by Steve Chalke. Don't know if that's a problem for my American readers, but for some over here in the UK Steve's a controversial guy. I've been really encouraged, challenged, and moved by the book so far. Admittedly I haven't come to the most controversial part.In Chapter 3, Chalke argues that John's definition of God - "God is love" - was the point of Jesus' message, and should control how we read everything else in the Bible. He says that in the Old Testament "Yahweh's association with vengeance and violence wasn't so much an expression of who he was but the result of his determination to be involved with his world. His unwillingness to distance himself from the people of Israel and their actions meant that at times he was implicated in the excessive acts of war..." But this asssociation was born out of love - God's love for his people. Basically, God was willing to get his hands dirty because of his love for his people.
So there's my question: Does God exact violent vengeance? or is violent vengeance the necessary result of his involvement with this world, but not really part of his character?
The only thing I'd add is that this morning I was reading in Numbers, where fire comes out from the Lord and consumes some of the camp of Israel because of their grumbling. Doesn't so much sound like the violence of the Israelites getting projected onto God as it does his vengeance lashing out at them. But I'll stop there, 'cuz I'm still wrestling with this one and more wanted to just pose the question and see where the discussion goes.
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I wrestled with this question and eventually gave up on it (for now). It's a messy question and it seems the answers are all messy. You might want to check out the book "Show Them No Mercy -
4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide", edited by Stan Gundry. It's part of the Zondervan Counterpoints series.
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