E83: The Canaanite Genocide - Dr. Grant Testut

"...in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you." - Deuteronomy 20:16-17

After Israel's exodus from Egypt and their sojourn in the wilderness, the time finally arrived for Israel to take the land promised to the patriarch Abraham. The instructions from God were clear regarding the land's inhabitants; kill everyone. 

The genocide passages have troubled Christians for hundreds of years. After all, how can we reconcile a God of love, mercy, grace, and compassion with the orders to plunder the land and kill everyone who inhabits the land?

In this episode, Hebrew Bible scholar Dr. Grant Testut returns to discuss the historicity of these passages and various ways they have been and can be understood within the context of the Old Testament, and within the context of Jesus. 

 

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