Deuteronomy 7:1-26
Driving Out Nations
1 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
7 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. 10 But
those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction;
he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.
11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.
12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. 15 The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. 16 You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” 18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. 20 Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. 21 Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. 22 The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. 23 But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them. 25 The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. 26 Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.
Non-believers and atheists sometimes point to these verses about the war, Israel was about to have on those currently living in the Promised Land...The non-believer believes God was very tough on those who were living in the Promised Land, before the people of Israel took the country over...War is gruesome, and when it is written out for us in the Bible and in Scripture I have a hard time understanding war and all the consequences of what war does to people of both sides...Total destruction sometimes happens in war...And in this case, to totally destroy the enemy would remove temptations from the Israeli people...
Now the problem we (I) have is why would a LOVING God do this to the people living in the Promised Land...It is because God believes in judgement...And it was God's judgement on these people that happened...And God's Will and judgement which we do not understand happened in this war over the Promised Land...But it is still hard verses to read for a God who is LOVE...LOVE just does not let one go and do everything that they please...Imagine letting your children do this...God demands righteousness and judgement...God, as He talks about this in the Book of Jonah, He wants everyone to repent and follow Him...
But wouldn't a Loving God give these people one more change to change, like He did with Jonah and the Ninevites...The answer is no...The time was right for God to act, and He did...He alone knows the perfect time for all things, including war...
I am not sure what answer would be the acceptable one here for the non-believer...One question we might ask, is why do we still have war?...There are currently a handful of wars that have been going on around the world the past few years...Does the non-believer blame God for these wars, or man or both?...
For the believer, he believes that God is LOVING and Trusting and Just...God keeps and blesses His trusting and believing people, even during the tragedies of wars...