When the Bible says God "smote" people, what exactly does this mean?

Question

Did he utterly destroy them, or more like a good swift kick in the pants?

Also: why doesn't God so much smiting these days?

Answer 1

read the context.
smite means to strike.
the smite on the cheek Jesus refers to when he said to turn the other cheek, is figurative, and means if someone insults you.

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Answer 2

That is to strike an example 2 Sam 6:7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for [his] error; and there he died by the ark of God.
You see when We "know" what God requires of us and we "choose" not to do it God sometimes as a lesson to others allows what would have happen to happen, "the wadges [or natural resuts] of sin is death" BUT in the same verse Romans 6:23 the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ [The Second member of The Godhead] our Lord, in the book of Acts 5 we are told about folks called Ananias and Sapphira, and Yes God does bring or allow Judgements today to check the course of evil or it would over run the land and us, sometimes God must act as to save some otherwise all would be lost, that is why the flood in Gen. 6, find out more free on line bible lessons www.amazingfacts.org talk to me for example [e-mail]

Answer 3

"Everything" includes both inside us and outside us. Nature reflects God's nature. With every action there are consequences. When a lion eats a deer, it must feed itself, just like a plant ripping two defenseless hydrogen atoms from an oxygen. That's caused by our fall to sin - says the Bible. God made it all. God made us. We have an inborn desire to discuss these theological ideas. The funny, and frustrating, thing is that people who are metaphorically blind to "everything" cannot see unless they take a leap of faith to see. If they demand proof, they think theists are silly idiots with no real reasons to say what we say and do what we say. If you really want to know, try Christianity out for a week whole-heartedly. See what happens.

Answer 4

To strike, sometimes is very violent: 2 Kings 15:16

16 Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.

Answer 5

Acts 12:23 When God smote Herod (after Christ was crucified) - worms ate him up immediately. "An angel of Adonai struck him down. He was eaten away by worms and died." - Jewish New Testament

Answer 6

It usually means that they were wiped out. Remember when he touched Jacob he dislocated his hip and Jacob walked with a limp for the rest of his life. You can imagine how bad it was if he actually struck someone.

Answer 7

It usually means that he finished them off. But it also uses that word in the bible to mean "to strike"

EDIT: To answer the second question our punishment is no longer immediate because Jesus has interceded for us.

Answer 8

God wanted man to fill His love because God is loving God and we should also love God above all things. Man should respect and obey God. We should not lost faith in God because he is true God.When we need him to help us, we must pray to him and ask what we wanted.

Answer 9

i think he means he wiped them off the face of the earth. For the lives today, i think God is patiently watching everyone and giving us a benefit of a doubt that we may turn back to him

Answer 10

To inflict a heavy blow on, with or as if with the hand, a tool, or a weapon.
To drive or strike (a weapon, for example) forcefully onto or into something else.
To afflict: The population was smitten by the plague.
To afflict retributively; chasten or chastise.
To attack, damage, or destroy by or as if by blows.

To afflict: The population was smitten by the plague.
To afflict retributively; chasten or chastise.
To affect sharply with great feeling: He was smitten by deep remorse