Recently I asked some of the mamas of littles in our church, What God questions are your kids asking? Dr. Michael Gleghorn provides good reasons to believe that the stories about Jesus were reliably preserved by his followers Dr. Zukeran presents five major reasons to believe Christianity is the truth. Yahweh wars are battles recorded in Scripture that are prompted by God for His purposes and won by His power.{4}. Copyright 2023 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. The judgment that they foreshadowed was demonstrated decisively on the cross of Christ, who received the full measure of Gods wrath for the sins of his people. Not even the children are considered innocent. What is right and moral is known to all (Romans 1:18-23), but was rejected by the Canaanites to such an extent that they cut pregnant women open and burned their children as sacrifices to their pagan gods (Leviticus 18:21, 24, 25, 27-30). Doesnt the new atheists complaint ring hollow, since they are often at the forefront of defending a womans right to suction, dismember, or scald to death her unborn baby at any time and for any reason? Thanks for stopping by! Notes Gods first inclination is to save Canaan rather than destroy it. Para ms informacin o para http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/, Overcoming the Enemy of Education: A Review of Pete Hegseth with David Goodwin, Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation., Who Was Adam? See Paul Copan, Yahweh Wars and the Canaanites, Philosophia Christi 11, no. 12:4, 30, 31). Yahweh is a God of justice as well as mercy. Nevertheless, those that choose to reject Gods love will be lost (2 Peter 3:7). This is an online articlefrom theChristian Research Journal. In other words, we now wage war in prayer and in the realm of ideas. But the war is not over. C.F. These people were not clueless about their responsibility to God; rather, they openly mocked His lordship and committed horrible acts that even the most hardened of us would deem worthy of judgment. God would hardly have chosen a Baal-worshipper to be a type, prophetically previewing his Son (Hebrews 7:3). No matter what God does, all of His actions are guided by His sovereign will and the fact that He, so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 ESV). Plano TX 75075 Used by permission. 8. This news had terrified the city of Jericho and Rahab had put her faith in God (Joshua 2:10-14). Before joining Probe Ministries, Rick worked in the ship repair industry in Norfolk, VA. What Does It Mean for the Saints to Judge Angels? Did the Canaanites Have a Chance? But He said to Abraham that the promise would take a long time to be fulfilled for the iniquity of the Amorites, or the people of Canaan, is not yet full (v. 16). For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 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. The victims were not only infants; children as old as four were sacrificed.15 Kleitarchos reported that as the flame burning the child surrounded the body, the limbs would shrivel up and the mouth would appear to grin as if laughing, until it was shrunk enough to slip into the cauldron.16, Homosexuality. Although these laws express Gods judgment, they also show us Gods mercy in several important ways: Now that Christ has come, the way in which we understand and apply theeremlaws has radically transformed. Genesis 15:13-16 God tells Abraham that his descendants will be enslaved for 400 years. Instead, the Israelites worshiped the Canaanites gods and did evil (Judg. In his discussion in Moral Monster, Copan refers specifically to Deut. Rick Wade provides an expanded discussion of the issues around the Israelites battles against the Canaanites. Paul Copan, How Could a Loving God Command Genocide, in Thats Just Your Interpretation (Grand Rapid: Baker, 2001), 165. And since, as we will see, He punished Israel when they committed the same sins, what happened to the Canaanites was not genocide, but capital punishment. Even though the Ruler of the universe displays mercy and gives to men time to repent, there ultimately must be a day of judgement. This again reveals that Gods motive isnt genocide, but capital punishment. 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. In the old testament God tells Joshua to kill all the Canaanites, including women and children. 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). 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. The Israelites intermarried with them which eventually drew Gods judgment on them as well. Consider one basic example of how new atheist rationalizations echo the propensities of Canaanite sin, and indeed, echo the rationalizations of the human heart. Idolatry. But what about Deuteronomy 24:16 which says that children shall not be put to death because of their fathers sins? 18:28; Deut 4:2329, 8:1920). What the Israelites are told to do to the Amalekites is exactly what the Amalekites had been doing to Israel. The most disturbing part of the conquest of Canaan for most people is the killing of children. 44:18). He blogs at, How J. K. Rowling Played, then Lost, the Polarization Game, GAFCON IV: Lessons from a Communion in Birth Pains, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Christian Nationalism, What to Do When Your Child Is Addicted to Video Games, Radical Christian Gentleness in an Era of Addictive Outrage, The FAQs: Anglican Group Calls on Church of Englands Leader to Repent, Whats the Earliest Evidence for Christianity? Real Answers. What are the major signs of the last days? God promised Canaan to Abraham and his children. Thus, the Israelites could possibly have married people who werent in the cities when they were attacked. The problem with new atheist divine genocide claims is rather simple: God hates sin, but the new atheists do not.35 Consequently, they complain of divine genocide in the face of Canaanite sin! 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. 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. For the most part, they chose to rebel against God. Albrecht Goetze, ed. Dr. Ray Bohlin reviews a second science critique of Theistic Evolution, asking if universal common descent is real. He is also a God who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The third goal of the conquest was the protection of Israel. He points out how Yahweh Wars, i.e. Another observation is that the instruction is frequently to dispossess the Canaanites or move them out rather than to destroy them. Was God just in destroying the Canaanites? God sought to reveal His standards of righteousness to a thoroughly corrupted humankind, and He chose Israel out of the nations to exhibit the requirements for relationship with Him (Deut. 18 records briefly the moral degradation of the Canaanites. This clearly shows Gods mercy on sinners, and that He gives them a time of probation that they may repent. Before He redeemed humankind, He needed to unambiguously demonstrate what exactly He was redeeming them from: a blatant and unrestrained evil that resulted in a worthless, nasty, and cruel existence. A book review of In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration by William Lane Craig (Eerdmans, 2021), Let Faith Oust Fact: A Review of The Whale, No Mindful Matter: The Explanatory Failure of Scientific Materialism, Una pregunta que los mormones no pueden responder, Connect with the Christian Research Institute. Canaanite religion, like that of all of the ANE, was a fertility religion that involved temple sex. Will More People Go To Hell Than Go To Heaven? God knew it would take the destruction of the nations. Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman sees five phases of Yahweh war in the Bible. The second premise is false, however. Why did God judge the Canaanites as wicked despite never appearing to them or giving them law? What was to stop it? 33:56; Lev. Can the actions of the Israelites legitimately be called genocide? Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. When Joshua led the people across the Jordan River into Canaan, he was fulfilling this promise. Presumably, the Canaanites could have done the same thing. Since Canaanite sin was regular and systematicthe entire adult population participated in the idolatrous systemGod judged the entire nation. Under the sanctuary in the ancient city of Gezer, urns containing the burnt bones of children have been found. Christians believe that all authority belongs to God (Matthew 28:18, Romans 13:1, Colossians 2:10). This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 33, number 04 (2010). Concerning the destruction of the Canaanites, atheists especially like to exploit the Christian condemnation of genocide. Yahweh derided these handmade gods that cannot speak and must be carried because they cannot walk (Jer. Israel was not allowed to treat other nations as they treated the Canaanite cities. God has done everything in His power to save the sinner through the plan of redemption (John 3:16). Then they would simply abandon worship of the true God. At first, the Israelites tried to compromise and worship God the way the Canaanites worshiped their gods. 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. 13-14), but in nearby cities they were to save nothing alive that breathes (v. 16). Maybe this was just an example of Ancient Near Eastern military language.{11}. Dawkins, 338. Permission is granted to use in digital or printed form so long as it is circulated without charge, and in its entirety. The peoples of the world at His return will be doing the same things that the Canaanites were doing when God gave it to Israel (Revelation 9:20). Generation after generation of Canaanites continued in the same evil practices. Jesus then warned, What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? They were corrupt and depraved to the core. 11:31; Jas. {13} How persuasive this thought is will depend on how seriously we take biblical teaching about our future after the grave. They are insisting that God and Christianity are in fact poisonous and must diligently be resisted and defeated. When we look at the Canaanites we must realize that God gave them 400 years to repent. Sue Bohlin processes how she is handling the crisis of tongue cancer by trusting Gods goodness. God was patient. According to the Bible, the Canaanites were so vile that the very land spued them out (Lev. God, as judge, used Israel to carry out His judgment on these people. If you feel an answer is not 100% Bible based, then leave a comment, and we'll be sure to review it. 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. In fact, He waited almost 400 years, and until their society had become completely depraved, before He instituted His command of capital punishment. God's character, 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. 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. Copan, Yahweh Wars and the Canaanites. A special thanks to Joseph Gorra for his many helpful suggestions and to my wife, Jean E. Jones, for her extensive reading of ANE primary and secondary sources and for years ago explaining to me much of the Old Testament. all, and God plays fair with all peoples at all times, giving them equal chances for repentance and reformation. In Deuteronomy 9:4-6, God Himself explains the reason for His command to slaughter the Canaanites. 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. In Jdg. The object of warfare moves from the Canaanites, who are the object of Gods wrath for their sin, to the spiritual powers and principalities, and then finally to the utter destruction of all evil, human and spiritual.[2]. As soon as we heard it, Rahab of Jericho said, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath (Josh. Kyle Dillon (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary) serves as an assistant pastor at Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Tennessee. Staff. . The peoples of the land did not repent, just as the survivors of God's plagues will not repent. Thus, the Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 15:16, "the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." Wouldnt even infants, as they grew, begin to ask, What practices did my parents do which resulted in your killing them? As sad as this is, it also points to the horror of sin. 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. Robert believes that the Bible contains the truth that God wants us to base our lives upon. Change). 1:16; 8:25). Previous post: 10 Biblical Steps Towards Restoration After Sexual Sin, Next post: Baptism Quotes: 27 Inspirational Christian Sayings. Israel was not commanded to deal with all other nations the same way they dealt with the Canaanites. But we must keep in mind that God is not subject to our contemporary sensibilities. why do royals change their name when crowned,