The following quote is taken from evilbible.com:
"You Have To Kill - "Cursed
be he who does the Lords work remissly, cursed he who holds back his sword from
blood." (Jeremiah 48:10 NAB)
You can read the entire chapter
here:
It is important to note that this
verse is not a blanket command, given to any and every person in any given
situation. This was a very specific
directive given to a very specific group of people: the Babylonian army, whom
God allowed to conquer Moab. Verses such
as these must be considered within the passage they appear in, and should not
be taken out of context.
Why was judgment pronounced on Moab? The Moabites were
an ancient nation who were descendants of Lot (Abraham's nephew) and one of his
daughters (Genesis 19:30-38). They were
often hostile towards Israel; their king, Balak, hired a man named Balaam to
curse Israel because the Moabites felt threatened by them, but God caused
Balaam to bless Israel instead (Numbers 22-24).
Shortly after this, the Moabite women enticed the Israelite men into sex
and worship of false idols, causing a plague that killed 24,000 people (Numbers
25:1-9).
Even so, God
prevented the Israelites from going to war against Moab later on, because he
had given the land of Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession
(Deuteronomy 2:9). But because of their
hostility against Israel, Moabites and Ammonites were not permitted to enter
the assembly of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:3-6).
The hostility
continued - King Eglon of Moab oppressed Israel for 18 years during the time of
the judges (Judges 3:12-30). Moab
battled against Israel during the time of King Joram, and their king, Mesha,
sacrificed his own son on the city wall (2 Kings 3). Moabites raided Israel every spring during
the time of the kings (2 Kings 13:20).
In short, Moab and Israel were enemies, constantly at war.
The reason for
Moab's destruction was because they had "defied the Lord" (Jeremiah
48:42). "We have heard of
Moab’s pride - how great is her arrogance! - of her insolence, her pride, her
conceit
and the haughtiness of her heart" (Jeremiah 48:29,
NIV). Even so, God said that in days to
come, he would have mercy and restore the fortunes of Moab (Jeremiah
48:47). If anyone repents and turns to
God, he shows mercy (Jeremiah 18:8).
