WHY DID GOD PERMIT THE MASS KILLING OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT?
Mat 5:44-45 (KJV) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
What many people have asked is how this God of love permitted (and even directed) mass killings in the Old Testament as recorded in the following verses:
Deut 20:16-17 (KJV) But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
Josh 6:21 (KJV) And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
1 Sam 15:3 (KJV) Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
To answer the question, let us first find out who the people of these nations were and then proceed to find out why God directed the children of Israel to completely wipe out every one of them.
What does the bible say about these people?
The bible described the people of these nations and cities God gave the children of Israel for an inheritance in Deuteronomy 20:16-17 as giants, as “people great and tall” and as sons of Anak.
Deut 9:1-2 (KJV) Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!
Num 13:33 (KJV) And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
The children of Anak (Anakim/Anakites) were described as a formidable race of giant, warlike people who occupied the lands of southern Palestine near Hebron before the arrival of the Israelites (Joshua 15:13).
Deut 2:19-21 (KJV) And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead.
Anak himself was the son of Arba, who at that time was regarded as the “greatest man among the Anakim”.
Josh 15:13 (KJV) And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.
Josh 14:15 (KJV) And the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.
Please note that the name Kirjath-Arba or Kirjath-ha-Arba means city of the four (giants).
During the conquest of Canaan, Joshua expelled the Anakim from the hill country, and Caleb finally drove them out of Hebron completely. However, a small remnant found refuge in the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Joshua 11:22).
Many Bible scholars taught that the Anakim’s descendants were also the Philistine giants David encountered (2 Samuel 21:15-22), including Goliath of Gath (1 Samuel 17:4-7).
Where do these giants come from and why did God destroy them?
Genesis 6:4 tells us how the giants in these nations and cities came to be on earth:
Gen 6:4 (KJV) There were giants in the earth in those days (i.e. before the flood); and also after that (i.e. after the flood), when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
The scripture above indicates that the giants were product of the union between the sons of God and the daughters of men. It equally stated that there were giants before and after Noah’s flood, which means the union between the sons of God (fallen or disobedient angels) and daughters of men must have occurred both before and after Noah’s flood.
It was because of this abnormal intermarriage between human beings and spirit beings that God sent flood to destroy all living things except Noah and the family. Humans were going along with the intermarriage in the quest for immortality, which was contrary to God’s early declaration that man was subject to death because of Adam’s sin. Consequently, God says He will not put up with this for His angels (spirit) shall not dwell (abide) with humans because humans are flesh/mortal (i.e. are subject to death), and He therefore will wipe them out with a flood in the next 120 years. Read DID THE BIBLE STATE THAT GOD LIMITED THE AGE OF MEN ON EARTH TO 120 YEARS?
Gen 6:3 (KJV) And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Notice the verse below:
1 Pet 3:19-20 (KJV) By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Satan and his fallen angels on their own part were going along with the intermarriage to corrupt the human race and thereby do away with pure Adamite stock through whom the Seed of the woman should come. This would prevent their own destruction as stated in Genesis 3:15 and make it possible for Satan and his kingdom to keep control of the earth indefinitely.
Gen 3:15 (KJV) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Gen 6:12-13 (ISV) God looked at the earth, observing how corrupt its population had become, because the entire human race had corrupted itself. So God announced to Noah, “I’ve decided to destroy every living thing on earth, because it has become filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.
The main objective of the flood was to do away with this Satanic corruption, destroy the giants, and preserve the pure Adamite line, thus guaranteeing of the coming of the Seed of the woman, as God planned.
Despite being defeated by the flood, Satan made further attempts to prevent the coming of the Redeemer who would be his final downfall. It was now to his advantage that God had promised never to send another universal flood upon the earth. Satan therefore reasoned that he should make a second attempt to do away with the Adamite line. If he came within “eight souls” of doing it before the flood, his opportunities were now even greater with the promise that there would be no such flood. This is the reason the second group of fallen angels married the daughters of men after the flood. Again the unions produced giants whose races occupied the land of promise where the Seed should be born in advance of Abraham. Limited by His promise of no flood, God had to destroy the giants another way. This explains why He commanded Israel to kill every one of them, even to the last man, woman and child. It also explains why He destroyed all the men, women and children besides Noah and his family, at the time of the flood it answers the skeptics’ question regarding why children were taken away with adults in the flood. God had to end this corruption entirely to fulfill His eternal plan and give the world its promised Redeemer.
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