Does God contradict his own commandments?

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. He commanded “Thou shalt not kill” then in the days of Saul and David, God commanded them and the Israeli army to slaughter the Philistines, even their women and babies in the suck and their animals also. Explain the contradiction in these biblical passages. I find many biblical contradictions.

The commandments are written on our hearts. But our conscience judges particular acts. Thou shalt not kill. But it's a sin to not be willing to protect family and neighbor against a deadly force.

Paul says "nothing is forbidden to me but not all does good."

For us, we do this or that because it is good.
For God, this or that is good because He did it.

Every time there seems to be a contradiction you can rest assured there is an explanation in scripture you haven't found or understood yet.
In a nutshell, Gen. 3 from her seed one will come that crushes your head. Gen 6 satan & fallen angels attempt to wipe out that seed by the corruption of all flesh. God sends flood. After flood it seems we have a second attempt or a remnant of corrupted flesh so God commands that they be eliminated...

The commandment is better translated, "Thou shalt not murder." Israel following the command clearly given by God is not murder.

If anyone sees a contradiction in scripture it is a signal to them that there is something of the Lord that isn't understood and it is time to study the word closer. As Dino explained, following the Lord's command is not murder. If you check any time the Lord commanded that evil people were to be destroyed, it was for the protection of God's people from that evil, that was the goal.

An example is the supposed contradiction about the law. Paul tells us the Law of Moses was no more and yet scripture after scripture tells us the law is good and eternal. It is a signal to us that we must find out what Paul called the Law of Moses for we can know that scripture does not contradict scripture.

Who are you to judge God? Obey God and leave the judging to him instead. God's commandments were given to us, not the other way around.

This might interest you on whether morality came from God

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthyphro_dilemma

I don't see a contradiction. There is a difference between civil law & order and war.
A soldier who has returned home from active duty is expected to obey the law and not to kill anyone although killing people may have been part of his duty when he was engaged.

Good comment. It seems counter intuitive. Contradictions are the critics favorite argument against Scriptures. Thinking of them negatively becomes a habit. But if we see them, like you do, in a positive light they are invitations to explore a mystery. Grace and Peace to you.

Why is it that some alleged Christians think they're in a political forum or a college debating team? I'm not questioning God, I'm questioning biblical scripture and its seemingly contradictory text. I do it in search for answers, not opposing debates. Christ said, "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find." I'm seeking understanding not argument. I hope to find answers, not anger and accusation.

The nearest thing I've noticed so far in answer to this thread is a discussion between "kill" and "murder." If there's an interpretation issue here, then there should be old world interpretations supporting such? Even that doesn't answer the question of why God didn't simply use his own justified powers to eliminate the Philistines and thereby protect his people from a seemingly contradiction of his commandments?

All who think they believe should practice believing certain matters before the understanding is given. This does not say to act upon what is not yet understood, it is simply saying have faith and exercise it.

Eventually, one by one, those teachings or writings which at first appearance do not agree will agree. This includes those places where it seems someone is quoting the wrong prophet.

If biblical scripture is not to be questioned, then should we submit that God made a mistake by giving us independent thinking minds of our own and freedom? How are we to judge false prophets and conflicting religious beliefs?

My belief is simple. If Any evangelist misquotes just who said something, it is either in error, or the quote was not found when compiling the Bible.

Nothing of the Word in error is going to change the Gospel of Yeshua, it will remain the same no matter how many unicorns, camels going through the eye of a needle, or whatever are seen as damming of the message..........they are simply renditions in error, and they have never stopped nor made me question faith in our Lord, Yeshua.

Not that they aren't questioned but approached in faith.

I have no problem with questioning scripture. I don't think The Lord does either or he wouldn't have said things like "come, let us reason together". He isn't the kind of God that forbids communication but I'm comfortable with the sovereignty of God. I've learned the hard way that you can make short journeys a whole lot longer & more arduous by stopping to complain about everything along the way.

Almighty God is sovereign. There is a time and a season to every purpose under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3- one of the most important chapters in the whole collection of books. There is a time to kill and a time to heal. A time to love and a time to hate. Some Christians don't like that.

So you want to go one step further & ask God why he didn't wipe out the Philistines directly, himself.
Do you think perhaps he was testing their commitment? Probably. Maybe a Sodom & Gomorrah style hit would have made the land unusable for many years afterwards? And he wanted them to be able to live there. His day of vengeance is coming and it's going to be devastating.

By virtue of being God he is entitled to do things I should not do or that look odd to me. I can live with that.

If God commands it then it was alright for them to war against their enemies, for God said if Israel abides by the truth then no enemy can prosper against Israel.

Also when Israel disobeyed the truth for a certain period of time God allowed their enemies to go against them and prosper and then would restore them.

Also God said that the Jews were to treat the strangers as themselves for they were a stranger in Egypt, so the Jews were not warring for no reason.

God plays fair, and knows the hearts of people, and the enemies of Israel that would do them harm, and if God did not intervene in the Old Testament more people would of been hurt, and killed, and strayed from the truth, and Israel would of probably been wiped out, or never again a nation with a scant few left.

God is not cruel but people are cruel, and God only went against those that were having a negative affect on other people to harm them, and kill them, and pervert them from the truth with their false ways spreading too far, and then God had to do something about it, for all that God did was for the benefit of people.

God said He winked at the ignorance of the people in Old Testament times which means He left them alone, but had to put down kingdoms and nations by allowing other nations to put them down for they were wrecking too much havoc towards people, and perverting the truth of God that was spreading too far.

If a boy is walking in a park with his dad, and a man runs up on the boy with a knife to stab him and his dad put him down will the boy say dad you are cruel, or will he thank his dad for saving his life.

Everything that God does is for the benefit of people, and God always gives them a chance to change but when they do not, and He knows that their children will grow up doing the same thing, and they were enemies of the Jews to do them harm as well as other people, then He allowed the Jews to go against them, and helped them to win the battle for their protection as well as the people around them.

I approach everything here "in faith." It's my faith I strive to improve here. Sometimes I wonder why.