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God Was God just in destroying the Canaanites? 4:28 NIV). 5:7; 29:23; Hos. These nations were cut off to prevent the corruption of Israel and the rest of the world (Deuteronomy 20:16-18). Copan, Yahweh Wars and the Canaanites. God knows what is best for humankind, but He allowed free creatures to rebel and find out on their own that He is right. Would 45 be ok? Abraham continues to bargain down to 10 righteous people. And how else would God have said it if He did mean that? Covenant Theological Seminary) serves as an assistant pastor at Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Tennessee. He can give and take life as He chooses. He blogs at, How J. K. Rowling Played, then Lost, the Polarization Game, GAFCON IV: Lessons from a Communion in Birth Pains, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Christian Nationalism, What to Do When Your Child Is Addicted to Video Games, Radical Christian Gentleness in an Era of Addictive Outrage, The FAQs: Anglican Group Calls on Church of Englands Leader to Repent, Whats the Earliest Evidence for Christianity? Why did God wipe out the Canaanites? : r/TrueChristian As a result, they eventually received the same judgment the Canaanites experienced ( Deut. When God told Abraham He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleaded for them, and God agreed in his mercy that if but only ten righteous people were found, He wouldnt do it. In Genesis 15:16, God told Abraham that his descendants would have to remain slaves in Egypt for 400 years before taking possession of Canaan, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. So God was patient in dealing with the Canaanite nations, waiting until they reached the point of no return. Yahweh wars are battles recorded in Scripture that are prompted by God for His purposes and won by His power.{4}. They are all part of an inherently wicked culture that, if allowed to live, would morally and theologically pollute the people of Israel.[1]. 23:14). God allowed Israel to become slaves in Egypt (more on this in a moment). In the old testament God tells Joshua to kill all the Canaanites, including women and children. These twentieth-century examples were basically people killing people simply because they hated them and/or wanted their land. A more detailed version is also available on our Web site with the title Yahweh War and the Conquest of Canaan. {14} The only test we can put to God is consistency with His own nature and word. Moreover, most atheists do not customarily condemn the very practices that God condemns, for example, idolatry, adultery, and homosexuality. It also happens to be one of the most frequently heard objections to the Christian faith today. 10 Biblical Steps Towards Restoration After Sexual Sin, Baptism Quotes: 27 Inspirational Christian Sayings, 25 Encouraging Bible Verses About Strength, Words of Encouragement: 30 Uplifting Quotes. 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. In Luke 20 Jesus told the Jews the parable of the tenants and the vineyard. In his discussion in Moral Monster, Copan refers specifically to Deut. Abraham asked the Lord this exact question in Genesis 18 regarding the coming destruction of two Canaanite citiesSodom and Gomorrah: Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Memory,. Longman writes: The war against the Canaanites was simply an earlier phase of the battle that comes to its climax on the cross and its completion at the final judgment. Thanks to his obedience unto death, our own sins are forgiven, and we can now stand in Gods favor by faith alone. The Spirit of God comes on Jephthah, but the military leader's efforts still end in tragedy. Bestiality. Dr. Michael Gleghorn draws on a work by Dr. Gail R. O'Day, "Jesus as Friend in the Gospel of John," to explore the perspective of Jesus Christ as a Friend. 2:34; 3:3, 6). Why did some rules from the Old Testament cease to exist? Similarly, the southern tribes (usually referred to as Judah) were deported when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem beginning in 586 BC. God didnt. Had there been repentance, there would have been no need to execute wrath on evildoers. God says its going to be a while before you all enter the promised land, because the Canaanites arent beyond saving.. Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Resources The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version(ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 33, number 04 (2010). Israel was not allowed to treat other nations as they treated the Canaanite cities. 16:9; cf. 25). In the meantime, we are still called to do battle, but not as Israel did. Christ and the Conflagration of Canaan - The Gospel Coalition The third goal of the conquest was the protection of Israel. Glenn M. Miller, How could a God of Love order the massacre/annihilation of the Canaanites? on the web site A Christian Thinktank, The story of Canaanite incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality flow out of the plot line of idolatry. Although these laws express Gods judgment, they also show us Gods mercy in several important ways: Now that Christ has come, the way in which we understand and apply theeremlaws has radically transformed. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. In fact, the Hebrew wars with other nations (except Canaan) were designed to be only in self-defense (Toward Old Testament Ethics, Walter Kaiser, Jr., p, 267, Zondervan, 1983). I probably will not answer every question in this short article, and even some of the answers I give will not satisfy everyone, but I do hope to present a solid biblical argument for the goodness, holiness, love, and justice of our Creator God. He sent Moses to Pharaoh, and gave him 9 chances to repent. They were fully aware that God had chosen Israel to be a tool in His hands in bringing judgement to the nations. Lev. Humans do not have the right to do whatever we want. 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. What about these people prompted such a harsh judgment? The quote is from Gail Patches, The Great Debate: Craig, Hitchens ask Does God Exist? Whittier Daily News, April 5, 2009, A1, A4. A biblical example of this would be Gods treatment of the city of Nineveh. 7:1-2). Why didnt God just tell Israel; move in, settle down and coexist? Not even 10 righteous people could be found. 2:11). Tugis life was full of dignity and worth. An obvious objection to the idea that God was judging the Canaanites is that it would be unfair for Him to do so if they had no opportunity to repent and be saved. 22 Christian Quotes and Sayings About God. For one thing, the Israelites would intermarry with them, and their spouses would bring their gods into the marriage with all that entailed. Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman sees five phases of Yahweh war in the Bible. The tragedy of this story is that not only is idolatry an offense to Yahweh, but it fails to supply a happy ending for human communities as well. An even more detestable practice was that of child sacrifice. Capital Punishment Reason 4 He gave them the law so that they may know Him and His ways. 1:4). Under the sanctuary in the ancient city of Gezer, urns containing the burnt bones of children have been found. M.G. To answer these questions, we must understand the place of the erem laws in the history of redemption. It was merciful for God to bring an end to the. Rick Wade provides a biblically informed perspective of these Old Testament events, looking back at them with a Christian view of history and its significance. Rusty Wright presents a compelling case for the historicity of Jesus resurrection. 13-14), but in nearby cities they were to save nothing alive that breathes (v. 16). And as a consequence, God used Israel to bring judgement upon them. He is convinced that the hope of the world lies in men and women having a saving relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. 23:33; Deut. We dont live in a theocracy anymore and, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:45, we dont fight with the weapons of the world, but we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God (NIV). ", Jesus Resurrection: Fact or Fiction? Judges: a cycle of sin and deliverance - OverviewBible Change). Although no Scripture is definitive that all children will be saved, many Christians point out that it is possible (based on verses like Matthew 19:14). 12. Slaughter of the Canaanites | Reasonable Faith God waited to redeem humankind until they had the chance to be, as 2 Live Crew once put it, as nasty as they wanna be.. Idolatry. What place should they have in our preaching and practice? God had warned them against that (Deut. If He wanted to strike me dead right now, thats His prerogative (Reasonable Faith . It was merciful for God to allow the Canaanites to remain in the land as long as they did. No ANE text condemns homosexuality. The Canaanites were grossly sinful people who were given plenty of time by God to change their ways. God was patient with the Canaanites Consequently, we love what He hates, and we hate what He loves. God has delivered Israel and set them apart as His people. At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. Presumably, the Canaanites could have done the same thing. Seems a bit harsh right? There are many nations and peoples called wicked or evil and then destroyed in the Bible including Canaan, Hittites, Giggahites, Amorites, Pharaoh and his people, Sodom and Gommorah. Even though the Ruler of the universe displays mercy and gives to men time to repent, there ultimately must be a day of judgement. Please make sure all fields are filled out. It was merciful for God to allow the Canaanites to remain in the land as long as they did. Like all Ancient Near East (ANE) pantheons, the Canaanite pantheon was incestuous. A God of love and justice, they say, could never command genocide, and therefore he must not exist. Instead, the Israelites worshiped the Canaanites gods and did evil (Judg. Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. (Deut. But instead of repenting when things went badly, they concluded that their misfortune was because they stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven, Inanna/Ishtar (Jer. Peter Singer Heavy Petting: Review of Midas Dekkers, Dearest Pet: On Bestiality (London, 2000), Nerve.com, 2001, http://www.nerve.com/opinions/singer/heavypetting/main.asp. Richard Dawkins and other new atheists herald Gods ordering of the destruction of Canaanite cities to be divine ethnic cleansing and genocides.1 With righteous indignation, Dawkins opines that the God of the Old Testament is the most unpleasant character in all of fiction.2 But was the killing of the Canaanites an example of divine genocide? 14. Lets look at something God told Abraham before all this started. But God has no such prohibition. At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. Previous post: 10 Biblical Steps Towards Restoration After Sexual Sin, Next post: Baptism Quotes: 27 Inspirational Christian Sayings. God is a God of . The completely negative connotations of genocide make it hard to look at the biblical events without a jaundiced eye. Killing of the Canaanites, Robert Driskell received a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Pastoral Ministries and Biblical Studies from Mid-America Christian University in 1995. [a] capriciously malevolent bully.{2}. 7.1-2; 20.16-18). He believes the latter is the correct interpretation. Looking a four outcomes of the resurrection, Dr. Zukeran shows us that the greatest defense of the deity of Jesus was made by Jesus Himself. Robert believes that the Bible contains the truth that God wants us to base our lives upon. / He lies with her seventy times seven / Mounts eighty times eight / [She conceiv]es and bears a boy.20. It may not be altered or edited in any way. Did the Ancient Gentiles Have the Hope of Salvation? The evidence says no. This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 44, number 2 (2021). Isnt that a better alternative? I want to look at some Biblical stories about God destroying nations. Minor judges Izban, Elon, and Abdon get brief mentions. 11. Their authority is based on the current societal perception of morality. They are dated to somewhere between 2000 and 1500 BC, between the time of Abraham and the Exodus.{7}. Real Questions. When Joshua led the people across the Jordan River into Canaan, he was fulfilling this promise. 13. God has done everything in His power to save the sinner through the plan of redemption (John 3:16). Of course not. However recently an atheist friend told me God was cruel and unloving and used examples from the old testament to prove 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. God destroys Sodom. But what about Deuteronomy 24:16 which says that children shall not be put to death because of their fathers sins? Why did God judge the Canaanites as wicked despite never appearing to wars instituted by and fought with the, My eldest daughter and I have been discussing portions of the Bible with which she is struggling. Servants were sent to the tenants of the vineyard, but had been mistreated, and so the owner of the vineyard sent his son, but the tenants killed the son. Israel had a unique calling as Gods chosen covenant people. Was John the Baptist the only person that understood Christs mission. To understand what God was doing in Canaan, one must see it within the larger context of redemptive history. But this is precisely the thing that the unbeliever loses in denying the existence of God. . Dawkins objects that it adds injury to insult that the unfortunate beast is to be killed too.23 But Dawkins doesnt seem to grasp that no one would want to have animals around who were used to having sex with humans.24 Moreover, this might also explain why God used a flood to destroy what Dawkins called the presumably blameless animals in the days of Noah.25 If pre-flood humankind frequently had sex with every imaginable animal, then even though it wasnt the animals fault, it would be harmful to allow these animals to be a part of Gods start-over society. 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? 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. The Canaanites had not completely sinned away their day of grace. Probe fulfills this mission through our Mind Games conferences for youth and adults, our 3-minute daily radio program, and our extensive Web site at www.probe.org. 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. What if there are fifty righteous people in the city?Far be it from you to do such a thingto kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. 1: The Pentateuch (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.), 484-485. Help train Christians to boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that clearly communicates to this secular age. In fact, He waited almost 400 years, and until their society had become completely depraved, before He instituted His command of capital punishment. Robert is happily married and lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In Genesis 15:16 the LORD made reference to the Canaanites when he said, "the sin of the Amorites (Canaanites) has not yet reached its full measure." God was waiting to fulfill his justice against this people. This is an online articlefrom theChristian Research Journal. OT scholar Tremper Longman summarizes this point well: We must point out that the Bible does not understand the destruction of the men, women, and children of these cities as a slaughter of innocents. The situation with Canaan was different. God is love (1 John 4:16) and He is also just (Psalm 25:8). Scholar Glen Miller points out that dispossession words are used by a three-to-one margin over destruction words.{12}. 22:1011; Amos 2:7), and even Solomon set up an altar to Molech (1 Kings 11:5, 78). Though rebellion must be put down and rebels must be punished for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), God displays mercy for He is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Concerning the destruction of the Canaanites, atheists especially like to exploit the Christian condemnation of genocide. Read them in the archive below. 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. Other ungodly acts routinely engaged in by the Canaanites included adultery, bestiality, and homosexuality (Leviticus 18:20-30). Long after the conquest of the land, when God decided He would have to destroy Moab, according to Isaiah God wept bitterly over her cities (Isa. He can be reached at [emailprotected]. This document may not be repackaged in any form for sale or resale. Who Were the Canaanites, and Why Did God Order Their Destruction? God mercifully provides time and opportunity for repentance from idolatry and spiritual fornication with this world ( II Peter 3:9 ). Non-Christians often point to the Old Testaments erem laws to reject Christianity altogether. What it Means to Become a New Creation in Christ. This document is the sole property of Probe Ministries. This is one of the most morally troubling passages in all of Scripture. Thus, Longman says, The war against the Canaanites was simply an earlier phase of the battle that comes to its climax on the cross and its completion at the final judgment.{5}. And they even sent their own children into the fires of the god Molech as living sacrifices. William Lane Craig reminds us God is not subject to our judgment of His actions; He has no moral obligations except to Himself. A Clear Christian Perspective, The Apologetics of Jesus: A Defense of His Deity, Bridging to Common Ground: Communicating Christ Across the Cultural Divide, How I Know Christianity Is True A Defense of the Gospel, Yahweh War and the Conquest of Canaan A Biblical Worldview Perspective, Personal Development/Relationships Emails, Trusting God on the Other Side of Bizarre, Cohfessions of a Missionary Addicted to Porn. In Genesis 15:16, God told Abraham that his descendants would have to remain slaves in Egypt for 400 years before taking possession of Canaan, "for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." Christians today are engaged in warfare on this level. Yahweh is a God of justice as well as mercy. Inanna/Ishtar, also known as the Queen of Heaven, became the woman among the gods, patron of eroticism and sensuality, of conjugal love as well as adultery, of brides and prostitutes, transvestites and pederasts.10 As University of Helsinki professor Martti Nissinen writes, Sexual contact with a person whose whole life was devoted to the goddess was tantamount to union with the goddess herself.11, The Canaanites even remake the God of the Bible, El, after their own image and portray Him ceremonially as having sex with two women (or goddesses). But we must keep in mind that God is not subject to our contemporary sensibilities. Parents can corrupt their children.29. The Killing of the Canaanites - Genocide or Capital Punishment? - Part The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics helps Christians show unbelievers the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel as the only hope that fulfills our deepest longings. When angels arrive, however, the men of the city try to rape them and not only does Lot not find anyone who will repent, Lot himself tarries so long that the angels take Lot and his family by the arms and all but drag them out of the city. Kyle Dillon (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary) serves as an assistant pastor at Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Tennessee. Our enemies are the demonic forces that hold the world in captivity to sin, and our weapons are now prayer, preaching, and evangelism. PDF What Do We Do with the Canaanites? 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). Can the actions of the Israelites legitimately be called genocide? The people of the land had heard about all that had happened with the Israelites from the time they escaped Egypt. Therefore, Israels own mission foreshadowed Jesuss mission in a number of ways. For example, God commanded the Israelites, in Deuteronomy 20:10-15, to offer conditions of peace rather than extermination to all others. Longman goes on to cite OT scholar Meredith Kline, who proposes a theory of intrusion ethics. Scripture tells us that the punishment for all sin is death (Gen. 2:17; Rom. Thus, if God wanted to rid the world of their wickedness, then He couldnt have them grow up wanting to imitate their birth parents with whom they bonded. Before He redeemed humankind, He needed to unambiguously demonstrate what exactly He was redeeming them from: a blatant and unrestrained evil that resulted in a worthless, nasty, and cruel existence. In a recent debate with William Lane Craig, Hitchens exhorted the Christians in the audience, Emancipate yourself from the idea of a celestial dictatorship and youve taken the first step toward becoming free.32, Although Dawkins nowhere endorses sex with animals, he does endorse Princeton atheist and ethicist Peter Singer as an eloquent advocate for our need to become postspeciesist.33 According to Singer, to claim that one species is better than another is to invoke grave implications because, after all, We are animals.This does not make sex across the species barrier normal, or natural, whatever those much-misused words may mean, but it does imply that it ceases to be an offence to our status and dignity as human beings.34. He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Then, in AD 70, forty years after Jesus was crucified, the Roman emperor Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Copyright 2010-2023 Telling Ministries LLC. Since Canaanite sin was regular and systematicthe entire adult population participated in the idolatrous systemGod judged the entire nation. Who Were the Canaanites in the Bible - History and Importance Skeptics have claimed that God was unjust when He ordained Israel to destroy the Canaanites. God had promised this land to their ancestor Abraham around 500 years earlier (Gen. 15:18-21), but it would be their responsibility, under the leadership of Joshua, to clear out the local inhabitants and take possession of the land. Rick's interests focus on apologetics, Christianity and culture, and the changing currents in Western thought. Canaanite religion, like that of all of the ANE, was a fertility religion that involved temple sex. 4. 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. If a man has intercourse with a horse or a mule, there is no punishment.18 As with incest, the penalty for having sex with animals decreased about the fourteenth century BC.19, There should be no surprise that bestiality would occur among the Canaanites, since their gods practiced it. The people have rebelled against God and spend 40 years in the desert. God knew it would take the destruction of the nations. 6. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (around 2100 BC) came 600 years before Israel destroyed the Canaanite nation. Not even the children are considered innocent. Let us also remember that the problem with the Canaanite city of Sodom wasnt just sex among consenting adults: the men of Sodom, both young and old, tried to rape the visitors (Gen. 19:5). James B. Pritchard, Harry A. Hoffner, Jr., Incest, Sodomy and Bestiality in the Ancient Near East, in. 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 LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. First, the movement of the Israelites into Canaan was the fruition of Gods promise to Abram that He would give that land to his children (Gen. 12:7). Because of this, I think the term should be avoided. A common attack today on Christianity has to do with the character of the God of the Old Testament{1}. Why Did God Command the Israelites to Destroy the Nations in the Land They could have repented of their evil, followed God, and been spared judgment. in communications (radio broadcasting) from Moody Bible Institute, an M.A. In short, Israel was Canaanized. Lets first frame this question with context. Of course Dawkins complains that Gods monumental rage whenever his chosen people flirted with a rival god resembles nothing so much as sexual jealousy of the worst kind.5 But does anyone think that if Dawkinss wife left him for a gingerbread man of her own baking, and then she began to tell everyone that he liked to play with his excrement, that Dawkins would tolerate the characterization of his feelings as no more than sexual jealously of the worst kind?
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