The Canaanite Controversy

[Neonap]

I am currently reading the beginning of the Old Testament, and I plan on reading all of it hopefully. I am currently on Genesis and I caught the mention of the Canaanites, which God promised Abraham the land which the Canaanites were in possession of. Something that caught my eye was that the Canaanites cup of iniquity was not yet full.

From what I have studied about the Canaanites, they practiced child sacrifice, and yet God showed them mercy by giving them 400 years to repent. Though I can understand why God would order the Jewish people to take them out, the thing that bothers me is children and infants were included as well.


I do believe that the Bible is God's word, and there is archeological evidence that Joushua's conquest actually happened. But I am at a loss when it comes to God's command to kill children or infants. Can anyone please explain this to me?

 

[Spartan Sprinter 1]

I totally get your conundrum and i don't want to sound like Job's mates and totally misrepresent God so this is just personal conjecture on my behalf.

Maybe God foreknew that these kids would grow up to be wicked and may be a thorn or nuisance to Israel in the future by always trying to war with them which is why he may have commanded them to do this for the sake of Israel's peace etc.

I am probably way off with the above explanation but i too would be interested to hear others opinions on this subject too.

 

[Batman]

I suspect these societies were told what was coming, were advocating the evil from the oldest to the youngest in culture, hate, and violent upbringing, and letting even the young live risked (of course God knows risk versus true outcome) the next generation of culture, hate, and violent upbringing as well as the likelihood of revenge. Besides all of that or actually with all of that was the fact that these terrible sins required an equally terrible and harsh punishment.

I could be wrong on any and all of this but it's what I've always wondered.

 

[LivnForChrist]

One thing I try to think of is this. If the children lived long enough to reach the age of understanding, they would be lost spiritually forever.
They would have grown up to be evil most likely and to continue to spread that evil to the Israelites and others.

 

[antitox]

The Canaanites had to be completely eradicated. Any remnant would rise up against the israelis. Also, Israel was brought in to execute judgment on the Canaanites who were wicked. Consider this example: referring to the Amorites in Gen 15: "And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” This shows that wickedness has to reach a certain point where judgment must be meted out. God always passes judgment at the right time and at the right point.

 

[Eric Nicholas]

Atheists, unbelievers, even myself don't like it, but the Master has every right to judge. He gave them longer than the United States has even been in existence to repent; think about that. That's a hundred years and some change more than we have even been a thing over here in the West. If that isn't patient and enduring, I just don't know what is. Another uncomfortable truth is like others have said, our Lord in His foreknowledge may have seen the second death in their future and for whatever reason that He ordained, He chose to execute capital punishment on all that He chose to.

This is a thing that needs to be hammered into the hearts and minds of all, especially in the emotionally incontinent society we live in: truth doesn't care one bit about how you feel about it. Trust me, I don't like that fact anymore than anyone else. Alas, it is the Truth, irrelevant of emotional pleas. No matter what we can conjure in opposition to it, the Truth will prevail and He who dispatches the Truth on the judged is just. Who can stand against it? Fear Him in the Age of Grace, before love is withdrawn from your universe, never to return.

That said, Dr. Paul Copan (no I don't agree with his eschatology, etc) makes a case for " military language " used back then and even how we use it today. For instance, when we current humans say, " We wiped them out! " , this doesn't mean that all were literally wiped out, instead, boldly and soundly defeated. He makes a case that even though it talks about the Canaanites being utterly destroyed, they appear a few chapters later, so it's an interesting thought that may rub some the wrong way.

 

[mattfivefour]

As Abraham said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

 

[Umbrella Girl]

I have wrestled with such difficult questions, too, and I never found satisfactory answers to them...

So I have found that the only way I can have peace of mind is to simply stop focusing on such questions, and instead trust in the inherent goodness, justice, and love of God...

His ways are not our ways. And currently, we see things “through a glass darkly,” but when we are finally in His direct presence, we will “fully know, even as we are fully known”...

That’s why 1 Corinthians 13:12 is my favorite verse in all the Word of God...