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Also, God made it clear in His conversation with Abraham regarding the Canaanite cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that He knows who would or would not repent, and in the case of those cities, not one person would heed the warning and even Lots family had to be forcibly pulled away from the coming destruction. www.probe.org. But you can send us an email and we'll get back to you, asap. We must keep in mind, also, that Israel did not decide to exterminate the Canaanites, God did. They engaged in temple prostitution which was thought to be a re-enactment of the sexual unions of the gods and goddesses. Since Canaanite sin was regular and systematicthe entire adult population participated in the idolatrous systemGod judged the entire nation. According to the Bible, the Canaanites were so vile that the very land spued them out (Lev. The modernistic notion that Melchizedek was merely the "high god" priest of the Canaanites (e.g., Baal), worshipped in pre-Israelite Jerusalem, is absurd (Hicks 1962, 343). The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul described this spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:12: Forwe do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but againstthe rulers, against the authorities, againstthe cosmic powers overthis present darkness, againstthe spiritual forces of evilin the heavenly places. The battle may be fierce, but we remain confident that Gods justice will ultimately prevail. Paul Copan, How Could a Loving God Command Genocide, in Thats Just Your Interpretation (Grand Rapid: Baker, 2001), 165. Scholar Glen Miller points out that dispossession words are used by a three-to-one margin over destruction words.{12}. For one thing, the Canaanites worshipped other gods. Concerning sexual desire, Dawkins questions why evangelical Christians are so obsessed with private sexual inclinations.30 The apparently not obsessed Christopher Hitchens considers dangerous sexual repression so serious that he calls it one of the four irreducible objections to religious faith.31 Dawkins and Hitchens are not just encouraging a sort of sexual libertarianism per se. {13} How persuasive this thought is will depend on how seriously we take biblical teaching about our future after the grave. 4:26; 7:4 ). the people of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, the entire populace from every end[of the city]. Although early Canaanite laws proscribed either death or banishment for most forms of incest, after the fourteenth century BC, the penalties were reduced to no more than the payment of a fine.8 In the larger ANE context, it is helpful to consider that in an Egyptian dream book dreams of having sex with your mother or your sister were considered good omens.9, Adultery. There are several aspects of Yahweh war. Theeremlaws of the OT were an example of this intrusion. The Canaanites were the only people God commanded the Israelites to destroy Israel was not allowed to treat other nations as they treated the Canaanite cities. No worldly government can exist unless it uses every necessary means to punish law breaking. God says its going to be a while before you all enter the promised land, because the Canaanites arent beyond saving.. . Concerning the destruction of the Canaanites, atheists especially like to exploit the Christian condemnation of genocide. The non-believer has no objective authority. THE CANAANITES- God's Justness in Perspective It's clear from history, God gave them ample time to repent, but they refused (Gen. 15:16; Deut. Israel was not commanded to deal with all other nations the same way they dealt with the Canaanites. And if all children are saved, then a Canaanite child would benefit by being alive in a better place. However, if we properly understand the whole picture we will be able to view God 's actions as full of mercy and fairness in His dealings with His children. And as a consequence, God used Israel to bring judgement upon them. This is one of the most morally troubling passages in all of Scripture. This is an online Viewpoint articlefrom theChristian Research Journal. Who Were the Canaanites in the Bible - History and Importance 18 records briefly the moral degradation of the Canaanites. The Canaanites are identified in Genesis as descendants of Ham, son of Noah. {8} In addition, the Israelites would be tempted to imitate Canaanite religious rituals because of their close connection to agricultural rhythms. To answer these questions, we must understand the place of the erem laws in the history of redemption. 4:26; 7:4). In his article Yahweh Wars which was written after Is Yahweh a Moral Monster?, Copan presents two scenarios, one in which everyone was put to death, and the other in which the targets were military leaders and soldiers. Part of the goal of this essay is to offer evidence to show that God had good reason to command Israel to kill the Canaanites. Then He says something very Interesting your descendants will come back in the fourth generation, because the sins of the Amorites hasnt been fulfilled. The Amorites in this case are the Canaanites. And then these same skeptics turn around and say if there is a God of justice, why does He permit the wicked to rule the world and bring sorrow and suffering on the innocent? He points out how Yahweh Wars, i.e. 4:28 NIV). 20:16-17). This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 33, number 04 (2010). In all of these respects, Israels laws were signposts to the spiritual realities behind Christs redemptive work for us. In short, Israel was Canaanized. Some Christians have responded by driving a wedge between the Old Testament and the New, claiming that Jesuss ethics improved upon the brutal practices of ancient Israel. It was merciful for God to allow the Canaanites to remain in the land as long as they did. The Bible is explicit concerning the sins of the Canaanites: idolatry, incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality. The victims were not only infants; children as old as four were sacrificed.15 Kleitarchos reported that as the flame burning the child surrounded the body, the limbs would shrivel up and the mouth would appear to grin as if laughing, until it was shrunk enough to slip into the cauldron.16, Homosexuality. And since, as we will see, He punished Israel when they committed the same sins, what happened to the Canaanites was not genocide, but capital punishment. Can the actions of the Israelites legitimately be called genocide? Speaking with Abraham, God predicted that the Canaanites would eventually become so evil that He I have two questions: 1. Israel was not allowed to treat other nations as they treated the Canaanite cities. 7:2-3. No matter what explanation of the death of children is given, no one except the most cold hearted will find joy in it. When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. However, if we take the Bible on its own terms, we will recognize that all humans are born guilty and corrupt. They made a religion of lust. Tremper Longman III, The Case for Spiritual Continuity, in C. S. Cowles, Eugene H. Merrill, Daniel L. Gard, and Tremper Longman III, Show Them No Mercy: Four Views on God and Canaanite Genocide (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 185. 4. Now after all of this God gives marching orders. Capital Punishment Reason 4 1 (2008): 7-37; www.epsociety.org/library/articles.asp?pid=45. 32:4; Colossians 3:25; etc.). 28:7. The most disturbing part of the conquest of Canaan for most people is the killing of children. For further information or to subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/. God destroys Sodom. Perhaps what the skeptic is really concerned about is whether the just destruction of the Canaanites is license for Christians to resort to killing the wicked. In phase three, when Israel and Judah were in exile, God promised to come in the future as a warrior to rescue them from their oppressors (cf. Later when Israel disobeys God and allows the Canaanites to continue to live among them, the corruptive and seductive power of Canaanite sin results in the Canaanization of Israel. The law given in Deuteronomy provided regulations for the people of Israel. 2001 W. Plano Parkway, Suite 2000 A special thanks to Joseph Gorra for his many helpful suggestions and to my wife, Jean E. Jones, for her extensive reading of ANE primary and secondary sources and for years ago explaining to me much of the Old Testament. It has been suggested that such obliteration language was hyperbolic.{10} Commands to destroy everyone are sometimes followed by commands not to intermarry, such as in Deut. 14. But what about Deuteronomy 24:16 which says that children shall not be put to death because of their fathers sins? Also, this wasnt the entire destruction of a race as God didnt order that every Canaanite be killed but only those who lived within specific geographical boundaries (Josh. Albrecht Goetze, ed. 18:28). Another observation is that the instruction is frequently to dispossess the Canaanites or move them out rather than to destroy them. For the Canaanites, it was time for Gods judgment. Not only have some people rejected Christianity over this, but it has even spurred some Christians to leave the faith. It is reasonable to believe that other people had heard what Rahab (and Jericho) had heard, thus giving them the opportunity to repent and be spared. Under the sanctuary in the ancient city of Gezer, urns containing the burnt bones of children have been found. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it (Jeremiah 18:7-10 ESV). If you feel an answer is not 100% Bible based, then leave a comment, and we'll be sure to review it. Slaughter of the Canaanites | Reasonable Faith com; Question and Answer Archive, Question #16). The strategic location where the Canaanites were settled carries great. The ESV and NIV give a fuller understanding of the term by translating it devote to destruction (the NASB renders it set apart). So for those of us who confess the authority of both the Old and New Testaments, we are faced with a number of challenging questions: How do we reconcile the erem laws with the rest of Scriptures teachings on justice and compassion? Josephus records that the Jews in Jerusalem were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures, before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city.So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.26 Titus then renamed the region Palestine and for almost 1,900 years one couldnt find Israel on the map.