specter-global Communism is so powerful that even God fears it

The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. - Genesis 11:6

  • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 months ago

    Find me the line in Deuteronomy 20 saying any of this is good.

    Also as I and others have said in other comments

    1. this isn't exceptional for bronze age and iron age near eastern warfare; the weird part about biblical god is that there are written and codified limits to the destruction and plundering;

    2. Genesis through 2 Chronicles are 'historical' books and not necessarily endorsements of the behaviour or laws depicted, as god can and quite explicitly does change his mind (e.g. Jeremiah and the Potter);

    3. this behaviour (the killing, expansion of Israel and forced labour) is explicitly cited as one reason for Israel's destruction in Isaiah and Jeremiah;

    4. Jeremiah explicitly says that the "lying pens of the scribe have handled it [the holy texts] falsely" and we know from linguistic and historical/archaeological research that the Pentateuch (the first five books) are the most heavily edited of all the books especially in terms of and around the sections of laws;

    5. Deuteronomy is known to be one of the later and most priestly of edits;

    So all in all I don't think Deuteronomy 20 is the gotcha you think it is (it is also bad priestly fanfiction to justify bad kingly fanfiction, but extratextual debunking is less fun)