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. 7 passage provides better support for his position. But the war is not over. 1:4). God destroys Sodom. The peoples of the land did not repent, just as the survivors of God's plagues will not repent. Christ and the Conflagration of Canaan - The Gospel Coalition If they had sex with just about every living thing they could get their hands on, and they did, then all had to die. 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). Abraham starts bargaining with God. But He said to Abraham that the promise would take a long time to be fulfilled for the iniquity of the Amorites, or the people of Canaan, is not yet full (v. 16). See the Papyrus Chester Beatty III recto (BM10683) from about 1175 BC as referenced in Lise Manniche, For an example of how embarrassing and dangerous this could be, see Robert M. Yerkes, The Mind of the Gorilla: Part III. the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (6:12). Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Many people take issue with the idea that God commanded the Jewish nation to initiate war against the Canaanites, ordering them to wipe them out and take their land for their own. Wouldnt that be a more merciful thing to do? Shedding light on this question will actually show that God is merciful and good. But God has no such prohibition. God gave us life, and He has the right to take it away. Additionally, some ANE manuscripts talk about party-boys and festival people who changed their masculinity into femininity to make the people of Ishtar revere her.17. Lev. For one thing, the Israelites would intermarry with them, and their spouses would bring their gods into the marriage with all that entailed. Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. For the most part, they chose to rebel against God. 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. . 6:23), and ultimately every unrepentant sinner will have to face Gods judgment. Because of such things, biologist and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins describes God as a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser . God had warned them against that (Deut. Concerning the destruction of the Canaanites, atheists especially like to exploit the Christian condemnation of genocide. Much of what follows is horrific, but if we refuse to look, will we really understand the reasons for Gods judgment? The Canaanites had not completely sinned away their day of grace. Like all Ancient Near East (ANE) pantheons, the Canaanite pantheon was incestuous. If you like what you're reading, you can get free daily updates through the RSS feed here. At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. 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. What does it mean that "the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its However, according to Kline, sometimes we get snapshots of Gods final judgment intruding into the flow of history, foreshadowing the reality to come. This was Gods judgment carried out on the people of Canaan using the chosen people of Israel. 18:28; Deut 4:2329, 8:1920). 7:2-3. 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. See Paul Copan, Yahweh Wars and the Canaanites, Philosophia Christi 11, no. The story of Canaanite incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality flow out of the plot line of idolatry. The answer is: absolutely not! 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). To understand what God was doing in Canaan, one must see it within the larger context of redemptive history. After all, the Old Testament unequivocally commands that those who do any one of these things deserves to die. God, as judge, used Israel to carry out His judgment on these people. Notes 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. 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. 20:1618), lest the Israelites learn the Canaanite ways (Exod. Jesus then warned, What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? Why did some rules from the Old Testament cease to exist? Yahweh is a God of justice as well as mercy. It seems from God's promise to Abraham that they were wicked and idolatrous people. 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. If I can find 50 good people will you spare Sodom God says sure. Help train Christians to boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that clearly communicates to this secular age. H, e teaches theology at Westminster Academy in Memphis, Tennessee. Emphasis added. Copyright 2023 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. Had there been repentance, there would have been no need to execute wrath on evildoers. The Bible calls Noah a preacher of righteousness thats because before the flood Noah tried to save others by preaching repentance! {13} How persuasive this thought is will depend on how seriously we take biblical teaching about our future after the grave. Claiming Have you ever felt like an alien in your own culture? In Luke 20 Jesus told the Jews the parable of the tenants and the vineyard. Even so, many who acknowledge Gods existence still have trouble accepting the morality of Scripture. Not even 10 righteous people could be found. 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? After the defeats of both Heshbon and Bashan, Moses noted that they had devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children (Deut. 25). And He said to Abraham, you and your children to the fourth generation must be patient too. For example, God commanded the Israelites, in Deuteronomy 20:10-15, to offer conditions of peace rather than extermination to all others. It was merciful for God to allow the Canaanites to remain in the land as long as they did. Kerby Anderson explains how cohabitation (living together outside of marriage) not only violates biblical commands about premarital sex, but it also puts the couple and their future marriage at risk. Who Were the Canaanites, and Why Did God Order Their Destruction? 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. God had decided to judge Nineveh because they were evil (Jonah 1:2). God spoke these words to the Israelites as they were encamped on the plains of Moab and about to cross the Jordan River into Canaan. It was merciful for God to bring an end to the. This is an online Viewpoint articlefrom theChristian Research Journal. Are We Held Accountable for the Sins of Our Forefathers? Instead, the Israelites worshiped the Canaanites gods and did evil (Judg. 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). Paul Copan, How Could a Loving God Command Genocide, in Thats Just Your Interpretation (Grand Rapid: Baker, 2001), 165. The second goal of the conquest was the judgment of the Canaanites. For further information or to subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/. The Amorites' sin had not escaped God's notice. 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. 12:4, 30, 31). You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. (Deut. Thanks to his obedience unto death, our own sins are forgiven, and we can now stand in Gods favor by faith alone. Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. The ESV and NIV give a fuller understanding of the term by translating it devote to destruction (the NASB renders it set apart). 33:56; Lev. 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. Before joining Probe Ministries, Rick worked in the ship repair industry in Norfolk, VA. In his discussion in Moral Monster, Copan refers specifically to Deut. 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." 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. The Canaanites were descendants of Noah. They are all part of an inherently wicked culture that, if allowed to live, would morally and theologically pollute the people of Israel.[1]. 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. 1 (2008): 7-37; www.epsociety.org/library/articles.asp?pid=45. 4:28 NIV). 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. Isnt that a better alternative? 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. Why did God command the genocide of the Canaanites? - GotQuestions.org 20:16-17). 4:58). There is no denying that God, in the Old Testament, commanded the nation of Israel, His chosen people, to exterminate many nations of people. [1] Tremper Longman, The Case for Spiritual Continuity, inShow Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide, ed. The peoples of the world at His return will be doing the same things that the Canaanites were doing when God gave it to Israel (Revelation 9:20). 7:22). You cannot have moral laws without a moral Lawgiver. 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? 4:26; 7:4). 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. It was merciful for God to allow individual Canaanites to repent and join the people of God. This document is the sole property of Probe Ministries. (Deut. 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. 1:27-2:5, we read that tribe after tribe of Israelites did not drive out all the inhabitants of the cities they conquered. 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. Skeptics often complain that children were killed in Sodom and Gomorrahs destruction. 18 records briefly the moral degradation of the Canaanites. Predictably so, their values conflict with what God hates. One should note that Joshuas commands in Deuteronomy 23 are given before the Israelites have completed their sweep through the land, so of course there are Canaanites there to marry. 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 Answer May Surprise You), It was merciful for God to protect the Israelites from idolatry. 7.1-2; 20.16-18). He begins with the Christian worldview and Rick Wade explores the meaning of the word defense in 1 Peter 3:15, suggesting that all Christians can do Rick Wade provides an expanded discussion of the issues around the Israelites battles against the Canaanites. God promised Canaan to Abraham and his children. 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. 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.
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