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<blockquote data-quote="Upsmule" data-source="post: 1162409" data-attributes="member: 45962">When all these things are viewed in light of the full context, God&#039;s commands are perfectly consistent with His mercy as well as His justice. A text without a context is a pretext. God&#039;s commands to destroy the nations of people living in the promised land of Canaan, to &quot;destroy them totally&quot; (Deuteronomy 7:2) when seen in context is saying, &quot;Do not intermarry with them, for they will turn your sons and daughters away from following me to serve other gods...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&quot; (Deut.:3-5). It&#039;s then pretty clear....the intent was not the obliteration of the wicked, but rather the wickedness. For example...God&#039;s martial instructions are qualified by his moral intentions to spare the repentant! As the author of the book of Hebrews writes...&quot;By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient&quot; (Hebrews 11:31). Not only was Rahab AND her family spared because of her faith, she was allowed to live among the Israelites (Joshua 6:25) and came to hold a rather privileged position in the lineage of Jesus Christ(Matthew 1:5).Another example would be the City of Nineveh of God&#039;s mercy towards the repentant in the book of Jonah.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Upsmule, post: 1162409, member: 45962"] When all these things are viewed in light of the full context, God's commands are perfectly consistent with His mercy as well as His justice. A text without a context is a pretext. God's commands to destroy the nations of people living in the promised land of Canaan, to "destroy them totally" (Deuteronomy 7:2) when seen in context is saying, "Do not intermarry with them, for they will turn your sons and daughters away from following me to serve other gods...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" (Deut.:3-5). It's then pretty clear....the intent was not the obliteration of the wicked, but rather the wickedness. For example... God's martial instructions are qualified by his moral intentions to spare the repentant! As the author of the book of Hebrews writes..."By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient" (Hebrews 11:31). Not only was Rahab AND her family spared because of her faith, she was allowed to live among the Israelites (Joshua 6:25) and came to hold a rather privileged position in the lineage of Jesus Christ(Matthew 1:5). Another example would be the City of Nineveh of God's mercy towards the repentant in the book of Jonah. [/QUOTE]

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