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. 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. But the section ends with Samson. 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. 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). Then He says something very Interesting your descendants will come back in the fourth generation, because the sins of the Amorites hasnt been fulfilled. The Amorites in this case are the Canaanites. And as a consequence, God used Israel to bring judgement upon them. The Deut. Imagine the teenage rebellion in those households! God is love (1 John 4:16) and He is also just (Psalm 25:8). To understand what God was doing in Canaan, one must see it within the larger context of redemptive history. The strategic location where the Canaanites were settled carries great. 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). After all, he spoke approvingly of the destruction of Sodom, a pagan city that also included men, women, and children (Luke 17:28-29). He is passionate about understanding the Bible and helping others do the same. 7. So theeremlaws still apply, but in a spiritual sense rather than a physical sense. Can the actions of the Israelites legitimately be called genocide? . God was patient. Even so, many who acknowledge Gods existence still have trouble accepting the morality of Scripture. (LogOut/ 6:23), and ultimately every unrepentant sinner will have to face Gods judgment. Genocide doesn't wait for people to have a change of heart; and certainly not 400 years. The modernistic notion that Melchizedek was merely the "high god" priest of the Canaanites (e.g., Baal), worshipped in pre-Israelite Jerusalem, is absurd (Hicks 1962, 343). We must keep in mind, also, that Israel did not decide to exterminate the Canaanites, God did. That being said, I do not think God had the Israelites comb the land to find and destroy every person; they were to devote to destruction the people who remained in the cities when they attacked. But the war is not over. 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. 22:1011; Amos 2:7), and even Solomon set up an altar to Molech (1 Kings 11:5, 78). The story of Canaanite incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality flow out of the plot line of idolatry. 25). However recently an atheist friend told me God was cruel and unloving and used examples from the old testament to prove it. It was merciful for God to allow the Canaanites to remain in the land as long as they did. This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 44, number 2 (2021). it was an act of the judicial holiness of God manifesting itself in righteousness and judgment.{6}. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against . Bible Verses, Quotes, Christian Answers, Songs and More. The completely negative connotations of genocide make it hard to look at the biblical events without a jaundiced eye. 15:5). At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. 22 Christian Quotes and Sayings About God. 10. The Canaanites had hundreds of years to either repent and follow God or to reject Him and follow idols and false Gods. When we look at the Canaanites we must realize that God gave them 400 years to repent. . Based on the Biblical evidence, however, this objection dissolves away for two reasons: 1. Bible scholars call thiseremwarfare. Here are a few factors to take into consideration: First, the sins of parents, just like their successes, have an impact on their children. In phase two, God fought against Israel when it broke its side of its covenant with God (cf. How could the Israelites intermarry with the Canaanites if they killed them all? Our aim is to share the Word and be true to it. A miracle child heralded by divine announcement, he grows up to become a one-man army against Israel's enemies. 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 Killing of the Canaanites - Genocide or Capital Punishment? - Part Bestiality. 33:11). However, what is good and right or what is bad and wrong changes with societys opinions. . Robert has written 111 articles on What Christians Want To Know! 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. [a] capriciously malevolent bully.{2}. First, the Lord's command to enact erem was preceded by a long period of divine patience and longsuffering in the face of Canaanite wickedness (gross forms of idolatry, immorality, and injustice, including the sacrifice of children). He holds a B.A. Why doesn't God offer Sodom and Gemorrah the same chance to repent He 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] (The Answer May Surprise You), It was merciful for God to protect the Israelites from idolatry. 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. 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). 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." 13-14), but in nearby cities they were to save nothing alive that breathes (v. 16). In Luke 20 Jesus told the Jews the parable of the tenants and the vineyard. Robert believes that the Bible contains the truth that God wants us to base our lives upon. Emphasis added. In the Hebrew Bible, the Canaanites are described as inhabitants of Canaan before the arrival of the Israelites (e.g., Genesis 15:18-21, Exodus 13:11). (3) Therefore, Christians should condemn Yahweh for commanding genocide. Their task was to prepare the way for the arrival of the Messiah. 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 had decided to judge Nineveh because they were evil (Jonah 1:2). Our enemies are the demonic forces that hold the world in captivity to sin, and our weapons are now prayer, preaching, and evangelism. Tagged as: