I know it's difficult, and most people struggle to do it, but if you're going to read the Bible, you have to read it as a unified whole. Things are still uncomfortable (to put it very lightly! If you want to read some really disturbing stuff, read Judges. Maybe chapters 19-21.), but they do become easier to understand with some context (both intra-biblical and extra-biblical context helps). For what it's worth, as others have said, the Leviticus passage is not a command from God. It's a depiction of what would happen to people under a prolonged military siege. The Numbers passage is a command from Moses, and again as others have said, it is addressing a problem from a few chapters prior to this one (Number 25 - that chapter was violent and gruesome as well). The larger context of military victory/vengeance campaigns in the Torah and Prophets depicts the Israelites as bringing God's judgement on the violent/corrupt nations in and around Canaan in the same way that the flood was supposed to deal with the corruption and violence of the entire world. The larger context of the Old Testament in general is that it all failed. Beginning on page 3 of the Bible we basically get a long series of narratives that all exhibit different ways that God tries to restore humanity and Creation back to the Eden purpose, and even more ways that it doesn't work. There's basically a new and exciting failure at every turn. So when we're reading Numbers or Joshua and seeing military campaigns and violence, keep in mind that, even though God has at that point bound Himself in a Covenant to a violent and militaristic people group and is using them to bring about His purposes in the world, the whole thing fails in the end. Actually, it fails even from the beginning, but it was the failure of Israel that would eventually bring salvation the to whole world (see Deuteronomy 32 or Romans 11). Israel's failure was, in the end, a success, and ff you want to see what success (in accomplishing God's goal for humanity) looks like, you have to make it all the way to the Gospels and experience a lot of heartache, disgust, and confusion on your way there. The story of Israel may begin with violence and abuse, but the climax of the story is about a man who said to love your enemies and then let his enemies kill him rather than participate in the violence that rules our world.
P.S. This is why the Old Testament does matter Wolfdog. The New Testament only makes sense within the context of the entire Bible. Without the OT, we end up with Platonized eschatology, moralized anthropology, and paganized soteriology - as I tried to explain on another post yesterday.
P.P.S. Chancey, I also read Genesis 6 as speaking about spiritual beings, but I do think you may be misapplying the lesson. Purity of blood was on the Deuteronomic agenda, but it seems to be related to the pull of worshiping pagan gods, not the introduction of demon DNA into the bloodline. And anyway, the purity of blood pursuit failed from start to finish. The end goal of the entire business of the bible is that all nations/peoples get to join God's family - by choice, not bloodline. Then again, maybe I'm misapplying what you're trying to say?
Replying to the bold jht.
Yes, you are misapplying what I am saying. I read the Bible very literally. I think the NT is in the OT concealed and the OT is in the NT revealed. I did not clarify myself by what I meant in the bloodlines. What I mean is that there were during the times of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy a very clear distinction between the people that lived in Canaan and the rest of the Shemites who were descendants from Terah and Abraham; which included a whole host of both Hebrews and Pagans. But, there was something about the people that lived in Canaan, which is now what we call modern Israel, the Golan Heights, and Gaza; which made them very distinct.
The land of Canaan which is what the Lord commanded the ancient Hebrews to concur was a land not of Semitic people, but a land of Hamitic tribes. It is important to read these 4 books and put them into context on what the Bible says about Ham and who his descendants were and what they became. The Bible is explicit in Genesis calling out "Ham, the father of Canaan" numerous times. Whenever the Bible repeats itself, then we need to take notice. What was different about Ham? What became of his land and descendants? Who were they?
They were certainly not Semitic, but Hamitic and not of the line of Terah and Abraham. These were the descendants of Ham and his sons Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. Cush begot Nimrod and started the tower of Babel. Canaan was the land of the giants and King Og, Goliath, etc. These people were not ordinary folks, and IMO why Yahweh demanded obedience to not only conquer them, but destroy them. The Hebrews failed in this miserably and interbred with them and did not do as Yahweh instructed.
A good example of the NT concealed within the OT is Numbers 22. Within context of all the Books to this point, then it makes perfect sense to me. I 100% believe that the Angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ. He is on every single page of the OT.
