(More Bible Studies Available @ www.marktabata.com)
To Receive These (And Other) Free Bible Studies And Updates Via Email, Contact Mark Tabata @ 606-216-1757 (Text Message) Or hazardhomecoc@gmail.com (Email)
Jeremiah 25:9-behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the LORD, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Throughout the Old Testament, there are examples where God commands the Jewish people to “utterly destroy” their enemies. The language of the texts goes so far as to describe killing young and old, as well as male and female. What are we to make of this? Is God some kind of genocidal Being?
Let’s study.
First, there are many passages where God commands His people to “utterly destroy” their enemies. Indeed, many of those passages say that the Jewish people did indeed “utterly destroy” them! Here are some examples:
Joshua 11:21-And at that time Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains: from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel; Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities.
1Samuel 15:7-9-7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
At God’s command, Joshua “utterly destroyed” the Canaanites, just as Saul “utterly destroyed” the Amalekites.
Second, the texts in these passage make it obvious that “utterly destroyed” did not mean to commit genocide or annihilate people. After all, notice that after Joshua “utterly destroyed” them, the Canaanites were back again a couple chapters later!
Joshua 23:12-12 Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you.
And later:
Judges 1:8-Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.
Judges 1:21-But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
The same thing happens with Saul and the Amalekites:
I Samuel 27:8-9-8 And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt. 9 Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish.
I Samuel 30:17-18-17 Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. 18 So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives.
Clearly, there are indicators here that the phrase “utterly destroy” did not mean “annihilate” or “commit genocide.” In fact, there are other clues of this as well. Consider the fact that after commanding the Hebrews to “utterly destroy” the Canaanites, God then instructed them not to marry the Canaanites!
“Based on the evidence of Moses himself, Moses was not speaking literally in asserting that the Israelites obliterated all of Sihon’s people. The Israelites never wiped out every member of any nation—including the Canaanites. That God later instructed the Israelites not to marry Canaanites made it clear there would be many surviving Canaanite women to marry (and men as well). The verse prohibiting intermarriage with Canaanites reads, “You shall not intermarry with them: do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons” (Deuteronomy 7: 3). And two verses later, Moses instructed the Israelites to tear down the Canaanites’ altars but did not order the Israelites to kill them (Deuteronomy 7: 5). In addition, despite the claims in the later Book of Joshua of Israel’s total victory over the Canaanites, it seems that many Canaanite nations and people survived (see, for example, Judges 1: 27–33). Thus, the Book of Judges, which follows the Book of Joshua, records that the Israelites often adopted the practices of their Canaanite neighbors—exactly what the Torah feared would happen (Judges 2: 11–12).” (Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible: Deuteronomy: God, Blessings, and Curses, 28-29 (Kindle Edition): Washington, DC: Regnery Faith)
What is going on?
As we will see further in our next study, the command to “utterly destroy” the Canaanites did not mean to commit genocide.
Lord, grant us patience and wisdom as we study Your Word and grapple with this difficult subject. We trust You and Your goodness. Through Jesus we pray, Amen.