Bible Discussion Thread

Difficult passages in scripture: ordered extermination of children

One of the most challenging things in the Bible is where God ordered the extermination of every man woman and child in conquest of the Promised Land. There is one fairly satisfactory reason why some were killed in this way; they were children of the union of fallen angels and women as first mentioned in Genesis 6; Nephilim which were NOT human and therefore were never to rise again; such as are indicated in Isaiah 26:14 (Rephaim in original translation). They would go to a certain part of the underworld at death.

All other examples seem to involve human children and thus is beyond our scope of full understanding. In fact; such verses make us cringe. Only putting God's Holiness at the forefront of our trust can allow us to deal with such a difficult; painful and weighty matter. Such verses which indicate the death penalty for things which we as a "civilized society" would consider cruel (such as adultery or the example brought up in another recent post in Numbers 15:32-36 on a man being stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath) are also examples of things which in the "Age of Grace" aren't enforced today. We could say the same for National Israel when it was a Theocracy; there may be some return in the Millennium or end of the Tribulation when God conquers enemies through His people once again; but I digress.

I would state at this juncture that there is enough scripture to indicate that the soul of a human child will NOT be sent to hell upon death- Matthew 18:10 is probably the most convincing along with the story of David's unborn child in 2 Samuel 12:23.

There is a principle that judgment comes only when a nation is fully ripe for it; such as the case of the Amorites in Genesis 15:16; Nineveh after a respite following repentance; and in Sodom where it is entirely possible there were few if any children.

I will continue this discussion in further posts.

Hello Richard,

This subject of God ordering all inhabitants of the people the Israelites were to conquer to be killed leads us to admit that we do not know all of the counsel of God in such matters and we are to believe that He is righteous in all of His ways. Even in such situations as this treatment of children we can believe that God has a better future for these young ones after death, especially in the resurrection. These children were in a sense, martyred due to the gross wickedness of their parents. It is not on the Israelites as the ones doing the killing, since God ordered it be so. But it is on the parents who, as Romans 1 states, knew of God and HIs great power and ability to create all things, but instead of worshipping Him rightly, they exchanged the truth of who God is for the deceptions of Satan that lured them into worshipping idols either they thought up, saw in nature, or were demons who manifested to them as beings they thought worthy of worship.

They surely knew of the ancient patriarch Noah who worshipped God rightly and Shem, and others who came from that very region who were their ancestors. Most likely the peoples of the area kept an oral and at times written accounts of these patriarchs that were kept as part of their history from generation to generation, just like the Israelites did. But the peoples corrupted this history, incorporating more fanciful stories and heroes that were not true to history.

But, when we come upon such disturbing accounts in the Scriptures of God ordering the slaying of children, we must admit that God is infinitely more wise and just than we ever could be. Since He is the one who can raise the dead, He knew that these children would be raised on the last day. We can have hope that children are covered by the blood of Jesus, despite their sinful state from conception and will be glorified with all of us in the last day. Jesus said to let the children come unot Him for such is the kingdom of heaven.