Today we really get into the nitty-gritty. What are Christians to understand from all of those wars and crazy laws in the Old Testament?

Welcome to part 7 of my series on Christian Anarchy. If you've been following the series this whole time, thank you so much for reading. We're almost at the end. If you're new here, please feel free to check out some of the earlier posts.

For Christian Anarchists, yesterday's article will be required reading since it was there that I discussed how God could have instituted a kingdom on earth if the state is inherently immoral. Today won't be so anarchy-centric since I already got that out of the way. Instead I want to answer challenges against God's morality regarding events and laws of the Old Testament.

I'm going to borrow a few of my headlines (and more than a few ideas) from Paul Copan's book Is God a Moral Monster? since that book has been such a big help to me in my understanding of these texts.

This is gonna be a long one... I can feel it.

Indiscriminate Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing

16 But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18 (ESV)

This is just one of several passages in which God commands the absolute annihilation of the Canaanites.

I'm going to be frank and say that if we think God is in the wrong for judging and punishing people in this way we don't understand how holy The Lord is, nor do we understand how disgusting sin is. I'm preaching to the choir (I guess I'm the preacher and the choir in this scenario.) These texts are seriously difficult for me and for many other Christians. But that's just because I'm still so sinful and don't appreciate the weight of my own sin.

I've read texts that work hard to try and justify God's actions by explaining just how bad the Canaanites had become. There is truth to this. In Abraham's day God said that Canaan had not yet reached its limit. He was content to wait over 400 years to bring judgement upon them. By the time Israel was freed from Egypt, Canaan was ripe for judgement. The land was ready to "vomit them out" (Leviticus 18:25).

Some will also point out that the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua use conventional war rhetoric that was common in ancient Near Eastern cultures of the time. They used sweeping, "braggy" language of death and complete destruction that didn't quite represent the reality of the situation. Copan says:

A closer look at the biblical text reveals a lot more nuance - and a lot less bloodshed. In short, the conquest of Canaan was far less widespread and harsh than many people assume.

There is truth to these lines of thought. But it isn't necessary to defend God's actions in this way because here's the blunt truth:

We all deserve annihilation.

It is only because of God's grace and mercy that any of us have been allowed to live. It is only because of God's goodness that we've been offered a chance at salvation from the fate we deserve.

We are created beings who constantly spit in the face of our Creator. We offend Him in every way possible, yet he still gives us opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing. Knowing that we could never achieve perfection on our own, He sent his own Son to suffer and pay the debt we owe.

We all deserve judgement and in this case, God used Israel as his hand of judgement. Again, I should bring up the fact that Israel was a unique thing in Scripture and in history. They were God's kingdom on earth designed to carry out God's will and share his light (and wrath) with the surrounding nations. But that time is over. Paul Copan writes:

"Kids, don't try this at home!" ... These matters aren't up to humans to decide. Yahweh-initiated battles were never intended for non-prophet organizations! Think of the disastrous results when Israel attempted to go into other battles without divine approval (e.g., Num. 14:41-45; Josh. 7). ... God's call to battle was unique to Israel's situation. Such a call though, isn't an enduring, universally binding standard for all time and all cultures."

The overarching goal of these conquests was to ultimately bring blessing to the world - including the Canaanites. God had made a covenant with Abraham that the world would be blessed through his offspring, not just Israel. More important than driving out the people themselves was driving out their religion so that God could establish Israel in the land to fulfill His long-term cosmic plan. You can read more about Israel as an important stepping stone along the road to Jesus in my last article.

God's Violent Jealousy

This is a passage that I've seen @larkenrose criticize on more than one occasion so I think I need to address it.

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

This isn't the only passage where we see God demanding harsh punishment for the worship of other gods. Yahweh reveals himself as constantly jealous for our affections, attention and praise.

Does God have an unhealthy self-preoccupation?

First of all, the worship of idols and false gods wasn't innocent or harmless. The Old Testament talks about cosmic warfare - idolatry is connected to the demonic, the enemies of God who waged war against Him in heaven. God has a genuine desire to protect people from this.

Second, God has a genuine desire to keep people in touch with reality. Religion isn't a matter of "whatever works for you" as so many people think these days. If that were the case, it would be empty, meaningless fluff. Religion is about truth. I am not a Christian because it makes me feel all warm inside, I'm a Christian because I believe these things are absolutely true for me and for everyone else.

God asks for our worship and demands that we steer clear of false gods. Here's some more Paul Copan to explain this point better than I can:

God's calling for our worship isn't a manifestation of pride - of false, overinflated views of himself. The call to worship means inclusion in the life of God. Worship expresses an awareness of God's - and thus our - proper place in the order of things, and it also transforms us into what we were designed to be. In the end, God desires to be known as God, which is only appropriate and the ultimate good for creatures.

In that passage from Deuteronomy, God demands the death of the one trying to lead his friend away from the truth. Here's another reminder than any command given to the Nation of Israel is not universally applicable. Israel was a unique thing in history. The Nation; His light to the world had to be preserved in it's exclusive worship of Yahweh.

But there is still application for us today - God wants to protect people from being led to dangerous falsehoods - falsehoods that can lead to pain, death and destruction.

God isn't a husband who won't let his wife even talk to another man. God is a husband who is concerned that his wife is being emotionally drawn to another man. He wants to protect their covenant and their marital intimacy. This isn't just for Himself, this is in the best interest of the wife and the marriage.

This is in our best interest.

In The Weight of Glory C.S. Lewis writes about how wayward we are, and therefore how important it is for God to hold fast to us and keep us from our waywardness.

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Of course I couldn't get through a series of Biblical articles without quoting Lewis at least once. Maybe I'll be able to squeeze him in one more time before the end...

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that this is easy. Some of these passages are horrendously difficult. Some of them make my stomach turn. But if I am to continue believing that God is holy and just, they need to have answers. And right now these are the best I have.

These answers won't convince anyone who doesn't already believe in this God or in the inerrency of Scripture, nor will they make a dent in the mindset of anyone convinced that the Bible is evil. As I said in my first article I'm primarily writing to Christians and Christian Anarchists. But I hope those who don't share my faith have still been able to find some value in what I've written.

Thank you for reading.

I was hoping to get through all of the Old Testament issues today, but this is getting really long. Come back tomorrow to read about slavery and weird laws. Tomorrow's article will be the final piece about the Old Testament and the second-last part in this series. If there are any questions you want me to answer or passages you want me to address please let me know in the comments.

~Seth

What's Up With the Old Testament? ii. (Christian Anarchy - Part 7)

Indiscriminate Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing

We all deserve annihilation.

God's Violent Jealousy