August 25, 2019
NOT EVEN REMOTELY THE MOST SALIENT:
Does God command genocide in the book of Joshua? (Shai Held, July 23, 2019, Christian Century)
How can a good God command--and engage in--unspeakable horrors? To take perhaps the most salient example from the Bible, readers both ancient and modern have been perplexed by the notion that God commands the Israelites "not to let a soul remain alive" among the indigenous inhabitants of Canaan (Deut. 20:16). How does a God who is "good to all" and "whose mercy is upon all his works" (Ps. 145:9) command killing on such a massive scale?
The same God exterminates life on Earth in the Flood and starts over. But, horrified by His own action, enters into a Covenant to never do so again and sets Himself a sign as a reminder. God learns to be good throughout the text.
Posted by Orrin Judd at August 25, 2019 12:00 AM