Perhaps one of the most difficult passages in all of Scripture to share with an unsaved person, and for that matter even with a Christian, concerns God’s command to wipe out the Canaanite nation. We read about this command in (Deuteronomy 20:16-18): “Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave anything that breathes alive. Instead, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that they will not teach you to do all the same detestable practices of theirs which they have done for their gods, by which you would sin against the Lord your God.”
Critics of the Bible are quick to charge God with mass genocide since God says here to destroy “anything that breathes” which includes adults, children, infants, and even animals. They say how could a loving God do such a horrible thing? Is God a moral monster or does He have good reason to destroy an entire nation? I believe that God was justified to destroy the Canaanites who refused to leave the area God had given Israel; and it wasn’t genocide but capital punishment.
A little background will help us begin to realize why God took such drastic steps. The Bible tells us that the Canaanites during the time of Joshua were an exceedingly wicked people. Some of the abominable practices they indulged in included incest, adultery, witchcraft, polygamy, bestiality, and child sacrifice to an idol named Molech. Because of all of these abominable practices the Canaanites had become a dangerous threat to the Israelites.
Before I make the case why the destruction of the Canaanites was not genocide but capital punishment it is important to understand that God created the Earth and all of its inhabitants and as a result He has the right to do whatever He feels is right with His creation. It is also important to realize that His standard of fairness may not always agree with our concept of fairness and in such cases we need to trust God that He will always do the right thing even when we may not fully understand it.
One other important observation concerns God right to judge evil. We certainly understand the importance of confronting and stopping evil whenever it is in our power to do so. So why do so many feel God doesn’t have this same right especially with the wicked Canaanites. Charlie Campbell expresses this thought well: “Think back with me to the events surrounding World War II. Many people believe the Allied Powers had a moral obligation, even a God-given obligation, to go to war against Japan and the Nazis to stop the great evils they were committing. If human governments have the right to send in a military force to put a stop to evildoers, doesn’t God have the right? Surely, He does! If you had lived at the time of Joshua and were aware of the great atrocities going on in Canaan, you probably would have been in favor of God’s intervention—unless you think burning children alive is okay.”1
In tomorrow’s devotion I will share four reasons why the killing of the Canaanites was not genocide but capital punishment.
As Creator of this world and it’s inhabitants, “God has a right to judge evil,” but does He extend that right to the righteous? A hard world sometimes requires hard words and believers are supplied these inspired words in what we call imprecatory Psalms. Your first response is to say, “Yeah, but that’s the Old Testament.” Are you sure? Look at Peter’s use of Psalm 109 in the first chapter of Acts when they are considering a replacement for Judas.
“For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take” (Acts 1:20, Psalm 69:25, Psalm 109:8)
“Let his days be few; And let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places” (Psalm 109:8–10)
The proper application of these Psalms to the evil of our modern-day society is a lost art. If we want to see the effect of our faith prevailing against the gates of hell, we need to learn to take up these weapons of our warfare and cry out to the Lord to make His enemies His footstool. Be students of imprecatory Psalms and become a soldier in the war against evil.