God is Unloving?: "God's Command of Total Annihilation: Clay Jones Model" || John Pesebre || Kaliwanagan Kay Kristo (Nov 14, 2017)

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Ang issue na ating dini-discuss ngayon ay pagpapatuloy sa na-bring up sa akin ng isang university professor si Zane na ang concern ay kung paano ireconcile ang idea ng loving God sa mga violence at judgments ng Old Testament, most especially yung sa Canaanite invasion ng mga Israelites.  Ang argument ngayon na tutugunan natin ay -- “God was unreasonable in giving judgment to the Canaanites because of the overly harsh commands of complete annihilation.”

Nagbigay tayo ng sample passage --

Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (1 Sam 15:2-3)

Was it too harsh for a loving God? Sa episode last week I disussed Paul Copan’s guideline that we should read these passages as war rhetoric, that is exaggerated. In this episode, we will talk about the proposal of Clay Jones that God really meant what he said here.

Para kay Jones at contrary sa proposal ni Copan na ang battle orders sa Israel was disposession and displacement, Jones thinks na ang battle order na yan is to exact judgment on the Canaanites. Among the verses he uses to support this claim are the following:

It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you… (Deut. 9:5) 

“Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.” (Lev. 18:24-25) 

“When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations…because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.” (Deut. 18:9, 12)

So galit talaga ang Diyos sa mga Canaanites, at ang galit na ito ay consistent doon sa tinalakay ko mga unang episodes. Ang mga Canaanites as nakakasulasok sa Diyos. Greg Koukl gives a good summary -

Even by ancient standards, the Canaanites were a hideously nasty bunch. Their culture was grossly immoral, decadent to its roots. Its debauchery was dictated primarily by its fertility religion that tied eroticism of all varieties to the successful agrarian cycles of planting and harvest. In addition to divination, witchcraft, and female and male temple sex, Canaanite idolatry encompassed a host of morally disgusting practices that mimicked the sexually perverse conduct of their Canaanite fertility gods: adultery, homosexuality, transvestitism, pederasty (men sexually abusing boys), sex with all sorts of beasts, and incest. Note that after the Canaanite city Sodom was destroyed, Lot’s daughters immediately seduced their drunken father, imitating one of the sexual practices of the city just annihilated (Gen. 19:30-36).*

Dagdag pa natin dito, they also do child sacrifice. Mauunawaan natin diyan tuloy yung Leviticus 18:21 that says, “There was a reason God had commanded, “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech.” Si Molech ang kanilang diyus-diyosan at ginawan nila ng rebulto na parang hurno or oven yung kanyang tiyan. Ginagatungan nila ang hurno na ito at doon nila sinasalya ang mga bata mula sanggol hanggang 4 years old. Ang ibang mga credible researches nagsasabi na libo-libong bata ang sinunog dito.

So while Copan tempers etong mga complete annihilation passages na ito with war rhetoric, si Jones naman asserts that this language really reflects the anger of God for this people, that His patience for them has reached its time-limit. Kumbaga ang focus natin ay doon sa masidhing kasalana ng mga Canaanites at hindi sa exaggerated language ng Diyos. He really meant that they receive His judgment, once and for all. Yung conquest ay pagpapataw ng Diyos ng capital punishment sa Canaanites.

Ito ang reason ayon kay Jones kung bakit hindi nangingimi ang Diyos na magpataw ng capital punishment. Koukl summarizes the point of Jones stating --

In the process of executing His sentence against the Canaanites, God would be cleansing the land of every vestige of their debased religion (e.g., tearing down the high places) to establish a land of spiritual purity and religious truth so God’s strategy to save all the nations of the world could go forward (Gen. 12:3). God’s rescue plan to save mankind depended on the theological purity of Abraham’s seed, Israel. The cancer of idolatry needed to be cut out for the patient—God’s plan of redemption—to survive. Syncretism with pagan religions would have corrupted Israel’s theological core. By purging the land of this evil, God ensured that redemption—forgiveness for the evils of any nation—would be available in the future for people of every nation.†

Kaso nga lang nag compromise ang Israel eventually. Para kay Jones at kay Koukl, God is morally justified in doing this judgment. Dagdag pa dito, siya rin ang nagbigay ng buhay na ito at siya rin ang may karapatan. Sa Deuteronomy 32:39 eto pa ang paliwanag ng Diyos, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.”

Sa madaling salita, Diyos Siya at tayo ay hindi. Malinaw sa salita ng Diyos concerning the Canaanite invasion that God is the judge over this people. Iba ang Kaniyang standard. Hindi natin sinusukat at standard Niya subalit ang standard Niya ang sumusukat sa atin. Marahil yung basehan ng mga judgments ng Panginoon tulad ng mga nagawa ng Canaanites ay hindi na masyadong nakakasulasok ngayon, pero para Diyos hindi. Ang problema ay wala sa Diyos. Ang problema ay nasa atin.

Sabi nga ni Jones,

We do not appreciate the depths of our own depravity, the horror of sin, and the righteousness of God. Consequently, it is no surprise that when we see God’s judgment upon those who committed the sins we commit, that complaint and protest arises within our hearts.

So bilang pandagdag sa discussion natin kay Professor Zane, I’ve already mentioned that God showed compassion sa mga Canaanites in many ways, but we should also see the gravity of their sin so that we won’t be putting God in a situation that His judgment was unwarranted based on our standards.

Bago po ako magtapos, napansin nyo po ba yung binasa ko na passage kanina - Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (1 Sam 15:2-3). Yang mga “put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys” sa susunod pong dalawang episodes, tatalakayin ko po using yung Copan at Jones model concerning 1) yung “women, children and infants” at 2) yung “cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

(C) Photo Credit

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* Greg Koukl, "The Canaanites: Genocide Or Judgment?" Bible.org (website); https://bible.org/article/canaanites-genocide-or-judgment

† Ibid.