Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. (Isaiah 18:30)
Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. (Deuteronomy 20:17)
As the Lord commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:15)
Yesterday, I watch a video in which a Middle Eastern man addressed the accusation, made by some, that God promotes genocide. After all, Deuteronomy 20:17 states it as boldly as it can be stated. Those six people groups had to die!
Part of his answer was that we need to consider what that command would have meant to Joshua and the Israelites at the time it was given. He believes they probably understood it as much in the cultural sense as in the literal. Canaanite people might continue to live, but their culture was to be destroyed. We see that in the fact that Rahab and her family were allowed to live. We see that in the fact that while Joshua left nothing undone of all the Lord had commanded Moses, there were Canaanites around to oppress and abuse the Israelites in the book of Judges.
I found the other part of his answer more to the point. As one continues to read the Old Testament, one reads repeatedly that if Israel lived according to God’s Law (as they vowed to do a number of times) they would live in the land and be prosperous. If they did not obey, God would punish them and drive them from the land, reducing their numbers to near extinction.
Genocide is “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” The nations that God called on Joshua to destroy had more than four hundred years to turn away from their sins – which included burning their children alive in sacrifice to their gods. Scripture does not tell us what happened among those people during those four hundred years. We tend to assume that God didn’t make any effort to communicate with them because Scripture doesn’t tell us what He did, but that’s not a fair assessment of the situation. You do lots of things without telling me, does that mean you don’t do them?
The fact that the Israelites, God’s “chosen people” would face the same fate as the Canaanites, if they continued to behave like the Canaanites, shows that God’s hatred was not racial. It was not against any particular ethnic group or nation. It was a judgment against anyone who violated His law. They were guilty, and they had been guilty for four hundred years.
I submit that it was also a spiritual medical necessity. God warned the Israelites that if they did not get rid of the Canaanites, they would “catch” the Canaanite’s sin-sickness. They didn’t eradicate the Canaanites, and they did become like the Canaanites.
Sin is like rabies. There is no treatment for rabies for most species that can catch it. It’s treatable in humans if it is caught early enough, but there is a point beyond which the remedies are useless even in man. The only hope with rabies is to eradicate the carriers so that it doesn’t spread.
Part of his answer was that we need to consider what that command would have meant to Joshua and the Israelites at the time it was given. He believes they probably understood it as much in the cultural sense as in the literal. Canaanite people might continue to live, but their culture was to be destroyed. We see that in the fact that Rahab and her family were allowed to live. We see that in the fact that while Joshua left nothing undone of all the Lord had commanded Moses, there were Canaanites around to oppress and abuse the Israelites in the book of Judges.
I found the other part of his answer more to the point. As one continues to read the Old Testament, one reads repeatedly that if Israel lived according to God’s Law (as they vowed to do a number of times) they would live in the land and be prosperous. If they did not obey, God would punish them and drive them from the land, reducing their numbers to near extinction.
Genocide is “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” The nations that God called on Joshua to destroy had more than four hundred years to turn away from their sins – which included burning their children alive in sacrifice to their gods. Scripture does not tell us what happened among those people during those four hundred years. We tend to assume that God didn’t make any effort to communicate with them because Scripture doesn’t tell us what He did, but that’s not a fair assessment of the situation. You do lots of things without telling me, does that mean you don’t do them?
The fact that the Israelites, God’s “chosen people” would face the same fate as the Canaanites, if they continued to behave like the Canaanites, shows that God’s hatred was not racial. It was not against any particular ethnic group or nation. It was a judgment against anyone who violated His law. They were guilty, and they had been guilty for four hundred years.
I submit that it was also a spiritual medical necessity. God warned the Israelites that if they did not get rid of the Canaanites, they would “catch” the Canaanite’s sin-sickness. They didn’t eradicate the Canaanites, and they did become like the Canaanites.
Sin is like rabies. There is no treatment for rabies for most species that can catch it. It’s treatable in humans if it is caught early enough, but there is a point beyond which the remedies are useless even in man. The only hope with rabies is to eradicate the carriers so that it doesn’t spread.
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