From War to Love: My meditation on Deuteronomy 3

S: Deuteronomy 3

³ So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. ⁴ At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. ⁵ All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. ⁶ We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women, and children. ⁷ But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

O: Reading Deuteronomy 3 this morning again disturbed me, as it seems at first to justify genocide. In fact, Bibi (Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu) has used passages like this to justify his genocide of Palestinians, including our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus explicitly rejected violence against enemies, calling His followers to love, bless, and forgive (Matthew 5). The New Testament reframes “holy war” as spiritual: we battle sin, injustice, and powers of darkness — not flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).

Ancient Near Eastern conquest accounts (Moabite, Assyrian, Egyptian inscriptions) often used “utter destruction” language as standard rhetoric, even when survivors clearly remained. Some scholars argue the biblical “ban” (ḥerem) functioned similarly — theological language of total devotion or judgment, not necessarily a literal genocide.

In fact, the Bible clearly shows that many of these peoples eventually came to follow Yahweh and joined the family of faith — I touched on this in my 22 August reflection, Curses with a Hidden Door: Repentance.

Bibi cited passages like this when he said: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember.” He was referencing Deuteronomy 25:17–19:

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. ¹⁸ When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. ¹⁹ When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

(Note: his apologists later claimed he was only referencing Hamas, not Palestinians in general.)

When modern leaders quote these conquest texts to justify killing, they rip them out of their historical context and ignore Christ’s fulfillment of the law. (Granted, Bibi is not a Christian.)

Christians are called to reject that misuse. The early church lived under empires that persecuted them, but they never used Joshua or Deuteronomy to justify violence — they saw themselves as called to witness, not conquest.

Palestinian Christians are part of our family. And Palestinian Muslims are also created in the image of God. Using Scripture to justify harming them is a betrayal of the Gospel.

A: Jesus calls us to love our enemies. Even in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 33:11 says:

¹¹ As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!

Isaiah 55:7 declares:

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, for He will abundantly pardon.

And the whole book of Jonah is a parable teaching us that even for brutal enemies like Nineveh, God desires repentance, not destruction. Jonah, the Israelite prophet, knew this — that’s why he ran away toward Tarshish instead of preaching God’s warning. He feared that if Nineveh repented, God would relent from judgment. And indeed, that’s what happened.

Jesus calls us to love our enemies, not to hate them. When we as Christians engage in hateful rhetoric, we are not walking in the way of Jesus — we are walking in the way of Satan.

P: Father, help me to always act and speak in Your love. Let me never be vindictive or harsh toward people with whom I disagree. Instead, let me always be Your salt and light, drawing people to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.