by Farrell Till
During
the days that the Washington, D. C., area was terrorized by the Beltway
Snipers, people were outraged when a child was shot going into his
school building. Later, outrage turned to horror when Montgomery County
Chief Charles Moose, the leading official in the investigation, read a
note from the snipers that said, "Your children are not safe anywhere at
any time." Everyone wondered how anyone could be so perverse that he
would actually target a school child and then threaten to shoot even
more children.
Many
of those who felt this outrage probably went to church the next Sunday
not knowing that they were gathering to worship a god who, if we are to
believe the historical accuracy of the Bible, at one time declared to
seven nations that their children were not safe anywhere at any time.
The threat was recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 7:1 "When
Yahweh your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and
has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites
and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites
and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2and when Yahweh your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
Deuteronomy 20:16 "But of the cities of these peoples which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17but you shall utterly destroy them: the
Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the
Hivite and the Jebusite, just as Yahweh your God has commanded you, 18lest
they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they
have done for their gods, and you sin against Yahweh your God.
The
book of Joshua claims that these orders were carried out when the
Israelites moved into Canaan and began their conquest of the land.
Joshua 10:31 Then Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish; and they encamped against it and fought against it. 32And
Yahweh delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, who took it on the
second day, and struck it and all the people who were in it with the
edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libnah. 33Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him and his people, until he left him none remaining.
34From Lachish Joshua passed to Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it and fought against it. 35They took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; all the people who were in it he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.
36So Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, to Hebron; and they fought against it. 37And they took it and struck it with the edge of the sword—its king, all its cities, and all the people who were in it;
he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon, but
utterly destroyed it and all the people who were in it.
38Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and they fought against it. 39And he took it and its king and all its cities; they struck them with the edge of the sword and utterly destroyed all the people who were in it. He left none remaining; as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had done also to Libnah and its king.
40So
Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and
the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as Yahweh God of Israel had commanded. 41And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. 42All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel. 43Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.
Joshua 11:6 But
Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid because of them [the combined
forces of the Canaanite nations], for tomorrow about this time I will
deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their
horses and burn their chariots with fire." 7So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and they attacked them. 8And
Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and
chased them to Greater Sidon, to the Brook Misrephoth, and to the Valley
of Mizpah eastward; they attacked them until they left none of them remaining. 9So Joshua did to them as Yahweh had told him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
