Bible Question: If the Bible tells us that killing is wrong, why do we see God helping Isreal to kill their enimies all through the OT? |
Bible Answer: I see for many years that there is a tremendous mistake among christians about that issue. If we read the 10 commandments in Exo. 20 the real translation in the hebrew is not killing, but commiting murder. That is in perfect harmony with what God condemned in Gen. 9.6 in the time of the Flood. The point is this. God did not condemn the fact that a person could be killed by another. Let me illustrate. Is it wrong to kill a person in a car accident? Should we condemn the "murderer" for the capital punishment as God commanded? Of course not. I used "murderer" in a pejorative sense here. The condemnation is coming, according to God, on those who premeditate to kill (that is a real first degree murder), but not for killing as such. Now, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that killing is good when it is not premeditated. I just am trying to make the point clear in Scriptures. To answer your question, when God commanded a campaign of war (through David, for example), it was not to be consider as a premeditated murder as it would be if it were for vengence. No, God was commanding it to destroy the high potential of leading His people astray from His worship as the Only and Real God. And that would it be the case through the enemies of Israel who did not know Yawheh (God in hebrew). So, keep in mind that God is not helping His people to commit murders or massacres, but to erase the high potential of idolatry that He saw in His omniscience that could have come in the midst of His people. When God commanded to kill nations around Israel, it was not a sin, but a judgment against these pagan nations. I hope it helped you to understand. |