Violence in OT

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It is the story of God 's interactions with the human race. We are violent people.

Think if the bible was being written today

What kind of a world would be describe?
 
McCartney said:
Why is there so much violence in the Old Testament.
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I think you have your answer already in the world in which we live now … It isn’t a fairy tale your reading, it was written by detailing events that happened

One day someone may well look in the newspapers of our day and say "What’s with the violence " A valid question… what is with the violence
 
McCartney said:
Why is there so much violence in the Old Testament.
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God never abandoned man. He worked with fallen man in all of his falleness, in his sin, with all of its proclivities towards evil and injustice towards others-to ultimately steer him back towards full justice. Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners (Rom 5:8). In the end, goodness-love, alone-will reign
 
McCartney said:
Why is there so much violence in the Old Testament.
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Because people tend to be violent as a way of being number #1 and ruling over others, which was the way of the past, and people did not know Jesus who is the prince of peace who rules over our hearts if we let Him. If everyone really knew Jesus and spending less time trying to ruling over others and being their own gods of the world, we would see a much more peaceful world. Being ruled by the master teaches us to love God and others before ourselves which brings about a more peaceful world…

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
 
There is also much mercy, forgiveness, heroism, love, courage, fortitude, faithfulness, reverence, obedience, patience, humility, generosity, gratitude, trust, joy, hope, peace, truth and love in the Old Testament.

-Tim-
 
coachdennis said:
It is the story of God 's interactions with the human race. We are violent people.

Think if the bible was being written today

What kind of a world would be describe?
Click to expand...
Keep in mind though, a good part of the violence and killing was under Gods direction, for the people at the time…It would be interesting to see how many people back then actually followed those instructions and really killed others who blasphemed, and some of the other offenses listed.
 
I like a lot of the answers so far. Part of the question has to be whether what we read is historical or embellishment, etc.

Taken as it is presented, we have to set the benchmark of violence with God destroying nearly all mankind in the flood. Without elaboration, because my memory is not that good, it seems that there was justification for eliminating lots of people in the conquering of Canaan by the Israelites, because those people were idolatrous, for starters.

And, the victory in battle was a testimony to the Israelites of the power of God, on the one hand, and his fidelity to the promises he made to them, to preserve them as a chosen people, on the other hand. At least in an allegorical sense, it represents the spiritual warfare of any subsequent age. We engage in spiritual warfare fearlessly, whether we like it or not, and we are assured of the victory when we remain faithful to God.

The life-or-death alternatives involved reflect the seriousness of the spiritual battle we are engaged in.

Something that all combatants take for granted is that they stand on the moral high ground in the conflict, which cannot be true for all the combatants. If we are engaged in actual physical warfare, it behooves us to strive first for that moral high ground, at all times. It’s the only thing that justifies the physical warfare, as far as I can tell. I think that’s true in the OT as well, in general. I’m not sure that the revenge for the molestation of Dinah was so nobly motivated.
 
McCartney said:
Why is there so much violence in the Old Testament.
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My second swipe at this question. It comes to mind that all sin is violence against God. And, maybe it’s just a re-statement of previous answers, is that violence begets violence, the second violence is not against God, but against man, our fellow men – our brothers. (sound familiar: hint, Cain, Abel).

In these terms, of sin as violence against God, that’s almost all that the OT is about, but love, mercy, and forgiveness are thrown in, over and over. There is “so much violence” because there is so much sin.
 
I think we often forget, the hero of the bible is God, not any of the human characters (apart from Our Lord of course! Human and God).

When I was young I read my children’s bible like I read my saints books, I thought I was supposed to imitate these people, Noah, Moses, Abraham, David, etc, but I was completely wrong. It is how God deals and works with these people that is the key. They are not saints stories (which are often written unfortunately without the struggle and grit that is the battle fo sanctity), they are stories of God dealing with sinners.

Pick up your bible and just spend a couple minutes reading the first few chapters of genesis. Very soon you will realise a pattern, and the pattern is sin.
 
I see it as God created humans so to form union with them. Humans broke that union and God repeatedly gave them opportunity after opportunity to re-establish union with Him in the world He created for humans. Humans continued to break this union, even to the point of going out of their way to do so and frankly made a mockery of God and His creation. They did this to the point of incurring God’s Holy Wrath and thus terrible violence was what they brought upon themselves.

I think much as been cast into the most negative light regarding God’s Wrath without humans accepting responsibility for what they have not only done to God but themselves. It is one thing to make a mistake and it is a something to act contrary to God’s Will with deliberate intention despite the forgiveness and mercy God seeks to offer.
 
There is spiritual , inspired by God, and there is also a human element in the books of the Old Testament. People have used the word in the spirit of the time.
Some О.Т. phrases may shock the reader today.
But I think that modern man lives in a different time and may not understand the context of the time.
I remembered this show.
Maybe this is an inappropriate example, but modern man effeminate by peaceful life may not see the reality of the O T times.

Seth Brings Jon Snow to a Dinner Party - Late Night with Seth Meyers
youtube.com/watch?v=BabsgCQhpu4
 
patrick457 said:
I think one simple answer is: because there’s so much violence in the world we live in. 😉
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Of course, God actually commands violence in the Old Testament, too, which is kind of disturbing:

1 Samuel 15: 2-3: Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
 
But in many places on planet earth the words of Ecclesiastes is daily reality:
a time to kill
a time to die
a time to uproot
a time to tear down
a time to weep
a time to mourn
a time to refrain from embracing
a time to hate
a time for war

while on this sinful earth there is evil, lust, while there is a man so long will be the wars.
I do not know whether the enemies can shake hands in eternity (some CS Lewis thoughts)
But during all past centuries wars were a reality, and wars are reality today.
 
Athanasiy said:
But in many places on planet earth the words of Ecclesiastes is daily reality:
a time to kill
a time to die
a time to uproot
a time to tear down
a time to weep
a time to mourn
a time to refrain from embracing
a time to hate
a time for war

while on this sinful earth there is evil, lust, while there is a man so long will be the wars.
I do not know whether the enemies can shake hands in eternity (some CS Lewis thoughts)
But during all past centuries wars were a reality, and wars are reality today.
Click to expand...
There is never a time to hate other people.

-Tim-
 
Thorolfr said:
Of course, God actually commands violence in the Old Testament, too, which is kind of disturbing
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We like to focus on God’s love and mercy, but there is also God’s justice. Read some of the passages in The Book of Revelation:
So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury. The wine press was trodden outside the city and blood poured out of the wine press to the height of a horse’s bridle for two hundred miles. Rev 14:19-20.
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God loves us and gives us plenty of chances, but there are real consequences to rejecting Him.
 
Catholic Answers
‘‘Historian Steve Weidenkopf offers the first in a series about the most prevalent modern myths about the Crusades and how to refute them.’’
It’s not about the Old Testament, its about Crusades, but is there something identical in understanding the meaning of wars?
goo.gl/oGGCl4
 
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