Why Did God Allow Massacres in the Old Testament?

[Fritzpw_Admin]

Why Did God Allow Massacres in the Old Testament?

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From the destruction of entire cities like Jericho to the command to wipe out nations such as the Amalekites, some passages in the Old Testament can feel jarring—especially when they involve the deaths of men, women, and children.

Why would a loving and just God command or permit such violence? Was it about justice, cleansing, conquest… or something else entirely? And how do we reconcile those accounts with Jesus’ command to love our enemies and turn the other cheek?

Some believers see these passages as part of God’s righteous plan. Others wrestle deeply with how they align with the character of Christ. Either way, the tension is real—and worth talking about.

“How do you personally make sense of God’s commands for violence in the Old Testament?”

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Read more context here:

Did God Condone Violence Found in the Old Testament?

[Bruce_Leiter]

@Fritzpw_Admin, I have some comments to make about God’s commands to destroy whole towns’ inhabitants:

1. God says in everyone’s favorite Bible book, Leviticus , that he owns the land, not people (Leviticus 25:23), “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.”

2. The Canaanites, therefore, only have possession of the promised land and their very lives by the Lord’s permission. They forfeit their right to life and possession of Canaan by their horrible worship practices and immorality. For example, they even kill their own children to please the god Moloch.

3. In Genesis 15, God tells Abram that Israel, his chosen descendants, "shall come back here in the fourth generation (400+ years), for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Thus, God gives the Canaanites more than 400 years, especially providing the reports of the mighty miracles God did in Egypt to deliver Israel from slavery, to repent and turn away from their immoral practices.

4. They fail miserably to repent, except for Rahab and her family in Jericho, and thus forfeited their lives and land because God is a just Judge, who must punish sin. Instead, they just shut up their walled cities.

5. Thus, God uses Israel as his agents of justice to carry out his just punishment.