I came across this blog post titled "How Many Has God Killed? (Complete list and estimated total)" on some random blog which reminded me of a post that I wrote (but never finished & published) a few months back.
I think the question raised is not the right one - the question we should be asking is WHY has God killed so many? If you read through the Old Testament it is indeed pretty bloody and one might even ask did God really order all this 'genocide' on his own people Israel and the surrounding nations?
Israel - God's chosen nation
Israel was the chosen nation. But why? God chose this tiny nation that was bullied by all its neighboring super powers. Yet it was his little maiden of his eye. unmerited love from God.
Ezekiel 16:1-14 - Basically says this: Israel was just like a helpless little baby girl who was forgotten and looked down upon and not repected. But God took her into his arms, took care of her, fed her, helped her grow up, taught her how to live, lavished her with clothing and jewels and perfumes and expensive things. She became very beautiful - she "grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels". All because of what God did and not because Israel was worth it.
The proportion of the blessing was even greater than proportion of judgment
In the bible, whenever people followed God's laws and ways and loved him and listened to him (which wasn't very often), they lived peacefully (which wasn't very often). Skeptics and people who try to denounce the Bible because of its violence often don't see (or deliberately ignore) the overflowing richness of God's blessings and mercy.
Ezekiel 20:6-22 basically says this: The Lord promised to bring them out of Egypt (where they were being enslaved and treated nastily) to a land of their own, and land 'flowing with milk and honey' (i.e. abundantly rich), and He told them to rid themselves of idols and vile images (images that turned people's attention away from God). But they didn't. They continued to make and worship ugly things and idols that did not please God (and they knew that God didn't like that stuff perfectly well but they did it anyway). And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy. And He rescued them out of Egypt anyway. And whilst in the desert God provided food and things they needed and laws to live by (so they won't feel lost and know what's good for them and won't argue with each other), but they still rebelled against Him in the desert by not following his decrees and rejecting his laws and made idols. And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy. (Do you begin to see a pattern here?) He looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the desert. So he told their children to be good and keep his laws, unlike their fathers who have gone bad. But these kids also rebelled and went nuts. And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy.
To God who loved and cherished Israel so much to regard her as the most precious jewel in His eyes, it must hurt Him so much to see her being so rebellious and ungrateful. The ultimate tragedy is her rejection of His power and love and mercy, not the loss of life.
God (basically) said, "when you follow me, you will be blessed; when you turn away, you will be cursed." (Deuteronomy 28)
The judgment and horrific loss of life must always been seen under this context reality (of Deut 28), i.e. the reality of such literal, such dramatic manifestation of God's promise. When the demonstration of God's miracles and blessings and presence is so dramatic and powerful, then the curses of God's judgement must also be as terrible. Death is a grim reminder of the nature of sin - horrific, despised, feared.
God revealed CLEARLY his laws and decrees to his people. Thus when they deliberately choose to reject his revelations, they didn't have the right to complain of what of dramatic judgement.
"To whom much is given, much shall be required" - Luke 12:48.
Skeptics and athiests often misunderstand the meaning of a "perfect God" that Christians talk about and thus aren't able to accept a God that seems to endorse killing and sends disasters to innocent people. A perfect God does NOT mean an all-tolerating God. A perfect God must reign with perfect justice and justice involves getting punished for wrongdoings according to the framework of absolute laws - laws that only a perfect God can impose.
God is The Absolute
When we take a life, we are wrong cos we can't restore it, but God can. He is the maker of absolutely everything and the ruler of absolutely everyone, and thus has the absolute rights of ownership over all people and places.
As living beings we can never really understand death, but God does. But we can know that death has its tragedy but also amazing hope if we put our faith in Him. To the believer, God gives hope and confidence to pull us through in the face of death.
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