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[Steve]

The God of the Bible, the old testament in particular, seems to command some rather nasty things (genocide of the Canaanites, etc.)

[jimwalton]

In my thinking, we have to keep in mind what history is all about: God is working to redeem humankind, and he’s determined to capture (by wooing and loving, and never by force) as many souls back to himself as possible. To force any will, or to force any behavior, is to arrogate souls illegitimately, and is a contradiction of his nature of love.

So saying, and knowing the depth of depravity of the human heart, and knowing also the importance of sociological realities such as social momentum, peer pressure, and pride, it makes sense to me that the lines God draws are intended to keep the community of his people on the path of righteousness. It would probably be more helpful to examine a few specific instances by way of explanation.

In Exodus 35.2, anyone who works on the Sabbath is to summarily executed. Sounds pretty harsh for hoeing a row in your garden. The key to this consequence is in Ex. 31.13-17 where the Sabbath is explained as having been given as a collective sign of the covenant. The penalty is death because failure to participate in the Sabbath was their way of saying to God, “F--- You.” It marked a rebellious rejection of the covenant relationship. Since the injunctions about keeping the Sabbath holy had been made public, any disobedience of them could legitimately be regarded as willful defiance against God and the community of faith. The Sabbath was regarded as sacred time, and encroaching on sacred time was as unconscionable as intruding on sacred space, viz., death to any who entered the Holy of Holies. If something profane were to be brought into sacred space, there would be severe penalty. Likewise if something profane (normal work) were to intrude on sacred time (the Sabbath), the penalty was commensurate. Sacred space and sacred time were so important to maintain because people’s ideas about God are so easily distorted, and they make God whatever they want him to be, and before you know it, people are dancing before the golden calf, screwing each other as their service of worship, and killing their children as an act of piety.

God’s “strictness” was designed to make clear God’s determination to call a holy people unto himself and make them his own. Compromises and defiance left unanswered would quickly dig the whole community into complete ignoring of God and living for self.

That, of course, does not mean that the same penalty hangs over our head today. Sabbath was Israel’s sign of their covenant relationship, not ours. Sabbath observance still has significance, but it doesn’t carry the same sanction in our covenant and our era.

In Dt. 21.18-21, it sounds as if a kid who is disobedient to his parents is to be stoned to death. On closer examination, however, this son was not only rebellious, he was incorrigibly disobedient. No hope of civility remains for such a person. He will only destroy society and be an enemy of godliness. The law was designed to stop the cancer and ruin the community.

In Lev. 20.13, homosexual males are to be killed. Leviticus is big on the orderliness of the microcosm which informs the orderliness of the macrocosm. How we express desires defines us. Holiness means self-restraint in food, work, and sexuality, and lack of self-restraint leads to a destruction of civility, piety, community, and, frankly, theology. I know—it sounds small, but it’s a domino effect that works into a conflagration (I know I mixed my metaphors) because of the nature of humans.

The ban on sexuality is one among many, and none is necessarily more important than another. The rational here is to honor procreation. It’s about family and community, but also about purity before God.

But now let’s talk about your question in specific: God said, “Go into Canaan and kill ‘em all—men, women, children, and animals.” Legislation can be found in Dt. 7.1-11 and 20.10-18, and in Joshua 6.17-19 we see it played out. Why the brutality? It doesn’t exactly sound like the God who tells us to love our enemies to command the massacre of innocent women and children.

First, the OT makes it clear that the people of the land (Canaanites, Amorites, Ammonites, etc.) had incurred the wrath of God. So this was justice being served on a people who had earned destruction (Dt. 9.5). God was the judge, and no jury was necessary for the people had incriminated themselves with their abhorrent practices. They defiled the land (Lev. 18.24-30); they had been wicked with fertility rites and child sacrifice. Just as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah—men, women, and children—were destroyed, such is the decreed fate of these people because of their crimes (See Gen. 15.16). But God extended to the Canaanites 400 years of patience. That sounds merciful to me, and plenty of time to come around. It makes little difference whether the eventual punishment from God came in the form of fire from heaven or armies of God.

Second, we know that unless you pull out the whole root of the dandelion, it will come back. Unless you get all the cancer out, it will return. The total destruction of the godlessness that can ruin millions of lives and ruin entire cultures cannot be accomplished simply by defeating the army. The influence that is being avoided is transmitted by a culture, and therefore, for the preventive measures to be effective, the culture must be destroyed, lest it infect even more cultures.

Third, we must realize that there was much fuller understanding of corporate identity in the ancient world. The guilt belonged to the corporate group and extended to every member of the group. It’s the “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch” theory, and it is as true in group dynamics as it is in buckets of apples.

Above all, we can rest assured that God acted in justice. As Abraham exclaimed during his discussion with God over the fate of Sodom, “Far be it from you! Will not the judge of the earth do right?” (Gn. 18.25). Rhetorical question begging the “yes, of course” answer.