The questions about the Canaanite conquests recorded in the Bible used to bother me a lot, and since one of my friends recently raised the questions with me, I thought I'd post a few thoughts on it. Below I'll point people to Glenn Miller's article at http://christian-thinktank.com/qamorite.html , and discuss four other thoughts:
1. "Justice" will indeed be done, but not fully until Judgment Day. Until then only limited/partial justice will be seen here on earth...
2. Fairness - what do we really deserve? What did the Canaanites really deserve?
3. God is the 'Landlord'... and so He has the right to evict destructive tenants...
4. True love always implies hatred of anything that hurts the beloved. Besides loving the Israelites in a special way, did not God have some concern/love for all the people that the Canaanite nations were abusing and killing? Did not God hear their cries?
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The questions include: How could a "God of love" order the destruction of millions of people? What about the innocent babies and children? What right did Israel have to come in and take over other countries' land? How should one respond when other groups today use same passages to justify their wars of aggression (the Crusades, Jihad, etc)?
If you have time, Glenn Miller's articles (such as http://christian-thinktank.com/qamorite.html ) are excellent and thought-provoking. He has five to ten related articles about these things, and they're all fascinating. They have helped me through these questions. Here's a brief quote from his article:
"Did God actually command Israel to do this, or did they just invent this divine sanction to justify territorial greed or genocidal tendencies?
Why would God use a nation as questionable as the post-Exodus Israelites to deliver His "judgment" on the Canaanites? (Why not just use natural disasters, such as earthquakes [Num 16], volcanic-type phenomena [Gen 19], or plague [2 Kgs 19.35]?)
What about all the innocent people killed in this "holy war"--families, "good" Canaanites, etc.? Even if it is 'okay' for God to execute judgment on nations within history, why didn't He only kill the evil-doers?
Doesn't wholesale slaughter of nations seem a little incompatible with a God of Love and Mercy?
These are NOT simple or light questions (if your heart is in right!), and so we must be VERY thorough in our analysis of the situation. We will need to approach this issue from a number of different sides, to make sure we have seen it clearly and from a large-enough perspective.
We will use the following question-set in analyzing the issue:
Do we have any precedents, paradigm cases, or similar incidents of such orders/actions to annihilate?
Who exactly WERE these people that God wanted Israel to 'exterminate'?
Were there any limits placed upon Israel in this venture, and what was the EXACT content of the orders?
What general principles of God's governance might shed some light on the situation?"
[end quote from Miller's article]
Miller also discusses the "eviction" aspect of God's command to the Israelites ("drive them out"), noting that in most cases the Canaanites were free to convert to Judaism and follow God, or leave the country (and God gave them 40 years to do so! after hearing about the Israelites' leaving Egypt, until they actually crossed the Jordan)... I.e., there were only a few specific battles in which God said "you shall not leave anyone alive".
Here are some more thoughts to consider.
1. Consider what "justice" really means. According to the Bible, God is just, but the full application of His justice will not be seen until Judgement Day. Here are a few out of many passages:
1 Corinthians 4:5
"Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God."
Luke 12:
47"And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
Revelation 20:12-13
"And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds."
So in the end, everything will be meted out justly... Every wicked deed will be appropriately recompensed, and every good deed likewise.
But in THIS life, on this side of Judgement Day, life is obviously "not fair". Good people get cancer and have their houses destroyed by hurricanes. Drug barons drive around in fancy luxurious cars while ordering the killing of innocent fathers and mothers and policemen. Innocent Christians in many countries are thrown in jail and worse simply because they are Christians.
There is SOME general sense in which the righteous 'usually' prosper 'in general', as Psalms and Proverbs state repeatedly, e.g. "The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the dwelling of the righteous." (Proverbs 3:33) But as the book of Job poetically explains, many times those who are righteous have HUGE troubles in their lives.
Jesus answered a similar question in John 9:1-3:
"As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.
And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?"
Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him."
Abraham was told that the Canaanites would be given hundreds of years to repent, before the order to destroy them was finally given: Genesis 15:13-16
"God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."
And the author of Psalm 73 likewise asks why the wicked seem to have it so good... here on earth at least...
1Surely God is good to Israel,
To those who are pure in heart!
2But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.
3For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4For there are no pains in their death,
And their body is fat.
5They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like mankind.
6Therefore pride is their necklace;
The garment of violence covers them.
7Their eye bulges from fatness;
The imaginations of their heart run riot.
8They mock and wickedly speak of oppression;
They speak from on high.
9They have set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue parades through the earth.
10Therefore his people return to this place,
And waters of abundance are drunk by them.
11They say, "How does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?"
12Behold, these are the wicked;
And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.
13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
And washed my hands in innocence;
14For I have been stricken all day long
And chastened every morning.
15If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.
16When I pondered to understand this,
It was troublesome in my sight
17Until I came into the sanctuary of God;
Then I perceived their end.
18Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
19How they are destroyed in a moment!
They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!
20Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.
In conclusion of this first observation, any "justice" we see on earth is only partial. Sometimes the wicked are punished, but sometimes they are not... here on earth. Eventually, at the Judgement Day, everyone will get what they deserve (or better than they deserve, because of Jesus Christ).
As Glenn Miller puts it in his article, "On those very rare occasions when God displays His judgment within human history, it is very sobering and one which we find genuinely disturbing..."
2. On "fairness" and "justice", this question seems crucial: What do we all truly deserve?
For those of us who honestly see our own heart's wickedness and who believe what the Bible says about the evil of the human heart, the only answer is the Bible's answer (Romans 6:23) - we all deserve death and hell.
That is, the question about the Canaanite destruction is really not "how could a loving God command that millions of people be killed," but "Why would a holy God refrain from immediately destroying people such as the Canaanites or such as ourselves, when we commit such abhorrent sin all the time?"
The latter question doesn't seem as relevant as the former to us sometimes, but it's because we often whitewash our own sins in our minds, and we forget the true horror of them.
What about 'innocent' babies? Well, although they haven't yet committed many conscious sins, they have the same corrupt soul and 'bent-toward-sinning' that all the rest of us are born with. It is only a matter of time before their evil hearts cause them to commit specific sins. As far as I can tell, God would be completely justified in destroying all of us, just as one might destroy a weed ravaging one's garden or a plate of moldy food in one's refrigerator.
But He doesn't... He waits with extreme patience, and calls us to repentance, and pays the price of our sins HIMSELF through Jesus Christ so that we can be forgiven.
3. "God is the landlord." That is, God owns the universe, and it seems reasonable that He has the right to evict tenants who don't follow His rules and who abuse His creation. He could use anything - a flood, a plague, an earthquake... or, in principle, a human army. God the Landlord can delegate and authorize human agents to be his eviction representatives...
The main difficulty would then seem to be: how do we know that it's really God who's behind some agressive attack? I think there is actually a smaller number of attacking armies than one might initially think who specifically claim to be acting on God's authority.... and each one's case has to be evaluated individually. Two common ones might be the Crusades and the current jihadis. The claim of the Crusades to be on God's authorization would stem back to the Popes and their alleged infallibility. The claim of the jihadis to be authorized in killing 'infidels' would stem back to Mu ha m mad and his claims about the Qur an.
Essentially the question about the Canaanite battles is closely related to the question of the death penalty and whether it's ever justified. It seems pretty clear to me that in some cases it is... Genesis 9:6 - "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man."
4. True love implies enmity against anything that hurts the beloved. Related to the previous point, when the Canaanites were sacrificing their children by burning them alive for hundreds of years, or raiding the sick and weak stragglers of the Israelite camp, or ravaging the hearts and bodies of so many within their own nation by their fertility-cult immorality, God was listening. He is not deaf. He is "the God who sees" (El-Roi - Genesis 16...) Anyone who cared about the Canaanite babies and who had the power to do something about it would naturally be expected to do something about it...
Here is some of what the Bible says about the Canaanite practices: (copied from Glenn Miller's qamorite article... he also cites what secular scholars have found from extrabiblical sources)
The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.
6 "`No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.
7 "`Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.
8 "`Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father.
9 "`Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
10 "`Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you.
11 "`Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father; she is your sister.
12 "`Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister; she is your father's close relative.
13 "`Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative.
14 "`Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.
15 "`Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; do not have relations with her.
16 "`Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother.
17 "`Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.
18 "`Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
19 "`Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.
20 "`Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her.
21 "`Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
22 "`Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
23 "`Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
24 "`Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. 25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, 27 for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. 28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 "`Everyone who does any of these detestable things -- such persons must be cut off from their people. 30 Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.'" (Lev 18)
You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshipping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. (Deut 12.31)
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, (Deut 18.10)
There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. (I Kgs 14.24)
So in summary of point #4, yes, it is shocking that God would order the destruction of some specific nations, but it is helpful to understand more about the practices of these nations, to put into context God's commanded destruction of them.
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