I want to know why young children were killed many times in the old testiment? ~ Jim Buckley
Presumably, your question is why did God command that children as well as adults be killed in the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. God did not command that all Gentiles (non-Israelites) with whom Israel warred be killed, but God did command that all souls (men, women and children) among the inhabitants of Canaan or Canaanites be killed. Deuteronomy 20:10-17 makes that subtle distinction:
“When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:”
Deuteronomy 20:18 states the reason for which these specific nations were to be completely annihilated. “That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.”
Consequently, Joshua, who led the Israelites to conquer Canaan, did precisely what God commanded him in this regard. “So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded” (Joshua 10:40).
“And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms. And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire. … And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe.” (Joshua 11:10-11, 14).
The danger that the nations in Canaan posed to God’s Israel was immense, as recorded in Deuteronomy 7:1-6.
“When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”
Therefore, God executed his judgment against these idolatrous and wicked people, using Israel as the instrument of his judgment against them. Essentially, that small children as well as adults suffered death in God’s judgment is no different in principle from God’s judgment on the world of Noah’s day and the end of the world in which small children also died and will die.
First, every person born is mortal and will die someday. Death is a definite part of the human existence, an appointment that each of us will meet someday (Hebrews 9:27). Innocent children (Ezekiel 18:20) and those who obey God (Hebrews 5:8-9), for which obedience he showers upon them his grace and mercy, lose nothing and only gain by crossing the threshold of death into the next world (Philippians 1:23-24).
Second, often innocents suffer because of the sins of others (e.g., drunk drivers). In addition to the sin for which one is guilty, and for which he may suffer physically as well as spiritually, one’s sins often affect others. Sin is at fault and the ones who commit sin when innocents are affected by those sins. The parents and other adults among the nations of Canaan were guilty of idolatry and other sins for which God executed judgment upon them; those adults, because of their sins, were responsible for the same destruction that came upon their children.
Third, from a pragmatic perspective, it was necessary to remove even the children from the land, lest those children when older resurrect the idolatry of their parents as well as lay claim to the land of their forefathers. Take Moses for an example, who though raised in Pharaoh’s palace, in the prime of life sided with his ancestral people and 40 years later led Israel from Egypt. Deuteronomy 20:18 portrays this pragmatic reason for killing men, women and children among the Canaanites.
Fourth, Judaism involved an earthly kingdom whereas Christianity involves a heavenly kingdom (John 18:36). It is inappropriate to apply a template of Christianity over the Law of Moses with its aspect of an earthly kingdom.
Last, we who are God’s creatures are hardly competent to criticize our Creator and ultimately our Judge. Our mission is to learn from God’s Word whereby we can make application to our lives, persuade others to do likewise and joyfully anticipate the heavenly hereafter.
