In Joshua 8:2, Yahweh seems to command the indiscriminate killing of the inhabitants of the city of Ai: “And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behindContinue reading “Did God Command Genocide?”
Tag Archives: Ancient Near East
Book Review: The Old Testament Case for Nonviolence (Fleischer)
Did God command Israel to commit atrocities when conquering the Promised Land? Does He approve when people go to war in His name? Is the God of the Old Testament truly a homicidal maniac, as some have said? In The Old Testament Case for Nonviolence, Matthew Curtis Fleischer tackles these questions—and much more—with a thoroughContinue reading “Book Review: The Old Testament Case for Nonviolence (Fleischer)”
Book Review: The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel
In The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel, Roland Boer offers an economic study intended to bring contemporary social science into dialogue with the world of Ancient Israel. Focusing on the allocation and extraction economic patterns in ancient Israel and the historic interplay between these institutional systems, Boer argues that a Marxist analysis of the economicContinue reading “Book Review: The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel”
Did God Command Genocide? (Part VI)
This is the final post in a series examining whether or not God commanded Israel to commit genocide in the conquest of the Promised Land. A Way Forward Given Ancient Near East warfare terminology, “driving out” language, and an emphasis on the destruction of the heads of state, it seems that the vast majority ofContinue reading “Did God Command Genocide? (Part VI)”
Did God Command Genocide? (Part V)
This post is part of an ongoing series examining whether or not God commanded Israel to commit genocide in the conquest of the Promised Land. The Total Destruction of Ai What about those instances where near-total destruction—including women, children, and non-combatants—does seem to be ordered by Yahweh? As an example of this, let’s consider JoshuaContinue reading “Did God Command Genocide? (Part V)”
Did God Command Genocide? (Part IV)
This post is part of an ongoing series examining whether or not God commanded Israel to commit genocide in the conquest of the Promised Land. The Context of Conquest Several texts can be submitted as examples of where Yahweh seems to have commanded the people of Israel to commit genocide. One such place is ExodusContinue reading “Did God Command Genocide? (Part IV)”
Did God Command Genocide? (Part III)
This post is part of an ongoing series examining whether or not God commanded Israel to commit genocide in the conquest of the Promised Land. Ancient Near East Warfare Terminology Most important for our purposes is considering the language of the conquest narratives in Deuteronomy and Joshua, especially in light of other passages which canContinue reading “Did God Command Genocide? (Part III)”
Did God Command Genocide? (Part II)
This post is part of an ongoing series examining whether or not God commanded Israel to commit genocide in the conquest of the Promised Land. How Do We Read the Bible? : The Importance of Context Many Protestant Christians talk about reading the Bible “literally.” But I often don’t understand exactly what that means. Webster’sContinue reading “Did God Command Genocide? (Part II)”
Did God Command Genocide? (Part I)
The Rock Church of Saint Louis–our church home–is in the midst of reading through the entire Bible narrative as a church community. The past two weeks we have been reading the book of Joshua, which is all about Israel’s conquest of the promised land of Canaan. One feature of this conquest that contemporary Christians areContinue reading “Did God Command Genocide? (Part I)”
Book Review: Did God Really Command Genocide? (Copan and Flannagan)
Any contemporary reader who picks up the Bible will be struck by the seeming divide between the God of Jesus Christ and the God who commands the destruction of whole nations and the obliteration of Canaanites during Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. And while many Christians simply don’t think about the possible difficulties ofContinue reading “Book Review: Did God Really Command Genocide? (Copan and Flannagan)”
Pursuing Veritas 