It is obvious if that is the paradigm you want to believe it. It is very interesting that you completely negate EGW's interpretation. You quote Deuteronomy 1:41 Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. What did EGW say about this very quotation? So terribly blinded had they become by transgression. The Lord had never commanded them to "go up and fight." It was not His purpose that they should gain the land by warfare, but by strict obedience to His commands. {PP 392.3} MM - is was NOT His [God's] purpose that they should gain the land by warfare. What part of "not His purpose that they should gain the land by warfare" is hard to understand? They were NEVER supposed to fight.

I will again post what I have posted before:
"But the children of Israel did fight throughout all their natural existence, and under God's direction, too," it will be urged. That is very true, but it does not at all prove that it was God's purpose that they should fight. We must not forget that "their minds were blinded" by unbelief, so that they could not perceive the purpose of God for them. They did not grasp the spiritual realities of the kingdom of God, but were content with shadows instead; and the same God who bore with their hardness of heart in the beginning, and strove to teach them by shadows, when they would not have the substance, still remained with them, compassionately considerate of their infirmities. God himself suffered them, because of the hardness of their hearts, to have a plurality of wives, and even laid down rules regulating polygamy, in order to diminish as far as possible the resulting evils, but that does not prove that He designed it for them. We well know that "from the beginning it was not so." So when Jesus forbade His followers to fight in any cause whatever, He introduced nothing new, any more than when He taught that a man should have but one wife, and should cleave to her as long as he lived. He was simply enunciating first principles--preaching a thorough reformation.

A problem you have in understanding this MM is that you focus on behavior; these are "sins" little "s". Our behavior are symptoms of the disease we all have. You never cure a disease by only treating the symptoms. What we want to cure is SIN. "The Law" points out Sin, but it can't cure it, it has no remedy. You can point out "sin" all you want, but that does not cure the Sin. Salvation is healing, healing of the disease Sin.

Matthew 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses. Jeremiah 17:14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise.

As I said, you believe Jesus commanded the Jews to sin. The truth is, however, He commanded them to kill criminals and combatants. They did not demand it. He commanded it. They obeyed His command. In doing so, they did not sin.

You are twisting Ellen White's comment. Jesus did not command them to go and up fight in the sense He commanded them to retreat. You are trying to force it to mean something it obviously does not.

MM - I see no way you get your interpretation of EGW's statement. None. Not there. Quoting the whole paragraph:
God had made it their privilege and their duty to enter the land at the time of His appointment, but through their willful neglect that permission had been withdrawn. Satan had gained his object in preventing them from entering Canaan; and now he urged them on to do the very thing, in the face of the divine prohibition, which they had refused to do when God required it. Thus the great deceiver gained the victory by leading them to rebellion the second time. They had distrusted the power of God to work with their efforts in gaining possession of Canaan; yet now they presumed upon their own strength to accomplish the work independent of divine aid. "We have sinned against the Lord," they cried; "we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us." Deuteronomy 1:41. So terribly blinded had they become by transgression. The Lord had never commanded them to "go up and fight." It was not His purpose that they should gain the land by warfare, but by strict obedience to His commands. {PP 392.3}

The people were NEVER to fight. You not seeing that put you and me at an impasse. Killing is wrong. Divorce is wrong. These are sins, little "s". They are symptoms. You don't cure the disease by treating the symptoms alone. You are fixated on the behavior and true this is important, but it is not the whole picture. You can't know a person by looking at behavior alone. To be a murderer does not require killing someone. If you hate your brother, you are a murderer! Are you a murderer? Your incessant attempt to pigeon hole me will never fly because all you are looking it the outward behavior. Forget it. That is not where the money is. To be like Jesus, as revealed in His life here on earth is where the truth lies. Look to Jesus. If you really want to know God, you have to look at the best evidence given, and that is Jesus. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

War is grand and glorious, right? It is a wonderful thing, right? A sanctifying experience, bring us close to God, right? No, it is a hardening, demoralizing ordeal. God never wanted Israel to fight. Never. Question - Why was David not permitted to build the temple?

Unless you have changed your definition of murder, killing those who have not killed others, you therefore, believe Jesus commanded the Jews to murder.

Which is why you believe Jesus commanded the Jews to sin. Your idea - not mine. You believe Jesus commanded capital punishment and war because the Jews demanded it. Your idea - not mine.


The reason why David was not to build the temple was declared: "Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build a house unto My name. . . . Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies: . . . his name shall be Solomon [peaceable], and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build a house for My name." 1 Chronicles 22:8-10. {PP 712.2}

Who commanded King David to kill enemy combatants? Jesus!


King David obeyed the command to kill enemy combatants. He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Jesus wasn't punishing King David when He forbade him to build the temple.


The first thing Solomon did as King was to kill his enemies.


He killed all these men before his famous dream and before he built the temple. In spite of the blood on his hands, Jesus commanded King Solomon to build the temple.

The difference between murder and obeying Jesus' command to kill is explained in the Bible. It is not murder when obeying Jesus' command to kill. Jesus commanded capital punishment. Executing capital punishment is not murder. Jesus commanded war. Killing enemy combatants in battle is not murder.

It is you, not I, who believes Jesus commanded the Jews to murder. It is you, not I, who believes Jesus commanded the Jews to sin.

The fact that there was a king at all was a rejection of God. Is sure solved Israel's problems, right? Nope. We have no need to fight if we put our faith in God, not even in self-defense. If you can't see what God's real desire was for Israel, how can you understand all the bloodshed that followed. And for all that bloodshed, did Israel fulfill God's purpose? NO.

Jesus said, "If you have seem me, you have seen the Father", John 14:9

APL, you believe Jesus commanded the Jews to sin. I disagree. I believe it was right of them to obey Jesus' command to kill criminals and combatants. It would have been wrong of them to disobey.

When the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created mankind they knew that they would have to implement the plan of salvation and that they would have to fight and win the great controversy. They could have decided not to create mankind. Instead, they chose to create mankind and deal with the great controversy. Jesus knew in advance He would command the Jews to kill criminals and combatants.

"Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." Jesus does not say King David sinned because he obeyed Jesus' commands to kill criminals and enemy combatants.

It was Jesus who commanded the Jews to kill criminals and enemy combatants.