Dr. Ray Bohlin reviews a second science critique of Theistic Evolution, asking if universal common descent is real. {13} How persuasive this thought is will depend on how seriously we take biblical teaching about our future after the grave. Moses instructions to the Israelites as they were about to move into Canaan included this: In the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded (Deut. According to the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), when God called forth his people out of slavery in Egypt and back to the land of their forefathers, he directed them to kill all the Canaanite clans who were living in the land (Deut. Bring biblical wisdom to the confusing issues across the world by making a gift to our international work. They could have repented of their evil, followed God, and been spared judgment. For the most part, they chose to rebel against God. Slaughter of the Canaanites | Reasonable Faith God Was God just in destroying the Canaanites? The "new atheists" call God's 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 God's reason for commanding their death was not genocide but capital punishment. I have two questions: 1. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. God did not order the extermination of these people to be cruel, but to prevent even greater evil from occurring in the . The Amorites had a chance to repent and be saved, just as the Assyrians in Nineveh did during in the time of Jonah. Christians today are engaged in warfare on this level. But why should we take seriously the skeptics advocacy for Canaanite children? Thanks to his obedience unto death, our own sins are forgiven, and we can now stand in Gods favor by faith alone. In Deuteronomy 20:16, Moses said the Israelites were to save alive nothing that breathes in the cities in their new land. Moreover, given the evidence of Canaanite sin, it is no stretch to realize that even many young children would have already learned Canaanite ways. Skeptics often complain that children were killed in Sodom and Gomorrahs destruction. 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. Why doesn't God offer Sodom and Gemorrah the same chance to repent He Because of that advance warning, it is possible that some people abandoned their cities. 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. 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. In regard to the Canaanites, God commanded, "In the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Was God just in destroying the Canaanites? - BibleAsk They engaged in temple prostitution which was thought to be a re-enactment of the sexual unions of the gods and goddesses. God and the Canaanites: A Biblical Perspective - Probe Ministries Used by permission. In the worship of their gods, the Canaanites committed other evils. Thus, they were all without excuse for not worshiping God. Parents can corrupt their children.29. Cf. What does it mean that "the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its Those on whom God pronounced judgment were wicked, God had given the Canaanites opportunity to repent, are storing up wrath for [themselves] on the day of wrath when Gods righteous judgment will be revealed, The Canaanites were the only people God commanded the Israelites to destroy, God always offered the possibility of redemption. He believes the latter is the correct interpretation. 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). 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. 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). A biblical example of this would be Gods treatment of the city of Nineveh. God allowed Israel to become slaves in Egypt (more on this in a moment). (3) Therefore, Christians should condemn Yahweh for commanding genocide. He looks at all things from a infinite perspective than man can. Rahab was later held up as an example of faithful obedience in the New Testament (Heb. However, if we properly understand the whole picture we will be able to view Gods actions as full of mercy and fairness in His dealings with His children. 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). The Hebrew word means to devote something to total destruction.. Concerning the destruction of the Canaanites, atheists especially like to exploit the Christian condemnation of genocide. 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. He holds a B.A. He was keeping track of the measure of their sins, and, during Abraham's time, it was not yet "full." So the Amorites were warned that judgment was coming. The Canaanites worshiped other gods, which the Old Testament frequently denounced as no more than sticks or pottery made by human hands that could not see or hear or eat or smell (Deut. 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. Second, if the Canaanite children were allowed to live and remain in the land, they could very well act to avenge their parents when they grew up, or at least to pick up again the practices of their parents. Subsequently, God sent prophets to warn Israel of their coming destruction, but they didnt repent and God said that they became like Sodom to me and He visited destruction on Israel for committing the same sins. I consider Jesus the be the perfect example of how to be good, Jesus would never hurt anyone. {8} In addition, the Israelites would be tempted to imitate Canaanite religious rituals because of their close connection to agricultural rhythms. This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 44, number 2 (2021). . There is only one true God, and that God deserves all honor and worship. Accessed 5 November 2008. The ESV and NIV give a fuller understanding of the term by translating it devote to destruction (the NASB renders it set apart). This document is the sole property of Probe Ministries. Rahab spoke of having heard about Israels great God and His mighty miracles. Just as God had demonstrated his knowledge of who would repent in the Canaanite cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, before he destroyed Jerusalem He told Jeremiah that if He could find even one righteous person He would spare the entire city (Jer. He can give and take life as He chooses. Probe VP Steve Cable examines some of the findings of the Probe Survey 2020: The Changing Face of Christianity in America. What the Bible says about Why did God Command Israel to Go to War Why did God judge the Canaanites as wicked despite never appearing to 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. Of course Dawkins complains that Gods monumental rage whenever his chosen people flirted with a rival god resembles nothing so much as sexual jealousy of the worst kind.5 But does anyone think that if Dawkinss wife left him for a gingerbread man of her own baking, and then she began to tell everyone that he liked to play with his excrement, that Dawkins would tolerate the characterization of his feelings as no more than sexual jealously of the worst kind? Christian Answers, For further information or to subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/. It was merciful for God to allow the Canaanites to remain in the land as long as they did. 4:26; 7:4). In fact, the Hebrew wars with other nations (except Canaan) were designed to be only in self-defense (Toward Old Testament Ethics, Walter Kaiser, Jr., p, 267, Zondervan, 1983). This is an online articlefrom theChristian Research Journal. In the old testament God tells Joshua to kill all the Canaanites, including women and children. The term genocide means a major action committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. {3} Some twentieth-century examples are the extermination of six million Jews by the Nazis and the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda in 1994. In Deuteronomy 20:18, God gave Israel an explicit reason why it was necessary to wipe out the Canaanites: that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God., It was merciful for God to limit the scope of the. James B. Pritchard, Harry A. Hoffner, Jr., Incest, Sodomy and Bestiality in the Ancient Near East, in. The Amorites' sin had not escaped God's notice. When God told Abraham He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleaded for them, and God agreed in his mercy that if but only ten righteous people were found, He wouldnt do it. And so for 400 years more, the Amorites were allowed to live and do as they pleased. God promised Abraham (Genesis 15), that his seed would inherit the land of Canaan. 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. Thus, Longman says, The war against the Canaanites was simply an earlier phase of the battle that comes to its climax on the cross and its completion at the final judgment.{5}. 1:5). This explains why, in certain cities, Yahweh sentenced to death everything that breathes. There had been a patient waiting from Abrahams time for the sin of the Amorites[to reach] its full measure (Toward Old Testament Ethics, Walter Kaiser, Jr., p, 267,Zondervan, 1983). However, according to Kline, sometimes we get snapshots of Gods final judgment intruding into the flow of history, foreshadowing the reality to come. Notes He blogs at, How J. K. 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