Ethnic Cleansing in the Bible

by seedy3 5 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  seedy3

  Greetings people

  I was havng a discussion the other day with a Christian about the bible being the word of God and the subject came up about ethnic cleansing in the bible. Now I know of a few instances of it such as in the case of them taking a city and killing every living thing in the city, but the comment I made was a Quote from Patty Robertson shown below, Can anyone tell me what scripture this is based on?

  "The wars of extermination have given a lot of people trouble unless they know what was going on. The people in the land of Palestine were very wicked. They were given over to idolatry; they sacrificed their children; they had all kinds of abominable sex practices; they were having sex, apparently, with animals; they were having sex men with men, and women with women; they were committing adultery, fornication; they were worshipping idols, offering their children up; and they were forsaking God.
  "God told the Israelites to kill them all -- men, women and children, to destroy them. And that seems to be a terrible thing to do. Is it? Or isn't it?"
  "Well, let us assume there were 2,000 of them, or 10,000 of them living in the land, or whatever number there was of them. I don't have the exact number. Pick a number. God said, 'Kill them all.'
  "Well, that would seem hard, wouldn't it? That would be 10,000 people who would probably go to Hell. But, if they stayed and reproduced, in 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 or 100 more years, they could conceivably be -- 10,000 would go to a 100,000 -- 100,000 could conceivably go to a million. And then, there would be a million people who would have to spend eternity in Hell! And it's far more merciful to take away a few than to see in the future a 100 years down the road, and say, 'Well, I have to take away a million people that would forever be apart from God, ' because the abomination was there like a contagium. God saw that there was no cure for it. It wasn't going to change; their hearts weren't going to change; and all they would do is cause trouble for the Israelites, and pull the Israelites away from God, and prevent the truth of God from reaching the Earth."
  "So, God, in love, took away a small number that he might not have to take away a large number."
  --Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club" May 6, 1985

  Thanks for your help
  Seedy
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  nilfun

  I'll take a stab at it.

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  Deuteronomy 2 26 From the desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, 27 "Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28 Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot- 29 as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us-until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us." 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
  31 The LORD said to me, "See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land."
  32 When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, 33 the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed [1] them-men, women and children. We left no survivors. 35 But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. 36 From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.
  
  

  Footnotes

  
  

  1. 2:34 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD , often by totally destroying them.

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  Numbers 31 3 So Moses said to the people, "Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the LORD's vengeance on them. 4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel." 5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.
  7 They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba-the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. 11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, 12 and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho. [1]
  13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army-the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds-who returned from the battle.
  15 "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. 16 "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. 19 "All of you who have killed anyone or touched anyone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives.
  
  

  Footnotes

  1. 31:12 Hebrew Jordan of Jericho ; possibly an ancient name for the Jordan River

  New International Version (NIV)
• 

  FreeWilly

  I had a similar conversation a couple of weeks ago. I mentioned this scripture:

  Judges 18:6

  "The priest said to them, ?Go with confidence. The L ord will be with you on your mission.?

  So the five men journeyed on and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there were living securely, like the Sidonians do, undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. When the Danites returned to their tribe in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen asked them, ?How did it go?? They said, ?Come on, let?s attack them, for we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic, but don?t hesitate to invade and conquer the land.? When you invade, you will encounter unsuspecting people. The land is wide! God is handing it over to you?a place that lacks nothing on earth!?

  So six hundred Danites, fully armed, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol."

  Funny, the spies didn't mention any baby killing in Laish

  - Willy
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  Satanus

  Gotta comment on brother patty's reasoning:

  And it's far more merciful to take away a few than to see in the future a 100 years down the road, and say, 'Well, I have to take away a million people that would forever be apart from God, '

  If god had killed adam and eve, he could have held the number down at 2. I guess god was wimpy or lonely at that early time.

  SS
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  seedy3

  Thx folks that helps,

  and SS, I agree fully his reasoning is fully stupid, much like many other of his quotes

  Seedy
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  LittleToe

  SS:
  You read my mind...