why did "god" of the old testament tell the jews to destroy entire races of people?

Question

Deuteronomy 20:10-16

why was god making the jews kill people for a space in the desert unless this god was unaware of the fact that the world was bigger than that. trust me. i live in the northwest of the united states, this is a MUCH better place than the desert of israel. if god was truly all powerful, why didn't he just transport the jews to a much more fetile ground? instead he ordered the DEATH of the infadels (much like the muslim extremists of today) and made them camp out in the desert... was god unaware of the spherical earth and the much better lands elsewhere, including but not limited to, the northwestern united states?

exactly leviathan, exactly! just like logic is bound by language, so is god....

SERENA, one proof, please? there isn't any proof of the israelites being enslaved by the egyptians, other than the bible... and the timeline for that is in fact faulty... all of that area belonged to egypt at the time so if the bible was true and the israelites escaped with moses all they did was move from one area of egypt to another... like escaping New Jersey to get to California in these days... anyway... don't just say things, give references... not just for my sake, but so you don't look foolish in the future.

SERENA, you added whilst i was responding. a land flowing with "milk and honey" is, of course, colourful language. milk comes from cows and honey from bees. if the land gave this much it would require much more. cows cannot survive in the desert without an oasis. bees cannot thrive without flowers. that sort of thing. cows and bees both thrive in the northwest as do most anything else. if god knew of the fertile lands such as the northwestern united states he certainly would have forgone the slaughtering of the innocent and just moved the people, no? or does god just like sending people to hell?

DOUG, the only reason you "know" that jesus was who people say he was is because of the OT, so if god was found fake then, jesus has no proof. what i'm saying is that god of the OT would rather kill RACES of people (man, woman, child, beast, cat, dog, what have you) so the jews could have a desert instead of transporting the chosen people to a much more adequate space on the earth. either god didn't know of the fertile lands of the northern hemisphere or he just liked killing people... again, you give no reference to how these people were so evil anyway... for all we know they were like Switzerland in WWII...

DBB, GWBush is a drunk who has failed at everything he's ever attempted, including (and by his OWN ADMISSION!) this current "war on terror." he has NO business telling people who's right andwho's wrong. Al Qaeda didn't have a foothold in Iraq until we took Sadam out... the sects didn't fight the way they do now until we took sadam out. we OPENED the flood gates through a war that is internationally ILLEGAL. so bush is NOT a good example for anything other than what NOT to do.

LORENE, by your own admission then, GOD ordained and orchestrated the terrorist attacks around the world, including but not limited to, Sept. 11th here in the US. DON"T QUESTION IT! god ordained it. that's EXACTLY WHAT THE TERRORISTS SAY! god wanted it in the first place!

EXACTLY CARNAC, it is a bit odd to give a gift and a promise and then ask for sacrifice to actually receive the gift/promise... thank god christians don't take christmas with their fat kids that seriously!

Answer 1

Umm the bible is allegorical for esoteric truths. The OT, NT, and Our'an speak of the same inner realities. The movement out of Egypt by Moses is referring to the law (Moses being the embodiment of the law) which can take one out of physical bondage. In the historical world Egypt was used as an allegory/symbol for earthly bondage, carnality, or our earthly nature which controls us. Which is why Moses gave the ordinances for animal sacrifice because this was speaking about the sacrifice, or refinement of ones earthly nature, or as seen in Paul's words, "Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature." The thing is Moses, or the law could not take the tribes - which spread abroad from 12, or better said emerged from 12 which represents in pattern what they referred to in mysticism as the tree of life, into the promise land. They had to lead in by Joshua/Yeshua, or that vibration of mind which is the anointing which brings together the twelve tribes and manifest them as the promise land.

This whole thing is about your own self, there is virtually no difference then manifesting the promise land which is entering into higher reality of your source of being while in the body, to entering the inner kingdom in the NT, or the New Jerusalem in Revelations, or the distant Mosque in the inner mecca. It's all the same ****, not literal, but allegorical. Mohammad had 12 wives, Yeshua/Jesus had 12 apostles, in the OT there were 12 tribes. What more do people need to see that the scriptures are allegory reflecting your own mind, pretty much the movement of energy within the mind through the patterns of consciousness that form your intellect. It is all about gaining balance of mind, perfection in mind to manifest your source of being and know your higher self. That people don't realize this is pathetic.

Answer 2

Do I detect cynicism??? lol There were reasons that God asked the Israelites to waste an entire population, such as the Canaanites, and I have heard that they were totally given over to rampant sin, idolatry, sexual disease, and the such... pretty much way off the course for mankind, & the Garden of Eden etc.

God is a holy God.

Why do you suppose that He destroyed almost the entire population of earth with the flood of Noah's time?

God knows the future, and has said in the Bible that the land of Israel will be lush with forests, orchards, vinyards and the like someday. Since He knows the future, I would not try to second guess Him or be disdainful about His choices. If you don't understand God, just wait a bit and you will see.

Like for instance, the NW is great now, but what if N. Korea decided to use it for a nuclear test site? Then I think Israel would look pretty good even in her present state.... He has chosen Israel for the site of His throne, and I am sure that after all this war BS is over, and Jesus returns, it will be the place most beautiful on the earth.

Answer 3

i do not question why God dose anything, God is Always AWARE, he is the potter, and we are the clay.
He is ALL Knowing, you cannot know the reasons behind od's logic, he dose all things for the GOOd of the whole.

Jeremiah, learned that an individual or a nation is clay in the Great Potter's hands. He has a sovereign right to make it what he wants it to be. He has the skill and design to work with the clay and to bring it to pass. And if there be some imperfection in the clay, something which mars the design, spoils the work, the potter simply crushes the clay down to a lump and begins again to make it yet a vessel according to his own mind. In the verses which follow, this lesson is applied to the nation:

Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? says the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it." (Jeremiah 18:10 RSV)

Answer 4

These tribes that were killed had a long and horrible history of cannibalism, kidnapping the Israelites as slaves,raping their females,and offering their new born babies as sacrifices to gods such as Baal and Molech.If a tribe of people did that type of thing to your family or country today,would you put up with it?Or would you go to war against them?
By the way,why do you assume that the northwest united states are such a great place to live ? The land that God gave to the Israelites was much more fertile then.The BIble refers to it as being the land flowing with milk and honey.

Here are your references.
Jeremiah 7:30-31
2 Kings 17:16-17
Isaiah 57:5
Ezekiel 16:20-21
Ezekiel 23:36-39
2 Kings 16:3-4
2 Kings 21:6
2 Kings 21:9-11


http://www.tektonics.org/lp/outrage.html
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/C/carthage/carthage_life.html
http://www.bible-study-online.org/biblical%20study%20of%20the%20atonement/index_000009.htm

Answer 5

I both agree and disagree. for sure i'm getting the position you're coming from, as a Jew. In tutorial circles, each so often Christian theologians do dispense with this previous, triumphalist, insulting nomenclature. those who care and who want to be precise and polite say "Hebrew bible" or somesuch. Objectively speaking, regardless of the reality that, Christians get to call their scriptures although they prefer, or to believe that Christianity superceded Judaism in the experience that they prefer. As a pragmatic matter, "previous testomony" and "new testomony" will actually be the time-honored way they communicate over with the Hebrew and Christian bibles for something else of my lifetime. although if it makes me wince anytime I listen it.

Answer 6

It a bit like what the Europeans did to the Native Americans. The thing I don't understand is why the Israelites had to conquer the "Promised" Land. If somebody promised you some land you wouldn't expect to have to slaughter the inhabitants when you take possession.

Answer 7

It's funny you should mention this. The Egyptians felt the same way about the ethnic groups in Canaan at that time. They were almost always referred to as "wretched Asiatics" in Egyptian writings from about 1800 to 1500 BC.

The picture the Bible gives us of these groups is one of a violent and unscrupled people who practiced human sacrifice, including the sacrifice of their own children.

(I sometimes wonder if God would want us to kill entire groups of people sponsoring terrorist organizations today?)

Answer 8

It's odd isnt it? God acting like rather than knowing everything acts like he knows next to nothing. Just like people who pray only get information they already know. Weird that, isn't it? I'm sure there's a logical explanation why a supernatural deity is EXACTLY as ignorant as the people who believe in him.

I watched a program on national geographic the other day about the historical truth of the biblical events in the old testament, they didnt set out to disprove anything but it seems like most of it was a myth, not minor things but things like empires not existing - and the journey that took Moses and his people 40 years? Apparently its about an hour's walk. Maybe God is not the best guide.

*Have to admit that I'm amazed by a certain kind of person who says that 'yes, the old testament was written by primitive people, God isnt like that' its like I said I heard a magical Unicorn telling me to go on a killing spree and you said no that was a false vision because real Unicorns are peaceful - how the hell do you know!? There is a truth staring you in the face, people - do you have the courage to accept the blatantly obvious?*

Answer 9

The reason that God told the Jews to kill people is because those people were evil. George Bush is doing that to.

Answer 10

This is all part of the bible stories which make God appear to be an uncaring being and often a murderer. If God wrote the bible would he have pictured himself this way? Nonsense! The bible was written by primitive man who painted God this way because he (or they) wanted God to appear powerful and with a temper.
God could smite a city with one blow. He could kill an entire army with one sweep of his hand. This isn't the way God would be depicted today I am certain. The fear of God was essential to the religion so it could be understood and be followed.