THE PROBLEM WITH "HOLY WARS"

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Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, "There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death." So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.
2 Samuel 21:1‭-‬2 ESV

¶This story goes to what was at stake in the holy wars God fought on behalf of His people in occupying the promised land. God's people must remain holy, and covenant-breaking must have had consequences. A three-year famine was a small price to pay compared to the future complete destruction following Israel's wholesale unfaithfulness. David did what the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel would later enjoin all Judah to do: repent.

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