A God of Love and Mercy

[DavidSMoore]

There are many passages in the Bible that explicitly say that Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is merciful and loving. Here’s an example:

The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
(Psalm 145:8, NRSVue*)

But that’s far from the whole story. The book of Joshua describes the conquest of the lands promised to the Israelites. Chapter 12 lists 31 kingdoms that were conquered under the leadership of Joshua. But those kingdoms weren’t just conquered. Every one of the kings of those kingdoms was killed. And not only that, but every one of the cities and towns over which those kings ruled was destroyed and some were burned to the ground. And not only that, but all of the men, women, and children who lived in those cities and towns were killed:

And all the towns of those kings and all their kings, Joshua took and struck them with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. But Israel burned none of the towns that stood on mounds except Hazor, which Joshua did burn. All the spoil of these towns and the livestock the Israelites plundered for themselves, but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed. As the LORD had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
(Joshua 11:12-15, NRSVue)

God himself actively participated in this slaughter:

The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have handed them over to you; not one of them shall stand before you.” So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal, And the LORD threw them into a panic before Israel, who inflicted a crushing blow on them at Gibeon, chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, the LORD threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.
(Joshua 10:8-11, NRSVue)

Furthermore, God ordered this slaughter:

When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “I am now one hundred twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the LORD has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ The LORD your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross over before you, as the LORD promised. The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and their land, when he destroyed them. The LORD will give them over to you, and you shall deal with them in full accord with the command that I have given you.”
(Deuteronomy 31:1-5, NRSVue)

Exactly why did God plan to slaughter all of those people? The answer is provided elsewhere in Deuteronomy:

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy and he clears away many nations before you-- the Hittites, the Girga****es, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you-- and when the LORD your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods.”
(Deuteronomy 7:1-4, NRSVue)

So God didn’t want the Israelites to intermarry with the people of that region. Was there no other way to prevent the Israelites from intermarrying the indigenous people of the promised lands, or was slaughter the only possible option?

As I see it, an omniscient God would have known that this problem would arise, and he could have planned for it. Couldn’t God have created a force field around the entire region of the promised lands to prevent anyone else from entering? Then, when the Israelites arrived, he could have disabled the force field to let the Israelites enter a region that would have been fertile, lush, and unpopulated. And there would have been no need to slaughter the people of 31 kingdoms.

Or alternatively God could have left the promised lands at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea. Then when the Israelites arrived he could have lifted up the promised lands from the sea floor and the Israelites could have entered a region that would have been pristine, new, and uninhabited.

Or a truly omnipotent God could have picked up and moved all 31 kingdoms out of the way. If God had done that then it seems to me that the inhabitants of the region would have been immensely grateful. I think he would thereby have gotten thousands of new followers as a result. Instead the only new followers he got were Rahab of Jericho and the other members of her whorehouse. To me, that seems like a pretty poor trade off.

As I see it, slaughtering people simply for their beliefs is not mercy-- it is the opposite of mercy. Yahweh certainly had plenty of time and opportunity to choose a different path. Why didn’t Yahweh choose any of the options listed above? I think there is only one possible conclusion: Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is not a god of mercy. In fact, we have it straight from the mouth of God himself:

“Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.”
(Deuteronomy 7:2, NRSVue, emphasis mine)

*NRSVue = New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition, published in 2019 by the National Council of Churches of the United States of America.

 

[stvdv]

There are many passages in the Bible that explicitly say that Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is merciful and loving. Here’s an example:

Quoted like this, I agree not

I believe in One God
So, I rather not say "God of the Bible"
God is way beyond such boxes, limitations

The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
(Psalm 145:8, NRSVue*)

Quoted like this, is way better

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

There are many passages in the Bible that explicitly say that Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is merciful and loving. Here’s an example:



But that’s far from the whole story. The book of Joshua describes the conquest of the lands promised to the Israelites. Chapter 12 lists 31 kingdoms that were conquered under the leadership of Joshua. But those kingdoms weren’t just conquered. Every one of the kings of those kingdoms was killed. And not only that, but every one of the cities and towns over which those kings ruled was destroyed and some were burned to the ground. And not only that, but all of the men, women, and children who lived in those cities and towns were killed:



God himself actively participated in this slaughter:



Furthermore, God ordered this slaughter:



Exactly why did God plan to slaughter all of those people? The answer is provided elsewhere in Deuteronomy:



So God didn’t want the Israelites to intermarry with the people of that region. Was there no other way to prevent the Israelites from intermarrying the indigenous people of the promised lands, or was slaughter the only possible option?

As I see it, an omniscient God would have known that this problem would arise, and he could have planned for it. Couldn’t God have created a force field around the entire region of the promised lands to prevent anyone else from entering? Then, when the Israelites arrived, he could have disabled the force field to let the Israelites enter a region that would have been fertile, lush, and unpopulated. And there would have been no need to slaughter the people of 31 kingdoms.

Or alternatively God could have left the promised lands at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea. Then when the Israelites arrived he could have lifted up the promised lands from the sea floor and the Israelites could have entered a region that would have been pristine, new, and uninhabited.

Or a truly omnipotent God could have picked up and moved all 31 kingdoms out of the way. If God had done that then it seems to me that the inhabitants of the region would have been immensely grateful. I think he would thereby have gotten thousands of new followers as a result. Instead the only new followers he got were Rahab of Jericho and the other members of her whorehouse. To me, that seems like a pretty poor trade off.

As I see it, slaughtering people simply for their beliefs is not mercy-- it is the opposite of mercy. Yahweh certainly had plenty of time and opportunity to choose a different path. Why didn’t Yahweh choose any of the options listed above? I think there is only one possible conclusion: Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is not a god of mercy. In fact, we have it straight from the mouth of God himself:




*NRSVue = New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition, published in 2019 by the National Council of Churches of the United States of America.

Hi DavidSMoore

Thanks for this very interesting thread.
I am not sure how to interpret these episodes, but I tend to think in these two, or a combination of these two:

1. These texts were incorporated later by political leaders to exalt the cult of Yahweh Lord of Armies, as an effective way to overcome enemies, and to justify their wars against neighboring nations.
2. These wars were really needed in those historical contexts. In this regard, I think we should not judge those events under the light of current views on war and the current mechanisms to prevent war. In that time, nations constantly tricked, looted and destroyed each other. They were constantly afraid of each other. Loyalties among kings were unstable. So, preemptive war was really a mechanism of defense. Now we have political and military intelligence services. We have international courts and fora. We have the possibility of economic sanctions. We value public opinion. There are hundreds of ways to avoid, limit or end a war.