Herem Warfare Discussion Introduction (What the Bible Says It

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Herem Warfare Discussion

Introduction (What the Bible says it is and isn’t!) 1. What the Bible DOES say about Herem

Deuteronomy 20:16-18 – “But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.”

Joshua 6:17-21 – “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. 21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.”

• God’s Unique Command: This is a type of warfare practiced in other Ancient Near Eastern cultures that God particularly directs Israel to practice within Canaan.

• Complete Destruction/Devotion to God: In all other places they are directed differently, but here all that breathe are devoted to God by being destroyed. All other things are devoted to God by, for example, being put into the treasury of YHWH.

2. What the Bible DOESN’T say about Herem

• The God of the OT and the NT are Different: The love and mercy of God are extensively highlighted in the OT (contrary to some assertions), while the wrath and justice of God are extensively highlighted in the NT (read Revelation sometime).

• God Needs an Alibi: Quite the contrary, the Bible insists these were God’s commands, and that reality is the only context in which they are acceptable.

God’s Commitment to the Just Judgment of Sin Note: As we will see in each of the categories below, Herem warfare is grounded in moral motivations. The holy God is dealing with and demonstrating the seriousness of sin in unmistakable ways. Other frameworks that omit this are missing Scripture’s main emphasis.

1. Canaanite Sin (This is particularly important in regard to the justice of the punishment)

• Heinous and rampant through centuries of God’s patience

Genesis 15:16 – “And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

• Featured sexual perversions, child sacrifice, ritual religious prostitution, sorcery

Leviticus 18:24-25 – “(Following a long list of sexual perversions and other evils) … 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, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.”

Deuteronomy 9:4-5 – “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 – “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.”

Christopher Wright: “The conquest was not human genocide. It was divine judgment.”

2. Israelite Sin (This is particularly important to refute ethnically focused arguments)

• Instructed to receive the same treatment in particular situations in Promised Land

Exodus 22:20 – “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.”

Deuteronomy 13:12-16 – “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.”

• Practiced in Promised Land with Achan receiving same treatment as city of Jericho

Joshua 7:11-12 – “Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.”

3. All Sin (So why these people particularly and not others?)

• All the way back to Genesis, God promises death connected to sin.

• Romans 3, 5, and 6 speak of how all people sin and deserve death as a result.

• It is God’s patience that bears with sinners for any length of time without destruction.

Romans 9:20-22 – “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction …”

4. Intrusion of Final Judgment (Meredith Kline has expressed this best)

• On rare occasions, God breaks into human history with the immediacy and finality of the judgment of the last day (e.g. OT: Genesis Flood, Nadab and Abihu; NT: Ananias and Saphira, Herod). Each time it seems to highlight the heinous nature of the sin or the seriousness of holiness for God’s people.

• Helps us see uniqueness of Canaanite destruction in that this happens so rarely.

• Helps us see gravity of sin and call us to serious repentance and self-examination.

5. The Cross and Judgment of Sin

• We must not miss the seriousness with which sin receives the wrath and curse of God upon the cross (Galatians 3, II Corinthians 5).

• At the same time, we must appreciate the uniqueness of the innocent being punished rather than the guilty. God’s Commitment to the Special Relationship with his People 1. With his People, Israel

• God has promised to bless his people through a relationship in which they are his chosen and unique people, set apart to live with Him (all the way back to Genesis 12).

• God has promised to bless his people with a special land in which they will experience the rest He provides for them (again, all the way back to Genesis 12).

• God wants his people to demonstrate what living in relationship with Him should be.

See also earlier verses about judgment of Canaanite sin to protect God’s people.

2. With all nations – the spiritual Israel

• This special relationship was so that YHWH would be known in all nations (once again, all the way back to Genesis 12).

Christopher Wright: “The overall thrust of the Old Testament is not Israel against the nations, but Israel for the sake of the nations.”

• Seeing the greatness of YHWH caused some Canaanites (e.g. Rahab – Joshua 2,6; Gibeonites? – Joshua 9) to repent and experience God’s blessing, not their destruction.

• In fact, all the nations are called to rejoice specifically in YHWH’s conquest of Canaan because it reveals his greatness and helps bring many of them into relationship with Him.

Psalm 47:1-3 – “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. 3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.”

3. The Cross and Special Relationship with his People

• It is at the cross that Jesus’ becoming sin for us brings God’s people into righteous relationship with Him (see, among others, II Corinthians 5:21).

• In fact, part of the glory of the cross is that there God is just and the one who justifies those who trust in Jesus – without compromising his just judgment of sin, God works his gracious salvation right in the midst of it – for the sake of all nations! Apologetic Matters (aka “Talking to your unbelieving friends”) 1. Considerations (Good Things to Remember)

• Listen to understand and empathize: Acknowledging the difficulty and struggle surrounding these and other issues. It will help the conversation significantly if the skeptical friend feels you understand their concerns and feel their struggle.

• You are NOT called to be God’s Press Secretary: You don’t have to defend God as if He were guilty of great sin. You are to represent Him in word and in deed and point people to the truth of his Word with grace. Pray for the Spirit to do the heart work!

2. Common Ground (Created in the image of God, there is much we will share with those with whom we disagree. Work hard to find it in every conversation and relationship!) Potential links of common ground on these issues:

• Desire for a Just Judge: Perhaps they feel God is being unjust in these situations, but regardless, the longing to see justice done and the Judge of all the earth do right (Genesis 18:25) is one we share.

• Horror of the Loss of Life: Whether it is just judgment for sin or not, human life created in God’s image is valuable, and so the largescale loss of life is worth grieving. We can cry with those weeping over the children killed, etc.

• Hatred for Various Evils: While there is good reason to understand these were not happening (see above), we affirm the evil of genocide, ethnic cleansing or racism, and violent colonialism. Particularly, these are not OK for God’s people today!

3. Cross (Because we preach Christ crucified and the message of the cross is the power of God – I Corinthians 1 – we should always seek to guide spiritual conversation to the cross.) Potential links to the Cross of Christ on these issues:

• God’s just judgment of sin: The cross demonstrates the most horrific intrusion of the final judgment against sin because the one punished was innocent but received the punishment for the sins of others. God is not aloof or arbitrary but personally involved and gloriously gracious to stand in our place – good news!

• Salvation for the Nations: The pinnacle of this theme that runs throughout the Bible – of God’s redeeming work being for all nations – is in the coming of the Messiah and his atoning death on the cross. Without compromising his just judgment of sin, God continues his gracious salvation right in the midst of it!

• Eternal Rest in Promised Land: For God to give his people rest with Him forever, sin had to be removed from their special relationship. While the removal of sin from the land is severe, the result is gracious provision – a relationship with the only true God. The removal of sin at the cross results in eternal rest in relationship with God.

Recommended Resources 1. Electronic

• Kyle Dillon Article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/gods-justice-in- the-land-of-canaan/

• Justin Taylor Blog: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/how- could-god-command-genocide-in-the-old-testament/

• Brad Allison Sermon Manuscript: https://www.avpc.org/files/1014/1513/6850/avpc-sermon-brad-allison-2014-02-09.pdf

2. Print

• Introductions to Book of Joshua in NIV and ESV Study Bible

• The God I Don’t Understand by Christopher Wright (One section – two chapters – very helpful on this particular issue, but whole book is good!)