Why did God command the Israelites to destroy entire nations?

Bible Question:

Why did God command the Israelites to destroy entire people groups—genocide—in the Old Testament? Surely, any nation that would do this today in the name of God would not be seen as doing a moral thing. How does Old Testament morality fit with New Testament morality? Are they the same?

Bible Answer:

A ship without a rudder drifts in the open sea without direction. If a makeshift rudder is attached later, the ship can be directed, but not as well as with the original rudder. God’s moral standard is the original rudder, and today the world is using a makeshift rudder—its own moral standard. The world’s moral standard is faulty. Those who criticize God have to do so because their moral standard is badly flawed. Sometime after the Israelites had entered the land given to them by God, we read these words,

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25 (NASB)

The Israelites’ had their own standard of morality. That passage describes the morality of our world today; and it is increasingly becoming more evil. The world’s morality is faulty because its moral rudder is evil and corrupt. This leads us to the question, “Why did God command the Israelites to destroy entire people groups?” What follows is the biblical answer to this question.

Why did God Commanded Israel To Kill Nations?

Our Sin Distorted Moral Compass

When we come to the Bible, it is important to remember that our world’s moral standard is not guided by nor is it based on God’s high holy standard. We excuse our own bad behavior believing we are basically good people. We excuse other’s people’s evil behavior because we have a very low perception about the sinfulness of evil. Our world has blurred that which is holy with what is evil. The world’s concept of morality changes with public opinion which drifts like the ocean currents. Our world is in rebellion against a holy God (Ezekiel 2:3).

The Bible teaches that God is holy. Isaiah 6:3 repeats the word holy three times. It is a reminder for us that God is holy.

And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.” Isaiah 6:3 (NASB)

1 Peter 1:14-16 also reminds us that we are evil, but God is holy.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” 1 Peter 1:14-16 (NASB)

Jesus said in Luke 18:19 that only God is good. That is a serious statement that reveals we are not good people. We just think we are good. Further, Romans 3:23 says that every human has sinned.

THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE. Romans 3:12 (NASB)

So our own sin distorts our view of what is holy. It distorts our view of God. Sin is lawlessness to God’s moral standard.

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4 (NASB)

Like a tree that depends upon its roots for nourishment, pride is the root cause of sin and it fuels our every sin. We sin because we do not want to submit and please a holy and sinless God. As a result, some excuse the murder of another human being – abortion. Acts of sin are defended as a moral right. So, the world approves of lying as long as no one is hurt. This is the same rationale given for homosexuality, lesbianism, sex with animals or bestiality, and other sexual sins because these acts are considered acts of love. Increasingly, pedophilia is another “love act” that is increasingly accepted. Often the criminal has more rights than their victims. Capital punishment is considered evil, since people find it offensive to kill murderers. Oppression of Christians and churches is acceptable because they follow their God, and consequently, have a different or higher moral standard. In summary, our world is in rebellion against God (Ezekiel 2:3). Jeremiah 17:9-10 summarizes our moral compass,

The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
I, the LORD, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds. Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NASB)

We Have a Distorted View of God

Psalm 50:21 surprises us when it reminds us that we think God is like ourselves!

These things you have done and I kept silence;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.
Psalm 50:21 (NASB)

But God’s moral standard is not determined by one’s culture. His moral standard does not yield to our wishes and flawed standards! God’s moral standard can be summed up in one word – holiness. Holiness is an absolute standard. So, men are in rebellion against God because we think our holy God is unjust, unfair, and immoral. Isaiah 5:20 summarizes our condition as follows,

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20 (NASB)

Why Does God Punish and Kill the Wicked?

Before answering the question, “Why did God command the Israelites to destroy entire people groups?” we must answer the question, “Why does God punish and kill the wicked?” Does God enjoy killing people? The answer is no! Ezekiel 33:11 says,

“Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!'” Ezekiel 33:11 (NASB)

Lamentations 3:33 echoes this same truth. God does not enjoy punishing or killing the wicked because He knows that they will go to hell for eternity.

For He does not afflict willingly
Or grieve the sons of men.
Lamentations 3:33 (NASB)

So, we must remember that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked. Our God does not punish the wicked easily or quickly. Genesis 6:5-7, 11-12 reminds us that God destroyed the entire world because it was incredibly evil.

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

. . . .

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Genesis 6:5-7, 11-12 (NASB)

Why did God kill every human, except for Noah and his family (Genesis 6:8)? The answer is that the world was filled with evil. Then Genesis 6:9 adds that only Noah was a righteous man who walked with God. He and his family were saved from the flood because they were righteous, seeking to please God.

Another important passage is Habakkuk 1:2-11. In this passage the prophet complains that God is not doing anything to suppress the wickedness that is occurring in the nation of Israel (Habakkuk 1:2-4). Verse 2 helps us understand the prophet is calling for justice. In verse 4 the prophet uses the word justice.

How long, O LORD, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.

. . .

Therefore the law is ignored
And justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out perverted.
Habakkuk 1:2, 4 (NASB)

Then God responded in Habakkuk 1:4-11 by telling the prophet that He was bringing a nation to conquer and destroy many Israelites because of their wickedness. God was going to punish the evil doers – the wicked – for their evil deeds. Psalm 99:8-9 reminds us that our holy God forgives! but He also punishes the evil.

O LORD our God, You answered them;
You were a forgiving God to them,
And yet an avenger of their evil deeds.
Exalt the LORD our God
And worship at His holy hill,
For holy is the LORD our God.
Psalm 99:8-9 (NASB)

God would not be holy if He allowed evil to multiply and spread, causing more evil. He allows men to increasingly be evil before He finally punishes them. Just read the book of Ezekiel. God repeatedly urged them to repent through His prophets, but the Israelites refused to repent So, Ezekiel 24 tells us that finally He caused the Babylonian army to destroy the temple in Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem, and the nation of Judah in 586 B.C. because the nation refused to confess and repent of its sins. That gives us the first reason God will destroy any nation. He punishes people who refuse to repent of their wickedness for they are rebellious people.

Romans 13:3-4 teaches us that God created governments to suppress evil. That is the primary reason God appoints leaders over nations! Leaders of nations are suppose to suppress evil. Today, every nation practices a perverted justice. Some are less perverted and some are more perverted. Their moral standard is perverted because our makeshift rudder of holiness is defective. So, God will punish leaders of nations and nations themselves because they fail to fulfill their God-appointed responsibility to suppress evil (Ezekiel 14, 17). That gives us the second reason God will destroy any nation. He destroys a nation because its leadership refuses to repent of their wickedness, for they are rebellious leaders.

One of the attributes of God is His justice. All of His attributes are at all times in operation and perfect. While He is displaying His love towards people, He will be carrying out His justice. Often that means punishing those who have done evil. Job 8:3 states “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?” Job 34:12 answers the question, “Surely, the Almighty will not act wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.” Psalm 37:28, “For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.”

Why Did God Command the Israelites To Destroy?

Now, why did God command the Israelites to destroy entire people groups? Why did the Lord want to destroy man? The answer is embedded in a divine principle. God suppresses more wicked nations by using less wicked nations to remove evil in order to suppress rebelliously wicked nations.

The principle is given to us in Jeremiah 18:5-11. In this passage, God gives Israel the principle that He will deal with a nation according to its evil or goodness. He will protect it or destroy it. It depends upon a nation’s behavior.

At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. Jeremiah 18:7-10 (NASB)

In this passage God warned His own people, the nation of Israel. But they did not listen and He brought another nation in to conqueror them (Jeremiah 18:11).

Why Did God Tell the Israelites To Kill the Canaanites?

God has applied this same principle to every nation; otherwise, He would not be a holy God. That is why God commanded the Israelites to kill the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.

Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 20:16-18 (NASB)

Why did God tell the Israelites to kill the Canaanites and other nations? Because the Canaanites would in time corrupt the nation of Israel with foreign gods and do evil. Therefore, when the nation of Israel entered the Promised Land, Joshua ordered the Israelistes to kill everyone in the occupying nation to put eradicate the evil in the land.

This principle was applied to the northern kingdom of Israel and to the southern kingdom of Judah when they were evil. God used the Assyrian Empire to defeat and scatter the northern kingdom in 722 B.C. and the Babylonian Empire to defeat and scatter the southern kingdom in 605, 597, and 586 B.C. because they had rejected God and worshipped idols. So, God applied the divine principle to Israel too! Just read the book of Ezekiel.

Conclusion:

The message is simple. God is holy and hates sin. God will take the life of a person who has ultimately rejected Him. He will do the same to any persistently wicked nation. He will use a wicked nation to destroy a more wicked nation. God uses nations to suppress evil. If God did not suppress evil, evil would explode and He would not be a holy God. That is why the prophet Habakkuk was complaining against God. In essence the prophet was asking, “Are You holy?” Why are You not suppressing evil? Previously we referred to Habakkuk 1:2-11 where the prophet complained about the evil in the land.

How God was going to remove the wickedness from the land? Read Habakkuk 1:5-11. Yahweh announced to the prophet that the Babylonians army would invade Judah and destroy it. That is how God planned to remove the evil in the land. Also, notice in Habakkuk 1:12, the prophet asked,

Are You not from everlasting,
O LORD, my God, my Holy One?
Habakkuk 1:12 (NASB)

He knew God was holy, but he could not understand why God was not doing anything. Therefore, God replied that the nation of Israel would soon be judged. Therefore, the answer to the question, “Why did God command the Israelites to destroy entire people groups?” is that God is holy! He punishes wicked men for refusing to repent and to stop sinning, and He destroys nations when they become too evil in order to suppress and judge evil. Is your nation too evil?