Yes, to Contradictions in Scripture; and No, to God Commanding Genocide!

The doctrine of Scriptural inerrancy has given rise to a great deal of cognitive dissonance, theological nonsense, and misguided apologetics. To deny that contradictions exist within Scripture elevates human reasoning and diminishes Almighty God! I have pointed out numerous times on this blog that GOD CHOSE to make the writing of Scripture a joint project between himself and humankind - HIS DECISION, NOT MINE AND NOT YOURS! To be clear, Divine inspiration is perfect. Human reception and interpretation of that inspiration is imperfect.

It is generally acknowledged by biblical scholars that one of the greatest contradictions in Scripture is the gulf that exists between perfect love and justice and the command to practice genocide. Clearly, some of the authors of the Hebrew Bible believed that God ordered the Israelites to kill whole peoples, including men, women, children, and the elderly. Moreover, as a consequence of the attribution of this commandment to God, both Jewish and Christian apologists have struggled for years to reconcile this with the notion of a just and loving God. Indeed, their attempts to erase this clear contradiction has resulted in some very convoluted reasoning and absurd attempts to redefine what love, and justice mean.

In his article for RNS titled "Did God command genocide in the Bible?", Jonathan Merritt asked Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan (who co-authored a book on the subject) to explain this biblical phenomenon. He observed that "there are some really horrible scripture passages in the Bible–especially the Old Testament" and asked which one the author felt was the most difficult. His answer: "the most troubling question from the Old Testament is God’s command to kill and drive out the Canaanites and perhaps even innocent ones—and there are similar commands concerning the Midianites and Amalekites as well. Some have suggested that this is a command to commit genocide, although we dispute this in our book and attempt to bring clarity to this and related questions."

This is followed by some now very familiar apologetics. The author went on to say: "We must first understand that the Canaanites engaged in acts that would be considered criminal in any civilized society–incest, infant sacrifice, ritual prostitution, bestiality. Also, God waited over 400 years for Canaan to hit moral rock-bottom before commanding they be driven out (Gen. 15:16)." In other words, these folks weren't innocent! In modern parlance, I think we call that victim blaming! Later, in the same article, the author contends that the human authors were using hyperbole and didn't really mean to say that God had commanded the Israelites to kill everyone.

Not quite satisfied with these explanations, Merritt pressed the author. He continued: "Matt, people often point out that God is both loving and just. I agree, but commanding the slaughter of children, innocents, and animals by other sinners, is neither in my book. What am I missing?" To his credit, the author did not reprimand Merritt for pointing out the moral dilemma this biblical language presents for him (many apologists have the attitude of "how dare you question any of God's decisions?"). Matt's answered: "a loving and just person would endorse a strong presumption against such actions but could, in principle, support them in rare circumstances if there is some greater good that overrides this presumption."

Employing many of the same arguments, in an article for The Gospel Coalition titled "Is God OK with Genocide?", Josh Butler wrote: "The Amalekites are like the Nazis: consistently bent on the Jews’ destruction. In World War II, the Jews even referred to the Nazis as 'Amalekites.' As the Jews were exterminated in concentration camps, they looked at their captors as modern-day Amalekites who extended this brutal history into the present. Sure enough, God cites the Amalekites’ history of oppression as the reason they’re to be destroyed (1 Sam. 15:2)." Doesn't that sound like revenge to you - the opposite of forgiveness and treating others the way that you would like to be treated?

Likewise, for Logos, Ryan Nelson asked "Did God Command Genocide in the Bible?" He wrote: "One of the hardest things for me to wrap my brain around as a Christian is how a God who defines himself as love (1 John 4:8) and defines the greatest form of love as laying down your life for someone else (John 15:13) could lead Israel on a bloodbath in the Old Testament." For Nelson, Dr. Michael Heiser's novel explanation of this violence made the most sense. Indeed, he quoted a key statement from his book Supernatural as offering the perfect explanation for this apparent contradiction. The Heiser quote: "The entire populations of the cities that were home to the giant Rephaim were ‘devoted to destruction’ (Deuteronomy 3:6). The goal was not revenge. The goal was to ensure the elimination of the Nephilim bloodlines. To the Israelites, the giant clan bloodlines were demonic, having been produced by rebellious, fallen divine beings. They could not coexist with a demonic heritage."

Now, although these apologetics may satisfy some folks on this topic, they do NOT satisfy me. In my humble opinion, none of them offer a logical or reasonable explanation of these Old Testament passages or a logical or reasonable justification for the genocide portrayed in them! Once again, I believe these apologetics are completely unnecessary. Indeed, they are only necessary if one subscribes to the doctrine of Scriptural inerrancy! In short, I would say that these very human authors of Scripture were doing the exact same thing that many of their predecessors and successors employed to justify their bad behavior - They attributed their behavior to God! They claimed that they were doing all of these evil things for God - to obey and serve him! How twisted and perverted is that?

A concrete scriptural example of what I'm talking about? According to Scripture, King David was God's anointed - the person whom he had chosen to lead Israel's armies to victory! However, toward the end of his reign, we read: "Then King David rose to his feet and said: 'Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building. But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’" (I Chronicles 28:2-3)

Likewise, the apologists forget or ignore that God commanded the Israelites at Mount Sinai: "You shall not murder." (Exodus 20:13) In similar fashion, they forget or ignore Paul's definition of love. He wrote to the saints at Corinth: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." (I Corinthians 13:4-8) Genocide is CLEARLY inconsistent with this definition of love! Moreover, the first epistle of John informs us that God is the epitome of love (I John 4:8, 16). The ONLY logical and reasonable conclusion: God never commanded anyone to engage in genocide - it simply NEVER happened!