It’s true that God ordered some killings in the
Old Testament. Why? Some nations
attacked his people, the Israelites, even after Israel tried to negotiate
peacefully (for example the Canaanites, Edomites, Moabites, etc. in Numbers
21-25).
Some nations occupied the Promised Land when the
Israelites showed up. Now, while it’s not a sin to occupy a land that seemed
available, these nations were being judged by Israel because of their unholy
practices of paganism, sexual worship and child sacrifices. The people of
Carthage, a Canaanite/Phoenician colony, sacrificed children to the god Tanit.
“Archaeologists found the charred remains of tens of thousands of newborn
infants and fetuses buried in Carthage.” (The Apologetics Study Bible)
These were not nice people. God wanted the land
cleaned up of evil people, who oppressed the poor and innocent. God came in much like a Sheriff taking over a
gun slinging, unjust town.
This was not about domination. It was about
justice. It was about retribution coming to an unholy people. It was about
taking a small portion of land that God claimed for himself and Satan led
others to occupy for their own unholy purposes.
It was all about Jesus Christ. God needed a place where the savior of the
world could be born. Israel was the
country where the king would be born and rule forever.
Now that Jesus has come, died and rose again for
our sins, God is not in the enemy-slaughtering, wartime business.
The battlefield is over hearts, not land.