DCLM Daily Manna 2025: DCLM Daily Manna 17 November 2025: Is the Bible Cruel?
Text: Deuteronomy 20:10–20 (KJV)
“When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. 11 And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. 12 Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. 14 But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16 “But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 lest they teach you to do according to all their [a]abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.
19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. 20 Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.
KEY VERSE: Deuteronomy 20:16 “But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth.”
Robert Edward Lee, a prominent Confederate General in the American Civil War, appeared unbeatable after a succession of victories between 1862 and 1863. However, by 1865, he and his army were completely overwhelmed and forced to surrender to General Ulysses Simpson Grant, bringing the war to an end. Reflecting on the horrors he had witnessed, Lee remarked:
“What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends… to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love… and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.”
In today’s Bible passage, God instructs Israel to spare nations outside the borders of Canaan if they choose to surrender and make peace. However, the nations within the Promised Land were to be completely destroyed—men, women, children, and all that breathed. This command shocks many Bible critics, who question why a holy God would approve such destruction.
But the reason is clear:
God wanted to protect Israel from the deeply corrupt, immoral, and idolatrous practices of the Canaanites.
These nations were guilty of extreme wickedness—child sacrifice, sexual perversion, and detestable forms of idolatry (see Leviticus 18:6–23). God gave them centuries to repent, but they persistently refused. Their destruction was not cruelty—it was divine judgment.
Many critics misunderstand this truth:
God loves sinners but judges sin. His justice is righteous, not cruel. The destruction of the Canaanites was not arbitrary violence but the consequence of long-standing, unrepentant depravity.
The Bible does not hide the realities of sin and judgment. It is honest and clear:
Persistent wickedness leads to destruction.
But God, in His mercy, has provided a Saviour—Jesus Christ. All who turn to Him in repentance will find forgiveness and life.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Sinners are to blame for their predicaments.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Daily Manna 17 November 2025
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