DAY 143
CHALLENGE
“How can you believe the Bible when it contains passages in which God commands the extermination of whole peoples (Deut. 7:1–2, 20:16–17)?”
DEFENSE
The answer depends on whether or not those passages are meant to be taken literally.
Tomorrow we will consider the view that the commands are non-literal. Here we will consider the view that they are meant literally.
According to this view, God expected the Israelites to kill certain peoples for two reasons.
First, “according to what is attested in the Bible, the Canaanites are seen by God as guilty of very serious crimes (Gen. 15:16; Lev. 18:3, 24–30, 20:23; Deut. 9:4–5, etc.), among which is the killing of their own children in perverted rituals (Deut. 12:31, 18:10–12). The narrative, then, holds out the prospect of the execution of divine justice in history” (Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture 127).
Second, the text indicates if these cultures survived, they would corrupt the Israelites with these immoral practices (Deut. 7:4, 20:18). This danger was seen as so severe that, given the conditions in the ancient world, the only effective way to prevent it was extermination. And, in fact, the Israelites were so corrupted.
If the literal view is accurate, how could God issue these commands?
It is worth pointing out that all life is a gift from God. We do not have a right to it. God has a right to determine how much of that gift we receive and when and how it ends. Thus St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “All men alike, both guilty and innocent, die the death of nature: which death of nature is inflicted by the power of God on ac- count of original sin, according to 1 Samuel 2:6: ‘The Lord killeth and maketh alive.’ Consequently, by the command of God, death can be inflicted on any man, guilty or innocent, without any injustice whatever” (ST I–II:94:5 reply to obj. 2).
Further, death is not the end. Whatever the circumstances of a particular death, it is a finite evil. Eternity lies before us, and God is capable of more than compensating the innocent who have suffered or died (see Day 38).
The actions commanded in these verses are not for our day but, ac- cording to this view, they do not involve injustice.