Killing Men, Women, and Children. There are two places in scripture where God ordered specifically all the men, women, and children of another nation to be killed by the Israelites. The passages are as follows:     Sihon, King of Heshbon Then Sihon with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. The LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people. So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor. (NASB) Deuteronomy 2:32-34   Og, King of Bashan We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns. We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city. (NASB) Deuteronomy 3:4-6   The people who were killed in both passages were of the Amorite nation, and in both cases, they opposed the Israelites. Consequently, God ordered Israel to kill the men, women, and children of the offending cities.      In the first case, the Israelites came in peace and asked Sihon, King of Heshbon, for permission to pass through his land, but he refused (Deut. 2:26-27). Instead, Sihon and his army went to war against the Israelites. It was then that God enabled the Israelites to destroy them. The Israelites had only wanted to pass through their land.       In the second situation, the same thing occurs. Og, the king of Bashan, refuses to allow the Israelites to pass through his land and his army goes to war against Israel.       These men, women, and children were Amorites, but this was not genocide. The Israelites did not kill every man, woman, or child of the Amorites. The Amorites who were killed were those occupying the cities ruled by the two kings who would not allow the Israelites to pass through their lands. The Amorites were still in existence for thousands of years after these battles. This was self-defense.   Conclusion:  God will take the life of a person who ultimately has rejected God. He will allow and has on some occasions caused, portions of nations to be killed because they have threatened His people - the Israelites.         < Back
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