Loving Yet Dead-Serious

In this series, we will look at some of the submissions from all of you and respond to 2 or 3 each week in either a mini-sermon or a dedicated lesson. Let’s see what we got in store this week...

“Millions” and “Tons”

Submission: If God is the God of love, why does he command to kill everyone (including babies) from tribes/nations whose land they were conquering?

Let’s address one of the starkest versions of this story head-on...

1 Samuel 15:1–3 CSB

1 Samuel told Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now, listen to the words of the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord of Armies says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt. 3 Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ”

1 Samuel 15:9–14 CSB

9 Saul and the troops spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and choice animals, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things. 10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, 11 “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.” So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night. 12 Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, “Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.” 13 When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14 Samuel replied, “Then what is this sound of sheep, goats, and cattle I hear?”

1 Samuel 15:30–35 CSB

30 Saul said, “I have sinned. Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me so I can bow in worship to the Lord your God.” 31 Then Samuel went back, following Saul, and Saul bowed down to the Lord. 32 Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of Amalek.” Agag came to him trembling, for he thought, “Certainly the bitterness of death has come.” 33 Samuel declared: As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women. Then he hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal. 34 Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Even to the day of his death, Samuel never saw Saul again. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted he had made Saul king over Israel.

FIRST… Let’s Break It Down

God gives clear instruction to Saul: Annihilate the people.

Saul fails to annihilate the people (preserves Agag and several of the best animals).

Samuel finds out, chastises Saul, and executes Agag.

A NOTE ABOUT LITERATURE… Mythohistory and Hyperbole

Hyperbole is used in the Bible, most widely accepted when it comes to army sizes.

Gideon, Biblically, stood against 135,000 Midianites…

That number may have been closer to 15,000.

Difference result of translation and interpretation (“thousands” used in place of a number of “clans” or “units”).

Among archeologists or scholars, this causes no issue. It is no different than us claiming something “weighs a ton” or stating that “a million people showed up”. It’s how we talk.

WARNING AGAINST LITERALISM: Explains why being literal without study is so dangerous.

Some items are written very literally while others are written hyperbolically, metaphorically, or symbolically.

LESSON… don’t fall into intellectual arrogance, assuming that the way you know something is “clearly how it works”.

BACK TO THE AMALEK…

VS 3 says “destroy”, but VS 33 says Agag’s mother will be “motherless among women”… which can only make sense if women were still present.

David fights Amalek raiding parties; Esther recounts the actions of an Agagite (descendent of Agog)

THEREFORE… THEY WEREN’T ALL MURDERED.

So what did God mean by “kill them all”? (Let’s look at God’s instructions at Jericho...)

Joshua 6:15–19 CSB

15 Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times. 16 After the seventh time, the priests blew the rams’ horns, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. 17 But the city and everything in it are set apart to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers we sent. 18 But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and make trouble for it. 19 For all the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, are dedicated to the Lord and must go into the Lord’s treasury.”

TWO FACTORS

1) Near-eastern tradition of “total victory” —> Over-emphasize destruction as a way of communicating that victory was ‘complete’.

2) God’s focus is on the sanctification of His people… can be thought of as “destroying unto the world”, not literal destruction

The Amalekites were attacked, their army annihilated, and the national identity eventually destroyed. However, we see that the accusations of God as blood-thirsty have more to do with misinterpretation of the scriptures than it does ‘God’s insatiable thirst for death’.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the instructions given to the Hebrew people while marching around Jericho in Joshua 6:15-19. What appears to be God’s main concern: killing people or preserving His people? What are common phrases you use, even in serious discussions, to emphasize a point? Are you “lying” by using those phrases? If someone insisted on treating every word you said hyper-literally, how would that make you feel? Can you think of any Biblical examples where exaggeration and metaphor are used to make a bigger point we otherwise might not understand? What are some phrases Christian opponents will often quote out of context to try to “disprove God” or call Him a liar?

God Is Dead-Serious...

Despite my attempts to contextualize the records of the Old Testament, don’t be confused: God is absolutely dead-serious, but He isn’t blood thirsty.

God mourns death and destruction

Matthew 23:37–39 CSB

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’!”

John 11:32–35 CSB

32 As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!” 33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked. “Lord,” they told him, “come and see.” 35 Jesus wept.

God’s desire is not to lose souls. Christ’s sacrifice was the reconcile the lost back towards Him. The entire work of the Old Testament was to emphasize His pursuit.

Death is a result of our severance from the “root of life”.

Romans 6:20–23 CSB

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. 21 So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. 22 But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life! 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

NOTE… Sin is separation from God… the plant can not produce fruit (life) apart from the root

But… good fruit comes from being set apart from the world.

REWIND TO JOSHUA… Remember that the command to the Israelites was less about killing people and more about maintaining sanctification from the world.

THEREFORE… Death and judgment isn’t an instrument of torture and pure anger in the Bible. Instead, it is the side effect of attempting to “graft” ourselves into the decayed roots of this world. It is alignment with the world that kills, not God.

A lot of people read statements made in the Bible about death and life, thinking that they seem callous or uncaring.

That only makes sense if you view worldly life as the “default state” of our creation and God as an accessory.

FLIP THAT AROUND… When you recognize alignment with God as the “default state” and worldly roots as the non-standard condition, it makes a lot more sense.

When you look at God’s judgment you can’t state “How could God allow such a person to lose their worldly life?” Instead, you have to ask, “How could a just God be so merciful that He would give us so many pathways back to true life in Him despite us deviating from our original design?”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read Christ mourning the state of death and destruction caused by the world in Matthew 23:37-39 and John 11:32-35. Now read the connection between sin/death and sanctification/life in Romans 6:20-23. When someone describes God as “blood thirsty”, what are they valuing the most? What would you, as a Christian, say they are overlooking? Sometimes people struggle to understand the seemingly harsh language in the Bible because they feel an entitlement to long worldly life, peace, and prosperity. We all WANT those things, but are we entitled to it? Here’s a big question… does our sense of entitlement to worldly life, peace, and prosperity highlight how truly privileged and entitled we have become and indicate that we may lack a deep sense of gratitude to God for what He HAS given us?

God’s Mighty Hand or God’s Delicate Touch?

People who highlight God’s ruthlessness against people like the Amalekites often forget who actually has an entitlement...

We didn’t create the world or life itself; we are not entitled to it.

God DID create the world and life itself; He can take what He wills (do I need to remind you of the flood?!).

Fortunately, a closer look at the Old Testament would show that some of the most perplexing examples of a “ruthless God” are actually historical misunderstandings by modern readers.

However, God is just but He tempers His justice with mercy. Instead of looking at God with an attitude of disgust that He could permit such death and destruction to occur Biblically or in modern times, we should use those hard moments to remember our lack of entitlement to life and thank God for what He has given.

PUNCH: It’s a hard lesson, I’ll give you that. But it’s a critical one for us to understand if we are going to call God the supreme above all things and actually mean it.