Putting Old Testament violence in perspective

There were times in the Old Testament where God ordered the killing of all the people, and even animals, in a town. When reading those verses it is easy to think that God is unjust. It’s easy to judge God, the only being in the universe who is truly just. But what a double standard we humans use!

For example, I am an American. America was founded on some great injustices against both African Americans and Native Americans. Many of our Founding Fathers forcibly held innocent men, women, & children in life-long bondage; making them work without pay; forbidding them to read the Bible or any other book; breeding them like cattle (sometimes forcibly fathering their own slave children); and having them brutally punished if they disobeyed them. And yet, many of the men who did such things are still considered great — George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, for instance. How can people judge God so harshly, yet whitewash the grievous cruelty of America’s early human traffickers?

Another example is that untold numbers of Native American men, women, and children were slaughtered over the years. However, accurate records were not kept and most those who ordered such acts were not held accountable. One American President, Andrew Jackson, even went against the Supreme Court to order the removal of all Indians east of the Mississippi River, leading to the death of many thousands of innocent men, women and children. Why do so many people want to accuse the righteous God, but justify Andrew Jackson and others who practiced genocide against Native Americans?

According to the book Fire Sites by Jörg Friedrich, around 600,000 German civilians were killed by the Allies’ World War II bombing raids on non-military targets in German cities. This including 76,000 German children. So why aren’t the American, the British, and other allies judged for their cruel killing of 600,000 men, women, and children. Is it fair to give them a pass while judging God for Israel’s violence? Is it somehow different to kill innocent people with bombs rather than with swords?

And what about President Harry Truman’s order to drop two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities that resulted in the slaughter of 300,000 or so innocent men, women, and children? Is it fair to let Truman off the hook for the people he ordered killed, while judging God for His orders in the Bible?

History is full of accounts of political and military leaders ordering the slaughter of innocent people, yet still being considered great and wonderful people. Why aren’t those who ordered such acts judged harshly? Perhaps it is because we humans feel justified in using violence to get our way. We think it’s okay to kill civilians if it is for “a good cause” (usually meaning our country’s cause); but we don’t want God to use violence for His purposes.

Another example of killing defenseless people is the violence against the most innocent form of human life — the child in the womb. Prenatal people have done nothing to deserve death, yet millions of them are killed every year. Personally I don’t see any difference between abortion and killing children after they are born. In both cases, innocent life is taken. So many people and governments support abortion. If we approve of killing the unborn, how can we judge God, the giver of life?

I don’t fully understand why God commanded Israel to kill civilians. I do know that, if anyone in the universe has pure motives and the ability to use violence justly, it is God alone, not human leaders.

So here’s a question. If you can overlook the atrocities of your country, your leaders, and your heroes, why won’t you trust that the Creator had a pure and just reason (bigger than you can understand) for what He commanded ancient Israel?