Synopsis

How can we make sense of the practices undertaken by God’s chosen people in the Old Testament? How do we reconcile the portrayal of a God who commands war with the character ascribed to Him as loving—as seen in passages like Exodus 34:6, Psalms 86:15, 103:8, and 108:4—without undermining the credibility, authority, and historical truth of the Old Testament? This week and next, we will grapple with the challenging question of divinely ordained warfare as depicted in the book of Joshua and elsewhe