Dr Paul Allen

Saul’s destruction of the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15 is a tough passage of Scripture. God commands Saul to destroy an entire city—women and children included—and rebukes Saul for showing mercy to some residents. Many have called this a “text of terror” that condones a massacre and depicts a genocidal God. While I have no desire to dodge this being a difficult passage, I do want to offer five observations that give a more nuanced understanding of what’s happening. 1. History of the Amalekites The Amalekites were not your friendly next-door neighbours. They’re depicted throughout the Bible as muggers preying on the vulnerable. In Exodus 17, they attack Israel—a defenceless nation of homeless, wandering slaves who’ve just left Egypt. In Numbers 14, they attack Israel in the wilderness again. In Deuteronomy 25:17–18, Israel is told, “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked a...

The fall of Satan and his angels are shrouded behind a veil and cloaked in mystery.1 Throughout the history of the church, Christian orthodoxy has regarded the devil and his minions as angels who were created by God but fell into sin and misery. William Gouge (1575–1653) wrote, “The devils by creation were good angels, as powerful, wise, quick, speedy, invisible, and immortal as any other angels.”2  The Puritans believed that demons shared the same nature as angels, but through rebellion against God, they became subject to divine judgment. When these angels fell, Gouge said, “They lost not their natural substance, and essential properties thereof, no more than what man lost when he fell. . . . Only the quality of his nature and properties is altered from good to evil.”3  Accordingly, the Westminster Larger Catechism aptly states, “God by his providence permitted some of the angels, willfully and irrecoverably, to fall into sin and damnation, limiting and ordering that, and all...

I have little doubt that you can search the web and find an article on the invasion of Canaan and the destruction of the Canaanites recorded in the book of Joshua. In fact, it doesn't take long to find an atheist website that listed the destruction of the Canaanites as one of the top twenty most evil stories in the Bible. As part of our responsibility to give an answer for the hope that is within us ( 1 Peter 3:15–16 ), we must respond intelligently and graciously to such claims.  Enemies of the faith frequently refer to the destruction of the Canaanites as a form of genocide and then reject the God of the Bible as evil.   Sadly enough, in recent years, some Christians of a more liberal theological persuasion have effectively conceded this point to those who reject the Bible altogether and have responded in one of three ways.  First, they may reject the book of Joshua as inspired, saying that the Israelites got it wrong and that God did not approve of what t...