In contrast, the Bible gives very little detail of Israels battles, and the killing of the people is stated merely as a fact (Num. The Twelve Spies, as recorded in the Book of Numbers, were a group of Israelite chieftains, one from each of the Twelve Tribes, who were dispatched by Moses to scout out the Land of Canaan for 40 days as a future home for the Israelite people, during the time when the Israelites were in the wilderness following their Exodus from Ancient Egypt.The account is found in Numbers 13:1-33, and is . The point, instead, is to give insight that is never discussed by those who attack Christianity over this issue. But Jesus conquers through the cross. This is seen in the fact that only the main cities are listed as being defeated in the book of Joshua. In fact, temple prostitution was a large part of worship in the Canaanite culture. . A God of love and justice, they say, could never command genocide, and therefore he must not exist. Incest and adultery were also part of the gods lives. God told Abraham that the Amorite were a wicked people. 50 0 obj <> endobj 10 Things You Need to Know about the Number 666, 10 Books of the Bible You Should Read Again and Again, 10 Most Encouraging Bible Verses That Will Uplift Your Heart and Soul, 5 Things That Hurt Relationships with Grandkids, 30 Morning Prayers to Start Each Day with God, How to Have Joy in Your Golden Years Despite These 10 Life Losses, 4 Things You Should Know about Big George Foreman, 8 Ways You Are Belittling Your Husband and What God Says about It, Maybe Money Can Buy Happiness, but Not Joy. Albrecht Goetze, ed. Was this the Israelites taking the land of innocent bystanders? in light of: The Sins Of The Canaanites: Blood-Lust, Murder, Incest, Sex With Animals. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. One attempt to rescue God from the story of the Canaanites is to say that Israel did this all on their own. Canaan is here singled out from Hams descendants as the object of Noahs curse, NIV Study Bible explains, Israel would experience firsthand the depth of Canaanite sin and the harshness of Gods judgment on it.. 3 Forty days were set aside for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. (11) The Canaanites were having sex with animals. In Joshua 6:1 we read that they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.. Certainly, it is to juxtapose it with that which is expected of Israel, but its also to set the stage for the just judgment of God against their wickedness. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD . It does not seem to fit with the narrative of God aiming to bless the nations through Abraham genocide doesnt seem to fit that storyline. Anyone who has ever studied the mythology or religions of ancient people knows that their gods were not moral beings, according to anyones standard in the modern world. The Egyptian Dream book has a section for men that begins with: Remember, the gods themselves were involved in incestuous relationships. And just as He desires that sin be removed from Israel, so should we desire that sin be removed from the Church. The commands about how Israel was to conduct themselves in war with the surrounding nations appear in two major passagesDeut. Through My Bible - April 28. If someone wanted to guarantee a victory in battle, they could sacrifice one of their children to ensure the gods fought on their behalf (Judg. {C} Murdered Their Own Children {Molech}.. They describe their conquests in great detail and brag about how they subjugated and destroyed other people groups. 7-14), and other empires (2 Kgs. The Canaanites descend from the grandson of Noah, Canaan. In fact, he made it clear that Israel, too, would be judged and would lose the land if they committed the same sins (Deut. Yahweh also showed his willingness to forgive and restore with His dealings with Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire (Jonah 3:4-10). 7:1). Proving He is the God who does more than we can ask for or imagine, and always makes a way. When we wrestle with stories like this, we must come to the conclusion that the judge of the earth will do what is right. were already out of Egypt. Some statements in the Babylonian magical text (pre-seventh-century BC) say: There was also a form of homosexuality that was far more violent and subjugating than what we know today. We do Him and Scriptures an injustice when we gloss over or oversimplify passages like this. Deuteronomy 20:16-18. Sometimes the Amorites were named in the same way. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.. Hawk, Daniel. Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature. God ordered similar things when the Israelites were invading the promised land (Deuteronomy 2:34; 3:6; 20:16-18). That was the very first thought that came to me. An oppressor is one who rules others severely. It shows that Yahweh did spare Rahab for her faith, and thus this is His true character. They were on their way into Canaan land, and God said, I am going to do this: "Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. They had crossed the Red Sea and were in the wilderness. 0 The Canaanites were a group of people who lived in ancient Canaan along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea known today as Israel. The Canaanites are identified in Genesis as descendants of Ham, son of Noah. 0000050996 00000 n Revised Standard Version (RSV). Does God Really Work All Things Together for Good? Does the Bible Condemn Using Tarot Cards? The Canaanites Were Not Salvageable --- They Had Sunk To The Very Bottom Of The Immorality Scale: Start quote. The takeaway point in all this below is that the God of the Bible was totally justified in giving His command to Israel to totally destroy the Canaanites. 7 But the Israelites [] broke faith concerning the devoted things. 1, p. 406). 12:2; 2 Cor. Kirsi Stjerna, p. 33. Severe_Comment_7443 . 50 20 [2] For a discussion of how the Roman Empire by the Second Testament was just as bad as the Canaanites, see Sarah Ruden, Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time, 2010. It had everything to do with the judgment of a people for their sins. Today He is still judging people by many means we do not always recognize because we do not have divine revelation. 0000031384 00000 n He forces the reader to deal with the tension between a wicked city that must be destroyed in obedience to Yahwehs commands and a city of humans, the children of God, some who are willing to come to Yahweh in faith. 0000006653 00000 n The handing over reinforces the command that the Israelites were to make no treaties, show no mercy, and not intermarry with the Canaanites. However, incestuous fantasies were looked upon with favor and seen as a good omen. Shortly after the flood, Noah cursed his grandson, Canaan (it's a long story), the ancestor of the Canaanites. 0000003183 00000 n Who were the Canaanites? The Canaanites were descendants of Noah. 5:13-15; 28:19; Acts 1:8). These sins exist in every culture, then and now, but are forbidden by most governments and are socially condemned by the majority of people in the culture. The Canaanites are identified in Genesis as descendants of Ham, son of Noah. ", "For all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you" Leviticus 18:27, ". 71-72. They describe their mutilation of people and stacking the peoples heads in a self-glorification of their superiority. Furthermore, Israel and the Church have purposes that are different from each other. All rights reserved. During which time they only grew worse. We already know that certain people are more genetically predisposed to alcoholism and other addictive tendencies; scientists are even trying to find a gay gene. Ultimately, this question can be answered only when one comes to understand that Yahweh is good and that a God who is willing to die for useven for the Canaanitesis a God who can be trusted with where babies and children go when they die. %PDF-1.4 % "However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. If you built a house, you were to lay one of your sacrificed children as the cornerstone to the building to ensure that the gods blessed the house and family all of its days. Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice, p. 75. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Many of the Canaanite sins such as incest, adultery, bestiality, and child sacrifice were death penalty sins in the Old Testament and since Israel was a theocracy God could enact the death penalty back then for these sins. The Basic Bible Atlas. That is part of what we can learn from this story. London: Routledge, 1987. The Canaanites abundant wickedness proved the curse was warranted, Garrett Kell explains in an article for TGC, As a result, they were enslaved by a coalition of easter kinds, by the Israelites during the conquest, and by Soloman during his reign as king. Hams other three sons, Cush, Egypt, and Put, were not cursed as Canaan was. Or to use our illustration previously, this would be akin to destroying a band of raiders in order to rescue others. When we are addressing the Canaanites, what group do they belong to? Thats the point. BTW, the term Canaanite in the Bible sometimes is a generic term for trader. 6 is devoted to the sacred ceremonial rituals. Just as Jesus fights for the people of God and does battle with the demonic forces (Matt. 24:20-25:30). John H. Walton in his excellent book The Lost World of Israelite Conquestgives twenty-one propositions to the make the argument that herem (what God ordered) was not so much an order to kill everyone by the sword but instead is more about rooting out ethnic identityit was about taking away their godless community. The Canaanite people were an extremely violent people involved in and promoting idolatry, gang rape, bestiality, child sacrifice, and many other evil and grotesque practices.[2]. Yahweh was willing to show mercy to the Canaanites in the same way He had with Israel previously. The reality is that this topic is perhaps one of the most difficult issues in the Bible to understand, justify, and digest. The Canaanites, by contrast, were destroyed at the direction of God and primarily because of their sin. xref This is why many scholars today consider the Canaanites more of an ethnic unit than a nation, per se. Not only did they declare these acts as righteous morality, but they also participated in these acts in the worship of their gods as a means of gaining the gods approval. What specifically was considered Canaanite territory? The basic principles of divine intervention in conflict situations were stated by G.E. Isn't this the same God that listed Thou shalt not kill? in the Ten Commandments?" In her sensuous delight she decorated herself with suspended (human) heads while she attached (human) hands to her girdle. In other places in Scripture where people did what displeased the Lord, we read of that in the narrative. 2:25). I dont think there are any Canaanites today. So in light of all the above up-post, the following seems very reasonable . 18:23, 24, 20:3), the land . The Canaanites were people who lived in the land of Canaan, an area which according to ancient texts may have included parts of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. 0000006864 00000 n He loves us so much that He does not want to punish us to the full extent that justice would require. Leviticus 18:15, (7) They were having sex with their brother's wife. War isnt part of the Garden of Eden. Disclaimer: Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! Ezra 9:1-4 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. This act of dominance was seen as a sign of power, and other men looked at this with high regard. But what kind of people were the Canaanites? Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998. When God did give the land over to Israel, he told Israel not to think it was because of their own righteousness. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. With little intercession from Moses, Yahweh quickly relented and forgave Israel. See Deuteronomy 20:11 and Deuteronomy 20:15 on the offer of peace to be made to the nations living at a distance from the Canaanites. Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1991. This is a sure and certain promise. Several months ago a FReeper made a comment about Michael Heiser and the Genesis 6 conspiracy. That is why the Israelites were not sentenced to eternal punishment but for only 40 years. [4] See W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths, p. 145. Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice and Sacrificial Monuments in their Mediterranean Context. All the other many tribes and cities that were living at a distance from the Canaanites were to be offered an opportunity to make peace. The Bible tells us that again and again. Leviticus 18:6 (2) They were having sex with their mothers. [12] Manniche, Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 10001. Always active in her community and the local church, Meg also leads Bible study and serves as a leader for teen girls. 7:10-15), Yahweh made it clear that all of Israel had sinned, and He punished Israel by allowing them to be defeated by the Canaanites in the same way they were now defeating the Canaanites. 34:6,7; Ps. The fact that Rahab was spared just as the spies and Joshua had promised serves two purposes. 6:10-12). The Lord wanted his story to be distributed globally, John A Beck explains, The promised land was the transportation hub between three continents.. {D} Blood-Lust Gory Murder Religious Ceremonies. The gods were always betraying and fighting against each other. Also, it gives a very human face to Rahab the Canaanite as the city of Jericho filled with Canaanites is being destroyed. Israel was never commanded in the Bible to kill the Canaanites merely to take control of the land. In Numbers 13, when the spies report back of the strong people who have large fortified cities, it is the Canaanites whom they are referring to. And just as the Israelites were to deal with their own sin in a just way, so is the Church. [9] Mark S. Smith, trans., in Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, ed. 0000005664 00000 n 5:21) on behalf of all peoples, including the Canaanites (Ps. Most readers can understand the men being killed, but Yahwehs command of the death of the women and children is much harder to understand. Everyone, including women and, in some cases, children, were involved in the following practices.
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