DID GOD DO WRONG TO KILL ALL THE CANAANITES?
Genesis 15:16
INTRODUCTION
A. REMOVING A STUMBLING BLOCK
Numerous times during my career, unbelievers have used God's judging the Canaanites as an excuse not to believe in God. They insinuate that God did evil in executing the people of Canaan, particularly the children. Let's correct the view; God did the just thing!
B. WHAT WAS GOD DOING?
God required the total destruction of the Canaanites lest they become a corrupting influence in Israel and lead them to practice their abominations. Just because God led Israel into war and conquest, it doesn’t mean God’s love, grace and faithfulness were absent.
I. GOD WAS DIRECTLY INVOLVED
A. DIVINE BESTOWAL OF THE LAND
1. God had promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 15:18; cf. 17:7-8). Because God owns everything (Ps. 24:1; 50:12; 89:11; 1 Chron. 29:11), any land He promised to a person was theirs by divine right. From the divine perspective, any unauthorized occupants would be regarded as illegals, squatting on land that belongs to another. But God would not give the land to Abraham’s descendants right away, it would be 400 years” (Gen. 15:13).
2. Because God is gracious and kind, He permitted the Canaanites to live on the promised land for 400 years before calling Abraham’s descendants to take possession it. However, there is the pregnant phrase, “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen. 15:16b). The phrase “not yet complete” implies the Canaanites were filling their cup with sin and, when it reached its full, judgment would come.
B. GOD HIMSELF WAS THE JUDGE
When the first generation of Israelites had died off, God directed their children to “drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it” (Num. 33:51-53). God Himself was personally involved in leading His people into Canaan, saying, “Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you” (Deut. 9:3). The warfare and conquest were both a divine and human enterprise. A part of the biblical reason for driving out the Canaanites by military force was “because of the wickedness of these nations” (Deut. 9:5a).
C. THE CANAANITES: SET APART TO DESTRUCTION
The Lord told His people, “you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you” (Deut. 20:17). The words “utterly destroy” (Num. 21:2-3; Deut. 2:34; 3:6; 7:2; 13:15; 20:17; Josh. 2:10; 6:21; 8:26; 10:1, 35, 37, 39, 40; 11:11-12, 20-21) means utter destruction of something which impedes or resists God’s work. The idea of wiping out a nation can be difficult for us to digest, especially the putting of children to death.
II. WHY THEY HAD TO BE DESTROYED
A. GOD JUDGED THIS NECESSARY
First, the command for destruction was from the Lord Himself (Deut. 2:34; 7:1-2; 20:17). Because God is omniscient (Ps. 139:1-6), He knew the situation completely. His command to execute the Canaanites was not reckless. Divine judgment meant God had determined the Canaanite culture was corrupt and not reformable. It would be destroyed.
B. IT WAS A TOTALLY DEPRAVED CULTURE
Second, the Canaanites were hostile to God and His people and comprised the most depraved culture in the world at that time. For centuries the Canaanites practiced gross sexual immorality, which included all forms of incest (Lev. 18:1-20; 20:10-12, 14, 17, 19-21), homosexuality (Lev. 18:22; 20:13), and sex with animals (Lev. 18:23; 20:15-16). They also engaged in the occult (Lev. 20:6), were hostile toward parents (Lev. 20:9), and offered their children as sacrifices to Molech (Lev. 18:21; 20:1-5; cf. Deut. 12:31; 18:10).
C. THEY’D HAD 400 YEARS TO REPENT, BUT DIDN’T
Third, God had been gracious to the Canaanite people for four hundred years (Gen. 15:14-16), giving them ample time to turn from their sin, but they had not. Knowing God’s nature, He certainly sent warnings again & again to the Canaanites, like He did to Israel, but they wouldn’t listen.
D. ONLY THE AMORITES WHO REFUSED TO EVACUATE CANAAN WERE CONDEMNED
1. As Moses advanced toward Canaan, he encountered some of the Amorites who were governed by Sihon, King of Heshbon. Originally, Moses offered Sihon peaceful terms if he would let the Israelites pass through his land toward Canaan, even offering to pay for whatever food and water they consumed (Deut. 2:24-29). In this regard, Sihon brought judgment upon himself and his people (Deut. 2:31-36) by refusing to allow them to pass without war.
2. In fact, just prior to Israel beginning the conquest of Canaan, God specifically forbid His people from attacking the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites and taking their lands, which the Lord had assigned specifically to them (Deut. 2:1-23). This shows God’s judgment was precise and planned, not careless or haphazard.
3. The Amorites could have moved out and avoided the conflict by settling in another area.
E. THOSE WHO TURNED TO GOD WERE SPARED
Those who turned to God would have been spared, like Rahab and her family (Josh. 2:1-14).
F. THE CHILDREN WHO DIED WENT TO HEAVEN
1. The Bible teaches that children under the “age of accountability” (Deut. 1:39; Isa. 7:16; etc.) will go to heaven (Mt. 18:2-4; 19:14, etc.). If those children had grown up in that corrupt and idolatrous culture, they would most likely have gone to hell.
2. Secondly, considering how sexually immoral the Canaanite culture had become, one can imagine pedophilia was widespread, not to mention child sacrifice was commonplace. It was a mercy to spare the children from the sexual abuse and being burned alive.
G. THIS WAS A ONE-TIME EVENT
This wasn’t the regular practice of God. The destruction of the Canaanites was a one-time event, not to be repeated by future generations. Israel was specifically called to destroy only the Canaanites who illegitimately occupied the promised land (Deut. 20:16-18), and to offer peace to other nations, if they would have it (Deut. 20:10-15).
H. WHEN ISRAEL LATER FELL INTO SIN, GOD JUDGED THEM JUST THE SAME WAY
1. Destroying the Canaanites prevented them from becoming a corrupting influence upon God’s people who were called to holiness (Lev. 11:45; 19:2; 20:26).
2. God warned His people that if they allowed the Canaanites to live, they would “teach you to do according to all their detestable things...” (Deut. 20:18; Ex. 23:33; Josh. 23:12-13).
3. Sadly, we know historically that Israel failed to obey the Lord (see the book of Judges), and the immoral culture spread among God’s people, who themselves began to practice all the evil things God hates (Deut. 12:31), including idolatry and child sacrifice (2 Kgs. 3:27; 16:3; Ps. 106:37-38; Isa. 57:5; Jer. 7:31; 19:5; 32:35; Ezek. 16:20-21).
4. Because Israel became corrupt, God destroyed and expelled them from the land by means of military defeat from their enemies. This happened when the ten northern tribes of Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC and the two southern tribes of Judah fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC. So, as Acts 10:34 says, God treats all peoples alike in His justice. His grace is extended to all who turn to Him.
5. This shows us that's God's action in Canaan was not prejudiced against one people group to the benefit of another -- but was actually God's justice being carried out. The Israelites later fell under the same judgment and suffered the same consequences. God is a righteous God who shows no favoritism!
[This is derived from notes by Steven R. Cook; https://thinkingonscripture.com/tag/the-evil-practiced-by-the-canaanites/]
