Judgement and Authority

Why would God command people to be killed, including women and children?

This is another hard question for non-believers to understand the answer for. It comes down to God’s judgement and authority.

In the Bible God, commanded the Israelites to kill the Canaanites.

God was NOT arbitrary in commanding the killings of the Canaanites. It was his judgement as God and creator of all the universe. The Canaanites were judged by God to be evil. They were given opportunities to repent and did not. Then God invoked his authority to use the Israelite to carry out his judgement on the Canaanites.

Being a loving God does not mean that God turns a blind eye to evil actions. It does mean that you are given an opportunity by God to turn away and repent from evil actions. Also being a perfect judge, does mean that God will judge people for their evil actions and lack of repentance.

The Canaanites had hundreds of years to either repent and follow God. Instead, they chose to follow idols and false Gods. These nations were destroyed to prevent the corruption of Israel and the rest of the world. When a nation starts burning children as a gift to the gods and practices sodomy, bestiality and all sorts of loathsome vices they will receive the judgement and wrath of God.

(Deuteronomy 9:5 ESV) Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you…"

(Leviticus 18:21 ESV) You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

(Leviticus 18:27-30 ESV) (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”

Who is more qualified than God, the creator of the universe, to decide who lives and who dies? God gave us our lives, and he has the right to take it away. In this case we encounter the issue of authority. Christians believe that all authority belongs to God. The non-believer has no objective authority. Their authority is based on the current social perception of morality, which is subject to constant change. However, God’s laws and morality does not change.

The God’s command to kill the Canaanites by the Israelites is NOT, a command for all Christians to kill whenever they decide to. Christianity is not a region of violence. The sixth of the Ten Commands is “not to kill.” This does not mean that one is not able to use violence in self defense or that a government (acting under the will of God) is not able to use violence for policing, justice or war.