1. What about Violence in the Bible?

2. VIOLENCE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

3. Violence in the New Testament
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
—Matthew 5:43-45

4. Violence in the New Testament
“Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.’”
—Matthew 26:50-52

5. Violence in the New Testament
“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.’”
—John 18:36

6. Violence in the New Testament
“Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.” —Romans 12:17
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” —Romans 12:18
“Never take your own revenge but leave room for the wrath of God.” —Romans 12:19
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink.” —Romans 12:20

7. Violence in the New Testament
“Let all that you do be done in love.” —1 Corinthians 16:14
“Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” —2 Corinthians 10:3-4
“Walk in love.” —Ephesians 5:2

8. Violence in the New Testament
“May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people.” —1 Thessalonians 3:12
“See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.” —1 Thessalonians 5:15
“I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men.” —1 Timothy 2:1

9. VIOLENCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

10. Violence in the Old Testament
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.”
—Deuteronomy 7:1-2

11. Violence in the Old Testament
“However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you.”
—Deuteronomy 20:16-17

12. Violence in the Old Testament
“It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
—Deuteronomy 9:5

13. Violence in the Old Testament
“It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
—Deuteronomy 9:5

14. Violence in the Old Testament
“On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho the Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.”
—Numbers 33:50-53

15. Violence in the Old Testament
“My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.”
—Exodus 23:23

16. Violence in the Old Testament
“I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.”
—Exodus 23:29-30

17. Violence in the Old Testament
“Joshua took all these royal cities and their kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded.”
—Joshua 11:20

18. Violence in the Old Testament
“So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.”
—Joshua 11:23

19. Violence in the Old Testament
“After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, ‘Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?’”
—Judges 1:1

20. Violence in the Old Testament
“They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.”
—Numbers 31:7-12

21. Violence in the Old Testament
“Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle. ‘Have you allowed all the women to live?’ he asked them. ‘They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.’”
—Numbers 31:14-18

22. Violence in the Old Testament
“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.”
—Judges 6:1-6

23. Violence in the Old Testament
“Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”
—1 Samuel 15:3

24. Violence in the Old Testament
“Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.”
—1 Samuel 15:7-9

25. Violence in the Old Testament
“‘I did obey the Lord,’ Saul said. ‘I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.’”
—1 Samuel 15:20

26. Violence in the Old Testament
“Then Samuel said, ‘Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.’ Agag came to him in chains. And he thought, ‘Surely the bitterness of death is past.’ But Samuel said, ‘As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.’ And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.”
—1 Samuel 15:32-33

27. Violence in the Old Testament
“Then Samuel said, ‘Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.’ Agag came to him in chains. And he thought, ‘Surely the bitterness of death is past.’ But Samuel said, ‘As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.’ And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.”
—1 Samuel 15:32-33

28. Violence in the Old Testament
“Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for they were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt.”
—1 Samuel 27:8-9

29. Violence in the Old Testament
“When the composition and rhetoric of the Joshua narratives in chapters 9-12 are compared to the conventions of writing about conquests in Egyptian, Hittite, Akkadian, Moabite, and Aramaic texts, they are revealed to be very similar.”
—Ziony Zevit, Professor of Biblical Literature and Northwest Semitic Languages

30. Violence in the Old Testament
“The type of rhetoric in question was a regular feature of military reports in the second and first millennia, as others have made very clear. ... In the later fifteenth century Tuthmosis III could boast ‘the numerous army of Mitanni, was overthrown within the hour, annihilated totally, like those (now) non-existent’—whereas in fact, the forces of Mitanni lived to fight many another day, in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries. Some centuries later, about 840/830, Mesha king of Moab could boast that ‘Israel has utterly perished for always’—a rather premature judgment at that date, by over a century! ... It is in this frame of reference that the Joshua rhetoric must also be understood.”
—Kenneth Kitchen, Professor of Egyptology

31. QUESTIONS?