Yesterday my friend Pat reminded us that the victors write the history. But there is always another side to the story as told.
It has bothered me and many Christians that the Bible seems to indicate that God wanted the Israelites to kill a bunch of people, women and children included. Can this be the case? What about the commandment, Thou shall not kill?
History. Did God really tell Israel to kill all of the Canaanite tribes? Were they all wiped out? Who is writing the story of this supposed God ordained slaughter?
The victors write the history.
What we call the Mexican-American war is known in Mexico as the American invasion of Mexico.
In the 1840's many Americans spoke of "manifest destiny," the idea that America had a divine destiny to rule the continent from coast to coast. This idea is echoed in the 1893 poem and song,
America the Beautiful - "from sea so shining sea."
And so we, the victors wrote the history. It is our country now, from sea to shining sea. But at what cost? How many Native Americans were killed along the way?
Don't get me wrong, we are all fortunate to be born in and live in America. And I was not alive when these atrocities happened. I did not personally participate. But we need to remember that every story has two sides.
Now back to the Bible. Why did God tell Israel to slaughter all of the people in the Old Testament? Did the same God that said, do not kill, also say kill them all - women and children included? Well friends, the victors write the history. The people living in the land of Canaan would have told the story in a very different way.
In Exodus 23 the author tells us that the tribes of Canann, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites will be wiped out. Yet hundreds of years later, these tribes are still around, pestering Israel. The victors, the authors of Exodus, wrote the story as it suited them. No offense, but in my opinion, it is not completely accurate. The victors write the story. In my opinion this is the only way to rectify the glaring contradiction of a God who says thou shall not kill, ordering mass murder.
If the story of Israel vs. the Palestinians today was written in a modern holy book by the Jews, it would be a story of how God gave Israel back the land. If the same story was written by Palestinian Christians, it would be a very different tale indeed.
Most history is not completely accurate. It is some particular person's version of the story.
God doesn't tell people to kill people.
This is God's world and he is bigger than the stories that humans tell about him and his work.
It's a beautiful day in God's world be sure to see the good.
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