By Archie England, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at NOBTS
Question: What does the Old Testament say about genocide?
Archie England responds: God first created all things, then destroyed it all during Noah’s time. Genesis 6-9 details how the just Creator became a wrathful annihilator. The evil thoughts and deeds of humankind so displeased God that His holy nature demanded a just response: death to all sinners. The moment(s) for mercy had passed. The only grace to prevail was toward Noah, his family, and selected animals. Though Noah had found favor with God, he was not sinless. Sadly, within the eight people spared, the “leaven” of sin remained, re-emerging rapidly.
By a catastrophic flood, God indeed wiped out all life, except for what survived within the ark or below in the turbulent waters. From our human perspective, this is “genocide – the systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of an entire national, racial, religious, or ethnic group” (American Heritage Dictionary).
God’s act of worldwide destruction, however, issued from His Holiness. No longer would God tolerate humanities’ appetite for iniquity. Genesis 15:16 alludes to such a view of God’s patience: the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Here, God informs Abram that the 400 years of Egyptian sojourn corresponds with His merciful patience towards the inhabitants of Canaan. They are given “time” to “call upon the name of the Lord” as before (Genesis 4:26). Perhaps that’s why God waited until the tenth generation after Adam to effect this judgment.
The flood and the conquest of Canaan illustrate the difficult handling of the Acts of God. Such deeds, whether directly summoned or indirectly allowed by the Lord God, reflect the divine privilege: Only God can create or exterminate life. Both are holy acts!
Just as God engineered the intimacy of love for marriage as right, good, and moral, those championing “free sex” violate His Holy statute, commit iniquity, and incur God’s wrath.
This likewise applies to those who reduce the covenant relationship with God to mere religious ritual. God is not satisfied with works without righteousness. Good, the consequence of God’s creation, enables life and blessings. Evil, the consequence of sin (temptation that resulted in transgression), results in death and separation from God.
In this light, it’s not appropriate to designate God’s sovereign acts of judgment as genocide (Exodus 33:19). As the one who gave life, He likewise has the right to take it. Among the created, to take such matters into one’s own hand is to violate specific statutes: murder is forbidden! So also, we must never attempt to fit infinite God into the finite limits of the created order.
Archie England Ph.D. is Director of the Baptist College Partnership and Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, occupying the J. Wash Watts Chair of Old Testament and Hebrew, at NOBTS.