Is God A Criminal? – Appendix A: Bible Citations
by Bill Schultz
Appendix A: Bible Citations
I am indebted to Donald Morgan for his essay, Bible Atrocities, which summarizes many of the most egregious of the so-called Acts of God from the Holy Bible. I will select a few of those atrocities as the basis of my indictment of God.
Here are the citations to the Holy Bible upon which I rely for factual support herein:
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, the story of the greatest crime against humanity that can possibly be conceived of is told thusly, in the Book of Genesis, chapters 6 and 7:
6:5 But the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.
6:6 The Lord regretted that he had made mankind on the earth, and he felt highly offended.
6:7 So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-everything from mankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them."
6:8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.
[Snip]
7:17 The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth.
7:18 The waters completely overwhelmed the earth and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
7:19 The waters completely inundated the earth, so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.
7:20 The waters rose more than twenty feet above the mountains.
7:21 And all living things that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.
7:22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
7:23 So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.
7:24 The waters prevailed over the earth for one hundred and fifty days.
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, a series of stories are told of conduct that constitutes either war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both, as taken from the Book of Numbers, Chapter 21:
21:1 And when the Canaanite king of Arad who dwelt in the Negev heard that Israel was coming along the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.
21:2 So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, "If you will indeed deliver this people into our hand, then we will utterly destroy their cities."
21:3 Then the Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called Hormah.
[Snip]
21:33 Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces went out against them to the battle at Edrei.
21:34 And the Lord said to Moses, "Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.
21:35 So they defeated Og, his sons, and all his people, until there were no survivors, and they possessed his land.
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, a series of stories are told of conduct that constitutes either crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, or combinations thereof, as taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapters 2 and 3:
2:24 Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon. Look! I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Go ahead! Take it! Engage him in war!
2:25 This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your coming.
2:26 Then I sent messengers from the Kedemoth Desert to King Sihon of Heshbon with words of peace,
2:27 "Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the roadway. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.
2:28 Sell me food for cash so that I can eat and give me water to drink. Just allow me to go through on foot,
2:29 just as the descendants of Esau at Seir and the Moabites of Ar did for me until I cross the Jordan to the land the Lord our God is giving us."
2:30 But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass over near him because the Lord our God had given him a resistant spirit and stubborn determination so that he might deliver him over to you this very day.
2:31 Surely enough, the Lord said to me, "Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession."
2:32 When Sihon and all his troops emerged to encounter us in battle at Jahaz,
2:33 the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, along with his son and everyone else.
2:34 At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them that was inhabited under the divine curse, even the women and children; there was not a single survivor.
2:35 Only the livestock and plunder from the cities did we keep for ourselves.
2:36 From Aroer, which is at the edge of Wadi Arnon, and the city in the wadi, all the way to Gilead there was not a city too inaccessible to us-the Lord our God gave them all to us.
2:37 However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok valley, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God.
3:1 Next we set out on the route to Bashan, but King Og of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet us in battle at Edrei.
3:2 The Lord, however, said to me, "Don’t be afraid of him because I have already given him, his army, and his land to you. You will do to him exactly what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon."
3:3 So the Lord our God did indeed give over King Og of Bashan and all his people to us and we rained blows on him until not a single survivor was left.
3:4 We took all his cities at that time-there was not a one we did not capture from them-sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the dominion of Og in Bashan.
3:5 All of these cities were fortified by high walls, gates, and bars; in addition there were a great many open villages.
3:6 We put all of these under the divine curse just as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon-every occupied city, including women and children.
3:7 But all the livestock and urban plunder we appropriated to ourselves.
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, another story is told of conduct that constitutes either war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both, as taken from the Book of Numbers, Chapters 25 and 31:
25:16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses:
25:17 "Bring trouble to the Midianites, and destroy them,
25:18 because they bring trouble to you by their treachery with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague for Peor’s sake.
[Snip]
31:1 And the Lord spoke to Moses:
31:2 "Exact vengeance for the Israelites on the Midianites-after that you will be gathered to your people."
31:3 So Moses spoke to the people: "Arm men from among you for the war, to go against the Midianites and to execute6 the vengeance of the Lord on Midian.
31:4 You must send to the battle a thousand men from every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel.
31:5 So a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war in all, were provided out of the thousands of Israel.
31:6 So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge of the holy articles and the signal trumpets in his hand.
31:7 And they fought against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male.
31:8 And they killed the kings of Midian in addition to those slain-Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba-five Midianite kings. And they killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
31:9 And the Israelites took the women of Midian captives along with their little ones, and took all their herds, all their flocks, and all their goods as plunder.
31:10 And they burned all their towns that they had inhabited and all their encampments.
31:11 And they took all the plunder and all the spoils, both people and animals.
31:12 And they brought the captives and the spoils and the plunder to Moses and to Eleazar the priest, and to the Israelite community, to the camp on the steppes of Moab, along the Jordan River across from Jericho.
31:13 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.
31:14 But Moses was furious with the officers of the army, the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from service in the war.
31:15 And Moses said to them, "Have you allowed all the women to live?
31:16 Look, these people, through the counsel of Balaam, caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor-and there was the plague among the community of the Lord.
31:17 Now therefore kill every boy, and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man.
31:18 But all the young women who have not had sexual intercourse with a man will be yours.
31:19 "And any of you who has killed anyone, or touched any of the dead, remain outside the camp for seven days; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
31:20 And you must purify each garment and everything that is made of skin, everything made of goat’s hair, and everything made of wood."
31:21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle, "This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses:
31:22 ‘Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
31:23 everything that may stand the fire, you are to pass through the fire, and it will be clean; but then it must be purified with the waters of impurity. Anything that cannot withstand the fire you must pass through the water.
31:24 And you must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp."
31:25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses:
31:26 "You and Eleazar the priest, and all the family heads of the community, take the sum of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals.
31:27 Divide the plunder into two parts, one for those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and the other for all the community.
31:28 "And you must exact a tribute for the Lord from the men of war who went out to battle: one life out of five hundred, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep.
31:29 You are to take it from their half-share, and give it to Eleazar the priest for a raised offering to the Lord.
31:30 And from the Israelites’ half-share you are to take one portion out of fifty of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep-from every kind of animal, and you are to give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the Lord."
31:31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
31:32 And the spoil that remained of the plunder which the men of war had gathered was 675,000 sheep,
31:33 72,000 cattle,
31:34 61,000 donkeys,
31:35 and 32,000 women who had never had sexual intercourse with a man.
31:36 And the half-portion of those who went to war numbered 337,500 sheep;
31:37 the Lord’s tribute from the sheep was 675.
31:38 And the cattle numbered 36,000; the Lord’s tribute was 72.
31:39 And the donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord’s tribute was 61.
31:40 And the people were 16,000, of which the Lord’s tribute was 32 people.
31:41 So Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord’s raised offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, we have God commanding His people to engage in conduct that constitutes either war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both, as taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapters 7, 20, and 21:
7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you-Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you-
7:2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no covenant with them nor show them compassion!
[Snip]
7:16 You will overwhelm all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them nor worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
7:17 If you think, "These nations are more numerous than I-how can I dispossess them?,"
7:18 you must not fear them. You must carefully recall what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt,
7:19 the great afflictions you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and extended arm by which he brought you out-thus the Lord your God will do to all the people you fear.
7:20 Furthermore, he will release the hornet among them until the very last ones who hide from you perish.
7:21 You must not tremble in their presence, for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a great and awesome God.
7:22 He, the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You must not overcome them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you.
7:23 The Lord your God will give them over to you; he will trouble them with great difficulty until they are destroyed.
7:24 He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. Nobody will be able to stand before you until you annihilate them.
[Snip]
20:10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace.
20:11 If it accepts them and submits to you, all the people found in it will become compulsory servants to you.
20:12 But if they do not accept terms of peace but make war with you, then you are to lay siege against their city.
20:13 The Lord your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword.
20:14 However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city-all its plunder-you may take as your booty. You may appropriate the spoils of your enemies that the Lord your God has given you.
20:15 This is how you are to deal with all those cities very distant from you, those that do not belong to nearby nations.
20:16 As for the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive.
20:17 Instead you must put them under the divine curse-the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite,-just as the Lord your God has commanded you,
20:18 so that they cannot teach you to do the detestable things they do to their gods and you thereby sin against the Lord your God.
[Snip]
21:10 When you engage your enemies in warfare 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, go to your house, and lament 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 it should turn out that 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.
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, another story is told of conduct that constitutes either war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both, as taken from the Book of Joshua, Chapter 6:
6:21 They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, including men and women, young and old, as well cattle, sheep, and donkeys.
6:22 Joshua told the two men who had spied on the land, "Enter the prostitute’s house and bring out the woman and all who belong to her as you promised her."
6:23 So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside the Israelite camp.
6:24 But they burned the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury where the Lord lived.
6:25 Yet Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, another story is told of conduct that constitutes either war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both, as taken from the Book of Joshua, Chapter 8:
8:18 The Lord told Joshua, "Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you." So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.
8:19 When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
8:20 When the men of Ai turned around, they saw the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.
8:21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.
8:22 At the same time the men who had taken the city came out to fight, and the men of Ai were trapped in the middle. The Israelites struck them down, leaving no survivors or refugees.
8:23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
8:24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had chased them toward the desert (they all fell by the sword), all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it.
8:25 Twelve thousand men and women died that day, including all the men of Ai.
8:26 Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai.
8:27 But Israel did plunder the cattle and the loot of the city, in accordance with the Lord’s orders to Joshua.
8:28 Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanently uninhabited mound (it remains that way to this very day).
8:29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree, leaving him exposed until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered that his corpse be taken down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and erected over it a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day).
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, another story is told of conduct that constitutes either war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both, as taken from the Book of Joshua, Chapters 10 and 11:
10:28 That day Joshua captured Makkedah and put the sword to it and its king. He annihilated everyone who lived in it; he left no survivors. He did to its king what he had done to the king of Jericho.
10:29 Joshua and all Israel marched from Makkedah to Libnah and fought against it.
10:30 The Lord handed it and its king over to Israel, and Israel put the sword to all who lived there; they left no survivors. They did to its king what they had done to the king of Jericho.
10:31 Joshua and all Israel marched from Libnah to Lachish. He deployed his troops and fought against it.
10:32 The Lord handed Lachish over to Israel and they captured it on the second day. They put the sword to all who lived there, just as they had done to Libnah.
10:33 Then King Horam of Gezer came up to help Lachish, but Joshua struck down him and his army until no survivors remained.
10:34 Joshua and all Israel marched from Lachish to Eglon. They deployed troops and fought against it.
10:35 That day they captured it and put the sword to all who lived there. That day they annihilated it just as they had done to Lachish.
10:36 Joshua and all Israel marched up from Eglon to Hebron and fought against it.
10:37 They captured it and put the sword to its king, all its surrounding cities, and all who lived in it; they left no survivors. As they had done at Eglon, they annihilated it and all who lived there.
10:38 Joshua and all Israel turned to Debir and fought against it.
10:39 They captured it, its king, and all its surrounding cities and put the sword to them. They annihilated everyone who lived there; they left no survivors. They did to Debir and its king what they had done to Hebron and to Libnah and its king.
10:40 Joshua defeated the whole land, including the hill country, the Negev, the lowlands, the slopes, and all their kings. He left no survivors. He annihilated everything that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.
[Snip]
11:6 The Lord told Joshua, "Don’t be afraid of them, for about this time tomorrow I will cause all of them to lie dead before Israel. You must hamstring their horses and burn their chariots."
11:7 Joshua and his whole army caught them by surprise at the Waters of Merom and attacked them.
11:8 The Lord handed them over to Israel and they struck them down and chased them all the way to Greater Sidon, Misrephoth Maim, and the Mizpah Valley to the east. They struck them down until no survivors remained.
11:9 Joshua did to them as the Lord had commanded him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots.
11:10 At that time Joshua turned, captured Hazor, and struck down its king with the sword, for Hazor was at that time the leader of all these kingdoms.
11:11 They annihilated everyone who lived there with the sword-no one who breathed remained-and burned Hazor.
11:12 Joshua captured all these royal cities and all their kings and annihilated them with the sword, as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded.
11:13 But Israel did not burn any of the cities located on mounds, except for Hazor; it was the only one Joshua burned.
11:14 The Israelites plundered all the loot of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people and allowed no one who breathed to live.
11:15 Moses the Lord’s servant passed on the Lord’s commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses.
11:16 Joshua conquered the whole land, including the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the lowlands, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowlands,
11:17 from Mount Halak on up to Seir, as far as Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and executed them.
11:18 Joshua campaigned against these kings for quite some time.
11:19 No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon); they had to conquer all of them,
11:20 for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses.
11:21 At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country-from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel. Joshua annihilated them and their cities.
11:22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory, though some remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
11:23 Joshua conquered the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses, and he assigned Israel their tribal portions. Then the land was free of war.
In the Holy Bible, the supposed inerrant Word of God, another story is told of conduct that constitutes either war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both, as taken from the First Book of Samuel, Chapter 15:
15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul, "I was the one the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord says.
15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed Israel along the way when Israel came up from Egypt.
15:3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare them. Put them to death-man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’"
15:4 So Saul assembled the army and mustered them at Telaim. There were two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.
15:5 Saul proceeded to the city of Amalek, where he set an ambush in the wadi.
15:6 Saul said to the Kenites, "Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.
15:7 Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is next to Egypt.
15:8 He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all his people with the sword.
The text of this essay is Copyright © 2001, by William A. Schultz. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of the author.