A couple of additional aspects of the holy wars in the Old Testament:
The analogy of capital punishment may be helpful. While similar objections may be raised to capital punishment, the reasons in its favor are perhaps more familiar. It's important to keep in mind that death is not the worst thing that can happen to someone. God evidently deemed it better for these individuals to die than to continue in their sin. Similar problems with our judgement of what is best may relate to the issue of animal death before the Fall.
The example of Rahab, and possibly the Gibeonites, indicates that surrender was an option available to the Canaanites. Although we are not told what would have happened if they had consulted God before making an agreement with the Gibeonites, the net result was that their efforts at making peace were accepted.
Returning to George's original point, the pattern by which God allowed people to figure out that polygamy was a bad idea, rather than giving full revelation on the issue, does seem to me to be a good analogy for His leaving the physical processes of creation a matter of scientific investigation. Just as study of cosmology lets us learn about how God created, study of polygamy reveals that it frequently produces conflicts, allowing the development of a bigamy bang theory.
Dr. David Campbell
Old Seashells
University of Alabama
Biodiversity & Systematics
Dept. Biological Sciences
Box 870345
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA
bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droigate Spa
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