What does David say to Jehovah after this mass slaughter?.This:
"Here it is I that have sinned and it is I that have done wrong; but these sheep -what have they done?..."(2sam 24:17)
Good question! What did they do? David is the one who took the census.
Apparently God feels no need to follow his own laws:
"Fathers should not be put to death on account of children, and children should not be put to death on account of fathers. Each one should be put to death for his own sin" Dt.24:16
How about this for a thought... based on the evidence of the bible on how God was responding to humans and how the bible relates his feelings about how He had acted towards humans i.e the feelings of regret after He had destroyed humanity in the Flood, it seems to me that He was learning how to deal with chaotic situations. God is perfect apparently but when He created life which is naturally chaotic, humans have intelligence and can think for themselves, He created something that not only interested Him but that acted in new and surprising ways, life could take any direction it wanted. Things happen out of the blue. Even the bible says 'unforeseen circumstances'.
Along the way God has taken some incredibly harsh decisions, I always remember the WT on blessings and maledictions which talked about how a malediction came on to some boys that had been taunting Gods prophet Elisha, they were killed by bears because they teased him (2Kings 2:24)
'Finally he turned behind him and saw them and called down evil upon them in the name of Jehovah. Then two she-bears came out from the woods and went tearing to pieces 42 children of their number'.
The reason for this is that they were saying ' Go up you bald head, go up you bald head'. Interesting to note that this took place at Bethel!
Now this does not seem like the actions of a perfect God - after all these were just children doing what children do - tease! And it seems a bit harsh to rip them to pieces because of their immaturity, no matter what they said.
Is this an example of perfect justice??
This is just one example of many from the old testament, but in the new testament He seems to be a completely different God. Is this because He had learnt to deal with humans in a more subtle and dare I say it, humane way? I have raised this sort of issue with an elder before but I was told that I should never question God and his motives are perfect. But the evidence just speaks for itself.
Heres another thought for you.. how would a person be viewed today if he wrote a book about his lifestory that contained some of the horrors that are within the old testament? But during the second half of the book he said he had changed... would you trust him? Wouldn't he need to explain himself and prove himself? To me I feel that God is responsible for everything that has happened in the past to humanity and He has to share the responsibility of what is happening now in various parts of the world. As a human I would not be able to stand by and watch children being hurt and murdered in the way that they are in todays world - if I stood by and just watched these things happening right before my eyes (just as God does) I would have to share in the responsibility for the wrongs that are being committed. If a woman was being raped right in front of me and I did nothing to help I would be as guilty as those carrying out the act. I feel that God has been responsible for a lot that has happened in the old testament but He gives no evidence or any justification of why He did it in the name of justice.
In a perfect world He would want us to understand why He did all the things He did, but the evidence of the old testament is wanting, it is lacking in feelings of humanity.
