Why a good God commanded the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites

This blog comes from Jonathan Noyes and the appendix comes from Got Questions.

When I was an atheist, I loved causing Christians to doubt God. It was fun for me. One of my favorite tactics was to get them to question God’s goodness. I thought that if I could cause them to doubt God’s goodness, I could eventually get them to doubt God’s existence.

To drive a wedge between God and goodness, I’d point to God’s command to the Israelites to “completely destroy” every person living in the Canaanite cities God was giving them. They were instructed to “not leave alive anything that breathes”—to kill every man, woman, child, and animal (Dt. 20:16–17NIV). Why would a good God have the Israelites exterminate entire groups of people, including women, children, and animals? Here are four principles to remember the next time you encounter this issue.

God’s Patience

First, God was patient. He didn’t capriciously command the Israelites to destroy an entire people group. In fact, God had patiently granted 400 years of grace to the Canaanites (Gen. 15:13–16). They had heard of God’s awesome power (Josh. 2:10–11; 9:9-10). This should have prompted their repentance, but the Canaanites continued in their debauchery. They had ample time to turn from their wicked ways.

God’s Judgment

Second, the destruction of the Canaanites was God’s judgment on them for their grotesque abominations. The Canaanites weren’t kind, humble, indigenous people guilty of minor offenses like cyberbullying. They were a horrible society—so horrible, in fact, that if they existed today, our culture would cry out for the government to intervene by any means necessary.

Leviticus 18 describes them as a culture of adultery, incest, homosexuality, and bestiality. They worshipped Molech by sacrificing their children on the outstretched arms of an idol as a roaring fire consumed them alive. They practiced “detestable customs” (Lev. 18:20). The sins of the Canaanites were so severe that even the land they lived on was defiled. As judgment for their sins, God instructed the Israelites, “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.” (Lev. 18:24–25).

God was enacting a form of capital punishment on a people that had committed capital crimes for centuries. Keep in mind, God could have used any means to destroy them. For example, God used a miracle of nature to judge the world with the flood in Genesis. Here He chose the Israelites as His instrument of judgment. There’s a reason God used the Israelites, which brings us to our third principle.

God’s Protection

Third, God was protecting His people. Notice, in Leviticus 18, God points to the sins of the Canaanites and says, “Do not do these things.” God uses the Canaanites as an example of how not to live and as a warning of what will happen to the Israelites if they do the same (v. 26–28). Directly following the command to “completely destroy” the Canaanites living in the Promised Land, God gives His reason for wanting to wipe them out: “Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God” (Dt. 20:18).

Even so, the Israelites failed to follow God’s command. They did not drive the Canaanites out of the land but instead followed their example, falling into immorality and idolatry (Josh. 16:10; Jud. 1:29-33, 2:1–3; 2 Ki. 16:2–4). God’s command was not only a judgment on the Canaanites but also a measure meant to protect His people and their relationship with Him.

More information about God’s command to the Israelites about the people of Canaan is given in the appendix.

God’s Goodness

Finally, God’s judgment of the Canaanites reminds us of God’s goodness. No one is innocent before a holy and just God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all deserve the same judgment that fell on the Canaanites. But because of God’s great love for you and me, He has offered mercy instead of judgment. Just as He was patient with the Canaanites, God is patient with us, waiting and wanting every one of us to turn to Him and accept the rescue offered only through Jesus Christ. Even in His judgment, God is good.

Appendix: Why did God command the genocide of the Canaanites?

In Deuteronomy 20:16–17, God commanded the Israelites, “In the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you.” A similar command is given concerning the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15:2–3. Why would God have the Israelites exterminate entire groups of people, women and children included?

Before we look at the reasons given in Scripture for the commands to exterminate certain groups of people, it’s important to realize that the Israelites were not given free rein to slaughter everyone they met. Consider the following:

• The standard procedure for battling a city was to first extend terms of peace (Dt. 20:10). If the terms were accepted, the people of that city lived and became subservient to Israel (v. 11). If the terms were rejected, the city was besieged and the men were killed, but the women and children were spared (v. 12–14). Attacking a city within Canaan called for different rules and represented an exception to this standard.
• God did not sanction all of the wars recorded in the Old Testament. The battles that were part of the conquest of Canaan were intended for a particular time and limited to a particular people group. The conquest of Canaan had clear limits, geographically and historically’
• The wars sanctioned by God beyond the time of Joshua were defensive in nature. A number of the battles that Israel fought on the way to and within Canaan were also defensive in nature (Ex. 17:8; Num. 21:21 –32; Dt. 2:26 –37; Josh. 10:4).

Here are the reasons Scripture gives for commanding ancient Israel to annihilate certain people groups:

1. To judge the Canaanites for their abominations. The Canaanites were a brutal and wicked culture that frequently engaged in incredibly decadent behavior. Leviticus 18 provides a list of sins that Israel was to avoid at all costs: incest, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality. All these sins were practiced by the people of Canaan: “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants . . . all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled.” (Lev. 18:24–27).

In ordering the destruction of the Canaanites, God enacted a form of corporate capital punishment on a people that had been deserving of God’s judgment for some time. God had given the Canaanite people over 400 years to repent (Gen. 15:13–16). Then came judgment day. God could have used any means to destroy the Canaanites, but He chose to use the Israelites as the instrument of judgment. This method not only rid the world of an evil and deeply depraved society, but it also provided a ready-made home for God’s chosen people, the Hebrews.

The Canaanites knew what was coming and had heard of God’s awesome power (Josh. 2:10–11; 9:9). Such awareness should have prompted their repentance, but they remained resistant to God. The Canaanite Rahab was saved, and so was her family, and they are proof that the Canaanites could have avoided destruction if they had repented (Josh. 2). No person had to die. God’s desire is that the wicked turn from their sin rather than perish (Ezek. 18:31–32; 33:11).

2. To stave off idolatry and compromise. In Deuteronomy 20, immediately after God commanded that the Canaanites be completely wiped out, God gave the reason: “Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God” (Dt. 20:18). The reason for the extermination was to prevent religious compromise and spiritual adultery: if the Israelites left survivors, the sin of idolatry would follow.

The Israelites failed in their mission and left many Canaanites alive (Josh. 16:10; 17:12–13; Jud. 1:29). Exactly what God said would happen occurred. Israel compromised with Canaanite culture and fell into idolatry time and again (Jud. 2:1–3; 1 Ki. 11:5; 14:24; 2 Ki. 16:3–4). God’s order to exterminate the Canaanites was meant to guard His relationship with His people.

3. To prevent future problems. God knows the future. God knew what the results would be if Israel did not completely eradicate their enemies. The Amalekites were not Canaanites, but they attacked Israel several times and forged alliances with the Canaanites (Ex. 17:8–13; Num. 14:45; Jud. 3:13; 6:3), so they also fell under God’s judgment. King Saul was given the responsibility to exterminate the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15:2–3). Saul shirked his duty and lied about it (1 Sam. 15:20). The results were dire—just a couple of decades later, there were enough Amalekites to take David and his men’s families captive (1 Sam. 30:1–2). Several hundred years after that, a descendant of the Amalekites, Haman, tried to have the entire Jewish people exterminated (see the book of Esther). So, Saul’s incomplete obedience almost resulted in Israel’s destruction. If Saul had obeyed the voice of the Lord, it would have saved David’s men and the Jews of Esther’s day a lot of trouble.

4. To fulfil the curse on Canaan. Centuries before Moses’ command to eradicate the Canaanites, Noah had cursed one of Ham’s sons: “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers” (Gen. 9:25). Canaan was the ancestor of the Canaanites, as Genesis 10 makes clear. The descendants of Canaan include the Sidonians, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 10:15–19). Noah’s curse/prophecy came true during the time of Joshua. The Canaanites were conquered by the Israelites, who were descendants of one of Ham’s brothers, Shem. Not all of the Canaanites were exterminated; true to God’s Word, some of the Canaanites became slaves (Josh. 9:27; 17:12–13).

The most difficult part of the command of Deuteronomy 20:16–17 is that, when the Canaanites were exterminated, women and children were not spared. Why would God order the death of noncombatants and innocent children? Here are some things to remember:

• No one is “innocent” in the sense of being sinless (Ps. 51:5; 58:3).
• These women were participants in the degrading sins of Canaan, and the children would have grown up sympathetic to the evil religions and practices of their parents.
• These women and, eventually, the children would naturally have been resentful of the Israelites and later sought to avenge the “unjust” treatment the Canaanite men had received.

In the end, God is sovereign over all of life, and He can take it whenever and however He sees fit. God alone can give life, and God alone has the right to take it. God is under no obligation to extend anyone’s life for even another day. How and when we die is completely up to Him. In the case of the Canaanites, their end came after a time of tolerance and patient grace. But Judgment Day finally comes to all, and it came to the Canaanites via the Hebrew people.

Acknowledgement

This blog comes from Jonathan Noyes and the appendix comes from Got Questions.

Posted, October 2024

Also see: Genocide of the Amalekites?
Genocide of the Midianites?