Mercy Me! (Online Version)
Is God evil? That question seems obvious to answer, until we get to some difficult passages. When we read the Old Testament, we inevitably come across passages that confuse, even upset us. Joshua 6:17 says, “and the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction.” Joshua 8:24-25 details the amount of people killed at AI: 12,000 men and women. We could easily find more passages that make us squirm in our chairs. We find ourselves asking, “Is God right in His commands to exterminate all these men, women, and children?”
There are multiple ways to approach this, but a potential danger is when we speak into the Lord’s mind and motive without letting Scripture speak for itself. Our question can be more broadly asked, “who is God and how does He operate?” For that, we need to look at how Scripture describes the actions and character of God:
Genesis 18:20–26: “Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Later Abraham asks about 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10. Each time, the Lord agrees to the new number of people. God was willing to spare an entire wicked nation if there were only 10 righteous people!
Jonah 3:4–10: “Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” When Jonah expressed his anger over this, God responded, “Do you do well to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4). God later tells Jonah, “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:11).
Genesis 20:2–7: “And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”” God personally intervenes and keeps Abimelech from sinning and then provides him with the option to obey or disobey.
There are further instances where God extends mercy and healing upon enemies/the wicked. God used Elisha to heal Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria in 2 Kings 5:1-14. God extended mercy upon King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in Daniel 4. Peter comes to realize the truth of God in Acts 10:34-35, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Those who desired mercy received it. Rahab (Joshua 2, 6), Ruth (Ruth 1-4), the Gibeonites (see Joshua 9) found refuge by aligning with God and His people, despite their nations/peoples originally being against God.
These instances are crucial for understanding both the mercy and justice of God. If we only considered these passages, we might almost question God’s justice! But the inverse is also true: if we only consider the situations where God destroys nations or gives the command to destroy an entire people, He seems bloodthirsty, cruel, and unlike the God of mercy and love we know so well.
Now examine the people God destroys. If you look at the people who were driven out so the Israelites could receive the land promised to them, they were not innocent people. God says in 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. 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.” The Israelites did not inherit the land out of moral superiority, but as a result of the promise of the Lord and were beneficiaries of the judgment against those other nations.
The Lord also says in Leviticus 20:23: “And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.” God drove them out and wanted them destroyed because of how wicked they were. If they remained, then they would influence the Israelites to act the same.
God even warns the Israelites in Exodus 34:11–16: “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.”
The nations being destroyed were not righteous, but engaged in idol worship (Deut. 12:30), sexual immorality (Lev. 18:6-22), human sacrifices (Deut. 18:10), and sorcery & divination (Deut 18:10-11). They were not peaceable, but opposed God and His people. The Edomites refused to give the Jewish people safe passage through the land of Edom (Numbers 20:14-21). The Moabite King attempted to have an oracle named Balaam curse the Jewish people (Numbers 22:1-6). We read of the kings of Arad, the Amorites, and Bashan who actively attempted to destroy the Jewish people (Numbers 21). God does not destroy innocent, peaceable nations, but brought judgment through the Israelites.
It should also be noted, however, that God does not even spare His own people from suffering or dying for their sins. Look at the family of Korah in Numbers 16. Korah, a Levite, gathered a group of people in rebellion against Moses and Aaron. He led 250 chiefs of the congregation against them, though I suppose it would be more accurate to say he misled them, considering he made the claim that Moses and Aaron were taking advantage of their positions to elevate themselves above the people. After a test which proved God was siding with Moses and Aaron, the following occurs in Numbers 16:20–35:
“And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD.”
And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.”
Would it be just of God to allow those who actively rebelled against Moses and Aaron: the same Moses and Aaron He personally chose to lead the people? Moses and Aaron were faithfully leading increasingly ungrateful people to the Promised Land. The people responded with baseless accusations and attempts at mutiny and murder. In fact, the day after Korah and his followers died, “the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying ‘You have killed the people of the LORD’” (16:41). So even after all that, Korah deceived the people to not only hate Moses and Aaron, but also what it means to be the people of the LORD!
And to show the seriousness of this sin, even the women and children die with the rebellious husbands and fathers. Was it right for them to die? Instead of placing the blame on God, look instead to the one who committed the sin, and allowed his sin to hurt all those around him. When we sin and rebel against God, it doesn’t just affect us. If I drink and drive, is it God’s fault if I hit a van with a whole family? Death doesn’t always come because of our own sin, but because of someone else’s sin. This should not make us despise God, but further despise sin, and should warn us to avoid those who engage in wickedness.
What might best explain all of this is Romans 9. I often consider this chapter the “argument killer” because of verses 19-20: “’You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’ 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?’” One could simply answer this complicated question with, "who are we to question God?” It’s not the most satisfactory answer, but to be honest, it’s always sufficed for me. I realize I am a sinful man, with my vision still marred by sin and my mind incapable of comprehending the infinite God. I cannot trust my own sense of right and wrong or simply rely upon my heart to tell me what is true. If I know from experience that God is good, then even when He does something that I don’t understand, I can still use my prior knowledge to reassure me that He had a good reason for even situations I cannot fathom. I recognize that I will not always have answers in this life, but I know that God always has a purpose for the things He does. Because of this, I never truly struggled with the “problem of evil,” the “problem of damnation,” and the “problem of suffering.”
However, I recognize that others may still want a more detailed answer, and that’s fair. In fact, a more in-depth reason can come just a few verses later in vs.21-29:
“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? 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, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
Let’s look at this passage backwards. Paul quotes Isaiah with one of the greatest proofs for not just original sin, but also one of the greatest testimonies for God’s grace. While Paul is specifying Israel, we ALL like sheep have gone astray. If the Lord did not intervene, their (and our) fate would have been the same as Sodom and Gomorrah: complete annihilation.
The God some see as cruel, heartless, and unjust, is merciful by saving a remnant of rebellious Israel. He is loving by saving those who were once part of idolatrous, wicked nations: once outside of God’s family. This leads to that first half of the passage, which essentially asks, “is it wrong for God to decide who to save from His Creation?” If all deserve death, what grace and mercy that He would save even one of us! By saving some and destining others for wrath, God demonstrates that He is both all-loving and all-just. He is Just by condemning sinners to Hell. He is Merciful by redeeming sinners to Heaven. If He saved all who sinned and rebelled against Him, would He still be Just? If He condemned all, how would we bear witness to His Mercy? If there were none who suffered the penalty for their sins, what would be the point of Christ’s sacrifice? Would there be any true demonstration of mercy and grace if everyone were to be saved?
If you look to Numbers 26, there is mention again of the rebellion of Korah and the death of many, but there’s further clarification at the end: “and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a warning. But the sons of Korah did not die” (vs.10-11). Not only did this act serve as a warning for the people, but God was still merciful and saved a remnant. He showed in this instance that He is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful.
All-in-all, we must recall the love of our Lord as we approach passages which appear to challenge our view of God. It is crucial we understand He does not delight in sending people to Hell. Consider how often we hear of the Lord’s desire to save:
Ezekiel 33:11 says: “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?”
Ezekiel 18:21–23: “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
Lamentations 3:31–33: “For the Lord will not cast off forever, for, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.”
2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
You can also read Isaiah 65:2, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, Matthew 23:37, Hosea 11:8, and Luke 19:41-42. God is not cruel or sadistic. He does not revel in destroying and killing. There is a difference between being just, righteous, and holy & being cruel, merciless, and bloodthirsty. Think of this irony: we find condemnation to Hell a difficult pill to swallow until we become victims to heinous sins. How did you feel the last time you were seriously and personally hurt by sin? We often want revenge, and we want it quickly. Now look to God, who seeks and carries out vengeance, though He is not quick to do it. The sins against Him are even more personal than the sins against us: sin is rebellion and active defiance against His very Nature and Being. And yet, He gives opportunities for repentance, and even when they ultimately refuse, He does not relish in condemning them. So, even His sense of justice is greater than our own.
This may still not be a satisfactory answer, and that’s part of the reason why we call our beliefs, “faith.” We won’t always understand the mind of God or why He made things the way they are. Consider all these passages which highlight the idea that we will not fully comprehend God’s actions and plans:
Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Job 11:7-8, “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Psalm 139:6: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it”
Romans 11:33-34: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’”
To give you further resources, I’m including some articles which might add to this discussion:
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/did-god-commission-terrorism-in-the-bible
https://www.desiringgod.org/books/does-god-desire-all-to-be-saved
https://www.crossway.org/articles/was-violence-against-the-canaanites-a-matter-of-racial-prejudice/
https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/how-can-god-bring-good-out-evil
As we continue through Joshua, and as you continue reading through the Old Testament, do not shy away from those passages that challenge you. It is important we read them. We should see how seriously God takes sin, and we should understand how serious the consequences for sin are: for not only us, but also for our families, our churches, and our communities. But do not limit your understanding of God to just the vengeance, the justice, the righteousness. While He is all those things, He also wanted us to bear witness to His mercy, love, and grace through Jesus. When we have accepted Jesus, we do not have to fear the wrath of God. Like the angel of Death passing over the homes of faithful believers in Egypt, the Lord passes over the hearts of faithful believers in Christ. Jesus did not come in spite of the wrath of God, but the Father sent the Son so that we could be freed from sin, reconciled to Him, and spared from condemnation. What mercy! What justice! What an amazing God!
