horrible things that happened. In some ways, this story is reminiscent of what happens after the great flood in which Noah gets drunk and lies around naked with Ham seeing the “nakedness” of his father (that passage has its own confusing points to explain). Even when people see God’s great glory on display and acts of judgment, they still fall into sin. The story is a reminder of how broken the world is and how sinful actions can affect and move forward into the next generation. Lot had not been a great father and made some horrible choices that put his daughters in danger as seen in this story again, first drawn to the land of Sodom and now living in an overabundance of fear. This story also explains the origins of a couple of other nations that Israel will encounter in their time – the Moabites and Ammonites – showing that they are related to the Israelites, something that was important for God’s people to know. These nations would battle with Israel and this story shows that their beginnings were out of accord with God’s commands.

The End…..of the Beginning

We covered a lot of ground in this post answering some questions that came about from some Old Testament passages. We will deal with more questions that came in next week, so if you have not seen your question answered yet, stay tuned.

Questions about the Bible or theology? Email them to Pastor Brian at Theology@WeAreFaith.org. You can also request to receive weekly emails with our blog posts by filling out the information on the right side.

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