Comments on: Why did God command the Israelites to engage in holy war?

By: Rob J Hyndman

Rob J Hyndman — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:58:24 +0000

By: Ngong Michael

Ngong Michael — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:28:42 +0000

God chooses how and when to execute his desires. He commanded Moses to strike a rock and obtain water to quench the thirst of the children of Israel and this he could have done himself. It’s not Moses who later on commanded food to rain from heaven but God did it himself this time around. The fight was between the just and the unjust and God has promised victory to his faithful, whereas Sodom was not at war with another community but was living in sin. God had destroyed the world in the time of Noah because it was evil. He gave the Israelites the supernatural strength to fight the Canaanites which is a proof to both camps of his awesome power and the privileges vested on his faithful. The Israelites enjoyed divine favor which gave them a greater sense of confidence, assurance, security and hope and equally greatness before man.

My question is this: If a terrorist is about to pull the trigger of a cannon which is intended to destroy thousands of lives and one finds an opportunity to do away with his life before he causes this enormous damage, can it be judged right before God? Killing to save lives in a situation where dialogue is absolutely impossible.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:29:13 +0000

God Destroyed Sodom by his own hand not by soldiers. If God is capable of destroying life why does he need to command people to do it in his name? Why couldn’t God destroy Canaanites on his own?

By: Jonathan Morgan

Jonathan Morgan — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:07:59 +0000

So what you are saying is that God has revealed himself in the scriptures, but anything that doesn’t fit our conception of him should be rejected? Can we really treat God’s word that way? Or is it not his word after all?

Exodus 34:6-7 (ESV) 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

God reveals two sides of his character here, one the merciful and loving side that you refer to, the other the side that will judge justly and will not clear the guilty. As you say, God’s ways are higher than ours, and so we might not understand them, but judging them according to our perceptions seems highly dangerous. I think it is a lot safer to accept God as he has revealed himself to us.

By: John Jones

John Jones — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:49:13 +0000

Dear Rob I have read your comments, and as you will guess I’m afraid I cannot agree with you.You state, “God has a RIGHT to………..take away life”, and again “God’s purpose is creating people who will reflect His character”.
In the first instance I cannot believe that God’s JUSTICE is inferior to yours or mine……………”RIGHTS” apart. To include innocent children in His judgements of Israel’s enemies seems a gross injustice to me, and runs totally counter to what we see in and learn from Christ.( and remember Israel at one time TAUGHT the pagan nations around them to sin, and they were’nt wiped out ) 1 Peter 2. 21 tells us the “Christ is our EXAMPLE, that we should follow in His steps”, and He said, “Render to NO man evil for evil”. “Bless them that curse you”, “Pray for them that despitefully use you” “LOVE YOUR ENEMIES”, “If your enemy hunger, feed him”.”They that live by the sword shall perish by the sword”.
If as you say,”God is creating a people to reflect His character”, is there not a glaring contradiction here ? Are we to emulate the “alledged” character of God seen in the genocide of the Old Testament, or are we to reflect the character of Him of whom it was said, “When He suffered, He threatened not”, of whom it was also said, “All His ways are righteousness and ALL HIS PATHS ARE PEACE” ????
Rob I see the Bible as a record of man’s search for God, and of God’s efforts to make Himself known. As we progress through the Bible we see a great unfolding and it contains man’s misconceptions about God, as well as God’s revealed truth.Man’s misconception is seen in the death of Uzzah, but God’s revealed truth is seen in the life of King David; in the acquisition of Bathsheba David plumbed the depths of sin, but in is guilt He discovered the forgiveness of God and went on the write the 23rd Psalm…………”He leadeth me beside the still waters; He RESTORETH my soul”. He discovered the truth of Isaiah 55 where the TRUE nature of God is seen, “Let the wicked man return unto the Lord……..for HE will have MERCY on him and will ABUNDANTLY pardon him……….for says God MY ways are NOT your ways”. What was man’s misconception of God ? What was man’s ways………………..”an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”. God says in Isaiah, “NO ! NO, I am above that sort of thing, MY THOUGHTS ARE HIGHER THAN YOUR THOUGHTS”.
If “Jesus Christ is the SAME yesterday, TODAY and FOREVER”, then Rob you have some explaining to do. The alleged character of God in the O.T. is completely different to what we see of God in Christ. You cannot make excuses or try to justify the massacres that took place in the O.T. allegedly at the command of God. As I asked you once before, If God is UNCHANGING; the same person we see in the N.T. (Jesus and God are ONE ) then can you imagine the Christ of God ripping a tiny baby from it’s mother’s breast and plunging a sword into it’s belly , then proceeding to butcher it’s mother and go on and on doing that ? With respect Rob, you need to be honest to God and to yourself, YOU KNOW THAT CAN’t BE RIGHT !! Try my benchmark when reading the Bible, namely God is Good’ God Is Just; God is Holy; God is Love. and measure what you read against that benchmark, and if it does’nt fit, reject it. It will set you free, free to face the biggest challenge of your life. Love is the only basis for a valid relationship with anyone…………but more so with God. Once you introduce and element of threat or fear, you invalidate the relationship. The challenge is that if God loves you with all your faults, who are you to hold out against those who wrong you. “We LOVE him because He first LOVED us”, now you and I if we would “reflect HIS character” must love our fellowman like He loves us. You’ve said it yourself, “God’s purpose is creating people who will reflect HIS character. Love to you Rob, and my prayerful good wishes. John J.