Vol.10 No.4

Q. Could you explain why in the Old Testament a God of love commanded the Israelites to destroy their enemies, including women, children, and livestock?

A. Why would God contradict His own unchanging law, “Thou shalt not kill”? (Exodus 20:13). God is love. His love is so great that He sent Jesus to die for us.

But He is also a God of justice. “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face” (Psalm 89:14). He does things purposefully.

In Joshua 6:18 God instructed the Israelites to “keep yourselves from the accursed thing .…” Chapter 7 shows Achan’s disobedience.

“Achan … took of the accursed thing …”(verse 1). Achan’s sins, including stealing and covetousness, caused Israel to lose the battle against Ai.

Achan refused to confess his sins, therefore God pointed out him and his family as guilty. He had the chance to confess willingly, but did not do so because he felt no sorrow. As a result of not living according to God’s standards, Achan and his family perished.

God loves us like parents love their children. Nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God …” (Romans 8:38). He tells us, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love …” (Jeremiah 31:3).

But we are also told “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4).

To our merciful God the act of punishment is a “strange act” (Isaiah 28:21). An example of this is found in Exodus, chapter 17. The Lord told Moses that He would “utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” Amalek had taken an oath by their gods that Israel should be utterly consumed, and Israel’s God brought down so He wouldn’t be able to deliver them out of Amalekite hands.

The Amalekites had a long probation, then God appointed them to utter destruction. He designed that Israel not preserve anything which He had cursed. He wished the surrounding nations to see the end of the Amalekite rebels, that they were destroyed by those whom they had despised. The Israelites were fulfilling God’s command to Moses.

Through the prophet Samuel, God instructed King Saul: “utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” (1 Samuel 15:2, 3). “Saul and the people spared ... all that was good ... and would not utterly destroy them ...” (verse 9). These latter verses tell us why Saul was punished. He had disobeyed God and preserved that which God had cursed and appointed to death (the Amalekites and their possessions).

In another instance, Moses’ cousin Korah, a man of ability and influence, coveted Aaron’s priestly position. Dathan and Abiram claimed Moses’ civil authority belonged to them as leading princes from the tribe of Reuben. “And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron … ” (Numbers 16:2, 3).

Next, we read Korah’s accusations. Israel had seen God’s judgment fall upon Miriam because of her jealous complaints against Moses (Numbers 12:8). However, their minds had harbored sin and were controlled by Satan.

Jealousy lead to envy and envy to rebellion. After a whole night of probation, judgment began (Numbers 12:31–50). The earth swallowed some of the rebels; fire and a plague consumed the rest. Stubborn persistence had sealed their doom.

When one of His Commandments is broken and sinners hold on to their sins Jesus cannot plead for them. God loves us, but if we continue to sin, even though we know what’s right, then “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).