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Genocide

           When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.  Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7:1-6)

          I came across this passage while looking at another from a little later in the chapter. The other passage didn’t suggest a discussion, but this one does. I’ve heard people refer to the first half of the passage as their argument that the God of the Old Testament was genocidal, or even further, that anyone who believes that the Bible is the Word of God must be genocidal because this passage promotes genocide.

          Now, let’s try a little logic. The passage says that the Israelites had to destroy them totally. That’s genocide, right? Well, if Israel had destroyed them totally, why would God have to continue the discussion by saying that they were to make no treaty, show them no mercy, or not intermarry with them?

          If destroying them totally meant genocide, why did God go on to tell them “This is what you are to do to them”? It’s not “this is what you are to do to their lands,” but what to do to them. By destroying where, what, and how they worship, they are destroying them and their gods. The peoples in question would have the choice of leaving the area or converting. And while we may, with temporal arrogance, declare that such a thing isn’t fair, it was a common practice – one we still see in use today as socialistic rulers demand that people be taught only atheism, or Muslims demand that those in areas they conquer on control either practice Islam, or keep very quiet. 

          You can read Scripture in a way that proves just about anything you want to prove. Context can change the way things look.

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