Yesterday we learned that if we had lived in the days of Jesus, we probably would have been among those calling for His death. The reason we do this is because we use violence to cover up violence, and we use God’s name to defend and justify our own violence.
Such murderous, deceitful, lying violence is proof that when we behave this way, we are of our father the Devil. The devil was a liar and a murder from the beginning, meaning that he not only leads people murder and commit violence, but then loves to get people to lie about it as well, especially lie about the source of the violence.
There is no greater lie than when we commit violence and blame it on God.
Yet, most shockingly of all, when our actions follow the footsteps of our “father the devil” (John 8:44) in murdering and lying about it, God, out of His infinite love for us, stoops down into our deceit and death, and covers our tracks with His blood.
Though Satan delighted in murdering and framing God for it, he did not know that this would be his undoing. When Satan led humanity to cover God’s hands with the blood we ourselves had shed, he thought he was both destroying God’s good creation and ruining God’s righteous name in one stroke.
Little did he know that God’s hands were bloody long before we attributed any blood to His name, but they were covered in His own blood, which He shed for us before the foundation of the world. Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. God takes our violence onto Himself because He alone is able to soak it up into His being without it destroying Him forever.
Understanding the Violence of God in the Old Testament
It is in this light that we can read the Old Testament texts. When we look at the violent portrayals of God in the Bible, we should expect to see people laying blame at God’s feet for what obviously seems to be their own evil intents. Based on what we have seen, it should not surprise us that people want to blame others for their own evil, for that is what the devil has been doing from the very beginning, and what we ourselves do as well. We kill others and blame God for it. 
When bad things happen, we blame God.
What does surprise us, however, is that when we look back through the pages of inspired Scripture, we see that God accepts the blame. He allows people to attribute violence to His name. God takes their murderous violence upon Himself.
Why?
For the same reason Jesus went to the cross.
When Jesus goes to the cross, while it is true that men put Him there, they could not have done so had Jesus not gone to the cross willingly. Jesus allowed Himself to be numbered among the criminals and the transgressors.
Why?
So that God could raise Him up, and in so doing, take away the mask and the lies about the source of our own violence, and in the process, deliver, rescue, and redeem us from ourselves.
This is exactly what God was going in the Old Testament.
When God allows—even inspires—people to write about Him as if He were a mass murderer who slaughters women and children, He is doing this for the same reason Jesus willingly went to the cross.
Every time God looks like a lying, murderous, baby-killing, woman-raping bastard, it is because God has taken the burden of human sin upon His shoulders, and borne it away upon His body into death.
How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?
These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!
God have been using you for His word, even to sent / send mesage every time Jesus Christ would increase you
“God, out of His infinite love for us, stoops down into our deceit and death, and covers our tracks with His blood”
I think that is His mercy. Gods love is shown through His Son Jesus when you or I believe in Him (Jesus) for eternal life. “we probably would have been among those calling for His death” I think that there are many people are good and are trying to please Him with good deeds. However their hearts are harden against simply believing in Jesus for everlasting life and they will not perish!
Thanks, Harrison. Yes. it is mercy. Infinite mercy and love.
Thank you jesus
TERRORIST TRAINING MANUAL FOUND
(Found in the apartment of a Jewish Rabbi in Manchester, England,
THE ORIGINAL TERRORIST’S MANUAL
BOOK OF JOSHUA, A JEWISH TERRORIST MANUAL
The Book of Joshua describes little more than a genocidal campaign against the unsuspecting inhabitants of Canaan. The Canaanites never attacked the Israelites, never enslaved the Israelites, and aren’t described as ever having done anything to warrant mistreatment of any sort. Their only crime was living in the wrong place at the wrong time — land promised to the Israelites by God at the time when God decided to make good on that promise.
JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS: COMMIT GENOCIDE
It’s impossible to know the moral or mental disposition of the Israelites and in fact the text doesn’t really delve into their psychology at all; the length and breadth of their roles consists of obeying or disobeying Yahweh. It is thus to Yahweh that we turn to understand the genocidal actions of the Israelites. Through much of the relevant text only Yahweh is presented as being truly active and, as one might expect, all of the impetus for genocide indeed comes from Yahweh.
Already in Exodus, Yahweh promises that the Canaanites would “melt away” and that he would drive away the Canaanites when the Israelites arrive. By Deuteronomy, Yahweh says:
And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
(Deuteronomy 7:2-3)
Similar instructions appear in subsequent texts and they are clear that not only are the Israelites to make total war on the inhabitants, but they are also prohibited from entering into any sort of peace treaty with any group. There is to be no mercy for anyone, only death.
The Israelites got some practice in this by making war against the Midianites:
And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. …And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. …
And Moses said unto them…Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
(Numbers 31:7-18)
So were the young virgin girls lucky that they weren’t slaughtered like the rest of their people, or were they unlucky that they were essentially taken as sex slaves to be used to satiate the lusts of the soldiers who slaughtered their fathers, mothers, brothers, and older sisters?
The Book of Joshua makes it clear that the Israelites get to the murderous work of genocide and become quite efficient at it:
And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. …every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe. As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses.
(Joshua 11:12-15)
Raphael Lemkin argues in Axis Rule in Occupied Europe that one of the distinguishing features of genocide is not simply mass killing, which happens frequently in war, but the goal-oriented mass killing that is designed to destroy or culture or society with the purpose of replacing it entirely. This is definitely what we see happening in Joshua: the Israelites kill all the people in order to destroy their culture then move in to take over their fields, vineyards, cities, and lands.
YAHWEH IS A BULLY
To be fair to the Israelites, it should be noted that they may have been operating from more than a little fear. Given their experience of what Yahweh did to their enemies, did they really want to become Yahweh’s enemies too? Probably not — and Yahweh certainly made threats about what would happen if they Israelites didn’t do as they were told:
But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them. (Numbers 33:55-56)
This is of course not the only threat issued to the Israelites, but it is the one which most closely associates Yahweh’s actions against the Canaanites with possible action against them: if they don’t follow orders to commit genocide, Yahweh might decide to cause a bit of genocide against them instead.
This doesn’t entirely let the Israelites of the hook for their actions, but insofar as their guilt is mitigated at all, it’s magnified many times over for Yahweh. Not only did Yahweh order genocide to be committed and not only did he actively assist to ensure that genocide was committed, but he threatened his thugs that if they didn’t blindly obey their murderous orders then he’d do the same to them later on.
And even that’s not the worst…
MAKING GENOCIDE EASY
Committing genocide against the indigenous people of Canaan was made easier by the fact that they were willing to fight for their ancestral homes. It’s easier to slaughter people who are trying to kill you, even if you’re the one who started the fight. Had the Canaanites tried to welcome the newcomers and pursue peaceful treaties, genocide might have been harder. Even the most fanatical religious zealot has a harder time slaughtering unarmed, peaceful people.
Apparently Yahweh thought of this and took steps to ensure that nothing like this would interfere with his plans:
There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:19-20)
So Yahweh “hardened” the hearts of the Canaanites to guarantee that they would “come against Israel in battle.” Had he not done that, some of the Canaanites might have chosen a more peaceful solution and the Israelites might have been tempted to befriend them. Instead, they slaughtered everyone.
Where else have we seen this? Not long before, Yahweh did the same thing with the pharaoh in Egypt: every time the pharaoh was about to let the Israelites god, Yahweh hardened his heart to ensure that he would say “no” and keep them a while longer as slaves. This guaranteed that Yahweh would get to kill all the firstborn sons of all the Egyptians as a show of psychopathic power.
This is thus a persistent pattern for Yahweh: order one group of humans to harm a second group of humans, then take away the free will of the second ground and force them to act in a way that ensures conflict can occur. This sounds remarkably like a child torturing small animals and we all know what happens to kids like that.
Larry,
I do not mind at all when people disagree with the views presented on this blog. I hope readers do disagree! However, to engage in dialogue, please try to keep your comments short, concise, and to the point. A long comment like this does nothing to advance your point or encourage conversation.
23 When my angel goes in front of you, and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24you shall not bow down to their gods, or worship them, or follow their practices, but you shall utterly demolish them and break their pillars in pieces. 25You shall worship the Lord your God, and I* will bless your bread and your water; and I will take sickness away from among you.
Numbers 14.45:Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.
21When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. 2Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, ‘If you will indeed give this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their towns.’ 3The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and handed over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their towns; so the place was called Hormah.*
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea,* to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ 6Then the Lord sent poisonous* serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.
You see our God was serious with both sides. His problem was bringing forth the Messiah through a nation. The nation began with Abraham and then they became the Jews! It is from the Jews whether we like it or not that salvation comes! To those only that believe in Him (Jesus)for life!
“When God allows—even inspires—people to write about Him as if He were a mass murderer who slaughters women and children, He is doing this for the same reason Jesus willingly went to the cross.
I would leave out “even inspires”. Of course your modifier “as if” somewhat lessens the impact of “inspires”. Then again, I know you are writing for mostly conservative readers.
Yes, we kill each other, and even killed the maker of life, then blame God. I think the real debate centers around why he would create us to allow that we might behave in such a fashion.
Yes, but my term “inspires” is not exactly how most conservatives understand it. I am quite conservative myself, but think of the inspiration of God as something closer to the whisperings of God, which He does not only upon biblical authors, but upon many others as well. It has been about a year since I wrote my posts on inspiration for this series.
Yes, God “inspires” people, but I doubt he has them take dictation, which is almost what many conservatives seem to think. Did Israel and the Jews who wrote many of the things we read in the Bible get their messages from God, or as did their contemporaries, did they attribute good crops, natural disasters and many other things both good and bad to God or the gods?
One must admit, it really is convenient to say that God is behind what we say and do. If God be for us, then others should not oppose us. Oh, and by the way, all that violent nasty stuff we do, God told us to do it. He created us knowing that he will destroy most everyone except you and me and a small number of people (who think) like us.
Is there any possibility that we grossly misunderstand so very much? Who is this man Jesus, and have we for all practical purposes lost sight of him in the midst of floods, slaughter, burning pits of hell, and so much more?
but then why he sends the people who have committed the unforgivable sin to hell forever but he doesn’t do it to a rapist or a murderer and even though i have finite love i can still forgive a person who have committed the unforgivable sin with half an hour
Rudransch,
God doesn’t send them to hell. They choose to go. That is, they choose to separate themselves from Him, and God cannot force them to love Him.