This study has been an interesting journey. I had to dive into the arguments, the reasons, and the details to discover that the answer to my questions was not in any of those. I want to say a few more words about where I am settled today, and this will conclude my study.

Yesterday I spoke about this problem of getting stuck on the details, trying to use rational logic to argue about was originally an emotional reaction. I don’t expect that I will ever stop feeling sad and troubled whenever I think of the children that might have been slain by the Israelite soldiers via a command from God.

I can acknowledge that my conception of God is probably mistaken, and that some part of what is written may have been lost in translation before I read it, and that I don’t fully understand the context of Canaan at the time, and I certainly don’t understand the transition from this life to the afterlife. Thus, I might only feel troubled due to the limitations in my understanding, but so deep are my limitations that I don’t expect to fully overcome them in this life, and so I expect to always feel troubled.

But that doesn’t break my faith and trust in God, because this troubling is but one part in the rich tapestry of experiences that I have had with him. If anyone ever comes to me with questions on these passages, I will probably talk with him about it for a while, but at the end I expect I will say something to the effect of, “it doesn’t do to fixate on the tree at the expense of the forest.” I would advise this person to keep reading his Bible, to read all of it, and to then step back and consider the entire picture. Paul’s famous words to the Corinthians comes to mind.

1 Corinthians 3:12- For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

As I read all of the chapters in the Bible, and not just fixate on one or two, my consciousness lifts above the isolated details, and I become aware of an over-encompassing spirit that is in and through it all. And I must confess that that spirit is undeniably one of goodness, one that loves and cares for the people of this earth, one that stives over thousands of years to reclaim a fallen people, one that is worthy of devotion and discipleship. I should not lose sight of the good in that overarching spirit by obsessing over the small part that I don’t understand.

So, in conclusion, yes, I am still troubled by the command for the Israelites to kill every man, woman, and child of the Canaanites, but I am not going to fixate on that troubling to the severance of my connection to the overwhelming spirit of good I find in God’s word. Because I know that God is good, I am sure that when I finally understand all the parts that I do not now, that I will be at peace and in awe of it all.