God and Genocides
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And what you see going on, is that when the Israelites come and fight against these citadels, they go back to Gilgal. They go back to their point of origin, their base camp, rather than going in, wholly occupying them and staying there. No, they’re basically engaging in what the archeologist, Kenneth Kitchen has said, are disabling raids. These are simply raids, rather than full-scale military assaults. What you have more of, is gradual infiltration into Canaan, rather than some blitzkrieg, that wipes them all out, and then they take over. So, they’re actually gradually stepping in, infiltrating, trying to drive out the Canaanites who refuse to go. But again, this is the language that we need to be understanding. Now, what about the Midianites? We see the language of utterly destroy. The Midianites, remember the Midianites had led the Israelites into sin, in Numbers 25. And then, God tells Moses, that they ought to kill, there’s judgment that came in Numbers 25.
And then, God says, “I want you to kill every man.” The text goes on to say, “And Moses did what God commanded. He had every man killed.” Even there, we have some question. Was literally, every man killed? Well, you see, in a short span of time, in Judges 6, we see Midianites who are making raids on the people of Israel and they are two numerous to count, even their camels. So, what happened? Were all the males literally destroyed? All the men literally destroyed? Well, no. That’s again, just the language that we see being utilized in the ancient Near East and we see it played out here. Let me just move on to the Amalekites, I need to press forward. But again, there’s more material there and again, would refer you to the book, for more details here.
Now, the Amalekites, some people say, “Oh, God rejected Saul after this, because he had been, so morally compromised.” It says that, “He has to wipe out all the Amalekites.” You may remember the Amalekites from Exodus 17. They attacked the Israelites just after they had crossed the Red Sea, a very harrowing experience. And here they are, vulnerable and these nomads come and barrage the people and eventually, Israel wins the war when Moses, he’s praying and his hands are being held up by Erin and her and Israel has the victory. Well, God is bringing judgment upon the Amalekites. But remember, again, it’s not as though God can’t bring redemption if the Amalekites repent, but they were ruthless, brutal, throughout Israel’s existence. They’re always on the attack, trying to undermine Israel. So, all the generations perpetuated this hostility and animosity toward the Israelites. And in fact, we see that Saul, is actually responding to Amalekites raid, that is mentioned in 1 Samuel 14:48. So, before we get to chapter for 15, and God says, “Utterly destroy them, leave alive no man, woman, young, or old.”
What is happening here? Well, there is provocation for one thing. And then, we read later on that King Agag, he was one who himself, had left women childless. And so, he was a brutal force to be reckoned with. And so, we see that Saul was being chased for not killing King Agag, since someone who took as a prize. Samuel comes to Saul and says to him, “What have you done?” He says, “Oh, I’ve obeyed the voice of the Lord.” He says, notice this. It says twice that Saul, he did what the Lord commanded. He utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
And then, Saul himself later says, to Samuel, “I utterly destroyed the Amalekites, as you commanded, as the Lord commanded.” And then, he says, “Well, what’s this bleeding of sheep that I hear?” And so forth. “What’s the lowing of cattle that I hear? What’s going on here?” Well, he was supposed to destroy the animals that the Amalekites had. And notice too, that it’s actually in a fairly compact area, it’s in a city, where they’re fighting against the Amalekites. And so, after this battle… So, unlikely that there are women and children involved here, but they’re engaging this battle in this city, this semi-fortress, or Citadel. And some people say, “Well, no, God rebuked Saul, and Samuel rebuked Saul, because he didn’t utterly destroy all of the Amalekites.” No, it says twice, once by the author himself, that Saul utterly destroyed them. And secondly, Saul himself says, that he did what the Lord commanded, except for Agag and those animals.
And the rest of the narrative, goes on to talk about the animals. God doesn’t delight in these to offerings. To obey, is better than sacrifice itself. So, Samuel is not addressing Saul about leftover Amalekites, except for King Agag. He’s concerned about these animals that he flagrantly disobeyed God’s command.
Now, that’s part one of the Amalekite issue. Part two is that again, we have the question of literalness here. As we read later on in chapters 27 through 30 of the same book, those utterly destroyed Amalekites reappear. David is fighting a battle against them. 400 of them end up escaping. What’s going on here? We see there are Amalekites, even during the time of King Hezekiah. So, did Saul utterly destroy them? Well, no again, it’s using that hyperbolic language. And so, we keep coming back to that. So, we need to understand this text, in the way that it was understood in the ancient Near East. We get a clue from how this operates, in Jeremiah 25:9, where the language that is used of the Canaanites and Amalekites and Midianites, is also now being used against the people of Judah in Jeremiah. Judah is about to fall to the Babylonians. And God says that he is going to utterly destroy the people of Judah and leave their cities in everlasting desolation.
Well, did that literally happen? Well, you get to the end of the book and that certainly is not the case. Just read the same book of Jeremiah and you’ll see that, it’s the elite in Jerusalem, who are being shipped off to Babylon, but the majority of people end up staying behind and tending to their vineyards, and so forth. And they have a temporary ruler over them, under the ages of Babylon. But again, you have a scene going on. Now, let me bring it to a conclusion by mentioning this. We read that Joshua does all that Moses commanded. We read that several times in Joshua chapter 11. And it says that, “He did all that Moses commanded.” But, yet we read that, Joshua left lots of survivors.
He didn’t utterly destroy them in a literal way. He didn’t leave alive anything. Basically, you’d say he transgressed, about leaving alive, nothing that breathes. Well, he did leave alive people that breathe. In fact, lots of survivors. In fact, they could not even be driven out. They’re there to this day. So, what are we saying here? Well, we’re saying, that if Joshua carried out all Moses commanded and that Joshua left a lot of survivors, then Moses’ own command in Deuteronomy 7, in Deuteronomy 20, was not something that was intended to be taken in absolute literalness, but rather was used in very hyperbolic terms. And again, that God would be very happy to offer repentance to any Canaanite who did repent. In fact, we do see that with Rahab who is a true Israelite.
She recognizes who the one, true God is, unlike Achan, who acts like a Canaanite and ends up being destroyed. But, we also see in chapter eight of… We see the Gibeonites, who have mercy, but they enter into this treaty under false pretenses. But, in chapter eight, in the town of Shechem between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, you have Joshua in this covenant renewal ceremony with the people of Israel, and there are strangers in their midst. These are most likely Canaanites living in the town of Shechem, who join with Israel in worshiping the one, true God. So, if people are willing to repent, God is willing to offer that salvation, that grace, to those who do repent. Again, I’ve covered a lot of territory and no doubt, there are lots of questions here. But, thanks so much for listening and look forward to porch time with you all tonight.
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