If ye did not know that this passage was from the Bible...?

The God of the Old Testament certainly exhibits a violent nature. He is truly not a God of love or compassion. I notice his personality makes drastic changes from time to time. The more I study the Bible, the more I am coming to think that it is no more than myth.

Your absolutely right. The Bible says God does not change. Human society does though. One decade people will be peaceful and the next , they will commit the most terrible atrocities known to man. Think about our culture. How much it changed after ww 2 to vietnam.

God, though the Bible says is the perfect example of love, has other qualities too. One of them is justice.

He sentenced Adam and Eve to die.

Released the waters and flooded the earth, many children and animals died then too.

Rained fire and sulfur on Sodom and Gomorah

Devastated the Egyptians with 10 plagues including death of all the firstborn man and animal.

Do all these acts of judgement mean that he is cruel? That is something a person has to really think about , before they judge God himself. He is the Creator and has the right to do as he pleases. However, if u really read into the Bible, there was always a good reason why He did what He did. MOst people don't read this, but Noah was told to warn everyone about the impending flood. Lot warned his sons in law. Jonah was sent to warn the Assyrians to repent. Moses tried to reason with Pharoah. The Gibeonites were cursed canaanites who were spared because they recognised that God was with the Israelites.

I could go on and on. Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel and gave many dire predictions at Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. He was tortured and slain as many prophets before His time.

This scripture sums it up best at 2 Peter 3 ; 9 " Jehovah is not slow respecting his promises, as some people consider slowness, but He is patient with you because He does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentence."

they were under the Mosaic law which was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth

this was Amalek's punishment for when they ambushed the Israelites from behind, they didn't have mercy or spare innocent babies, they took as they pleased and killed on their own will. their punishment was to be destroyed, if you leave a baby, it's still the seed of Amalek, that leaves a remnant that would rise up again. the animals were property of Amalek, they were to be wiped off the face of the earth, there was to be no more association with them, you leave a cow, that is still a cow of the Amalekites, then that wouldn't be destroying their remembrance

they messed with the wrong nation, Israel didn't bother them, they were just leaving Egypt and slavery and were ambushed on their way. they messed with God's chosen people, so they had to pay for their actions, they fought the wrong people

Look at it in context though...those people were obviously evil, and God had chosen Israel as His chosen people. They were only babies, true, but they would have ended up Amalekites all the same, and God was probably showing the other nations that they cannot stand against Him. Now, I am not 100% for the mass killings of children, but I know God's will is perfect, and I do not question it.

On another note, the old testament is more of a history textbook than anything else, especially books like 2 samuel. it doesn't tell us what we as christians need to do. In fact, it makes me grateful for Jesus, because without Him, it would still be the same way.

That's what you get when you have an angry, wrathful God fed up with sin. The compete and utter destruction of these ultimately corrupt societies was to ensure their rampant, unrepentant corruption did not live on. Absolutely NO trace of these cultures were to survive, lest their sinful ways taint God's chosen people. Harsh? Perhaps. Necessary? Doubtlessly. The practices of these peoples, the utter depravity of their culture, the amorality of their believes, and the sheer, carnal evil of their religious practices were beyond salvation.

And don't tell me God didn't give them their chance. The Jews were exiled into slavery under the Pharoahs for over four centuries. By today's standards, that's 20 generations, more by the standards of the time. They had more than a fair chance to repent and change their wicked ways. That chance passed, and God used his chosen people to dole out justice to them.

If you had God's vision, you would understand His ways. The helpless children you speak of were being raised by heathen, God hating parents. As others have said, when they grew up they would do the same deeds as their parents before them, being indoctrinated in that culture.

To put it in today's terms. Many Islamic children are being taught to kill Jews by committing suicide. When they are older, many will follow this culture that is forced upon them and become suicide bombers. Would it be so cruel for God to kill these children to place them beyond the influence of their militant parents and culture? Especially if, by doing so, they would be assured of eternal life? If God saves all children who die before the age of accountability, it would be merciful of Him to lay these little ones to sleep to await the resurrection of the righteous. It would be far more cruel to allow them to live and grow up into heathen idol worshipers who would be lost for eternity. I know that it is hard to think outside the box, and it requires faith in God that you have not acquired. However, God is always just, and God is always loving. He does what is in out best interest every time whether we can see it or not.

Amalek (and the Amalekites) were a nasty bunch. God was speaking those words to the Jews so that His chosen people would not have to deal with them forever.

As the story went, the Jews were disobedient, and did not obliterate the corrupt Amalekites. As a result, years later the Amalekite still existed, and it was an Amalekite that killed King Saul.

The Talmud/OT was writen to and about the Israleites/jews. IT give a foundation for the Christian Testament/NT that Christians are to live by and give witness to but that is not for me an Gentile.

Do I completely understand God's reason for everything that God has done and said? No

Does not understanding weaken my faith? No

You see I am in active relationship and conversation with God/Jesus/Spirit. I place my faith on my personal experiences not what is written in a book. I use the Book as a guideline to appropiate morals and behaviors.

Gosh people, it's too bad we Americans are not all Jews, otherwise we might simply wait for god to see the overly violent middle easterners as Amaleks and destroy them all including their children and their camels and stuff, problem solved,

If that happened we would all probably get religion. Don't mean to sound too cynical.

This is not the real God. This is the made up Jewish God. The real God is in the New testament. The one Jesus talks about, the unconditionally loving one.

The only one.

love and blessings Don