In Deuteronomy 20:16, Moses said the Israelites were to save alive nothing that breathes in the cities in their new land. 5. Another biblical story that is similar to the story of Ananias and Sapphira is the story of Elisha's servant, Gehazi greedily wanting money for Naaman's healing . To understand what God was doing in Canaan, one must see it within the larger context of redemptive history. Parents can corrupt their children.29. Why did some rules from the Old Testament cease to exist? Rahab was later held up as an example of faithful obedience in the New Testament (Heb. . He looks at all things from a infinite perspective than man can. 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. There is no denying that God, in the Old Testament, commanded the nation of Israel, His chosen people, to exterminate many nations of people. For further information or to subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/. 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). (972) 941-4565 If you feel an answer is not 100% Bible based, then leave a comment, and we'll be sure to review it. 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. They made a religion of lust. But no one repented so all but Noah and His family were destroyed. 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. com; Question and Answer Archive, Question #16). What Do the Four Soils in the Parable of the Sower Represent? Our aim is to share the Word and be true to it. Glenn M. Miller, How could a God of Love order the massacre/annihilation of the Canaanites? on the web site A Christian Thinktank, Skeptics often complain that children were killed in Sodom and Gomorrahs destruction. They had passed the point of redeemability, and were ripe for judgment. Further information about Probe's materials and ministry may be obtained by contacting us at: Probe Ministries When a nation starts burning children as a gift to the gods (Leviticus 18:21) and practices sodomy, bestiality and all sorts of loathsome vices (Leviticus 18:25, 27-30), they, are storing up wrath for [themselves] on the day of wrath when Gods righteous judgment will be revealed (Romans 2:5 ESV). 4:28 NIV). Since Canaanite sin was regular and systematicthe entire adult population participated in the idolatrous systemGod judged the entire nation. 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. Robert has written 111 articles on What Christians Want To Know! It was merciful for God to allow individual Canaanites to repent and join the people of God. Accessed 5 November 2008. Did the Canaanites Have a Chance? However, it is crucial to note that in the same passage, God declares the Israelites no less wicked than the Canaanites, deserving the same fate: Phase five of Yahweh war will be the final battle of history when Jesus returns and will once again be military in nature. Under the sanctuary in the ancient city of Gezer, urns containing the burnt bones of children have been found. Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. Why didnt God just tell Israel; move in, settle down and coexist? Gods first inclination is to save Canaan rather than destroy it. Like all Ancient Near East (ANE) pantheons, the Canaanite pantheon was incestuous. Further, in Deuteronomy 20, Moses said they were only to kill the adult males in far away cities (vv. 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. Wouldnt that be a more merciful thing to do? Shedding light on this question will actually show that God is merciful and good. They say they refuse to believe in any being that could be so cruel and heartless. After the defeats of both Heshbon and Bashan, Moses noted that they had devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children (Deut. Lets look at something God told Abraham before all this started. Another observation is that the instruction is frequently to dispossess the Canaanites or move them out rather than to destroy them. After all, he spoke approvingly of the destruction of Sodom, a pagan city that also included men, women, and children (Luke 17:28-29). 23:12-13 where Joshua also warns the people against intermarrying. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 550. Copyright 2010-2023 Telling Ministries LLC. Spoiler alert: God did give Canaan a chance to repent. God Was God just in destroying the Canaanites? God was patient with the Canaanites 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. Canaanite religion, like that of all of the ANE, was a fertility religion that involved temple sex. This is one of the most morally troubling passages in all of Scripture. 10. 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/. Probably the ultimate sexual depravity is intercourse with animals. Or better yet why didnt God give Canaan a chance to repent? 7:2-3. Based on the Biblical evidence, however, this objection dissolves away for two reasons: 1. Every forecast of prophecy of doom came with an implied unless attached to it: If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. In our pluralistic age, its easy to forget what an offense that is to the true God. 33:11). Bestiality. 4:26; 7:4). Kerby Anderson provides an overview of some ancient Christian heresies that are still being embraced today: legalism, gnosticism, mysticism, and marcionism. Going by this definition alone, the destruction of the Canaanites would seem to have been genocide. In the conquest of Canaan, three goals were being accomplished. 1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! Will More People Go To Hell Than Go To Heaven? 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. 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. Craig writes, For example, I have no right to take an innocent life. If we see humans as being basically good or innocent, then of course we will react with indignation to the Bibleseremlaws. 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. However, once the biblical doctrines of God and of sin are taken into consideration, the background scenery changes and the picture looks very different. . God mercifully provides time and opportunity for repentance from idolatry and spiritual fornication with this world ( II Peter 3:9 ). He is passionate about understanding the Bible and helping others do the same. 12:4, 30, 31 ). Paul Copan, Is Yahweh a Moral Monster?, Philosophia Christi 10, no. Change). And how else would God have said it if He did mean that? genocidal . God's character, Yahweh is a God of justice as well as mercy. 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. Eternal Insecurity Once I Was Saved, But Now Am Lost? Thus, the Israelites could possibly have married people who werent in the cities when they were attacked. If He does not receive a proper response, He promises great tribulation and martyrdomnot necessarily as punishment, but as an inducement to repent. 1 (2009): 73-92; www.epsociety.org/library/articles.asp?pid=63. 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). If the Israelites started to get a little slack in their obligations to Yahweh, they would turn to other gods. Heres why. Here are a few factors to take into consideration: First, the sins of parents, just like their successes, have an impact on their children. All Rights Reserved. Abraham starts bargaining with God. Robert is happily married and lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Canaanites were grossly sinful people who were given plenty of time by God to change their ways. Help train Christians to boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that clearly communicates to this secular age. 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. A common attack today on Christianity has to do with the character of the God of the Old Testament{1}. 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. 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. Here we encounter the issue of authority. The non-believer has no objective authority. Predictably so, their values conflict with what God hates. They were corrupt and depraved to the core. Would 45 be ok? Abraham continues to bargain down to 10 righteous people. God promised Canaan to Abraham and his children. Kyle, Canaan, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, ed. Rick's interests focus on apologetics, Christianity and culture, and the changing currents in Western thought. Later Lots own daughters get him drunk to have sex with him and so even Dawkins, in a surprising moment of moral clarity, writes, If this dysfunctional family was the best Sodom had to offer by way of morals, some might begin to feel a certain sympathy with God and his judicial brimstone.28. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against . Further, he said that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). The most disturbing part of the conquest of Canaan for most people is the killing of children. The Canaanites, by contrast, were destroyed at the direction of God and primarily because of their sin. In the meantime, we are still called to do battle, but not as Israel did. God has done everything in His power to save the sinner through the plan of redemption (John 3:16). It makes no sense to say that the erem laws are unjust unless there is an objective standard of justice to which they must conform. As a result, they eventually received the same judgment the Canaanites experienced (Deut. They are dated to somewhere between 2000 and 1500 BC, between the time of Abraham and the Exodus.{7}. The evidence says no. 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. No ANE text condemns homosexuality. The Canaanites were an evil, depraved people who had to be judged to fulfill the demands of justice. Their task was to prepare the way for the arrival of the Messiah. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, in his " ", posits that one of the reasons that Sodom was not given the chance to repent was that even their children were wicked. 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. Driving them out wasnt simply a way of making room for Israel. This explains why, in certain cities, Yahweh sentenced to death everything that breathes. In fact, He waited almost 400 years, and until their society had become completely depraved, before He instituted His command of capital punishment. Copyright 2023 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. God allowed Israel to become slaves in Egypt (more on this in a moment). I want to look at some Biblical stories about God destroying nations. Thus, they were all without excuse for not worshiping God. Bereishit 19:4:. For one thing, the Israelites would intermarry with them, and their spouses would bring their gods into the marriage with all that entailed. The passages that record Gods command to slaughter the Canaanite cities have even caused many Christians some confusion. 2). 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. What was to stop it? The story of Canaanite incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality flow out of the plot line of idolatry. How could the Canaanites have that much influence over the Israelites? All rights reserved. Bible Based.We believe in solo-scriptura. 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. 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.
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