Question: .

Why did God turn his wrath on the innocent Egyptian children by killing them when Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go? Similar incidents also in the bible suggest that he deeply favored only the Israelites and hated other races - even resorting to bringing plagues on them (apparently even on innocent ones) - and encouraged the Israelites to kill.

Is God playing favoritism?

-Jesse

Answer:

Dear Jesse,

Is God guilty of favoritism? Is God a racist? Is God hateful and vindictive? These and other similar questions are often posed by readers of the Old Testament. The questions ultimately can be reduced to - How is God morally justified in destroying people, favoring one nation over another, allowing horrible atrocities, etc.?

We begin with the principle stated in Romans 6:23 - "the wages of sin is death - but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." All humans are sinful - we are fallen, and broken - we have been since the Garden of Eden. We are born into sin. God is holy, just, righteous. He demands perfection. Only one sin by any human demands the death penalty. That is the testimony of the Bible.

God is the giver of life - he is creator. Therefore, he is morally justified in taking what he has given. God may also be generous, even lavishly so - see the Parable of the Penny in Matthew 20 - without answering to humans who may question his generosity - especially when we do not seem to be the recipients of his generosity.

Some of these kinds of questions spring out of the assumption of "fairness" - that God should be fair, in our estimation and judgement. The answer is that God is fair - with a capital "F" - but that fairness does not always meet our criteria. We are often like children, wondering why we have to _____________ (fill in the blank), while our friends seem to "get away" with what we never see to be able to get away with. This central issue is the subject of many of the Psalms.

God's ways are not our ways - his thoughts are not our thoughts - we are not God, in spite of our best efforts to play God. God is God, and we should be thankful that he is. History is filled with tyrants who attempted to be gods, and we read those accounts at arms' length, thankful that we were not subjected to their pride, ego, and vanity.

You asked a big question - I hope this helps you begin to wrestle with it.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht