(11) The Canaanites were having sex with animals. These people were so evil that Yahweh commanded their extermination specifically in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. Wisdom 12:3-5 RSV - The Sins of the Canaanites - Those who - Bible Gateway The ancient Sifra commentary on Lev. And even then they were only to drive them back, not destroy them. . 2 Joseph commanded the physicians who served him to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel. 0000002574 00000 n Does God Really Work All Things Together for Good? 17:7-23) and Judah (the southern kingdom) in 586 BC with the Babylonians (2 Kgs. Rather, Yahweh made it clear that the Canaanite people were being destroyed for their sin. Also, it gives a very human face to Rahab the Canaanite as the city of Jericho filled with Canaanites is being destroyed. Canaan is described in the Bible as extending from Lebanon toward the Brook of Egypt in the south and the Jordan River Valley in the east. Yet at the same time, Christ dying as our substitute allows humanity to be forgiven and declared truly innocent, satisfying the mercy of Yahweh. If He had not created us with His sense of justice, then we would not have a sense that what He was doing was unjust. Repeat . In fact, the problem of evil and the injustice of our governments anger all people more than anything else in our lives. It seems reasonable that if all flesh was corrupt, except for Noah, then someone else on the ark must have been the source for the post-Flood appearance of the Nephilim. This shows that Israel themselves were now a thing for destruction. But they would no longer be thus when their sin had been dealt with. do not leave alive anything that breathes. Deuteronomy 20:16-18. CONCLUSION: The God of the Bible was totally justified in giving His command to the nation of Israel to totally destroy the Canaanite tribes. The point of this discussion is not to provide a complete and satisfactory answer, for there is so much we do not understand about this time period, and it is genuinely an emotionally difficult concept to reconcile. with the Israelites and were never the object of total annihilation as was the 6 totally corrupt Canaanite nations. Sunday Evening Service - Pastor Mark Wilburn speaking - Facebook The fact that Rahab was spared just as the spies and Joshua had promised serves two purposes. They were not to go out to the other nations but were to live so righteously within their own borders that they would become a better and more blessed nation; in doing so, the people from the other nations would be so attracted to this difference that they would want to leave their old lives behind and join Israel. Most readers can understand the men being killed, but Yahwehs command of the death of the women and children is much harder to understand. 5:21) on behalf of all peoples, including the Canaanites (Ps. This is consistent with the character of our great God, to do the impossible through circumstances we could never imagine working out the way they do. Yet the majority of Canaanites, in their hardness of hearts, refused to receive His mercy and so fell under his judgment, as had the 3,000 Israelites who were executed in Ex. 3: 26-27). Women were no less guilty than men, and in many cases they were the principal instigators. Later Israel did commit the same sins as the Canaanites, and Yahweh took them into exile as judgment, as He said He would. 21:21-35; Josh. of He is replacing all sin and unbelief with passionate worship of Jesus. His violent death will eventually put an end to all violent deaths. The Canaanites Were Not Salvageable --- They Had Sunk To The Very Bottom Of The Immorality Scale: Start quote. Not only was bestiality practiced and dreams about it seen as good omens, but it was also practiced as a form of worship. 18:21; 20:5; 2 Kgs. Afterwards Anath was satisfied and washed her hands in human gore before proceeding to other occupations. Yahweh also showed his willingness to forgive and restore with His dealings with Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire (Jonah 3:4-10). 30:33; 57:9). Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! The first states that the Canaanites were to be handed over to destruction. The Canaanites: Genocide Or Judgment? | Bible.org They describe their conquests in great detail and brag about how they subjugated and destroyed other people groups. 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. By Jesus being a human, He could represent humanity in their sin. [11] Leick, Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature, p. 205. God will get his people to the promise land. To be the rape victim was so humiliating that no one would ever show respect to that person. Yahweh was extremely patient, waiting for hundreds of years for them to reach a certain point of immorality before He judged them, for Yahweh is slow to anger (Ex. Likewise, Yahweh did not choose Israel alone to execute justice in every case throughout history. The Canaanite people were an extremely violent people involved in and promoting idolatry, gang rape, bestiality, child sacrifice, and many other evil and grotesque practices.[2]. BTW, the term Canaanite in the Bible sometimes is a generic term for trader. God and the Canaanities | Bible.org 2; Jam. They were to first offer peace, and if the nation refused, they could kill only the adult males, while women, children, animals, and spoils may be taken as plunder. Now if we take all these texts seriously as part of Gods own explanation for the events that unfold in the book of Joshua, we cannot avoid their implications. This was 400 years before the extermination of the Canaanites, meaning He gave them a long time to repent from their idolatry and sins. Why did God command the genocide of the Canaanites? 9; Eph. But as a merciful and loving God, He also desired to forgive them. It is in the death of Yahwehs Son that His mercy and justice are seen together clearly. The conquest was not human genocide. Yahweh gave Israel the land of Canaan as a reward for their obedience to Him but not because He was playing favorites. 7:4, 7-11; 9:4-6; 29:16-29). The late archaeologist William Albright describes the Canaanite deity Anath's massacre in the following gory scene. exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. Is this more like the story of the rescue from raiders or bombing a people group who were minding their own business? Not only did they declare these acts as righteous morality, but they also participated in these acts in the worship of their gods as a means of gaining the gods approval. And it seems that as history trudged along, the Canaanites became increasingly wicked. Simon B. Parker, p. 148. They were descendants of Ham, who was a son of Noah, whom Noah had cursed. Molech was a Canaanite underworld deity[13] that required child sacrifice in order to prove devotion to him (Lev. 7:10-15), Yahweh made it clear that all of Israel had sinned, and He punished Israel by allowing them to be defeated by the Canaanites in the same way they were now defeating the Canaanites. The land that was then vacant after the conquest was to be given to Israel as a blessing for their obedience, but if they sinned as Canaan had, then they too would lose the land. 12:3). Genesis 6:4. There is never a glorification of the battle, only a record of its accomplishment. Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament, p. 62. It does not seem to fit with the narrative of God aiming to bless the nations through Abraham genocide doesnt seem to fit that storyline. What happened during the conquest of Canaan. Through My Bible - April 28. A fitting illustration might be to say it could be compared to the Ally invasion of Nazi Germany (I am indebted to The Bible Project for this illustration). Ultimately, though, the Canaanite conquest isnt supposed to make sense. We Dont Hate Sin So We Dont Understand What Happened to the Canaanites: An Addendum to Divine Genocide Arguments, in Philosophia Christi 11:1 (Spring 2009). 20:16-18). At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Leviticus 18:23, (12) Their women were specifically mentioned as having sex with animals. Where Do We See the Canaanites in the Bible? Gwendolyn, Leck. The only problem with this out is that it is not the way the Bible reads. The women were killed because they participated in the violence, child sacrifices, bestiality, and sexual immorality just as much as the men did. Walter Elwell helpfully draws the geographical boundaries for us: The first six [of the 11 people groups from Genesis 10] evidently occupied territory at or south of Sidon, whereas the others lived farther north. In Joshua 2, the narrator presents Rahab as a godly woman who wanted to be saved. You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. {C} Murdered Their Own Children {Molech}.. THE SINS OF CANAAN HAVE BECOME THE SINS OF AMERICA Pastor Del Wray One of the question Ive been asked, "How could a good loving God command the Israelites to slaughter every man, woman, child, and even animal in the cities of the Canaanite nations? What does it mean that "the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its Sorted by: 4. But we would be remiss not to point to Jesus Christ. [1] See Daniel Hawk. God's Justice in the Land of Canaan Why did God command the Israelites to completely destroy the Midianites in Numbers 31:17? This is seen in the fact that only the main cities are listed as being defeated in the book of Joshua. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! Shortly after the flood, Noah cursed his grandson, Canaan (it's a long story), the ancestor of the Canaanites. We have no right as sinners, who hurt or destroy others on a regular basis, to accuse Yahweh, a righteous God who has no sin and loves perfectly, that He is unjust, with the very concept and sense of justice He created us to have. Wright as follows: (a) God works in this world mediately through chosen agents, whether they know it or not: (b) the divine use of an agent confers no special righteousness or merit on the agent. This is why many scholars today consider the Canaanites more of an ethnic unit than a nation, per se. The Canaanites were a people group who inhabited the land promised to Abraham. That is part of what we can learn from this story. Why Does God Compare Our Relationship with Him to That of a Bride and Groom? Asherah or Ishtar, also known as the Queen of Heaven, was a female fertility goddess who was worshiped through sexual acts, including orgies. There were no restrictions on the man.[7]. Prichard, James B. 5. ). so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment. 20). When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations- the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you- and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated the, then you must destroy them totally. From my memory, I think the following reasons can be gleaned from scripture: (1) to test his people's love for Him via testing their trust and obedience to him and (2) to glorify His name such that the other nations would fear the God of Israel. Canaan is here singled out from Hams descendants as the object of Noahs curse, NIV Study Bible explains, Israel would experience firsthand the depth of Canaanite sin and the harshness of Gods judgment on it.. The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem! End quote. Canaan, the progenitor of the Canaanites, first appears in the story of Noah as one who did not cover their fathers shame. Sometimes the Amorites were named in the same way. 2. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! BibleGateway+ answers your Bible questions. PDF BIBLICAL CANAANITES, WHO ARE THEY? - Christogenea 18:20-30; Deut. This is reinforced in the historical texts, with additional notes about social oppression and violence (1 Kings 14:24; 21:26; 2 Kings 16:3; 17:8; 21:2). The Hebrew word means "to devote something to total destruction." Law and Lawgiver Non-Christians often point to the Old Testament's erem laws to reject Christianity altogether. and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad." Now these were the cursed line of Ham's son Canaan and Canaan's offspring. Isn't this the same God that listed Thou shalt not kill? in the Ten Commandments?" Sometimes the Amorites were named in the same way. An oppressor is one who rules others severely. At such moments there was only one place to look, and that is up, beyond oneself, to the One who could do so much more than we can ask or imagine.. . This is also the mission of God through Jesus Christ. [2] For a discussion of how the Roman Empire by the Second Testament was just as bad as the Canaanites, see Sarah Ruden, Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time, 2010. Within moments the entire village is razed. Several months ago a FReeper made a comment about Michael Heiser and the Genesis 6 conspiracy. 7:13) and to destroy all the idols (Deut. Many of the Canaanite sins such as incest, adultery, bestiality, and child sacrifice were death penalty sins in the Old Testament and since Israel was a theocracy God could enact the death penalty back then for these sins. The names Canaan and Canaanite occur in cuneiform, Egyptian, and Phoenician writings from about the 15th century bce as well as in the Old Testament. The above quote regarding Anath is from Is God A Moral Monster: Making Sense Of The Old Testament God, by Paul Copan, page 159. Yahweh did not command Israel to exterminate the Canaanites because they were a different race. One must understand when we talk about the sin and practices of the Canaanites that we are not talking about a small group of people in these nations; we are talking about everyone. Ugaritic Baal myth describes Anat as taking joy in slaughtering her enemies, cutting off their heads and hands and wearing them as a necklace and belt.

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