Killing in the Name Of
Data Over Dogma
1 Samuel 15: Saul's genocide command
Dan McClellan narrates Samuel's command to Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites and Saul's partial obedience.
There have been some disturbing things happening in the world lately, and some of the people most heavily involved in those things are invoking even more disturbing parts of the Bible as a rallying call. When world leaders remind us of biblical genocide when they go to war, you know we're in trouble.
So this week, we're discussing Amalek, and the Israelite encounters with the people who bear his name. There is no love lost between the Amalekites and the Israelites. As a matter of fact, Jewish people to this day vow to remember and NOT remember Amalek.
So what was so awful about the Amalekites that they stand out as worse than the myriad other enemies of ancient Israel? And what did they do to deserve the total destruction that was ordered by God?
Then we're covering some spurious apologetic ground. If you've ever listened to a Christian apologist for more than a few minutes, you've likely heard the idea that "No one would die for a lie." This idea is either preceded or followed by descriptions of the horrific deaths endured by the disciples of Jesus.
The problem is that most of those deaths aren't recorded in any books in the Bible. So what are the stories of the deaths of the apostles, and where do they come from?
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