3 ms·

I'm not seeing where in the link you shared it states that this was the standard practice. But that aside, if we're allowed to dismiss certain aspects of the b

• dane-pgp 5y ago
  I didn't mean to suggest that the Wikipedia article covered the standard practice of people groups at that time, but the Old Testament (not to mention the past 2000 years) is full of examples of nations attempting to exterminate the Jewish people. To give just a couple of examples, there is the case of Pharaoh ordering the killing of all male children at the start of Exodus[0], and in Esther chapter 3 we see that the antagonist Haman's plan was "to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus".[1] Anyway, I don't think Christians should dismiss aspects of the Bible that are culturally difficult, but there are principles for applying its contents to modern situations. The relevant principle here would be that the Ten Commandments are to be generally followed at all times, but God may choose to give specific instructions for specific situations which override those commandments. Reassuringly, it wasn't up to Moses to decide whether or not to attack the Midianites, as he was given that as a direct instruction, in his capacity as the political leader of the Israelites. [0] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%201&version=NKJV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%201&vers... [1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther%203&version=NKJV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther%203&vers...