Reasoning Through the Bible

Why did God command Israel to destroy the people of Canaan?

Passages in Deuteronomy and Joshua describe commands to destroy entire Canaanite populations, including soldiers, families, livestock, and cities. These passages raise one of the most difficult moral questions in the Old Testament and are often used by skeptics to accuse God of cruelty or injustice.

In this topical discussion, Glenn and Steve examine the larger biblical context surrounding the judgment of Canaan. The study begins with God’s sovereignty as Creator and giver of life. Because life comes from Him, He possesses authority over life and death in a way that human beings do not.

The Canaanites were also not presented as innocent people. Their culture included child sacrifice, sexualized worship, idolatry, and practices that eventually corrupted Israel when the nation failed to carry out God’s command completely.

God’s judgment was not sudden or arbitrary. Israel remained in Egypt for approximately four centuries before entering Canaan, and the biblical pattern shows that God repeatedly warns people before judgment. Rahab demonstrates that a Canaanite who recognized Yahweh, believed, and submitted to Him could receive mercy.

The discussion also considers four possible ways God could respond to evil: permit free choices and judge them, permit evil without judgment, prevent every evil choice and eliminate meaningful human freedom, or remove children before they mature into the same evil practices.

The central conclusion is that God’s actions must be understood within His holiness, sovereignty, patience, justice, and complete knowledge of every possible outcome.

Topical Study: The Judgment of Canaan
Series: Reasoning Through the Bible Topical Series

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Who is the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament?

This phrase appears repeatedly in passages involving Hagar, Abraham, Moses, Balaam, Gideon, Samson’s parents, and the nation of Israel. At first glance, readers may assume this is simply another created angel. A closer examination, however, reveals that the Angel of the Lord speaks with God’s authority, accepts identification with God, gives divine promises, receives worship, forgives or judges, and is feared as Yahweh Himself.

In this topical study, Glenn and Steve examine several important Old Testament appearances of the Angel of the Lord. Hagar calls Him the God who sees her. In Genesis 22, He tells Abraham that he did not withhold Isaac “from Me.” In Exodus 3, the Angel of the Lord appears in the burning bush and identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The study also considers appearances in Judges, including the Angel of the Lord speaking to Gideon and appearing as a man to Samson’s parents. These passages show that He could appear physically and converse with people while still being identified as Yahweh.

Isaiah 63 and Zechariah 12 provide further evidence by distinguishing between divine persons while affirming the deity of the One who suffers, delivers, and is pierced. These passages contribute to the biblical foundation for the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity.

The Angel of the Lord is best understood as the pre-incarnate Son of God—Jesus Christ appearing before His birth in Bethlehem.

Topical Study: The Angel of the Lord
Series: Reasoning Through the Bible Doctrine Discussions

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Judges 20-21 brings the Book of Judges to its tragic conclusion. After learning of the horrific crime committed at Gibeah, the tribes of Israel unite and demand that Benjamin surrender the guilty men. Benjamin refuses and chooses tribal loyalty over justice.

Civil war follows.

Israel seeks God’s direction before battle, yet loses twenty-two thousand men on the first day and eighteen thousand on the second. This raises a difficult question: What should believers do when they are following God’s direction, opposing evil, and still appear to be losing?

Rather than abandoning God, Israel continues to seek Him. The people weep, fast, offer sacrifices, and return for guidance. God eventually promises victory and delivers Benjamin into their hands.

The victory, however, creates another crisis. Israel had made an emotional vow not to give its daughters in marriage to the men of Benjamin. After nearly destroying the tribe, the people regret what they have done and begin searching for ways around their own vow.

Their solutions reveal how distorted their sense of justice has become. They destroy Jabesh-gilead and take its surviving young women. When that does not provide enough wives, they permit the remaining Benjamites to kidnap women from a feast at Shiloh.

Israel attempts to correct one evil by committing additional wrongs.

The book closes with its defining statement: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Judges warns that when people reject God’s Word as the standard of truth, sincerity, emotion, technical rules, and human reasoning cannot produce righteousness.

Scripture: Judges 19:30-21:25
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

• Is there a limit to how depraved humans can get? 
• What should you do when you’re doing what the Lord wants but still failing?
• Can God allow pain for a purpose? 
• Can we deal with God as with a shady businessman?  

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Judges 18 continues the story of Micah, his household idols, and the Levite he hired as a private priest. When six hundred armed Danites arrive, they steal Micah’s religious objects and persuade the Levite to leave with them by offering him a larger congregation.

In this session, Glenn and Steve examine the danger of measuring spiritual success primarily by numbers, money, influence, or prestige. The Levite is delighted by the opportunity to serve an entire tribe, but neither he nor the Danites shows concern for obedience to God or the spiritual maturity of the people.

The Danites eventually establish Micah’s stolen idol and a separate center of worship in the northern city of Dan. This corrupt worship continues and later provides a foundation for the golden calf established there by King Jeroboam. A small departure from God’s revealed pattern produces consequences that continue for generations.

Judges 19 then records one of the darkest events in Scripture. A Levite travels with his concubine and eventually stays in Gibeah, a town belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. During the night, wicked men surround the house and demand that the Levite be sent out to them.

The men inside respond with cowardice and moral failure. The Levite’s concubine is handed over to the mob, brutally abused throughout the night, and left dying at the doorway. The Levite later cuts her body into twelve pieces and sends them throughout Israel.

The Bible records this evil without approving it. The story reveals what happens when people reject God’s authority, corrupt worship, ignore His Word, and continually do what is right in their own eyes.

Scripture: Judges 18:16–19:29
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

 Questions discussed in this session:

• Is church growth measured in numbers of people? 
• Can a child of God can be distracted from the Lord’s work? 
• How can a society get so immoral to wink at murder?
• Are we equally guilty of not dealing with murder near us?  

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Judges 17 begins the final section of the Book of Judges, where the narrative moves away from individual deliverers and shows the spiritual and moral condition of Israel more broadly. The repeated statement, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” becomes increasingly visible.

In this session, Glenn and Steve examine Micah and his mother, who attempt to combine the name of Yahweh with practices God had clearly forbidden. Micah steals a large amount of silver from his mother, returns it after hearing her curse, and is then blessed by her. She claims to dedicate the silver to the Lord but uses part of it to create carved and molten images.

Micah builds a household shrine, makes an ephod and additional idols, and appoints one of his sons as priest. He later hires a traveling Levite and assumes that possessing a legitimate religious official will guarantee God’s blessing and prosperity.

The passage demonstrates the danger of syncretism—mixing the worship of the true God with idols and worldly practices. Micah appears sincere and highly religious, but sincerity does not make false worship acceptable. He uses God’s name while repeatedly ignoring God’s commands.

Judges 18 then introduces men from the tribe of Dan who are searching for new territory because they failed to possess the inheritance God had already given them. Instead of seeking God before beginning their journey, they proceed according to their own plans and later ask Micah’s hired priest to confirm that they will succeed.

The priest gives them the answer they want.

This session warns against replacing obedience with religious activity, treating spiritual leaders as good-luck charms, and expecting God to approve decisions simply because His name has been attached to them.

Scripture: Judges 17:1–18:13
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• Is all religious worship valid? 
• Is it possible to worship the true God and idols at the same time?
• Are all sincere religious people correct in their religion? 
• Can I do religious activities to make myself righteous? 
• What should religious leaders do if they are tempted to compromise? 

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Judges 15–16 completes the tragic story of Samson, a man given extraordinary strength but repeatedly controlled by selfish desires, sexual temptation, anger, and pride.

The session begins with Samson being handed over to the Philistines by his own countrymen. The Spirit of the Lord empowers him to break his bonds, and he kills one thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. Yet even after this remarkable victory, Samson’s first recorded prayer is motivated primarily by his own thirst rather than a desire for God’s guidance or glory.

Judges 16 then records Samson entering Gaza to visit a prostitute. The Philistines attempt to trap him behind the city gates, but Samson tears the gates, posts, and bars from the wall and carries them away. The act demonstrates his supernatural strength, but it also reveals how consistently he wastes his gift on personal situations rather than leading Israel against its oppressors.

The story then turns to Delilah. The Philistine rulers offer her a large payment to discover the source of Samson’s strength. Although she repeatedly betrays his supposed answers, Samson remains with her and gradually moves closer to revealing the truth.

Samson becomes spiritually blind before the Philistines physically blind him. He ignores the obvious warnings, compromises his Nazirite calling, and finally reveals that his uncut hair represents his dedication to God. When his hair is removed, Scripture records one of the most tragic statements in his story: Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

The Philistines imprison, blind, and publicly humiliate Samson. Yet his hair begins to grow again, and in his final moments he cries out to God for strength. His prayer remains mixed with personal vengeance, but God still answers and uses him to strike a devastating blow against the Philistines.

Samson’s story is both a warning and a message of hope. Great ability cannot replace obedience, but even after serious failure, it is not too late to turn to God and ask Him to use what remains.

Scripture: Judges 15:13–16:31
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• When God gives us a gift, what does He expect us to do with it?
• What happens when people try to trap God?
• How could Samson be so blind as to not recognize Delilah for what she was? 
• Can God use us even if we’ve been a failure up to now?  

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Judges 14 begins Samson’s downward spiritual spiral. Although he had been set apart for God from birth, Samson sees a Philistine woman in Timnah and demands that his parents arrange the marriage because she looks good to him.

In this session, Glenn and Steve examine how Samson’s choices reflect the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life described in 1 John 2:16. His attraction is driven by appearance rather than shared faith, character, or obedience to God. Samson’s parents offer wise counsel, but as an adult, he insists on making his own decision.

The passage then records Samson killing a lion through the power of the Spirit of the Lord. Later, however, he returns to the carcass, takes honey from it, eats it, and gives some to his parents without telling them where it came from. In doing so, Samson violates both the Mosaic Law and the requirements of his Nazirite calling.

At his wedding feast, Samson begins gambling and trading riddles with the Philistines. What begins as entertainment quickly turns dangerous when the Philistine men threaten to burn his wife and her family. His wife betrays the answer, Samson reacts in anger, and the conflict escalates into violence and revenge.

Judges 15 continues the pattern. Samson returns only when he wants physical intimacy, becomes angry when he learns that his wife has been given to another man, destroys Philistine crops, and then retaliates again after the Philistines kill the woman and her father.

The session closes with Israel handing Samson over to the Philistines because the people are more afraid of their oppressors than willing to stand for what is right. The warning is clear: believers must decide their moral boundaries before pressure arrives. Waiting until temptation or fear has already closed in makes compromise much more likely.

Scripture: Judges 14:1–15:13
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• Should parents overrule their children when they make bad choices? 
• What does the Bible teach us about marrying people outside the faith?
• Does our sin only affect us or does it always affect others?
• Can we play with evil? 
• Do we sometimes have a gift of God that we do not take seriously?  

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Judges 13 begins the story of Samson, one of the most recognizable yet deeply flawed judges in Scripture. Israel again does evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Philistines oppress the nation for forty years. Unlike previous cycles in Judges, however, the passage gives no indication that Israel cries out for deliverance.

God acts first.

In His grace, He appears to the wife of Manoah, a woman who had been unable to have children, and announces that she will give birth to a son. The child will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the womb and will begin delivering Israel from the Philistines.

In this session, Glenn and Steve examine the historical background of the Philistines, their movement into Israel’s coastal territory, and how biblical history aligns with known historical and archaeological information.

The study also introduces the Nazirite vow described in Numbers 6. Samson was not to consume anything from the grapevine, cut his hair, or come into contact with a dead body. Unlike most Nazirite vows, which were temporary, Samson’s dedication was intended to last for his entire life.

The passage also provides significant evidence about the Angel of the Lord. He appears physically as a man, speaks directly with Manoah and his wife, accepts an offering, performs wonders, and is identified by Manoah as God. These details support the traditional Christian understanding that the Angel of the Lord was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.

Judges 13 introduces a man with remarkable opportunity and supernatural gifting. Samson was chosen before birth, blessed by God, and stirred by the Spirit—but the chapters ahead will show how poorly he often used what he had been given.

Scripture: Judges 13
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

 Questions discussed in this session:

• Does God notice the needs of His people even when they do not cry out? 
• What is the purpose of taking a vow?
• Who is the Angel of the Lord? 
• Can we ever see both God’s sovereignty and the free will of man? 
• What is a Nazarite vow?  

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Jephthah returns from victory over the Ammonites only to discover that his only daughter is the first person to come from his house to greet him. His careless vow suddenly becomes the defining crisis of his story.

In this session, Glenn and Steve examine whether Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering. Although the wording of the original vow refers to a burnt offering, the later passage repeatedly emphasizes her virginity, her lack of marriage, and the end of Jephthah’s family line. This provides a strong contextual case that she may have been permanently dedicated to the Lord rather than killed.

The discussion also explains that human sacrifice was clearly forbidden under the Mosaic Law. Jephthah could have appealed to the provisions of the law regarding an invalid vow rather than carrying out something God had prohibited.

Jephthah’s story offers a sobering lesson: a person may genuinely trust God, follow His direction, and still make a very foolish decision. The Bible does not hide the flaws of its people, and believers should be careful not to place Christian leaders on pedestals or discard everything good they have taught when a weakness is later revealed.

Judges 12 then records another conflict with the tribe of Ephraim. They threaten Jephthah because they were not included in the battle, even though Jephthah says he had previously asked for their help. Their jealousy and divisiveness lead to civil war and the deaths of forty-two thousand Israelites.

The session closes by examining how internal division destroys churches and communities. When believers turn inward and fight each other, ministry, outreach, and witness quickly suffer.

Scripture: Judges 11:35–12:15
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• Can people be in the will of God and still make foolish mistakes? 
• Can jealousy and hatred cause people to be unreasonable? 
• What should we do when we meet people who cause division? 
• How effective is the church when it’s fighting amongst itself?  

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God refuses to help Israel because they refuse to repent, treating God like a Judges 10 records Israel falling once again into widespread idolatry. This time the people are not worshiping just one or two false gods. Scripture lists the gods of numerous surrounding nations before concluding that Israel had forsaken the Lord and no longer served Him.

In this session, Glenn and Steve begin by making an important distinction about suffering. Judges repeatedly connects Israel’s deliberate sin with painful consequences, but Scripture does not teach that every instance of suffering is caused by a person’s individual sin. Job provides a clear example of righteous suffering whose full purpose was never explained to the person experiencing it.

Israel’s situation in Judges 10, however, resulted directly from rebellion. After eighteen years of oppression, the people finally cry out to God. This time God responds differently. He reminds them of all the previous times He delivered them and tells them to seek help from the false gods they chose.

The passage raises an important question: Did Israel really want God, or did they simply want relief from suffering? Treating God like a repairman—ignoring Him until something breaks—is not the same as genuine repentance. Eventually Israel puts away the foreign gods and begins serving the Lord again.

Judges 11 then introduces Jephthah. Born to a prostitute, he is rejected by his brothers for circumstances beyond his control. Yet when Ammon threatens Israel, the same people who rejected him suddenly need his help.

Rather than respond with bitterness, Jephthah appears calm and recognizes that any victory must come from Yahweh. He first attempts to negotiate with the Ammonite king, presenting historical, theological, and chronological arguments for Israel’s right to the land.

The session concludes with Jephthah making a dangerous vow before battle. God gives him victory, but when Jephthah returns home, his only daughter comes out to meet him. The consequences of that vow will be examined in the next session.

Scripture: Judges 10:1–11:34
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session:

• Would God sell Israel to its enemies? 
• What would have happen for God say He will not help? 
• Is it wise to make vows to God? 
• What happens when we only go to God when we need help?  

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve