Something that the "Oh, the Old Testament God was so cruel and evil for telling the Israelites to kill people!" crowd always misses is that there were many times that the Israelites ignored those commands and let the pagans live, usually as slaves and/or wives. And every single time that happened, it came back to bite them, either by leaving an undefeated enemy in the wings to conquer them right back, or by having their culture and faith in God corroded by the influences they welcomed in.
"Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you"
When I was younger, I thought the God of the Old Testament was terribly cruel for sending the flood and destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now I think the God of the Old Testament would be very cruel not to destroy the modern West.
Something that the "Oh, the Old Testament God was so cruel and evil for telling the Israelites to kill people!" crowd always misses is that there were many times that the Israelites ignored those commands and let the pagans live, usually as slaves and/or wives. And every single time that happened, it came back to bite them, either by leaving an undefeated enemy in the wings to conquer them right back, or by having their culture and faith in God corroded by the influences they welcomed in.
"Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you"