{"id":2759,"date":"2023-09-25T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/apologetics\/?post_type=resource&p=2759"},"modified":"2024-01-16T09:36:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T14:36:55","slug":"violence-in-the-bible-part-1","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/apologetics\/resource\/violence-in-the-bible-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Violence in the Bible, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The command \u201cyou shall utterly destroy [the Canaanites]\u201d (Deut. 20:17) is disconcerting to both atheists as well as many Bible-believers. Atheists find further reason to reject God while believers may be deeply troubled because this apparently conflicts with God\u2019s goodness. Did<\/em> God commanded genocide?<\/p>\n

Theologian John Calvin and New Testament scholar G.K. Beale say \u201cYes!\u201d It was the one, unique, and unrepeatable instance of it in salvation-history. God did so after waiting patiently<\/em> for over half a millennium (Gen. 15:16) before he says \u201cThat\u2019s enough!\u201d Only then<\/em> did he punish the Canaanites who engaged in incest, bestiality, infant sacrifice, and ritual prostitution\u2014acts that would be considered criminal in any modern society. They should have known better, but they were \u201cdisobedient\u201d (Heb. 11:31).<\/p>\n

Others within the church like theologian Greg Boyd maintain that God could not<\/em> have commanded Israel to drive out the Canaanites; these commands were simply the product of the fallen, barbaric, violence-prone minds of ancient authorities like Moses and Joshua: \u201cthus says Moses\u201d\u2014not<\/em> \u201cthe Lord.\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

By contrast, a number of scholars\u2014including me\u2014reject that actual genocide was commanded or took place<\/em>. Combatant warfare, yes\u2014but not wholesale killing of women and children. Such sweeping language was rhetorical and part of the ancient Near Eastern hyperbolic \u201ctrash talk\u201d\u2014much like our sports trash talk (\u201cwe totally annihilated that team!\u201d). This becomes evident on closer examination of both the biblical text as well as the ancient Near Eastern war texts, history, and archaeological discovery. I address these questions in my book \u201ctrilogy\u201d on difficult Old Testament questions; so please look them up.[2]<\/sup><\/a> Here are some nuggets on the Bible and violence.<\/p>\n

Jesus and Violence<\/h3>\n

Both<\/em> testaments affirm \u201cthe kindness and severity of God\u201d (Rom. 11:22; cf. Ex. 34:6-7).\u00a0 Jesus reveals God\u2019s loving character (John 14:9), but wrath and judgment are not opposed to it but because <\/em>of God\u2019s love that when humans are violated and dehumanized. In the Old Testament, wicked humans <\/em>are described as \u201cviolent [hamas<\/em>],\u201d not<\/em> God (e.g., Gen. 6:11; Ps. 11:5).<\/p>\n

Jesus himself is kind (Matt. 12:20) and <\/em>severe; he will rule the nations with \u201ca rod of iron\u201d (Rev. 12:5). He threatens lethal judgment on the false prophetess Jezebel and her followers; he will \u201cstrike [them] dead\u201d (Rev. 2:20-23). Our best Greek manuscripts[3]<\/a> of Jude 5 use a Christological lens on the Old Testament: \u201cJesus<\/em>, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe\u201d (Jude 5 NET). The Lamb of God is wrathful and fierce (Rev. 6:16)\u2014good<\/em> but not safe.<\/p>\n

God had to step into our world at some<\/em> point, Scripture recounts how God enters into a messy world\u2014a story of divine-human interaction that \u201ctells what this decision costs God.\u201d[4]<\/sup><\/a> Whether against Israel or the Canaanites, divine severity \u201cis part of a whole concessionary scheme of operation, an accommodation to the fact of rampant evil which he detests but has not abolished.\u201d[5]<\/sup><\/a> The New Testament authorities affirm without apology that God was behind the driving out of the Canaanites (Acts 7:45; 13:19; Heb. 11:30-34; Jas. 2:25).<\/p>\n

\u201cGenocide\u201d or \u201cEthnic-Cleansing\u201d?<\/h3>\n

Old Testament scholar Kenton Sparks charges that Israel drove out the Canaanites \u201csimply because they were pagans.\u201d[6]<\/sup><\/a>But if so why not include the Philistines as well? No, Amos 1-2 makes clear that God brings judgment on any <\/em>nation that persists in acting wickedly, including God\u2019s people; this applies to relenting from judgment (Jer. 18:7-10). And the Canaanites were God\u2019s<\/em> enemy\u2014not Israel\u2019s\u2014 because of their immoral practices. And God would become Israel\u2019s enemy too if they became \u201cCanaanized\u201d: \u201cI will act with wrathful hostility against you\u201d (Lev. 26:28; cf. 20:23).<\/p>\n

The claim that the Old Testament promotes segregation and racism is mistaken.[7]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Old Testament scholar David Firth argues that emotive terms such as \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d or \u201cgenocide\u201d are \u201cinappropriate\u201d because \u201conly combatants are killed and an alternative way was always available.\u201d [8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

God\u2019s prime concern was Canaanite identity (detestable acts, false worship), not Canaanites themselves. John and Harvey Walton use the parallel of the Allies destroying Nazi symbols, leaders, and ideology\u2014even though most of the de-Nazified German people would be left alone. Likewise, God was more concerned with destroying a pernicious identity that could lead Israel into sin and covenant-breaking with him.[9]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Deuteronomy 7\u2019s language of both \u201cdestruction\u201d and then<\/em> not intermarrying with the Canaanites, according to Gordon Wenham, indicates \u201cmore rhetoric than literal demand.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0 It is evident that destruction of Canaanite religion is more important than destroying the people.\u201d[10]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Rahab (Josh. 6:22-23), Canaanite \u201cstrangers\u201d from Shechem at a covenant-renewal ceremony (Josh. 8:33, 35), and Israel\u2019s treaty with the Gibeonites (Josh. 9) illustrate grace shown to Canaanites. After having forty years to think about God\u2019s wonders in Egypt (2:9-13), Canaanite cities could have attempted to make peace with Israel, but they refused (Josh. 11:19).<\/p>\n

Ethnicity or tribal identity is irrelevant\u2014so, not \u201cgenocide.\u201d Indeed, God has long-range saving purposes for the enemies of Israel, though, even if in the short-run God must judge them. (Ps. 87:4; Zech. 9:2\u20137; cf. Isa. 19:25).Furthermore, the fledgling nation of Israel was highly susceptible to the influences of Canaanite immorality and idolatry; its identity-preservation was essential to keep its mission to bless the nations from being derailed. John Goldingay writes that the strong language of Deuteronomy \u201cwas only being realistic in recognizing the power of Canaanite temptation when Israelite faith in Yahweh was a newly budded flower.\u201d[11]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

As God\u2019s plan to save the nations through Israel hung in the balance, a kind of spiritual warfare is in place\u2014much like God\u2019s battling against Egypt\u2019s deities through in the plagues (Exod. 12:12). Without God\u2019s severe actions against Egypt, there would have been no exodus, no conquest, no Israel.[12]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0So, strange as it seems, the world\u2019s destiny depends on Israel: \u201cAs Jesus put it in John 4, salvation is from the Jews. Therefore, no Jews, no salvation\u2014and, further,\u00a0 \u201cJesus is Jewish. No Jews, no Jesus.\u201d[13]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

War Texts, Hyperbole, and \u201cExtermination\u201d Language<\/h3>\n

The claim that God commanded Canaanite \u201cextermination\u201d is mistaken; it fails to take ancient Near Eastern war-text rhetoric into consideration. Also, the plain affirmations of the biblical text shows a gradual<\/em> taking of the land through disabling raids and then retreating to the base camp at Gilgal without holding those places (Josh. 10:15, 43).[14]<\/a> It wasn\u2019t a massive destruction of Canaanite cities and homes (e.g., Deut. 6:10-11; 7:22; 9:1), and only three cities (Jericho, Ai, and Hazor were burned).<\/p>\n

Commonly-used terms\u2014leaving \u201cno survivor\u201d or \u201canything that breathes\u201d\u2014are called \u201cmerisms\u201d (sweeping, totalizing exaggerations). As I point out in my books, Egyptian pharaohs and other rulers used language like \u201cperished completely, as though they never existed, like the ashes\u201d; \u201cwere made non-existent\u201d; \u201chas utterly perished for always.\u201d But we know from history that these were exaggerations.<\/p>\n

Also, the term haram<\/em> (sometimes translated \u201cutterly destroy\u201d) can be understood in different ways depending on the context. God\u2019s promises to \u201cutterly destroy\u201d Judah (Jer. 25:9-11) simply means Judah will go into exile<\/em>. Sometimes it just means comprehensive<\/em> victory ,<\/em>not extermination.[15]<\/sup><\/a> Sometimes the term could mean \u201cdevoted\u201d or \u201cconsecrated,\u201d but without involving destruction or death of a servant or animal, but they are set aside for priestly service (Lev. 27:21\u201328).<\/p>\n

As we look at many biblical texts, we see language of \u201cannihilation\u201d and \u201cno annihilation\u201d side by side. Here is a sampling:<\/p>\n