Why Would God Do This?
“For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.”
Do you ever read the Old Testament and find yourself being appalled by the extensive death, destruction, and egregious behaviors seen throughout? I know I do, almost every time I read it. I remember early on in my faith when reading the Old Testament narrative about the Israelites sweeping throughout the land of Canaan and utterly destroying all the inhabitants of the nations who lived there. I would think to myself “why would God do this?” “Why would God be so cruel?” “Isn’t He the God of redemption and salvation?” “Couldn’t God have used the Israelites to save those nations?” and so many other questions. I’m sure some of you have had or still have questions of your own.
Here in Joshua 11:20 we see the summary of Joshua’s having led the Israelites to victory in their initial conquest to secure the land of Canaan which God had promised the Israelites. When reading of this conquest it can be hard to understand why there was so much destruction and bloodshed by God's people against these nations. We see the reason in Leviticus:
“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.”
This is a reminder of how serious God takes sin. Other passages reference how wicked these nations were and we see in several verses in the first part of Joshua where the works of God caused fear in the hearts of these nations (Joshua 2:8-11, 4:24, 5:1, 9:3,9, &23). Despite having been filled with this fear these nations in their hardened hearts refused to accept any nation governed by God and stubbornly chose to fight Israel which secured their demise.
Since the word was being rapidly spread throughout the whole land of the amazing works God had done and continued to do for the nation of Israel the people of Canaan had ample opportunity to repent and turn to God, but instead they rebelliously refused.In that refusal, just as we saw with Pharaoh in Exodus, God hardened their already hard hearts thus luring these evil nations to their destruction. This can be hard for us to understand, but essentially God was giving them over to the desire of their heart just as is written in Romans 1:18-32. Their punishment was just, because of their wickedness the wrath of God was enacted upon them through God’s chosen people, the Israelite nation. If we are honest with ourselves, before Christ we were no better than these wicked nations. We lived in pride and stubbornly did what we thought was right in our own eyes, only to be foolishly led by our natural sinful desires. Even now, those of us who are secure in Christ, we must still be careful not to be like the Canaanites or the Israelites for that matter. Even God’s own people, the Israelites, continued to disobey and rebel against him. Even Moses, Aaron, and Joshua had their missteps. The Israelite history throughout the Old Testament is both sad and frustrating, which is a testament to the patience of God.
We as believers must be careful to walk according to the truth of scripture. Obedience and pursuing righteousness do not come naturally. We still battle the desires of the flesh. The Spirit of God changes us and helps us, but we still can’t walk in truth by just waiting for God to do everything. We are called to walk according to God’s word, that requires action (1 Thess. 2:11-13). The Spirit of God and the spirit of man walk together in unity (Romans 8). Additionally, as believers, we should always seek to see the good God is doing in and through us and even through others and must always be vigilant not to be stubbornly hardened in our sinful patterns and behaviors. We must fight the desires of our flesh; the difference now is that God gives us the desire and the power to engage in that battle and to overcome those desires, and the best part is Jesus already paid for all our sin and so our obedience to Him is out of love and adoration. I pray that each of our perceptions of being in Christ is not one where we fail to view sin as serious as we should. Christ's sacrifice on the cross on our behalf doesn’t nullify or minimize how God views our sin. It just ensures we don’t have to pay for it in the end. We still have a duty to repent and walk in obedience which is part of our sanctification in Christ. The Old Testament reminds us of how serious sin is and reveals how sin warrants God's wrath. Apart from Christ we deserve immediate destruction. For the unbeliever every day on this earth is God’s grace extended as an opportunity for repentance and obedience. For the believer, once we experience God’s mercy through salvation every day given to us is another gracious opportunity to live for Him and to serve others.
When we read the Old Testament, if we begin to feel the angst well up inside of us when reading about immense death and destruction along with some of the other hard things, instead of doubting, questioning, or all together avoiding it, may we be reminded of the true depravity of sin and how serious a Holy God views it. May the Spirit of God develop within us a God-like hatred for our sin and similar to what we see when the Israelites conquer the land of Canaan may we fight to put our sin to death. As we wrestle with the hard things written in scripture and as the scripture opens our eyes and enables us to recognize our own broken sinful nature let us be ever mindful to praise God for the coming of His Son Jesus Christ who came to be the redemptive mediator who intercedes to the Father on our behalf and who through His sacrifice on the cross protects us from God's wrath and in the Spirit enables us to walk in submission to Him in faith, repentance, and obedience.
I also hope, that for those who may struggle with reading and understanding the Old Testament, may the Spirit of God open your eyes and allow you to see how God is revealing His person, work, and character to us and may you also recognize how scripture reveals the true depraved condition of the human heart. As you begin to recognize and understand those two dynamics, may you then begin to see how those two things relate to one another and therefore develop a greater understanding and appreciation for the anticipation, advent, and purpose of the Messiah our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
