He points out 2023 Probe Ministries | Designed and Managed by Adquest Creative. This is an online articlefrom theChristian Research Journal. God was patient. 18:28; Deut 4:2329, 8:1920). If God was not behind the conquest of Canaan, then the Israelites were no different than the Nazis and the Hutus. Why did some rules from the Old Testament cease to exist? God did not order the extermination of these people to be cruel, but to prevent even greater evil from occurring in the . Far be it from you! The story of Canaanite incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality flow out of the plot line of idolatry. Not even 10 righteous people could be found. But what about Deuteronomy 24:16 which says that children shall not be put to death because of their fathers sins? The new atheists call Gods commands to kill the Canaanites genocide, but a closer look at the horror of the Canaanites sinfulness, exhibited in rampant idolatry, incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality, reveals that Gods reason for commanding their death was not genocide but capital punishment. The Canaanites were an evil, depraved people who had to be judged to fulfill the demands of justice. Bestiality. 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). Help train Christians to boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that clearly communicates to this secular age. 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. 23:14). Genocide and the God of the Old Testament | CrossExamined.org Then they would simply abandon worship of the true God. Gods character is such that He gives nations an appropriate amount of time to repent. 22 Christian Quotes and Sayings About God. Accessed 5 November 2008. There were absolutely no prohibitions against bestiality in the rest of the ANE.21 In fact, in an Egyptian dream book it was a bad omen for a woman to dream about embracing her husband, but good things would happen if she dreamed of intercourse with a baboon, wolf, or he-goat.22 In short, their sexual fantasies involved everything that breathes. Before joining Probe Ministries, Rick worked in the ship repair industry in Norfolk, VA. 1. PDF What Do We Do with the Canaanites? {8} In addition, the Israelites would be tempted to imitate Canaanite religious rituals because of their close connection to agricultural rhythms. 28:7. And their laws concerningeremwarfare pointed to Gods just judgment against sin. This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 44, number 2 (2021). Even though the Ruler of the universe displays mercy and gives to men time to repent, there ultimately must be a day of judgement. So the Lord said that Israel became like Sodom to me (Jer. Moreover, most atheists do not customarily condemn the very practices that God condemns, for example, idolatry, adultery, and homosexuality. But why should we take seriously the skeptics advocacy for Canaanite children? They made a religion of lust. God had promised this land to their ancestor Abraham around 500 years earlier (Gen. 15:18-21), but it would be their responsibility, under the leadership of Joshua, to clear out the local inhabitants and take possession of the land. A common attack today on Christianity has to do with the character of the God of the Old Testament{1}. 4:26; 7:4). God has delivered Israel and set them apart as His people. Israels response to Canaanite sin is a parable of how their own sinfulness empowered them to ape the sin of the Canaanites and thereby procure Gods judgment on them. For one thing, the Israelites would intermarry with them, and their spouses would bring their gods into the marriage with all that entailed. If Jesus had died to redeem humankind prior to humankinds comprehending the depth of their sin, then people would question the need for Jesus death. For the most part, they chose to rebel against God. Dt. Kyle, Canaan, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, ed. They had passed the point of redeemability, and were ripe for judgment. Other ungodly acts routinely engaged in by the Canaanites included adultery, bestiality, and homosexuality (Leviticus 18:20-30). Why doesn't God offer Sodom and Gemorrah the same chance to repent He Dawkins, 338. Although prophets warned the northern kingdom (usually referred to as Israel or Samaria) of impending doom, they didnt repent, and in 722 BC the king of Assyria killed or deported most of them, and filled the land with conquered peoples from other nations. And how are Christians supposed to apply the erem laws today? Predictably so, their values conflict with what God hates. 2:34; 3:3, 6). Killing the Canaanites: A Response to the New Atheism's "Divine The people of the land had heard about all that had happened with the Israelites from the time they escaped Egypt. Albrecht Goetze, ed. The evidence says no. Lets start with the flood. 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. The full text of this article in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. They had male shrine prostitutes (1 Kings 14:22), committed acts of lewdness, adultery, and incest (Jer. No worldly government can exist unless it uses every necessary means to punish law breaking. Change). God knows who will or will not repent of his or her sin and if He concludes that all the children would have been similarly corrupted, then He is perfectly right to institute capital punishment. Peter Singer Heavy Petting: Review of Midas Dekkers, Dearest Pet: On Bestiality (London, 2000), Nerve.com, 2001, http://www.nerve.com/opinions/singer/heavypetting/main.asp. The non-believer has no objective authority. After all, he spoke approvingly of the destruction of Sodom, a pagan city that also included men, women, and children (Luke 17:28-29). Rahab was later held up as an example of faithful obedience in the New Testament (Heb. These twentieth-century examples were basically people killing people simply because they hated them and/or wanted their land. Paul Copan, Is Yahweh a Moral Monster?, Philosophia Christi 10, no. Then they would simply abandon worship of the true God. Part of the goal of this essay is to offer evidence to show that God had good reason to command Israel to kill the Canaanites. God loves each of us as if there were only one of us"- Augustine. 2). It seems from God's promise to Abraham that they were wicked and idolatrous people. We're not around right now. Like all Ancient Near East (ANE) pantheons, the Canaanite pantheon was incestuous. When angels arrive, however, the men of the city try to rape them and not only does Lot not find anyone who will repent, Lot himself tarries so long that the angels take Lot and his family by the arms and all but drag them out of the city. Notes www.probe.org. Craig writes, For example, I have no right to take an innocent life. Though rebellion must be put down and rebels must be punished for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), God displays mercy for He is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). 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. Then theres Sodom, God tells Abraham that because of the wickedness of Sodom He will destroy it. And its not simply forced eviction we are talking about here; its the slaughter of entire nations, down to the last man, woman, and child. At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. Who is more qualified than the Creator to decide how long one lives? God would hardly have chosen a Baal-worshipper to be a type, prophetically previewing his Son (Hebrews 7:3). Josephus records that the Jews in Jerusalem were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures, before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city.So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.26 Titus then renamed the region Palestine and for almost 1,900 years one couldnt find Israel on the map. Their purity laws pointed to the holiness demanded by God. When Joshua led the people across the Jordan River into Canaan, he was fulfilling this promise. The ceremony ends with directions: To be repeated five times by the company and the singers of the assembly.12 About this John Gray comments, We may well suppose that this activity of El was sacramentally experienced by the community in the sexual orgies of the fertility cult which the Hebrew prophets so vehemently denounced.13, Child sacrifice. If He does not receive a proper response, He promises great tribulation and martyrdomnot necessarily as punishment, but as an inducement to repent. In short, Israel was Canaanized. Dawkins objects that it adds injury to insult that the unfortunate beast is to be killed too.23 But Dawkins doesnt seem to grasp that no one would want to have animals around who were used to having sex with humans.24 Moreover, this might also explain why God used a flood to destroy what Dawkins called the presumably blameless animals in the days of Noah.25 If pre-flood humankind frequently had sex with every imaginable animal, then even though it wasnt the animals fault, it would be harmful to allow these animals to be a part of Gods start-over society. {13} How persuasive this thought is will depend on how seriously we take biblical teaching about our future after the grave. Did the Canaanites Have a Chance? Who Were the Canaanites, and Why Did God Order Their Destruction? Would a governor of a state who refuses to pardon a criminal and instead hands him over to the justice system be considered a heartless cruel man? 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. In Leviticus 18 and elsewhere, for example, the Bible reveals that God punished the Canaanites for specific grievous evils.