
Some Christians have always been troubled by God’s command to the Israelites to kill all the pagan inhabitants of the Promised Land. Moses ordered the people to “devote them to complete destruction,” (Deut 7:2). Why would God do this? Where’s the mercy? Where’s the love?
There are at least two reasons why God did this.
Because of sins
First, God did it because of the terrible sins of the pagan nations
Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob (Deut 9:5).
But, it’s not as bleak as all that. God told Abraham his descendants would eventually become slaves in Egypt for 400 years. Afterwards, “they shall come out with great possessions,” (Gen 15:14). Why would God not just give them the Promised Land immediately? Because, in Abraham’s time, “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete,” (Gen 15:16).
So, God kept the Israelites in Egypt for 400 years specifically so the pagan’s subsequent destruction would be justified. This suggests God allows us to “fill our cup” before He metes out judgment (cf. Mt 23:32; 1 Thess 2:15-16).
Protection from idolatry
Second, Moses warned the Israelites they must destroy all the inhabitants of the Promised Land. Why? So “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,” (Deut 20:18).
The Israelites under Joshua destroyed about 31 cities and killed the inhabitants (Josh 12:7-24). But, they never finished the job. Many tribes failed to drive the pagans out.1 They co-existed in an uneasy way; the hostility always at a slow boil. The results were predictable. After the first generation passed away, “they abandoned the Lord and served the Balls and the Asharoth,” (Judges 2:13).
What can we learn?
We can learn at least four things from this.
First, God can dispense judgment whenever He wants. It will be dispensed at the judgment seat. He can also dispense it now, in this life, any way He wants. He’s the sovereign Lord. This means there is no justification for thinking God is “mean” for ordering the destruction of the Canaanites.
Second, nobody is innocent. We’re all born guilty, and we all deserve judgment. The fact that anybody is alive now is proof of God’s grace. Too many Christians say they believe this, but probably don’t believe it. They assume God is “unfair” and “cruel” when He brought judgment on the pagan nations. It helps if we banish bad salvation analogies from our minds.
I’m not sure if you’ve heard the one about God as the lifeguard who tosses the ring buoy to the drowning swimmer. In this scenario, we are (all of us) the sinner struggling in the water, desperate for help, calling out for mercy to Yahweh the lifeguard. Because God is full of love, He of course tosses the buoy. This analogy crashes and burns when you come to the Book of Joshua, because now God is the heartless lifeguard who sits on His hands and orchestrates our drowning.
It crashes and burns because the analogy is false. It assumes we’re all calling out to God, desperate for help, wanting to be rescued. This is wrong. We’re alienated from Him. We don’t want Him. We hate Him.
A better analogy would be God as the fireman pulling people out of a burning building while they try to shoot him. Actually, they succeed in killing His Son. Yet, God knew we’d kill His Son. And the Son knew He’d die. Yet, He came anyway. He came specifically to be killed, so He could change hearts and minds and then pull some of the killers out of that burning building. Now, the analogy is better. What obligation does the fireman have to save everyone who wants to kill him? None at all. But, by God’s grace, He saves some of us anyway.
Third, God’s patience does have a limit – but it’s a big limit. He waited for the Amorites. He waited over 400 years. He waited for the disobedient Israelites who came out of Egypt who were barred from the Promised Land.2 He was patient with the Jews who hindered Paul from evangelizing to the Gentiles (1 Thess 2:13-16). The “limit” means not that they can’t come to faith,3 but that God ends their lives by removing them from the scene.
Fourth, when you pray for God’s kingdom to come (Mt 6:10), you’re also asking for judgment on the world whether you realize it or not! This prayer is a plea for God to act. When His kingdom comes, judgment will come with it (Rev 20:1-6). This means, in effect, Jesus commands you to pray for the wicked to be punished and the righteous to be rewarded. Whenever you pray for Jesus to return, you’re also asking for judgment on a whole lot of people.
When we consider this question, we’re actually asking whether we believe God is “allowed” to judge people when He wants, the way He wants, for the reasons He wants, and whether we’re allowed to second-guess His motives. If we believe for one moment that God is “unjust” for destroying the Canaanites, then we really have too high a view of ourselves.
Tyler Robbins (2016 v.2)
Tyler Robbins is a bi-vocational pastor at Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church, in Olympia WA. He also works in State government. He blogs as the Eccentric Fundamentalist.
There are 28 Comments
genocide
The objection is that God is a genocidal meglomaniac. Why worship a deity that commands his followers to annihilate entire people groups, including slaughtering infants and children, in religious genocide?
Providential timing
Our pastor preached from Joshua 6 yesterday morning and said almost exactly the same thing about the annihilation of Jericho: The central question is, is God allowed to judge?
But at the same time, He
But at the same time, He graciously saved any Canaanites who converted, such as Rahab and her family. And He gave the inhabitants of Jericho six days to flee.
dmeyers
Yes, I talked about that for a while in our Sunday School lesson yesterday. Rahab's confession of faith and conversion was truly a miracle!
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Not only that
but Rahab (Canaanitess), and Ruth (a Moabitess) were in the Messiah's lineage!
Mark_Smith wrote:
So, this lessens the genocide God commanded Israel to commit?
dmyers wrote:
What evil did the Canaanite children and infants do to deserve being slaughtered by Israel?
T Howard
Do you believe this "genocide" was unwarranted, or are you asking probing questions to draw out responses?
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
TylerR wrote:
The latter. I'm voicing the objections that I've heard / read from others, which basically boil down to God commanded Israel to commit religious genocide and slaughter infants and children. The reasons you state don't apply to the slaughter of Canaanite infants and children, do they?
I think so
I think they do. God killed untold numbers of children and infants during the Flood. It depends what you think about whether there are elect infants, or if they all join God's family if they die before they reach the age of accountability. I believe there is such thing as an "age of accountability" where you begin to consciously disobey and showcase your sinfulness. I believe this "age" depends based on the individual. But, whatever the age, there comes a time when you (1) understand God-given authority over you in your parents, and (2) willingly decide to disobey them. That's the trigger point when one's own sinfulness is actuated in a volitional way.
I'm aware this is controversial among the more Reformed set, and I'm aware why. But, it's the answer I gave to the congregation yesterday when someone asked the same question. If I'm wrong, then it won't change anything anyway!
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
More than Two
Tyler,
I would suggest that the answer to this issue / objection is more nuanced than your two stated reasons suggest.
Yes, ultimately, Romans 9 is the final answer. But, how do we help our people interact with unbelievers and other Christians who really struggle with the issue of God commanding the slaughter of tens of thousands of infants and children in a holy war?
Why is a god who slaughters innocent infants and children worthy of my worship?
THoward
You wrote:
This article wasn't meant to be an exhaustive treatise on a deep problem. It's a quick article for ordinary people. If you have a positive case, make it. Or, submit a 20-part series to Aaron and answer your own question. Ciao.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
On those children
There are a bunch of other things to think of here. First, God is indeed capable of comforting the little ones, and we might argue that dying in this war was actually less traumatic to them then living out their lives and sacrificing their own children to "gods" like Molech. Part of our horror at this has to do with not remembering that God operates Heaven, too. No?
We might also note that the nations around Israel also had shrines to Molech and other gods of infant/child sacrifice, and the example might have served as a warning; "sacrifice your children to Molech, and the real God might just help you sacrifice them, and what you fear more than your own death will come to pass; the destruction of your posterity."
For us, it serves as a warning; at some point, God's patience will be exhausted. For some, it is when we are old. For some,it comes much earlier. Either way, you've got a reality that is far more horrific than being stabbed or dashed against the rocks in a battle, no?
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
TylerR wrote:
Or, instead of giving a glib, dismissive response to the objection, you could actually, you know, offer a thoughtful, pastoral response. Too much to expect?
What does Devote to Complete Destruction mean?
Here is a serious question. Tyler started off with Deut 7:2. I include verses 1 and 3 just to show an interesting point.
“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 Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 hand when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,"
So here is my question and then a suggestion, does "devote to complete destruction" mean kill them all from cradle to cane? I will grant you in some later specific cases God says to do that, but this is the general command to Israel about the Canaanites and the inhabitants of the land. I suggest "devote" is more like "have nothing to do with them" rather than a genocidal slaughter. More like a "spiritual avoidance" rather than a mass killing.
I suggest that because God says to not make a covenant with them, show no mercy, but then says to not marry them. Now, you can look at that as "of course you don't do those things. You kill them." I suggest maybe that is not the intent. Rather, the general rule is to avoid them.
T Howard wrote:
I think it shows a lot of love and mercy on God's part. He included Jews and Gentiles in the Messiah's lineage.
Devoted to complete destruction means what it says
Neither this passage nor preceding and subsequent passages support your alternative interpretation, at least as to the inhabitants of the Promised Land. The first use of the phrase "devoted to destruction" is in Num. 21:1-3, where the Canaanite king Arad attacked Israel and took captives. In their counterattack, as approved by God, Israel "devoted them and their cities to destruction." In Deut. 2:26-35, the Israelites were attacked by King Sihon (because "the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand"). Israel defeated Sihon and devoted to destruction "every city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors."
My Reformation Study Bible note on v. 32 calls this "the ban." "The calculated effect of the ban in ancient times was to make the inhabitants of an area flee without putting up resistance. Israel was commanded not to use this procedure except in their conquest of Canaan and Transjordan" (citing Deut. 20:10-15). In the next chapter, Israel defeats King Og, striking him down "until he had no survivor left." (Deut. 3:3) Og's cities were devoted to destruction, including "every city, men, women, and children." (Deut. 3:6)
Thus, the instruction in Deut. 7 to devote the seven nations to complete destruction wasn't a new concept to the Israelites and it didn't mean merely "avoid them." To leave no doubt about His instruction, God added the reinforcements to make no covenant with them, to show them no mercy, and not to even think about future intermarriage (because there should be no survivors to intermarry with).
T Howard
The reason the destruction of the tribes/nations occupying the Promised Land is a tough sell to unbelievers and to some/many believers is that we all start with and are naturally wedded to the wrong ideas about God and about ourselves. We (illogically) expect the God of the universe to reflect our default sensibilities of right, wrong, justice, fairness, etc. As my pastor said in his sermon yesterday, however, if you expect your God to line up with your sensibilities, your God is an idol made in your own image. So, even the most pastoral, logical, reasonable, biblical explanations of "the ban" are, most of the time, going to be rejected by a hostile audience as mean, unfair, appalling, etc.
In no particular order, and without spending too much time trying to be as diplomatic as you might want to be in a conversation with someone who is genuinely interested in an answer, here are some points I think I'd try to make:
What's the question?
Some observations. The "genocide" question is certainly one that's going to come up when you're talking to educated unbelievers, but it's a different question from the one(s) the post aimed to answer:
I haven't yet met a Christian who wondered if God has the authority to end any life He sees fit and to use any instrument He chooses to do so. So "does He have the right?" and "is it right for God to...?" are not questions believers are generally asking.
With the authority and righteousness issue as a given, you wonder something else. Like maybe, "why?"
Not that it's a bad idea to equip Christians to answer the genocide question when they run into it in others. But, realistically, we don't really have an acceptable answer for someone committed to judging God by human standards rather than judging humans by God's standards. Still, you never know when God might be drawing someone and a rational answer might be instrumental.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Where to start the discussion
Just to be clear, I don't believe the two reasons Tyler gives in his article are wrong. I believe them to be incomplete explanations.
As I've interacted with individuals (saved and unsaved) who see this issue as a significant stumbling block to their faith in the God of the Bible, I've found there are several foundational issues that I must uncover and confront.
There are more ideas we could develop here, but I hope these initial thoughts are helpful when dealing with someone struggling with this issue.
THoward
Since you have this all worked out and have an agenda, how about you tell us how God ordered Israel to kill every Canaanite in Israel no question asked, and then uses Canaanites in His own lineage.
God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment
I don't "have this all worked out and have an agenda," but I have been tremendously helped by reading through books like Sproul's Holiness of God and James Hamilton's God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment.
For example, Hamilton writes the following about the Canaanite conquest:
When I encounter people who struggle with this issue, at the root cause is a deficient view of God and his holiness and of man and his depravity.
That is why when told about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, Jesus responds, "Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2-3). We are all born as sinful as the Canaanites and Galileans. We all deserve what the Canaanites and these Galileans received. The fact that God gave the Canaanites over 400 years to repent and is giving us even now time to repent is evidence of God's undeserved mercy.
And, it is an extreme display of God's mercy and grace that he saved Rahab and Ruth and allowed them to be included in the lineage of David and the greater David, Jesus. That mercy and grace foreshadowed the mercy and grace that God would extend to all gentiles through the gospel as they became the new people of God, the church.
THoward
Everything you wrote is true. I have read Sproul and Hamilton as well. Great books.
Yet, God said, "devote them to destruction, and oh, by the way, don't marry them either." Then later He said to make sure to not worship at their temples and worship their idols. Obviously, God is envisioning them still being around...
God's Omniscience
Mark,
Just like God told Israel to obey his covenant, detailed the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience. Then, in Deut. 31, he tells Moses that "this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them."
God, in his omniscience, knew his people would break his covenant. Yet, he chose them and loved them anyway. Another example of God's extreme mercy and grace.
Previously answered
Mark, I addressed your question above when you posed it earlier, but you haven't responded to that.
Compatibalism
This question always brings up the topic of God's providence, and I believe compatibalism is the only coherent way to make sense of how the world works. The 1561 Belgic Confession, Article 13, is perhaps the best expression of the Reformed position:
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
dmyers wrote:
You have an answer, not THE answer. I disagree.
Lacking appreciation for God as Judge
In my experience in discussing the doctrine of judgment with many believers, I have observed that there has been a widespread lack of full biblical appreciation for the glory of God as Judge in many respects. That lack of appreciation contributes significantly to the problems that many have with accepting His dealings with the Canaanites.