Sermon Notes
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Review: Troubling War Texts
kill all (women, children, men)
yes, we killed everyone
not one person is left standing
none remain breathing
Better Answer?
1. Hyperbole
2. Incremental Ethic
3. The crying war God
4. The war God who hates WMDs
5. The war God who hates David’s bloody war hands
6. Q&A
1. God says “No” to WMDs
God says
No. Don’t go buy them! Don’t stockpile them!—Deuteronomy 17
And don’t keep them if they fall into your hands. Instead, destroy them!—Joshua 11
2. God says “no” to David’s Bloody War Hands (1 Chronicles)
ANE Background: “Battle, build, boast”
Not Yahweh
David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God. But this word of the LORD came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not [!] to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.—1 Chronicles 22:7-8 NIV
But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon [shalom-man], and I will grant Israel peace [shalom] and quiet during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my Name… .’—1 Chronicles 22:9-10 [cf. 28:3] NIV
“I’m not David. My name/reputation is Shalom” (1 Kings 6:32, 7:18-19)
Is Yahweh a genocidal, bloodthirsty, [literally] kill-everyone war God?
Seems like it… if we take the total-kill language in biblical war texts literally. But this series has argued, “No, we got it wrong.”
Better answers..
1. Hyperbole. We (and new atheism) have misread the war texts. Think hyperbole.
2. Redemptive movement. God helped Israel move the ethical scrimmage markers incrementally downfield. Cf. ANE warfare.
3. Tearful War God. Yahweh weeps over the death of his war enemies. Cf. ANE gods.
4. No-WMDs God. Yahweh bans Israel’s use of war horses and chariots. Cf. ANE gods/kings.
5. “I am not David!” kind of God. Yahweh is the shalom, peace-loving God. Images of creating life (not taking it) fill his temple. His temple walls offer a resounding “no” to glorifying violence and war. Cf. ANE kings/gods.
