Why would a loving God mercilessly command the chosen people to kill so many people in the Old Testament?
You have to read the stories to see why. Have you read the first two books of the Bible, Genesis and Exodus? In those two books you can see the immense patience of God, how often He relents on destroying these “stiff necked” people who will not obey Him even though they say they will obey Him, how often He tries to show them what is good and right to do, yet they continue to do evil things. But really, you can only see it in context.
It’s ANYTHING BUT merciless. It’s MERCIFUL 99% of the time. Why would a loving human being call the police on someone who has harassed them and harassed them and harassed them? To stop them from continuing!
And in God’s eyes, His hope is that by example of a few being killed the rest will be saved. They should take note. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
Also, just to help a bit, if you need it: on Bible Gateway, you can get Bibles in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and well, over 70 languages in all and 200 translations to choose from. Go to Bible Gateway it is free to use any time. You do not have to make an account to use it.
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Thank you