Did God want the Israelites to kill all the Canaanites? Or is this the response of a repentant group of Israelites who have come to realize that allowing Canaanite influence led to their downfall as a nation?
This solution may seem to "errantist" for some. But that doesn't bother me especially. Should it?
16 comments:
I am pretty much of an "errantist" with respect to the Hebrew Tanakh and the entire New Testament corpus. I think Thomas Jefferson had the right idea when he got his scissors out and began excising the "nasty bits," as well as the unbelievable parts.
Ken Pulliam has done a 13 part series on apologetic attempts to defend OT genocides.
Here is his latest post:
Grasping AT Straws
But, of course, Ken Pulliam is an agnostic atheist. Steve Douglas is trying to find a place for these narratives as a Christian, within what he still thinks to be, in some sense, inspired Scripture. His attempt seems to have been endorsed by Thom Stark.
I have Thom's book on order. He seems every bit as critical as Pulliam concerning apologetic attempts to defend "divinely sanctioned" genocide.
I'm sure he is, as would be the author of the post I linked to. The difference is that Douglas and even Stark are operating within a Christian framework, while Pulliam is working from outside.
Interesting take on the matter but I think of Jesus's words in Luke 13when He does not try to cut out or carve out an easy answer or an easy way of reading things when asked profound questions concerning tragedy.
So ... can we easily reconcile what is going on here? Of course not.
But I do believe the text must be wrestled with and just trying to cut it out does not seem to work for me.
GREV: Do you think Douglas is just trying to cut it out?
What puzzles me, when I read Christians who argue that the vile bits of the Old Testament did not really happen or do not reveal the true nature of God, is how do they know which bits to ignore and which bits to trust. What rule do you use? How do you know that the nice bits of the Bible are not the false ones?
The best description of this problem I know is on a Christian blog. Take a look at this
What if there never was an Aaron?
I've been grappling with this issue for a while now. I am a Christian, and never had a major problem with this for the past 20 years. However, my teenage son has had a hard time accepting some of the OT portions you've been referring to. Recently, I came across an article (found here: http://godscharacter.com/article.php/20091102113717623)
that seems to say that God's command to kill people in the OT were not the ideal--that basically because of man's extreme sin a "lower way" of doing things was required to bring about His ultimate way revealed through Christ. The article, entitled "Scary God or Scary People?" is well written and seems to make a good case. I would love to know your thoughts!
Even the most fundamentalist of Protestant inerrantists approach the bible like it is a buffet from which they take what they want or need and leave the rest on the table. The truth is that most believers are mentally snipping out sections of the bible that they find hard to believe or morally distasteful. Did Jonah really live three days in the belly of a fish? No, that's just crazy. Did our heavenly Father really order the brutal deaths of women and children? That can't be right.
If you are an "errantist," then in reality you are implicitly doing the same thing Jefferson did overtly with a pair of scissors.
I think Christians would say that even parts that are not taken in a purely literal way are edifying and do have a role in God's inspired message. So they aren't snipping them out exactly, but they are assigning somewhat of a different role to them within the framework of a broadly inspired Scripture, even where the narrow content is, strictly speaking, incorrect.
One example of this would be the message of some portions of Deuteronomy and the Wisdom literature that, in the course of earthly life (and there is no robust belief in heaven or hell through most of the OT), that righteousness is rewarded and evil punished on earth. If there's a God then something like this has to be true, but if you restrict your vision to earthly life, it looks pretty obviously false, as books like Job forcefully point out. Narrowly speaking, you can't say "God said it, I believe it, that settles it", and yet it is part of a message which, taken as a whole, is thought to be inspired.
Interestingly enough, debunkers of Christianity really rely on the sort of "inerrancy-or-chaos" argument used by fundamentalists against compromising inerrancy. In his chapter on Ancient Near Eastern cosmology in The Christian Delusion, Ed Babinski lays out the prescientific cosmology of the Old Testament. What of course is going to be the reaction from just about anybody except the AIG crowd, is to ask why we should expect God to give us lots of good science lessons and straighten out our cosmology in inspiring the Bible.
The lesson of the Canaanite conquest is reiterated in the New Testament with God's promise that He will:
"Separate the sheep from the goats"
The Old Testament illustrates, in an earthly sense, the aforementioned New Testament promise. Regarding the Old Testament, such separations were necessary in order that the Messianic promise might come to fruition.
Now that the Messiah--the Lord Jesus Christ--has died and risen from the dead, such conquests are not really necessary. Instead, God has appointed a day in which He will judge the living and the dead. But the final separation is worse than death. In fact, death really isn't the worst thing that can happen to someone. The worst thing that can happen to someone is the self-imposed exile from the God of love and the love of God.
In my opinion, the New Testament presents an even more fearful picture God than the Old Testament. Just read Hebrews, Jude, 2 Peter and Revelation concerning the judgment of God.
To be killed off is merciful. But to never die....to never again see, hear or taste "love"....to spend forever in ones chosen "castle" (i.e. body) made of bitterness and tears, alone and forgetful that anyone else had ever existed, that no one hears or sees you.....THAT, my friends, is far worse than the temporal sufferings of the Canaanites.
Though God dealt harshly with those peoples in the Old Testament, that doesn't mean that the Canaanites are in hell. Perhaps many, if not all, are presently enjoying the felicity of eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
During the Old Testament dispensation God was primarily working toward providing mankind with redemption via the incarnation of the Son of God. The Canaanites, unfortunately, were unable to perceive God's plan of universal mercy through His Son. Therefore, God did what He did so that His mercy would be manifest. As the Psalmist says:
"Kiss the Son lest you perish in your way"
Or as St. Paul says:
"The wages of sin is death"
These scriptures speak of things pertaining to the temporal order of things and not of final judgment and everlasting perdition.
Though men possess freewill, God is still sovereign. If humans refuse to oblige God in His will---namely Romans 11:32---then God will do what is necessary to rectify human error and sin when it comes to His mercy.
We ought never suppose that if, and when, God brings the "curses" upon individuals or nations which He has surely promised in Deuteronomy 30, that He desires "death" rather than mercy. In terms of the Canaanites, their conquest was a mercy on them as well as on us.
We must always remember the mercy and grace of God when reading such incidents in scripture. To fail in this task means absolute despair and error.....for both individuals and nations.
We must always remember the mercy and grace of God when reading such incidents in scripture. To fail in this task means absolute despair and error.....for both individuals and nations.
I am overwhelmed by Yahweh's benevolence and mercy when I read of where he ordered the death of all that breathes in the Promised Land.
Though God dealt harshly with those peoples in the Old Testament, that doesn't mean that the Canaanites are in hell. Perhaps many, if not all, are presently enjoying the felicity of eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
That's a new one I haven't heard before. I am truly amazed at the lengths that some believers will go to rationalize the horrific parts of the bible.
In other words, God killed the Canaanites to save them.
Walter: I am truly amazed at the lengths that some believers will go to rationalize the horrific parts of the bible.
Wait, you find Canaanites going to heaven "horrific"?!? You'd prefer they all went to Hell? You're one sick puppy.
Thanks, Victor, for this interesting discussion!
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