The salvation of Jehovah is different from the salvation of Jesus Christ. How is it different? The salvation of Jehovah is earthly and temporal, for it delivered from Egypt to take to Canaan. The people moved from one bad place to another one that was worse. They were saved from the Egyptian slavery and were taken to a fertile land that flowed with milk and honey. Jehovah said: “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite” (Ex. 3:8). Jehovah knew all those peoples, and was aware that they were idolaters and completely corrupted, morally (Lev. 18:19-30). And the Canaanites were Sodomites (Gen. 10:19). As Jehovah did not remove those peoples, as he had promised (Judges 2:1-3), the people mingled with them and were corrupted (Lev. 18:19-30) — and the Canaanites were sodomites (Judges 3:1-8). Then Jehovah, as punishment, delivered them to the sodomites as slaves. As they became used to sin, during the seven captivities that they suffered inside the land that flowed with milk and honey, the people were becoming hardened through the treatment of Jehovah. So they sinned more and more. Then Jehovah withheld the rain (1 Kings 17:1). Three years of famine went by (1 Kings 18:1). There were neither milk or honey, or vegetables, nothing, in the land that flows with milk and honey. When Ahab died, who had watched the terrible effects of the shortage of water, his son Ahaziah sat on the throne. This king fell through the lattice in his upper chamber and was badly hurt. Then he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub (father of flies), god of Ecrom, and Jehovah decreed his death (2 Kings 1:1-4). When Ahaziah died, his son Jehoram sat on the throne (2 Kings 1:17). During his reign, Ben-haddad, king of Syria, became king and besieged Samaria. The siege was so prolonged, and the famine was so terrible, that the women boiled their children and ate them. One of the women sought king Joram with her complaint, saying: “Ah, Lord Jehovah! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart” (Jer. 4:10).
The salvation of Jehovah was effected through war, because he is the god of war, and has a book where he plans his murderous wars (Num. 21:14). Moses reveals that Jehovah is a man of war (Ex. 15:3). Jehovah, with his dark power, trumps up enemies to kill in war. Let us prove through the Holy Scriptures that Jehovah created enemies to value his salvation.
When Moses arrived to the surroundings of Canaan and was going to pass through the valley of Arnon, Jehovah said: “I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle” (Deut. 2:24). Moses, then, asked to go through the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon, but this king did not want to let the people of Israel pass, because Jehovah had hardened his heart (Deut. 2:30). Then Sihon went to face Israel with his people. Jehovah went to war and gave the victory to Moses, who killed men, women, and children. Nobody was left alive. And Israel sprung to the blood by the big boss’s command (Deut. 2:31-36). Besides not loving those peoples, Jehovah hardened their hearts by making them enemies to kill and ravage them as the thieves do. Jesus said: “The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Joshua, Moses successor, tells another episode of hardening in order to have reason to kill. He said: “There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took all in battle. For it was of Jehovah to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as Jehovah commanded Moses” (Josh. 11:19-20). The salvation of Jehovah was to deliver the enemies that he himself produced.
The story of the Egyptians speaks louder. From the time when Joseph became the governor of Egypt, the barns of Pharaoh overflowed. The wealth of the neighboring nations all came to the Pharaoh’s safe, to buy grain. Between Israel and Egypt such a strong bond of friendship was established, that Pharaoh gave order to Joseph to bring his father Jacob and all his offspring. When they got to Egypt a great banquet was set before them. Pharaoh gave to Jacob and his family the best land in Egypt: the land of Goshen. When Jacob died, there was a sorrowful lamentation of seven days (Gen. 50:6-11). The Egyptians and the Israelites were like brothers, then. When the Pharaoh of the times of Joseph died and another one sat on the throne, Jehovah, the almighty El Shaddai, the devastating god (Is. 13:6-9), performed a dark prodigy registered in the psalms: “Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham. He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries. He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants” (Ps. 105:23-25). As Jehovah made them into enemies of Israel, this became easier. Jehovah began sending plagues over Egypt. Everybody thinks that it was for the love of the offspring of Jacob, but it was not. Jehovah created a scenario to show his power and become famous. It is written in the psalm 106: “Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power known” (Ps. 106:7-8).
Jehovah only sought fame and glory (Is. 66:19).
By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira