[7] Godfrey Rolles Driver and John C. Miles, The Assyrian Laws, p. 38. Today the church is not called to execute justice on the wicked in the same way. The Canaanites: Genocide Or Judgment? | Bible.org %%EOF (Rom. [3] One of Baals wives was his daughter Pidray. We, as the Church, are not called to kill lawbreakers since we are not a government; rather, we are called to dis-fellowship believers who refuse to repent in the hopes that they will want to repent and come back (1 Cor. The earliest Canaanite laws did prescribe the death penalty for those caught in incest or adultery, but by the fourteenth century BC the penalty had been reduced to a financial fine. . The reason Yahweh repeatedly gives for the extermination of the Canaanites is that it is their judgment for their sin and rebellion against Him (Gen. 15:16; 18:20-21; Lev. Day, John. Today He is still judging people by many means we do not always recognize because we do not have divine revelation. Here is the list of the sins of the Canaanites: (1) They were having sex with their close family members. In a world of no police or prisons, few options existed for dealing justly with these kinds of evils. Just as fantasies of incest were seen as good omens, so was homosexuality. This is what makes Him good, for no human is satisfied with a God who can look at the evil committed in the world and be all right with or apathetic to it, never exacting justice. Yahweh has made it clear that He is willing to relent in His judgment if a nation repents of its sins and changes its ways (Jer. His very nature demands that He punish and deal with sin. 7:1-6 teaches us is how much Yahweh hates sin and thus so should we. As a righteous God, Yahweh cannot tolerate such sin and evil in His creation. management. Ex. 12:2; 2 Cor. <<395D2D047C712C4997B87D5B811ED3E2>]>> 2. This meant that according to the covenant they had agreed to, they were deserving of death. The sovereignty and justice of Yahweh gave Him every right and demanded that Israel be punished for their sin. The Religion of the Canaanites - Theology 17:7-23) and Judah (the southern kingdom) in 586 BC with the Babylonians (2 Kgs. Wright says it well: On the contrary, the refusal of the exodus generation to go ahead and do it (in the great rebellion of Kadesh Barnea in Numbers 14), and the failureof the following generations to complete the task properly, are condemned as disobedience to Gods will (Ps. Blood-lust, murder, close family member incest, sex with animals. Baal, one of his sons, was married to his sister Anat. . What is most interesting is that it goes on and states that if a woman has a dream where she embraces her own husband, she is doomed.[12]. Or to use our illustration previously, this would be akin to destroying a band of raiders in order to rescue others. Answer The Canaanites were a group of ancient people who lived in the land of Canaan on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. To the north, Canaan extended to Latakia, just south of Ugarit, and inland to Hamath. London: Routledge, 1987. The command of God to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 20:16 "do not leave alive anything that breathes" was applicable only to these 6 tribes that were practicing (1) through (12) listed up-post. Leviticus 18:1-3, "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways {listed in Leviticus 18:6-23} because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Yahweh also placed Abraham and his family in the land of Canaan in order to witness to the Canaanites, as Noah had previously. And yet, God gave them a 400 year reprieve while Israel was in Egypt. You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. Ugaritic Baal myth describes Anat as taking joy in slaughtering her enemies, cutting off their heads and hands and wearing them as a necklace and belt. The Church, on the other hand, has not been called to be a nation with its own government but instead to be a people who are holy and distinct from the world within their nations and governments. 7:1). Revised Standard Version (RSV). Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD . And all the wrath of Yahweh could be poured out on Christ as humanitys representative, killing Him and satisfying Yahwehs justice. The extermination of the Canaanites had to do with removing all influence of the idolatry of immoral gods and practices that would corrupt the lives of the Israelites and lead to perverted and dysfunctional culture. These are the people of the land and the ones that it will require Gods strength to conquer. The basic principles of divine intervention in conflict situations were stated by G.E. The closest thing to this that exists today is when a group of prisoners corner a newcomer in the showers and the alpha male rapes him in order to put him in his place (Gen. 19:4-9; Judg. Isn't this the same God that listed Thou shalt not kill? in the Ten Commandments?" Joshua decided that showing mercy and honoring oaths takes priority over the Mosaic Law to exterminate everything. When one reads records of the other nations conquests, they are self-glorifying and graphic. Molech was a Canaanite underworld deity[13] that required child sacrifice in order to prove devotion to him (Lev. Why did the Israelites take the Canaanites as slaves instead of destroying them as they were instructed? posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its 7; 2 Kgs. [3] See El, Ashertu and the Storm-god, trans.
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