Why did God say, "Thou shalt not kill" and then command the Israelites to kill all their enemies?

Question

Why is that? Why did God, at one point tell the Children of Israel to kill sacrificial offerings, witches, homosexuals, people who touch unclean things, etc, etc, then later tell people to turn the other cheek and to "not judge" and to love thine enemies?

So, RHSaunders, I suppose I am not to take the Bible literally, as you have pointed out that it is mis-translated. There is a big difference between murder and kill.
If you read what the Israelites were commanded to do - Hell.... Much of it sounds exactly like murder to me.

So, RHSaunders, I suppose I am not to take the Bible literally, as you have pointed out that it is mis-translated. There is a big difference between murder and kill.
If you read what the Israelites were commanded to do - Hell.... Much of it sounds exactly like murder to me.

Answer 1

The god of the Jews and Christians is unjust, inconsistent, hypocritical, immoral, and unworthy of admiration or worship.

Answer 2

The Bible, from Genesis to 2 Kings, is actually 4 separate books written many centuries apart. The original 10 commandments (as found in Book J) contained only ceremonial regulations, and said nothing about murder. The passages where God supposedly ordered the Israelites to obliterate their enemies were actually written some 1000 years after the conquest of Canaan, and reflect the political agendas of Jewish refugees returning from exile in Babylon. These writings were mostly intended to justify the liberation of Jerusalem from their Samaritan overlords.

Archaelogical evidence shows that most of the Israelites probably never left Canaan, and that there was no violent conquest of the local nations.

If you want to understand the Bible, you have to study redaction criticism. I recommend "Who Wrote the Bible" by Friedman.

Answer 3

Certain deliberate acts that indirectly caused or could have resulted in the death of another person were considered tantamount to deliberate murder. For example, the owner of a goring bull who disregarded previous warnings to keep the animal under guard could be put to death if his bull killed someone.
The Law permitted self-defense but restricted an individual’s right to fight for his property. Bloodguilt came upon a person who, though catching a thief in the act of breaking into his home, killed the lawbreaker in the daytime. This was evidently because thievery did not carry the death penalty, and the thief could be identified and brought to justice. At night, however, it would be difficult to see what one was doing and to ascertain the intentions of an intruder. Therefore, the person killing an intruder in the dark was considered guiltless.—Ex 22:2, 3.

Answer 4

If you look into the historical context of when/where that was said, it doesn't necessarily mean "murder." And don't forget that most of the Old Testament is metaphors- not to be taken literally, word-for-word.

The whole "love thine enemies" thing is in the New Testament, and (as far as we know) Jesus actually did say those things. Whether or not Jesus is the "son of God" is another question, though.
Hope this helps!

Answer 5

murder
he said not to commit murder.
there is a difference between execution and murder.
the reason that the Israelites were rightly commanded to put to death those that were in the promised land who disobeyed, has quite a long answer, but the short of it, has to do with the fact that the kingdom of Israel, had the important task, of being God's earthly representatives.
The reason for the change once Jesus came, is that the earthly kingdom of Israel was done away with, and the future Kingdom of God, was to rule from the heavens.
As there was no longer any earthly kingdom representing God, and that the newly revealed hope of the resurrection had been shown, there was no longer any need for a follower of God's new covenant through his son Jesus, to execute justice in the form of taking another man's life.

Answer 6

For one thing, it's a mis-translation: the better translation would be "Thou shall do no murder." Considering the slaughter recited in the OT, the notion of saying "Thou shall not kill" is ridiculous. For another thing, god, being a fiction, never actually said anything.

Answer 7

Dear,

Your question is very interesting.

Hope you can quote where does the question comes from and unquote. That's sensitive. If it's real ?, If it's genuine?, To whom the question is refer to?.

I'm not Israel?,.

I belief in Moses as prophet and messenger of God. Islam taught us to belief all the prophets and messengers of God. We Muslims knows the story in Holy Koran. Moses is a prophet and messenger of God that save the Hebrews crossing the Sea Reeds from Egypt to Sinai.

Moses left a Scripture - Bible-Jews to Israel.

Moses historical founder of Israel. The name is Egyptian, and according to the Old Testament account, Moses was born in Egypt among a group of Hebrew slaves who were used for forced labor on national building. Owing to a fortuitous circumstance, he was adopted as a child by Pharaoh''s daughter and brought up in Pharaoh's house hold. After killing an Egyptian for smiting a Hebrew, Moses fled to the Sinai Penensular, where he lived with a Midianite nomad tribe in the desert, married the daughter of its priest, and recieved a relation from Yahweh, the god of the area, who identified himself as a God of the Hebrew patriarchs. Yahweh commanded Moses to return to Egypt to deliver his people, and after a conflict with Pharaoh, Moses eventually led the Hebrews out of Egypt and across the Sea of Reeds to the place of his own earlier sojourn in Sinai. There he instituted a rule of law, administered by elders, with the Ten Commandments as its core. Here and the region of Kadesh, south of Palestine, Moses serving as prophet and priest, taught the people to interpret their deliverance from Egypt as a gift from Yahweh, and established a covenant between Israel and Yahweh.

In this covenant Israel was to be Yahweh's people and was required to worship Yahweh alone

If I may say, from the above descriptions, I think, let the Jews answered. No others have the rights.

Answer 8

draw an s for snake or dragon, then a more different s,....add some legs,.........and a big beefy arm......Trogdor the Burninator!!!! I'll improve on your methods!!!!!

Sorry, I just noticed your name. Sweet.

Just to help with the question, you must remember that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways. Isa. 55:7-9

Answer 9

We have laws against killing our fellow citizens in the USA.
During wartime, those laws do not apply with respect to the enemy.
Otherwise we would be speaking German or Japanese for the last 60 years.

Answer 10

God can do anything and say it's correct =P .

anyway , it's human that write not god . god can print 10 commandment on a stone but he don't want to drop a book of bible

Answer 11

Because God is the only One with the power over life and death. That includes, timing and method. That's why.