In this part I want to look at what the Bible says on the issue of God's causing plagues. We'll check out a number of texts. I'm not going to deal with the question of the historicity of any of these texts. I'm not going to deal with the question of whether the Biblical writers are simply imposing their own theologies on naturally occurring events. I'm just going to look at what the texts say and what they say about God.
The Old Testament is replete in seemingly innumerable instances of an avenging God taking vengeance by a variety of means, including plagues. Here are a few instances:
In Genesis 6-9 God floods the earth killing all its inhabitants except for the family of Noah. God does this because God "saw that the wickedness of humankind was great upon the earth." (Genesis 6:5).
In Exodus God causes 10 plagues to come upon the Egyptians because the Pharaoh would not set the enslaved Israelites leave Egypt. In the last and worst plague God sends an angel of death to kill all the Egyptian first born, both humans and animals (Exodus 12:12). This would seem to be in revenge for Pharaoh's killing of the Hebrew baby boys many years earlier (Exodus 1:22).
In Numbers 16:47-50 God sends a plague among the Israelites that killed 14,700.
In Joshua 8, God instructs Joshua to invade the city of Ai and kill all the men, women, and children there. Joshua and his army do it.
Or how about this bizarre story in 2 Kings 2:23-25. Some small boys made fun of Elisha the prophet's bald head. Elisha "cursed them in the name of the Lord." Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the boys.
Many of the Psalms call for God to take vengeance on the Psalmists' enemies. Here is Psalm 137:8-9 (I would prefer the RSV translation "Blessed" rather than "Happy). "O daughter, Babylon you devastator. Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us. Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock."
The New Testament, except for one book, has little of this sort of vengeance and plague. That exception is Revelation, which has numerous plagues. In Revelation 9:18 we read, "By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed." Other plagues are mentioned later in Revelation.
When we come to Jesus and the Gospel, everything is completely different. Although Jesus can speak some strong invective against the Pharisees (Matthew 23), Jesus
never invokes violence against anyone nor does he ever commit an act of violence against anyone. In Mark13 and its parallels in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 Jesus foretells of a troubled time of war that will soon come. I think Jesus is prophesying the coming of the Jewish War against the Romans and the destruction of Jerusalem that will occur 40 years after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Most think Jesus is referring to an apocalyptic end time. More typical, however, is Jesus command, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:44).
Jesus gives us another guide in the two-fold love command, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
The difference between God incarnates Jesus and God in the Old Testament and Revelation is more than striking. How do we interpret this. We'll talk about it in part 3. I would love to hear any thoughts, disagreements, or questions from any of you.
Faithfully,
Christian
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