Bring biblical wisdom to the confusing issues across the world by making a gift to our international work. note: please see Probes article Do Babies Go to Hell? by Probes founder Jimmy Williams.]. 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. He can be reached at [emailprotected]. Their authority is based on the current societal perception of morality. Dan. Israel was not commanded to deal with all other nations the same way they dealt with the Canaanites. Was John the Baptist the only person that understood Christs mission. What it Means to Become a New Creation in Christ. Why Your Church Needs Vacation Bible School, Gods Amazing Conversions Through Dreams and Visions Part Three, Gods Amazing Conversions Through Dreams and Visions Part Two, Ice Dragon: Legend of the Blue Daisies Movie Review, Phoenix Wilder And The Great Elephant Adventure Movie Review, The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island Movie Review. (2) Yahwehs command to kill the Canaanites was an act of divine genocide. Judges: a cycle of sin and deliverance - OverviewBible 6:23), and ultimately every unrepentant sinner will have to face Gods judgment. Killing of the Canaanites: What Does This Say About God? Kyle, Canaan, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, ed. Bereishit 19:4:. Israel was warned not to let the Canaanites live in their land, but to completely destroy them (Exod. 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. C.F. That we commit similar sins today renders us incapable of appropriate moral outrage against these sins and thus we accuse God of genocide to justify our own sinfulness. Genocide and the God of the Old Testament | CrossExamined.org No matter what explanation of the death of children is given, no one except the most cold hearted will find joy in it. All rights reserved. The Spirit of God comes on Jephthah, but the military leader's efforts still end in tragedy. 20:1618), lest the Israelites learn the Canaanite ways (Exod. God had warned them against that (Deut. He teaches theology at Westminster Academy in Memphis, Tennessee. He is passionate about understanding the Bible and helping others do the same. 4:26; 7:4 ). What is right and moral is known to all (Romans 1:18-23), but was rejected by the Canaanites to such an extent that they cut pregnant women open and burned their children as sacrifices to their pagan gods (Leviticus 18:21, 24, 25, 27-30). After all, the Old Testament unequivocally commands that those who do any one of these things deserves to die. 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). 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. This is an online Viewpoint articlefrom theChristian Research Journal. Jesus then warned, What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? For the most part, they chose to rebel against God. 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. 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. He was keeping track of the measure of their sins, and, during Abraham's time, it was not yet "full." So the Amorites were warned that judgment was coming. In the conquest of Canaan, three goals were being accomplished. Copyright 2023 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. What are the major signs of the last days? There is no denying that God, in the Old Testament, commanded the nation of Israel, His chosen people, to exterminate many nations of people. 18:28; Deut 4:2329, 8:1920). PDF What Do We Do with the Canaanites? 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. 7 passage provides better support for his position. The question has been raised whether God really intended the Israelites to kill all the people. The Canaanites, by contrast, were destroyed at the direction of God and primarily because of their sin. Capital Punishment Reason 4 Humans do not have the right to do whatever we want. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 550. Nevertheless, those that choose to reject Gods love will be lost (2 Peter 3:7). If you feel an answer is not 100% Bible based, then leave a comment, and we'll be sure to review it. 11:31; Jas. Notes Old Testament scholars Keil and Delitsch write that there can be no doubt that the idea which lay at the foundation of the ban was that of a compulsory dedication of something which resisted or impeded sanctification; . These people were not clueless about their responsibility to God; rather, they openly mocked His lordship and committed horrible acts that even the most hardened of us would deem worthy of judgment. So theeremlaws still apply, but in a spiritual sense rather than a physical sense. To understand what God was doing in Canaan, one must see it within the larger context of redemptive history. Presumably, the Canaanites could have done the same thing. Even so, many who acknowledge Gods existence still have trouble accepting the morality of Scripture. Then theres Sodom, God tells Abraham that because of the wickedness of Sodom He will destroy it. This again reveals that Gods motive isnt genocide, but capital punishment. 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. There are several aspects of Yahweh war. Why Did God Tell Joshua To Kill The Canaanites? Real Questions. 8. . And they even sent their own children into the fires of the god Molech as living sacrifices. . The Bible calls Noah a preacher of righteousness thats because before the flood Noah tried to save others by preaching repentance! For God does not show favoritism. wars instituted by and fought with the, My eldest daughter and I have been discussing portions of the Bible with which she is struggling. And its not simply forced eviction we are talking about here; its the slaughter of entire nations, down to the last man, woman, and child. I want to look at some Biblical stories about God destroying nations. 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. Covenant Theological Seminary) serves as an assistant pastor at Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Tennessee. Not only have some people rejected Christianity over this, but it has even spurred some Christians to leave the faith. The Extermination of the Canaanites - Knowing the Bible 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. ", "How Can a Just God Order the Slaughter of Men, Women and Children? Before joining Probe Ministries, Rick worked in the ship repair industry in Norfolk, VA. Thanks for stopping by! in communications (radio broadcasting) from Moody Bible Institute, an M.A. Bible scholars call thiseremwarfare. 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). Permission is granted to use in digital or printed form so long as it is circulated without charge, and in its entirety. / He lies with her seventy times seven / Mounts eighty times eight / [She conceiv]es and bears a boy.20. What Do the Four Soils in the Parable of the Sower Represent? 12. The term genocide means a major action committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. {3} Some twentieth-century examples are the extermination of six million Jews by the Nazis and the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda in 1994. The second premise is false, however. Under the sanctuary in the ancient city of Gezer, urns containing the burnt bones of children have been found. Keil and F. Delitzsch, trans., James Martin, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 18:17 and 25:28. On an individual basis, when a father sinned, his son wasnt to be punished for it. If God is so merciful and loving, why didnt God just assimilate Israel into Canaan instead of driving them out? No worldly government can exist unless it uses every necessary means to punish law breaking. 4. Curiously, this simply relates back to the entire dialogue of God with Abraham. Since Canaanite sin was regular and systematicthe entire adult population participated in the idolatrous systemGod judged the entire nation. genocidal . 5:7; 29:23; Hos. Probably the ultimate sexual depravity is intercourse with animals. Further, he said that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). Recently I asked some of the mamas of littles in our church, What God questions are your kids asking? Dr. Michael Gleghorn provides good reasons to believe that the stories about Jesus were reliably preserved by his followers Dr. Zukeran presents five major reasons to believe Christianity is the truth. Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, Article II, University of the West of England, at: www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/. Albrecht Goetze, ed. This article is a slightly adapted version of the program that aired on the Probe radio program. 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. 2:34; 3:3, 6). After the defeats of both Heshbon and Bashan, Moses noted that they had devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children (Deut. But the section ends with Samson. Christ and the Conflagration of Canaan - The Gospel Coalition God had given the Midianites, Amalekites and other Canaanites 400 years to repent of their unbelievably evil practices (sacrificing children on red-hot idols being one of them), and they hadn't (Genesis 15:13-16). 6. {13} How persuasive this thought is will depend on how seriously we take biblical teaching about our future after the grave. God sent Jonah to Nineveh, and spared the nation because of their repentance towards God. Minor judges Izban, Elon, and Abdon get brief mentions. 2:11). The Canaanites took seriously the testimony of the Old Testament witness of Yahweh and His revelation, if for no other reason than intentionally to transform the scriptural depiction of Yahweh into a castrated weakling who likes to play with His own excrement and urine.4. What about these people prompted such a harsh judgment? What Happened to the Canaanites? - Biblical Archaeology Society This was Gods judgment carried out on the people of Canaan using the chosen people of Israel. Used by permission. Thus, they were all without excuse for not worshiping God. About UsContact UsPrayer RequestsPrivacy Policy, Latest AnswersBible LessonsBibleAsk LIVEOnline Bible. 12:4, 30, 31 ). However, according to Kline, sometimes we get snapshots of Gods final judgment intruding into the flow of history, foreshadowing the reality to come. God has delivered Israel and set them apart as His people. God did not just decide to command the Israelites to destroy all the inhabitants of Canaan simply because he promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit it; he commanded them to do it because the Canaanites were wicked, evil, sinful people. 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. [emailprotected] Heres why. God Was God just in destroying the Canaanites? Moses instructions to the Israelites as they were about to move into Canaan included this: In the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded (Deut. It was merciful for God to allow the Canaanites to remain in the land as long as they did. Why would Jesus die for basically good folk? The Deut. But there is a major difference. Theeremlaws of the OT were an example of this intrusion. From the Canaanite epic poem The Baal Cycle we learn: Mightiest Baal hears / He makes love with a heifer in the outback / A cow in the field of Deaths Realm. However, the verses that follow, namely verses 16-18, disallowed the same offer to be given to Canaan. The Amorites had a chance to repent and be saved, just as the Assyrians in Nineveh did during in the time of Jonah. At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. Similarly, the southern tribes (usually referred to as Judah) were deported when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem beginning in 586 BC. 4:26; 7:4). They say they refuse to believe in any being that could be so cruel and heartless. 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. I think God meant it quite literally. In the meantime, we are still called to do battle, but not as Israel did. 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. However, if we properly understand the whole picture we will be able to view Gods actions as full of mercy and fairness in His dealings with His children. As a result, they eventually received the same judgment the Canaanites experienced (Deut. In Leviticus 18 and elsewhere, for example, the Bible reveals that God punished the Canaanites for specific grievous evils. Consider one basic example of how new atheist rationalizations echo the propensities of Canaanite sin, and indeed, echo the rationalizations of the human heart. The Killing of the Canaanites - Genocide or Capital Punishment? - Part This was especially true of the Canaanite societies steeped in abominable practices like child sacrifice and cult prostitution. God's patience on the Canaanites The skeptics illogical arguments Skeptics have claimed that God was unjust when He ordained Israel to destroy the Canaanites. 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. Lets start with the flood. He holds a B.A. Second, if the Canaanite children were allowed to live and remain in the land, they could very well act to avenge their parents when they grew up, or at least to pick up again the practices of their parents. God was concerned that, if the Canaanites remained in the land, they would draw the Israelites into their evil practices. He gets no pleasure in the death of anyone. Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. God promised Canaan to Abraham and his children. Read them in the archive below. Lev. Why Did God Command the Israelites to Destroy the Nations in the Land Here are a few factors to take into consideration: First, the sins of parents, just like their successes, have an impact on their children. . 44:18). 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 evidence says no. Because of that advance warning, it is possible that some people abandoned their cities. The quote is from Gail Patches, The Great Debate: Craig, Hitchens ask Does God Exist? Whittier Daily News, April 5, 2009, A1, A4. 5:1). Our aim is to share the Word and be true to it. Had there been repentance, there would have been no need to execute wrath on evildoers. 7:2-3. The first fact God loves each of us as if there were only one of us"- Augustine. This clearly shows Gods mercy on sinners, and that He gives them a time of probation that they may repent. Here we encounter the issue of authority. 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. Consequently, we love what He hates, and we hate what He loves. Why didnt God just tell Israel; move in, settle down and coexist? God and the Canaanities | Bible.org Probe Ministries is a non-profit ministry whose mission is to assist the church in renewing the minds of believers with a Christian worldview and to equip the church to engage the world for Christ. They were corrupt and depraved to the core. Rusty Wright presents a compelling case for the historicity of Jesus resurrection. 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? In phase two, God fought against Israel when it broke its side of its covenant with God (cf. So the Lord said that Israel became like Sodom to me (Jer. Molech was a Canaanite underworld deity14 represented as an upright, bullheaded idol with a human body in whose belly a fire was stoked and in whose outstretched arms a child was placed that would be burned to death. 28:7. 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. 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). He points out 2023 Probe Ministries | Designed and Managed by Adquest Creative. 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. There had been a patient waiting from Abrahams time for the sin of the Amorites[to reach] its full measure (Toward Old Testament Ethics, Walter Kaiser, Jr., p, 267,Zondervan, 1983). 23:33; Deut. Skeptics often complain that children were killed in Sodom and Gomorrahs destruction. The "new atheists" call God's commands to kill the Canaanites "genocide," but a closer look at the horror of the Canaanites' sinfulness, exhibited in rampant idolatry, incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality, reveals that God's reason for commanding their death was not genocide but capital punishment.
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