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Have you ever wondered how a God of love could command His people to violently kill men, women, and children of other nations?

“And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain … the LORD our God delivered all unto us.” (Deuteronomy 2:34-36)

It is difficult to read passages of Scripture like these without a shudder of horror running through your soul. While some find a way to justify the slaughter of warring males, it is inconceivable to picture an Israelite soldier with a small child impaled on the end of his sword. I don’t know about you, but for me it brings a feeling of utter revulsion. What makes this much worse is that the Bible appears to not only condone these actions, but to command them.

“So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.” (Joshua 10:40)

This not only causes the wrong type of “fear” towards God, but also causes doubt in Jesus’ words that if we have seen Him and how He acts towards sinners, we’ve seen the Father (John 14:9). Can we harmonize this?