God, Justice, and the Canaanites
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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 v2
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.
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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?
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 graciously saved any Canaanites who converted, such as Rahab and her family. And He gave the inhabitants of Jericho six days to flee.
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.
but Rahab (Canaanitess), and Ruth (a Moabitess) were in the Messiah’s lineage!
[Mark_Smith]but Rahab (Canaanitess), and Ruth (a Moabitess) were in the Messiah’s lineage!
So, this lessens the genocide God commanded Israel to commit?
[dmyers]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?
What evil did the Canaanite children and infants do to deserve being slaughtered by Israel?
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]Do you believe this “genocide” was unwarranted, or are you asking probing questions to draw out responses?
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 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.
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?
You wrote:
I would suggest that the answer to this issue / objection is more nuanced than your two stated reasons suggest.
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.
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]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.
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?
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.
Discussion