Book Information

Book ID Asin: B000SF5DZE
Book Title: Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)
Book Author: C. S. Cowles,Eugene H. Merrill,Daniel L. Gard,Tremper Longman III
Book Format and Price:
Book Format Name: Kindle
Book Format Price: $6.99
Book Format Name: Paperback
Book Format Price: $10.69-$15.58
Book Price: $9.94
Book Category: Kindle eBooks, Religion & Spirituality, Christian Books & Bibles and unknown
Book Rating: 75 ratings

Book Product Detail

• Best Sellers Rank: #321,054 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
  • #139 in Christian Bible History & Culture (Kindle Store)
  • #140 in Christian Old Testament Criticism
  • #146 in Christian Hermeneutics

• Customer Reviews:
  4.3 out of 5 stars 75 ratings

unknown

Book Review

Name: nat howler
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good but missing a key fact
Date: Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2021
Review: As far as gaging Christian theological responses this is a very good read but there is one key problem. Not only did the Canaanite genocide not uappen as any archaeologist cn attest but also as one who can understand ancient Hebrew the text does not say anywhere to exterminate the Canaanites. In one place it says to cut off from society those who perpetuate Canaanite paganism. In another place it says to expel those who do so. In another place it says to compel them to take on the Israelite Covenant and in another, to cause them to inherit the Covenant but to exterminate the Canaanite people? It says that nowhere.

Name: Eduardo Suastegui
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good introductory/overview survey, but not satisfying
Date: Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2019
Review: Good introductory/overview survey, but don't expect it to answer all the hard questions comprehensively, nor address all the passages dealing with genocide. The more I read on this topic, the more I land on trusting God for final answers in the life to come rather than in this one.

Name: Nathan Ray
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Helpful in seeing how theologians wrestle with these difficult texts
Date: Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2014
Review: When I picked up this book, my hopes we're incredibly unrealistic. I was hoping to come out the other side with a nice and clean explanation for these difficult texts. At the end of the day, I would say I'm no more convinced and no more in the clear than I was to begin with.

Two things I'm walking away with:

1) It was helpful to see how other believers and theologians wrestle through these difficult texts.
2) It's tough to do the discerning work necessary to know the truth... There's a position I WANT to believe, that I want to be true, but is that position the most faithful position? Is it the truth? Or is it just what I would like to be true? This is the question left unanswered, but I'm thankful to discover I'm not alone in these questions.

Name: Sergio Castrillón
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A must have
Date: Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2020
Review: This is an excellent survey of main positions on herem and its continuity (or discontinuity) in the Church era. A must have in order to approach this difficult topic

Name: Jeremy Myers - Writing at RedeemingGod
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Four Views on Canaanite Genocide, but really only Two
Date: Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2013
Review: I like these "4 View" books because I feel it is always important to research all sides of an issue, and these books often provide introductory material for the various sides of an issue.

Having said that, however, I almost never fit into one of the views. It always seems like they leave out my view.... I am not sure why that is....

Anyway, this book discussed the question of Holy War in the Bible and how to understand it. Specifically, how could the God of the Bible command the indiscriminate slaughter of entire groups of people while Jesus in the New Testament commands us to love and pray for our enemies?

And while they claim the book holds 4 views, it really only holds 2.

The two basic views are:

1. You can't fit them together. The Old Testament is in error (View 1)
2. We don't understand it, and we may not like it, but we have to accept it (Views 2-4)

The only real difference between views 2-4 is how they arrive at an explanation for why we just need to accept what the Bible says and move on.

I really wish they would have included the Rabbinical Jewish view on this, since I think it would have provided an interesting alternative view.

And of course, there is another position as well, which is the one I hold to.... but I won't bore you with the details here.

If you want a good summary of some of the positions surrounding this all-important but extremely difficult issue, this is a good book to get you started.

Name: Discerning Reader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Another excellent book in the 4 views format
Date: Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2011
Review: "Show Them No Mercy" deals with some of the most troubling aspects of the Bible.

In a nutshell, this work has four excellent scholars discussing and debating the topic summed up in 1 Samuel 15:1-3 Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and INFANT, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"

How does that divine call to slaughter men, women, and children, compare to the teachings and values Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior taught and lived out?

To learn more, but "Show Them No Mercy" and read a quality discussion about this very interesting, and in many ways troubling aspect of divine revelation.

Thanks

Name: Paul A. Nelson
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An Important Topic
Date: Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2010
Review: A common complaint against Christianity and the Bible is that the loving Jesus of the New Testament seems completely different from the angry, punishing God of the Old Testament. How can we claim to love and serve a God who loves and saves us when that same God was smiting whole cities in the Old Testament? Most Christians will likely have a hard time answering that question, and may instead prefer to just ignore the Old Testament. Not a good solution! Reading this book is a better solution!

Four essays run the gamut from pretty much writing off the Old Testament completely to seeing it as a very real example of the fate that all who rebel against God will suffer either in this world or the next. In other words, one author in this book doesn't see any relationship at all between the Old and New Testaments, while the other three authors see varying levels of relationship.

Much of the discussion is centered on the academic exercise of defining terms and setting parameters. What constitutes a 'holy war' and what were the unique rules thereof? I'm assuming each author was required to define this for themselves, and the repetition can get a little tedious. It also seems that the bulk of each essay is taken up with this process of definition rather than with addressing the core question of how could a loving and good God ever command this sort of devastation?

This is a wonderful resource to help make sense of the Old Testament and see how a God of love who sacrificed His Son to reconcile us to Himself could also be the God demanding the execution of women and children in the midst of holy war. It's a painful topic, but when understood correctly, it clearly demonstrates the horrible situation of our rebellion, rather than callousness on God's part.

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