When God Goes to War: Rethinking Violence in the Old Testament

Let’s be honest—if there’s one part of the Bible that makes people squirm, it’s the Old Testament’s violence. Holy wars. Entire cities “devoted to destruction.” Trumpets knocking down walls. It reads, at first glance, like God’s unleashing ancient wrath with indiscriminate fury.

And if you’ve ever wrestled with that—or even walked away from Christianity because of it—I get it. You’re not alone.

But what if we’ve been reading it wrong?

Not in the “let’s ignore the parts we don’t like” kind of way, but in a “let’s take the Bible on its own terms” kind of way. Because something powerful happens when we stop reading these ancient texts with modern eyes and start reading them literarily—like the deeply contextual, theological narrative they are.

Let’s take a step back.

Holy War Isn’t New (But the Bible Flips It Upside Down)

The Bible doesn’t invent the idea of holy war. History is littered with it—empires rising and falling under the claim that “the gods are on our side.” The Inca, the Mongols, the Crusades, Manifest Destiny—all examples of strong nations justifying conquest by appealing to divine approval.

But the Bible? The Bible doesn’t celebrate that kind of war.

In fact, it turns the whole idea on its head.

Because when Israel goes to war in the Old Testament, it’s not empire against empire. It’s not the mighty flexing their power. It’s the weakest people group in the ancient world—a bunch of brick-making ex-slaves fresh out of the wilderness—being defended by a God who sides with the vulnerable.

The story of Jericho? That wasn’t a military masterclass. It was a laughably lopsided setup. Trumpets instead of swords. A marching band instead of warriors. Israel didn’t conquer Jericho; God did—while they watched and worshiped.

That’s the point.

God Is Not Angry—He’s Patient

The assumption behind so much modern skepticism is that God in the Old Testament is angry and impulsive—throwing lightning bolts at anyone who gets in the way.

But the text tells a different story.

In Genesis 15, God tells Abraham his descendants won’t enter the Promised Land for 400 years. Why? Because “the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” That’s not a God looking for a fight. That’s a God slow to anger—giving even corrupt, brutal societies centuries to repent.

God’s justice is never rash. It’s patient. But it’s not passive.

Eventually, God will act. And when He does, it’s not because He’s bloodthirsty—it’s because He’s good. Because injustice matters. Because exploitation grieves Him. And because sometimes the only way to stop evil is to confront it.

But What About the “Kill Them All” Verses?

It’s a fair question. How do we reconcile phrases like “utterly destroy” with the character of a loving God?

Here’s where reading the Bible literarily matters. Ancient warfare used exaggerated language—hyperbole—to emphasize victory. Scholars point out that when cities like Jericho are described as totally destroyed, the very next chapters show those same groups still very much alive. It’s not deceit; it’s how war stories were told in that cultural context.

And these “cities”? They weren’t civilian suburbs. They were fortified military outposts. The text implies—and archaeology confirms—that civilians often fled long before Israel arrived. These weren’t massacres. They were takedowns of armed aggressors entrenched in evil.

That doesn’t make it neat and tidy. It doesn’t eliminate all the tension. But it gives us a more honest starting place for understanding what’s really going on.

God Still Wages War—But It Looks Like a Cross

Here’s the twist: the kind of holy war God wages in Scripture doesn’t end in Joshua. It climaxes in Jesus.

Because Jesus is what God’s justice looks like in flesh and blood. Not wielding a sword, but stretched out on a Roman cross. Not conquering with violence, but absorbing it. Not retaliating, but forgiving. And when Jesus rose from the grave, He didn’t rally an army—He birthed a new Kingdom. A people who overcome not with power, but with love.

So no, Christians don’t fight holy wars like Israel did. Because we don’t need to. Jesus already won the decisive victory over sin, death, and evil. Our job is to proclaim it—and live like it’s true.

So Whose Kingdom Are We Fighting For?

It’s easy to read the Bible and cast ourselves as the underdog. But we’ve got to be honest—most of us in the West aren’t Israel anymore. We’re not the powerless. We’re the empire.

And when power gets mixed with faith, we start to justify all kinds of things in God’s name—military conquest, cultural dominance, even national superiority.

That’s not the way of Jesus.

The real holy war today? It’s not against other people. It’s against pride. Injustice. Racism. Exploitation. Idolatry. It’s against anything that sets itself up against the healing reign of God.

And the question for us is simple—but sobering:

Are we building our own kingdom, or participating in His?

*Adapted from Understanding Violence in 2020