Which God, If Any?

The second thing to note is also above in the quote of II Chronicles, chapter 17, verses 13-18, men of war are said to have numberedA total of 1,160,000. This seemingly included Benjamin though Benjamin was arguably not a part of Judah (see below). This figure is more people than Judah could hold, and is at a time when it was separated from the Northern tribes of Israel when the Kingdom supposedly split after Solomon's death.

The third thing of note is the absence of Simeon not only here, but in many other places in the bible's history of the kings of the lands. Why this is important is that when the so-called partition of lands to each tribe, Simeon's portion was said to be south of Judah's meaning it was the furthest from the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Noting this, the kingdom was said to be split after Solomon's death due to his having set up places of worship of other gods [I Kings, chapter 11, verses 9-11]. In I Kings, chapter 11verse 13, God is said to tell Solomon that the Kingdom is to be split and his son will only have one tribe—Judah, and ten tribes were given to Jeroboam whom God had selected to be king over the Northern tribes of Israel.

This gets very convoluted, and erroneous.

Okay, ten tribes to Jeroboam and Judah to Rehoboam, Solomon's son. So what about Simeon? The bible seems to make them an orphan; for all intents and purposes, they disappear, not a part of Judah their nearest neighbor to the north, and wholly separated from the ten Northern tribes which comprised the now separate Kingdom of Israel.

Between the so-called number of men or war, and Simeon's virtual disappearance, these constitute huge errors in the bible In the history of I and II Samuel, and in I and II Kings Simeon is not mentioned.

In I Chronicles, they are mentioned five times, the last time in chapter 12, verse 25, Simeon is mentioned along with all the other tribes as coming to the aid of David.

In II Chronicles, there are only two mentions of Simeon, one in the time of Asa, King of Judah, and one in Josiah's time, King of Judah, neither of any significance.

The big question is what happened to Simeon? It was not apportioned to Judah at the break up, nor to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Other tribes are seldom mentioned, but they were said to belong to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. According to the bible, Simeon did not belong to either the Northern Kingdom nor to Judah.

GENOCIDES AND OTHER SENSELESS KILLINGS

Num. 21:33-35: And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to the battle of Edrei. 34: And the Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into they hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. 35: Sothey smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land. (Emphasis mine.)

Num. 31:17: Now thereforekill every male among the little ones, andKill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. (Emphasis mine.)

In Numbers, chapter14, the men are condemned to wander for forty years and not seeing the Promised Land for their refusal to fight. Then in chapter 16, there is further muttering by many that Moses has taken too much upon themselves. The results from God's anger over two days is in verse 49:

"Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah". [The previous day said to be two hundred and fifty according to verse 35].

Deut. 2:34 And we took all his cities at that time, andutterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain: (Emphasis mine.)

Deut 3:6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon,utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city. (Emphasis mine.)

Deuteronomy, 20:16 "But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:"

Yet, despite it saying that nothing be saved that breaths, a previous verse, 14, says:

"But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee,"

Quite a contradiction and all in the same breath.

Joshua, 6:21 Andthey utterly destroyed all that was in the city [Jerico],both man and woman, yoiung and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.(Emphasis mine.)

Joshua, chapters 10 & 11 relate pure carnage wherein he "utterly destroyed" or "left none remaining including in the field and in their cities as in 10:40 says:

"...he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the lord God of Israel commanded. (Emphasis mine.)

In chapter 11, verse 20, we are told that:

"For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

In doing all of this,God rained hail from heaven killing more than Joshus's men did with the sword (10:11), and Joshua had the sun and moon stop moving in verse 12. (Emphasis mine.)

Joshua, also in bloody chapter 10, is said in verse 28:

"And that day, Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain..."

Not surprisingly, Jericho was found by archeologists to not have been settled at the time of the popular date for the Exodus, and further, that it was unfortified and had no walls. The same was true of Ai, said to also be conquered by Joshua. This was by archeologist, Kathleen Kenyon and others even before her.

This has been known for some time but the fables continue to be told and made to be believed by the retelling by the churches so often that it has become a very popular and unshakeable fable.

* * * *

The list of carnage and genocide goes on almost ad infinitum. As if to prove this, in the book after Joshua, Judges, we find in chapters 6 through 8 that Gideon (he of whom the present day free bible passing out, as in hospitals and hotels, is apparently named for), we find an unusual story, though not for the bible.

Midian is given by the Lord to have their way with the children of Israel as it says on the opening verse of chapter 6. However, Gideon is selected by the Lord to set things aright once more. We're given to subtly assume that the Midians along with the Amalekites, as well as the "children of the east" come to pay an unfriendly call. Gideon calls for reinforcements to counter them, but the Lord says that they are too many, to winnow them down to only three hundred (300) men. In chapter 8, verse 12, we're told that one hundred twenty thousand of the enemy were killed. By only the three hundred? We're really left to guess.

However, the worse was yet to come. As Gideon went to fight, he needed food and water, which were denied him by the people of both Succoth and Penuel (verses 5 and 8 in chapter 8). They refused. After winning, he goes back and kills seventy-seven (77) princes and elders of Succoth in what seems a very harsh manner.

Penuel meets an even greater disaster. In verse 17 of that chapter, we're told that he slew the men of the city and destroyed it.

* * * *

In I Samuel we find carnage, but not in all bibles in chapter 6, verse 19;

"And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the peoplefifty thousand and three-score and ten men [50,070] (Emphasis mine.)

In fact, the differences are somewhat startling when you think of Fundamentalists saying that the bible is the perfect word of God Comparing the above scripture from the King James bible quoted above, let's look at the Catholic bible which says:

"The descendants of Jeconiah did not join in the celebration with the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh when they greeted the ark of the Lord, andseventy of them were struck down." (Emphasis mine.)

That's a huge discrepancy, plus there's no mention of those being killed being descendants of Jaconiah.

In checking the New Int'l Version of the bible, it says seventy also, but adds that a few Hebrew manuscripts being the same, but most Hebrew manuscripts, plus the Septaugint recording it as fifty thousand and seventy.

Checking the New Revised Standard Version of the bible, it says seventy and mentions those as being descendants of Jeconiah.

This is conclusive proof that in and of itself that the bible has been tampered with to have such differences, and is not the perfect word of God as the Fundamentalists proclaim.

I Samuel, 15:1; 3 "Thus saith the Lord..." 3: "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman,infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." (Emphasis mine.)

But Saul didn't utterly destroy all of the Amalekites; he took Agag, the King alive (verse 8). Samuel, per the Lord having "repented having set up Saul as king troubles Samuel, who upbraids Saul in verses 17 through 19.

Then in verse 33, Samuel himself "...hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal."

That's almost like saying that God was on the sideline making sure of it and cheering Samuel on.

In this, Samuel foreshadows the murderousness of Elijah and Elisha.

NOT JUST SENSELESS AND BLOODTHIRSTY, BUT CAPRICIOUS

This could readily go under the above as genocide and other senseless killings, but I have found this exceptionally special, and thus deserving of its own category.

To set the stage for proper understanding of this sequence, we need to follow it from a particular place, specifically in I Samuel in the last chapter, the 31st. In verse 1, Saul has been fighting the Philistines, and he is losing not just the battle, but his son Jonathan, thus in verse 3 he asks his armour bearer to "...Draw thy sword, and thrust me through..."

In II Samuel, chapter 5, after David has been made king, we are told in verse 5 that he reigned over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months, and then in Jerusalem thirty-three years.

What we are also told that there have been many battles, and much time has passed when in chapter 11, in Jerusalem, he sees Bathsheba from whom Solomon will be born later. After that, much time has passed until we come to chapter 21, which is what this is all about. In verse 1, we are told:

"Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites."

Many years after Saul has died, and this deed he had committed, God, the Lord, has now decided to punish the children for the sins of the father, namely Israel as Saul's children. If we extrapolate aright, this is at least ten years after Saul has died fighting Philistines, not Gibeonites.

Strangely, the bible apparently does not mention Saul slaying the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites are mentioned in Joshua, chapter 9 as being deceitful, but being allowed to stay as they had been, but servants to the Israelites.

Now it isn't enough that so many years later God had punished Israel, but David, apparently with God's okay, asks the Gibeonites what will satisfy them as justice for the sin of Saul and they say that seven sons of Saul must be turned over to them to be hung, which David agrees to (verse 6 of chapter 21 of II Samuel).

We have seen earlier that God will visit the sins of the fathers unto the children, and also, if he pleases, change his mind and not punish the children for the sins of the fathers. A famine years after the sin, which punishes a great many people, and then to hang seven sons of the father who committed an unknown sin? More than bloodthirsty, and more than capricious. This could only have been written by men who stretched fiction much too far.

This is how men would write, and badly, of course, but not any God. To drive this home, read the next:

* * * *

Just as strange and weird as the above instance, if not more so, and much of it very uncertain, in chapter 24 of II Samuel, and seemingly out of nowhere, the King James bible says:

"And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go number Israel and Judah."

That is, take a census.

He does by sending Joab to do it. It takes him, according to verse 8, nine months and twenty days to do the job: there are, according to verse 9, eight hundred thousand (800,000) valiant men in Israel, and five hundred thousand (500,000) in Judah, numbers obviously greatly exaggerated (see earlier notations on this). However, what is odd is that in verse 10, we're told:

"And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of they servant; for I have done very foolishly."

Huh? What has he done foolishly? How has he sinned by obeying God? More, how could God's anger at Israel include Judah, and with a census yet? We'll see shortly, but only partly, what may have happened, but to continue, verse 15 tells us of David's choice of punishments for his supposed transgression:

"So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men."

That's the entire length of the tribe's territory from north to south (if this part of Dan was the northern most part for Dan was divided into two parts).

The first question is how could David have sinned by doing as God asked him? To try to solve this, I looked to see if there were any references, as well as what other bibles may have said. A look at the Catholic bible, I found this at the start of the same verse 1:

"The Lord's anger against Israel flared again, and he incited David against the Israelites by prompting him to number Israel and Judah."

It is the same save for it saying that God incited David, but not why, nor, again, why Judah is included in whatever God has in mind.

Looking at the New International Version, it says the Lord burned against Israel and incited David to take a census. The New Revised Standard version says the same as the NIV and the Catholic bible. It still makes no sense.

All agree as to the census numbers.

However, another King James bible has cross references to I Chronicles. Looking at that book, it says in chapter 21:

"And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel."

There is a humongous difference between the Lord's anger and Satan stirring the pot, so to speak, that is, if Chronicles can be believed, it is so often out of whack in many other places. Still, it makes some sense.

Well, so much for the inerrant bible—again.

But that's not all. I Chronicles gives the census numbers vastly different in verse 5:

"And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand (1,100,000) men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand (470,000) men that drew sword."

These numbers have been shown earlier. Notice though that these numbers between II Samuel and I Chronicles are vastly different. There goes the myth of the bible being inerrant again as the Fundamentalists say.

However, all books of the bible agree on seventy thousand men dying in the pestilence, in II Samuel and I Chronicles.

One more thing to add to this scenario of the census and that is Satan versus God. How could there be a mix up in the King James about the same thing, but in II Samuel versus I Chronicles? The same is true of the New International and New Revised Standard versions, as well as the Catholic bible.

Didn't anyone see the differences? Didn't Fundamentalists see the differences?

Did God contradict himself, or was it men who contradicted themselves? I would think men. In fact, this is all too capricious, as much of the bible is, and too senseless.

THE SPLIT OF THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL

All who know anything about the bible and the tribes of Israel have probably heard about the ten northern tribes of Israel splitting off from the unified Israel that was so-called united by David into one kingdom. This split came after Solomon's death. In I Kings, chapter 11, verse 11, God is displeased that Solomon has taken so many foreign wives and made altars for them to their gods, so part of verse 11 says:

"...I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant."

That servant, Jeroboam, was hand picked by God. But, in verse 13 following, it says:

"Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen."

How it came to be, I have no idea, but I had always, for some reason, assumed that Jerusalem was located in the land of Judah. Maybe it is because the south kingdom after the split was, and has always, been called the kingdom of Judah.

Perhaps Joshua, chapter 15, verse 63 had something to do with my mistaking Jerusalem as being in Judah's territory. Chapter 15 tells of the allotment of land for the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem is not included. However, the last verse in that chapter, 63, says:

"As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day."

This is a major error if Joshua, chapter 18, verse 21 and 28 are correct as below:

"Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and..."

"And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which isJerusalem, Gibeath..." (Emphasis mine.)

Maybe there were different authors, writers, editors, and they goofed, but God is perfect, so it couldn't have been him.

Back to the split, let's look at it carefully as I suddenly did.

Jacob had twelve sons, which many presumed were the twelve tribes of Israel. Those sons are from north location territory to south and west to east: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun, Levi, Joseph, Issachar, Gad, Benjamin, Judah, Reuben, and Simeon, according to many maps. One exception is that some maps show Simeon below Judah, and some show Judah surrounding Simeon.

However, the tribe of Levi was dedicated to God as a priestly tribe and had no land allotment as the others did, so that makes eleven tribes.

Further, Joseph was not included in the land allotments, so that makes ten tribes, but, Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim were given allotments as if they were equal sons as the others were, so now we're back up to twelve tribes that we've always been told about.

However, though I had thought Jerusalem was in Judah, it is actually in Benjamin. Thus when I saw in I Kings, chapter 12, verse 21 that Rehoboam:

"...assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand [180,000—another gross exaggeration of warriors] chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to being the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon."