Relevant scripture: Genesis 15 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. -kjv Question from moody radio listener on January 20, 2018: When the Lord commands that the Israelites go and conquer a nation and go over there and kill every man, woman and child. What does the children have to do with that? Why do they have to kill the children? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: The terrible destruction that Joshua was called upon to carry out as he conquer the land. Honestly, it's one of the real difficulties of the bible. The nations there have to be purged, even the children. There are some difficulties about this but one answer to that probably makes the most sense to me. First of all, this is a one time, it was not something to be carried out all the time. There are some commands that every generation we carry out. Some commands are limited to that time and place. The conquest and the destruction of the Canaanites was a one time command, not something to be carried out every time Israel was to judge and be God's instrument of judgement. The reason for it as I understand it is that the society had become so corrupt that it had to be purged. It was so corrupt, so pagan, so idolatrous, so horrific with child sacrifice and awful licentious behavior in the temples that God says this has to be purged and that was God's judgement and His instrument of judgement was going to be the children of Israel as they took the land. It talks about in Genesis 15 that Abraham was going to go into Egypt and it says in Genesis 15 because he was going to spend 400 years there. It says in Genesis 15: 13 : O for certain your offspring will be strangers in land that does not belong to them and they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years and the reason that God puts them in Egypt says in the fourth generation, they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites have not yet reached its full measure. The iniquity of the Amorites refers to the sins of the Canaanites and their sins have not reached their full measure. Basically God in his mercy says "Go ahead, he turned them over to their own desires and they became so wicked that God then was going to use the sons of Israel, the daughter of Israel to come into the land and judge the Amorite or Canaanites for their sin, that's why the great purging have to happen there. That's how I understand it. When you go to the archaeology museum in Jerusalem, at the Israel museum, it is amazing when you see the remnants of the Canaanite culture in the archaeology museum. They had become so corrupted and so licentious, they have little idols, 3 inch idols that have enlarged genitalia because bigger than almost the whole idol because they were so consumed with that kind of fertility rite and things like that and so they had become unbelievable and they would offer their own children as sacrifices in order to satisfy their Gods, the Asherahs, the Ashtarte etc . Yeah, it was so corrupt that's why the judgement happened but it's not something that should be repeated because it was a one time judgement.
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Related Passage: Matthew 18 15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. 18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. -kjv Question from moody radio listener on Jan 6, 2018: My question is related to that I was listening to you the other day when you said that one of the biggest misquoted part of the bible is when Jesus said where two or three come together in my name, there I am with you and it intrigued me and I didn't know where is that in the bible, so I will like to know more about that. Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: Well, it's in Matthew 18 and I think it's interesting because it's quoted all the time about prayer. I think it's praying in groups of two and three, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst. But, if you look at it in context, it has a whole different meaning. I will pick it up in 18:15. It says if your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you've won your brother. But if he won't listen, take one or two more with you so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses, every fact may be established. If he pays no attention to them, tell the church and I think that usually means the elders of the church but if he doesn't pay attention even to the church, let him be like an unbeliever and a tax collector to you, in other words have nothing to do with him. I assure you and he's talking here to the leaders of the church, whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven and again I assure you, if two of you on earth agree on any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my father in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them. What he's saying is when the leadership of the church decides on some sort of congregational discipline, if the two or three agree, it's bound in heaven. God is going to act on that. They have that kind of authority, where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. In other words when the elders of the church act in accordance with the discipline of the local church, the one who is there in their midst, operating with them and making that decision is the Lord Jesus. And so it is really about church discipline, not about prayer.
Question from moody radio listener on openline December 16, 2017: I have wondered about the wise men and the birth story of Jesus. I have kind of seen them as possibly being astrologers. There are places in the bible that seems to me to stay away from astrologers. Mary and Joseph didn't seek them but they were visited by them and accepted the gifts they brought. Can you discuss these people and maybe who you think they were and help us clear this up please? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: I think to understand it, they were wise men from the East, Magi from the East, we don't know if there were three of them. They weren't kings, they were wise men and they came probably from the area that we considered Persia. About five hundred years before their arrival, there was a Jewish exile who was very influential among the wise men of the East, his name was Daniel. He gave very specific prophecies about the Messiah and the end of days. I do believe that he had a profound influence on that class of wise men, so that they were looking for the coming of the Messiah. I wouldn't call them astrologers but astronomers and as they looked at the stars, God gave them a special sign. Don't think it was a real star but it looked like a star to them but I do believe it's the shekinah glory of God. The reason I think that is stars don't move. They don't stop shining like the star did when they got to Herod, then start again to take them to Bethlehem, so I think it was the presence of God, the glory of God as it moved. Sort of like the light that led the Jewish people in the wilderness at night. And so that's what I think they saw, that's what led them. They saw it because they were astronomers, not astrologers. They had a biblical faith because of the influence of Daniel.