In 1974, Thomas Paine wrote In the Age of Reason: “Whenever we read the obscene stories, voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the work of a demon, than the word of God.”
That sounds like a tough challenge, but it isn't. And it's too bad he didn't have a Bible when he began writing his book. Apart from that, he is confusing two things: what the Bible records and what the Bible approves. For instance, the Bible records David's adultery, but it doesn't approve of it. God let that happen in order for something good to happen. God used a sinner like David to accomplish something greater in the future. He changed him and made him a king over Israel.
It's true the Bible is full of grotesque stories. In the book of Judges it reports a raping of a woman, then cutting her into twelve pieces and sending one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. But the Bible certainly doesn't approve of that. God later gave the Benjaminites into the hands of Israel for the evil things they did to that woman. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everybody did what was right in their own eyes (ch.21, v.25). Paine is factually wrong. The Bible doesn't condone any torturous executions that God commanded.
Compassion and Mercy
“You talk about compassion and mercy, but those qualities are hard to comprehend when I read atrocities like God ordering the genocide of whole cities, like in Deuteronomy 7 when God commands the Israelites to 'totally destroy' the Canaanites and six other nations and to 'show them no mercy.' Not only that, God ordered the execution of every Egyptian firstborn, he flooded the world and killed untold thousands of people; he told the Israelites to 'attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death the men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.' That sounds more like a violent brutal God than a loving one. How can he expect people to worship him if he orders innocent children to be slaughtered?”
Let's start with the Amalekites. They were far from innocent. Far from it! They were not nice people. These were a vicious, persistent, and warring people. In that thoroughly evil and violent and depraved culture, there was no hope for children.
In Joshua 6, you have the same pattern. This was a thoroughly evil and corrupt culture. The Bible even says it nauseated God. They were into brutality, cruelty, incest, bestiality, cultic prostitution, even child sacrifice by fire. As the Israelites travelled they would kill the elderly, feeble, and weak, who strayed behind the group. They were an aggressive culture that wanted to annihilate the Isrealites. In other words, to commit genocide. As if that weren't evil enough, think what was hanging in the balance.
The destruction of their nation was necessitated by the gravity of their sin. This nation was so polluted that it was like gangrene taking over someone's leg, God had to amputate the leg or the gangrene would spread and there wouldn't be anything left; none righteous. In a sense, God's action was an act of mercy. If some hardcore remnant had survived, they might have resumed their aggression against the Isrealites and God's plan.
The Isrealites were the chosen people through whom God would bring salvation to the entire world through Jesus Christ. God could have dealt with them through a natural disaster like a flood but He chose to use Israel as an instrument of His judgement. He took action not only for the sake of the Isrealites, but ultimately for the sake of everyone through history whose salvation would be provided by the Messiah who was to be born among them.
“What about the women and children?”
Consider this: women and children would have fled in advance before the actual fighting began. So it's really questionable how many women and children might have been involved anyway.
Besides, under the rule of conduct God had given to the Isrealites, whenever they went into an enemy city they were to first make the people an offer of peace (Deut. 20:10). The people had a choice, they could repent of their wicked ways and flee and not be killed, or they could reject the offer at their own peril. That's appropriate and fair.
These people were given plenty of time to change their ways and to avoid all of this. In fact, if you take all of the Caananites and Amalekites, they had four hundred years to repent. Finally, after waiting centuries to give them an opportunity to abandon their path towards self-destruction, God demanded that he deal with their wilful evil. Now, we have to keep in mind that those who wanted to get out of this situation had already done so; they had ample opportunity through the years. Surely the ones who had wanted to be saved from destruction had fled and were spared.
Let's keep in mind that technically no one is actually innocent. In Psalm 51, it says we are all born to sin; that is, it is our nature to rebel and commit wrongdoing.
Read Deuteronomy 20:10-18 for laws concerning warfare. They actually spared the woman and 'little ones' and livestock and everything else when they siege the cities that made war with them and are not the nations that God promised. Cities were constantly against them. They hated the Isrealites.
God's purpose in these instances was to destroy the corrupt nation because the national structure was inherently evil, not to destroy people if they were willing to repent. Many verses indicate that God's primary desire was to drive these evil people out of the land that they already knew had been promised for a long time to Israel. That way, Israel could come in and be relatively free from the outside corruption that could have destroyed it like a cancer. He wanted to create an environment where the Messiah could come for the benefit of millions of people through history.
God's Order to Kill
People often forget that God created life and has the right to take it. If you create life, then you have the right to take it. But if you can't create it, then you don't have the right to take it. People assume that what is wrong for us is wrong for God. However, it's wrong for me to take your life, because I didn't make it and I don't own it. For example, it's wrong for me to go into your yard and pull up your bushes, cut them down, kill them, transplant them, and move them around. I can do that in my yard, because I own the bushes in my yard.
Well God is sovereign over all of life and He has the right to take it if he wishes. In fact, we tend to forget that God take the life of every human being. It's called death. The only question is when and how, which we have to leave up to Him.
“But what about the children?”
According to Isaiah 7:16, there is an age before a child is morally accountable, before the child 'knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.' King David spoke of going to be with his son who died at birth. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” This indicates they will automatically go to heaven. Every child who dies before the age of accountability goes to heaven to spend eternity in the presence of God.
“If ultimately it was best for all those children to die before the age of accountability because they would go to heaven, why can't the same be said about unborn children who are aborted today? If they're aborted, they're definitely going to heaven, but if they are born and grow up they might rebel against God and end up in hell. Isn't that a forceful argument in favour of abortion?”
No, that's a false analogy. First, God doesn't command anyone today to have an abortion; in fact, it's contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Remember, He's the only one who can decide to take a life, because He's the ultimate author of life. Second, today we don't have a culture that's as thoroughly corrupt as the Amalekite society. In that culture, there was no hope; today, there's hope.”
Resource: The Case For Faith by Lee Strobel
Thank you so much, this is great!
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