Paul, it’s good to have you back on OST. :-)

One of my favorite OT scholars is Walter Brueggemann, in large part because he isn’t afraid to admit the violence attributed to YHWH in the OT. Many passages do in fact describe pretty horrible events. The worst, as far as I’m concerned are when Israel wipes out entire people groups. To be fair though, the vehemently anti-Christian website you quote isn’t known for balance. For example, they say:

“DT 21:10-13 With the Lord’s approval, the Israelites are allowed to take “beautiful women” from the enemy camp to be their captive wives. If, after sexual relations, the husband has “no delight” in his wife, he can simply let her go. ”

But the passage reads:

“21:10 When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the Lord your God allows you to prevail and you take prisoners,21:11 if you should see among them an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, 21:12 you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, 21:13 discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, and stay in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations with her and become her husband and she your wife. 21:14 If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell her; you must not take advantage of her, since you have already humiliated her.” (NET)

Sure, it ain’t glorious, but it’s at least minimally civilized and shows remarkable restraint compared to other plundering practices…

Christians do tend to gloss over the bad stuff… but non-Christians do tend to gloss over the good stuff and the contextual stuff… as Christians we should be aware of both.

Cheers,

-Daniel-