Some Brief and Timely Lessons for Christians about Islam and Israel: Lesson 5

Lesson 5: The Religion of Warfare

In this lesson, I will repost two articles of mine from 2015.  The first provides quotations from the Quran, and the second quotations from Islam’s Sahih Bukhari.  From these, readers can see that Islam is only a religion of ‘peace’ if one understands peace as the result of submission—submission to Allah and to Islam.  More honestly, it is a religion of submission that engages in jihad as a matter of course to make others submit to it.  Of course, this applies more to some than to other Muslims.  Yet this fact does explain much of Islamic history and the present day Islamic terrorist groups in various parts of the world.  The purpose of this lesson is to identify some of the important and authoritative texts that undergird the understanding of Islam as a religion of warfare.

What Does the Quran Say about Treatment of Jews and Christians? (3 February, 2015)

The Quran seems to offer different advice on what to do with persons of other faiths.  Those of us accustomed to reading ancient texts know that there are legitimate issues of interpretation that need to be considered.  At times, such issues lead us to a different understanding of texts that, on first reading, appear to be saying something else.  There are, for example, issues of translation (and Muslims insist that the Quran cannot accurately be translated from Arabic), the importance of the original context, a possible trajectory of meaning of some sort (such as when the holy war narratives in the Old Testament give way to the pacifism of the early Church due to the teaching and example of Jesus Christ in the New Testament), matters of rhetoric (is extreme language actually hyperbole and not to be taken literally?), and so forth.  Thus, the following identification of texts is mainly offered to identify which texts need some sort of explanation as one attempts to understand what the Quran says about the treatment of Jews and Christians.

How might someone explain the apparent contrast of views in the Quran?  On the one hand, Surat 2.257 says: 'There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion.'  On the other hand, Surat 9.5 says: 'And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah [a payment showing appreciation for Allah’s blessing], let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.'  Surat 9.12 goes on to say to 'fight them (polytheists) that they may cease.’

The Quran distinguishes between Jews, Christians, and polytheists, but it also sees them as three groups over against Islam: 'Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah]. And he was not of the polytheists’ (Surat 3.67).  So, what does the Quran say about Jews and Christians?  Surat 5.51 sees them as allies of one another and opposed to Islam: 'O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you - then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.'

Similarly, and apparently in reference to the Jews (see Surat 4.46), Surat 4.89 says: 'They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah . But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.'  Surat 9.123 says: 'O you who have believed, fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers and let them find in you harshness. And know that Allah is with the righteous.'  Surat 4.47 contains a direct threat of death to Jews and Christians rejecting the Quran: ‘O you who were given the Scripture, believe in what We have sent down [to Muhammad], confirming that which is with you, before We obliterate faces and turn them toward their backs or curse them as We cursed the sabbath-breakers. And ever is the decree of Allah accomplished.’

Conversion from Islam carries an ominous threat of punishment: ‘Or lest you say, "If only the Scripture had been revealed to us, we would have been better guided than they." So there has [now] come to you a clear evidence from your Lord and a guidance and mercy. Then who is more unjust than one who denies the verses of Allah and turns away from them? We will recompense those who turn away from Our verses with the worst of punishment for their having turned away’ (Surat 6.157).

Fighting in the cause of Allah means a great reward: 'So let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. And he who fights in the cause of Allah and is killed or achieves victory - We will bestow upon him a great reward’ (Surat 4.74).  Much is made about fighting for Allah (especially in Surat 2)--and a higher reward goes to the one engaged in warfare--see Surat 4.95: 'But Allah has preferred the mujahideen [those who strive and fight] over those who remain [behind] with a great reward.'

Jews and Christians are unequivocally said to be headed to hell: ‘Indeed, they who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein. Those are the worst of creatures’ (Surat 98.6).  Yet the matter does not end there, even though the Quran gives evidence of people of different religions living in the same region.  Instead, fighting against Jews and Christians is advocated.  Surat 9.29 says: ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day … who do not adopt the religion of truth [Islam] from those who were given the Scripture [Jews and Christians] - [fight] until they give the jizyah [tax on non-Muslims] willingly while they are humbled.’  Those causing Muslims to turn from their religion are promised a painful punishment: ‘Indeed, those who have disbelieved and avert [people] from the way of Allah and [from] al-Masjid al-Haram [the sacred mosque in Mecca], which We made for the people - equal are the resident therein and one from outside; and [also] whoever intends [a deed] therein of deviation [in religion] or wrongdoing - We will make him taste of a painful punishment’ (Surat 22.25).

Texts such as these from the Quran raise questions about how they are to be understood and applied in the present age.  For those of us who are not Muslims, the matter is primarily about how such texts are interpreted, not how we think they ought to be interpreted.  Yet the beginning of the problem for those outside Islam is that most people are ignorant of such texts in the first place, and they stand confused about how a religion purporting to be peaceful can lead so many to acts of such extreme violence.  To be sure, Christians have at different times behaved horribly too, although many would contend—as would I—that in such cases the practice of the Christian faith was completely at odds with Holy Scripture.  Such an argument is not difficult to make once one has read the New Testament—after all, did Jesus not say,

Matthew 5:44-46  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  ⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.  ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 

In closing, the question with which we are left is, ‘Is there any room at all for interpreting these texts in the Quran differently from what one might understand as the simple meaning of the text?’  If so, then perhaps certain advocates are correct when they insist that the extreme acts of Islamic terrorists we see today are not characteristic of ‘true’ Islam.  If not, then perhaps ‘radical Islam’ is actually not radical at all but the real thing, not some aberration.  In fact, one hermeneutical principle applied to reading the Quran is that the later texts take precedence over the early ones.  If so, then the more extreme and bellicose texts take precedence over the less extreme texts.

Is it ‘Islam’ or ‘Radical Islam’? (18 November, 2015)

Western liberals wish to avoid the politically incorrect issue of whether terrorists from Middle Eastern and North African countries do what they do because of their Islamic faith or not.  Is this a religious matter, or is it terrorism without any religious motivation?  Even when the terrorists claim that they murder because of their faith, liberal Westerners embarrassingly try to insist that this is not the case.  They try to criticize the terrorists for misunderstanding their own faith, as though they are somehow more able to explain Islam than Muslims.  Some will say that the agents of death are not true Muslims but ‘radicalised Muslims,’ but others will avoid the term ‘Muslim’ altogether.

Why would someone attempt this rather peculiar ‘doublespeak’ (a term coined by George Orwell in his work on politically correct totalitarianism—Nineteen Eighty-Four)?  One reason, apparently, is that liberals in the West have for decades tried to sweep religion under the cultural rug.  They have exiled religious faith to private places—behind church walls or in houses—anywhere but in the public square.  They have legislated against holding Christian convictions if they translate in any way to public life.  So, if any Muslims do commit violence because of their faith, they must, the denial mill purports, have been provoked—as in the now infamous story knowingly invented and shamefully told about an offensive video in Bengazi, Libya as the cause of an attack on the American embassy in 2012.

A second reason appears to be that President Barack Obama began his presidency by attempting to mend relationships with Islamic countries.  He has, however, repeatedly found himself in the embarrassing position of trying to address unrest in the Middle East when denial of the issues becomes impossible.  He would prefer to think of this unrest in terms of attempts to establish democracy or in terms of the previous administration's bungling into foreign wars or in terms of oppression and ethnicity (especially when Israel is part of the equation).  In other words, President Obama lacks the will or ability—or both—to analyze a deeply religious part of the world in terms of religion.  He is not alone.  Believing that reality is constructed, not a matter of facts, Western liberals seem to believe that their version of others’ beliefs is just as viable, if not moreso, than what people say.

As a result, public discussion in the West cannot rise to the real issue of whether terrorism is normative Islam or radical Islam.  Is the heart of Islam being exposed in the horrific attacks over recent years, or is this some cancerous aberration of some ‘true’ and peaceful Islam?  Divisions in Islam appeared right after the death of Mohammed, of course, and one cannot really speak of a ‘true’ form of Islam—only major traditions.  Also complicating any answer to the question are the facts that sacred texts ought to be read in Arabic rather than translation and that what is written needs to be read in some context with explanations.  This is the missing dialogue as the Western media attempts to present events without religious analysis. 

The following quotations might be a start for those who are capable of reading documents before passing judgements and able to listen to uncomfortable views without feeling that their predetermined views are being threatened.  Sadly, this rules out many in the government, on university campuses, and in news agencies in the West.

These quotations are from the Sahih Bukhari, which is one of the books of the Kutub al-Sittah.  The Kutub al-Sittah contains six collections by Muhammed al-Bukhari of sayings of Islam’s founder and form part of the Haddith.  The Kutub al-Sittah, compiled in the 9^th c., is given particular authority by Sunni Muslims (of which ISIS would be a representative).[1]

Quotations from the Sahih Bukhari

From Volume 4, Book 52: Jihaad

Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him' " (4.52.176).

Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him" (4.52.177).

Allah 's Apostle said, " I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' and whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law, and his accounts will be with Allah, (either to punish him or to forgive him.)" (4.52.196).

I asked Allah's Apostle, "O Allah's Apostle! What is the best deed?" He replied, "To offer the prayers at their early stated fixed times." I asked, "What is next in goodness?" He replied, "To be good and dutiful to your parents." I further asked, what is next in goodness?" He replied, "To participate in Jihad in Allah's Cause." I did not ask Allah's Apostle anymore and if I had asked him more, he would have told me more. (4.52.41).

The Prophet passed by me at a place called Al-Abwa or Waddan, and was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, "They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans)." I also heard the Prophet saying, "The institution of Hima is invalid except for Allah and His Apostle."  (4.52.256).

Allah's Apostle sent us in a mission (i.e. an army-unit) and said, "If you find so-and-so and so-and-so, burn both of them with fire." When we intended to depart, Allah's Apostle said, "I have ordered you to burn so-and-so and so-and-so, and it is none but Allah Who punishes with fire, so, if you find them, kill them." (4.52.259).

Ali burnt some people and this news reached Ibn 'Abbas, who said, "Had I been in his place I would not have burnt them, as the Prophet said, 'Don't punish (anybody) with Allah's Punishment.' No doubt, I would have killed them, for the Prophet said, 'If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.' " (4.52.260).

I asked Ali, "Do you have the knowledge of any Divine Inspiration besides what is in Allah's Book?" 'Ali replied, "No, by Him Who splits the grain of corn and creates the soul. I don't think we have such knowledge, but we have the ability of understanding which Allah may endow a person with, so that he may understand the Qur'an, and we have what is written in this paper as well." I asked, "What is written in this paper?" He replied, "(The regulations of) blood-money, the freeing of captives, and the judgment that no Muslim should be killed for killing an infidel." (4.52.283).

From Volume 8, Book 82: Disbelievers

Some people from the tribe of 'Ukl came to the Prophet and embraced Islam. The climate of Medina did not suit them, so the Prophet ordered them to go to the (herd of milch) camels of charity and to drink, their milk and urine (as a medicine). They did so, and after they had recovered from their ailment (became healthy) they turned renegades (reverted from Islam) and killed the shepherd of the camels and took the camels away. The Prophet sent (some people) in their pursuit and so they were (caught and) brought, and the Prophets ordered that their hands and legs should be cut off and that their eyes should be branded with heated pieces of iron, and that their cut hands and legs should not be cauterized, till they die. (8.82.794).

From Volume 9, Book 84: Dealing with Apostates

Behold: There was a fettered man beside Abu Muisa. Mu'adh asked, "Who is this (man)?" Abu Muisa said, "He was a Jew and became a Muslim and then reverted back to Judaism." Then Abu Muisa requested Mu'adh to sit down but Mu'adh said, "I will not sit down till he has been killed. (9.84.58; also in 9.89.271).

Conclusion

Those who do not read primary sources from antiquity need to be aware that texts must be read in their contexts, and moral judgements on them should also take earlier contexts into account.  When reading sacred texts—texts understood to carry authority in themselves—one needs to look for internal criteria that provide a means by which to interpret the texts intertextually.  That is, interpreters should beware of reading a text (and doing so in translation) without care for the historical-cultural, literary context or canonical context.  It is in so reading the Bible that we move from a religious understanding developed around an ethnic group and nation living in a land with borders that need defending to a religious understanding developed around the crucified Saviour, Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of the whole world.  Islam, however, lacks any such theological or heremeneutical key to move from a religion of warfare to bring about the submission of all.

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[1] For a searchable English translation of the Sahih Bukhari, see: http://www.sahih-bukhari.com/.

Previous Lesson Links:

Lesson 1: Land, Religious State, Coexistence of Religions, and Non-Muslim Taxation

Lesson 2: Whose land?  Whose rights?  Theology and Politics of the Land, and the Power of the Cross

Lesson 3: Israel’s Theology of the Land in Deuteronomy 26

Lesson 4: Ethical Considerations on Israel’s Clearing of Canaan from its Inhabitants

Some Brief and Timely Lessons for Christians about Islam and Israel: Lesson 4

Lesson 4: Ethical Considerations on Israel’s Clearing of Canaan from its Inhabitants

Introduction

What shall we do with Old Testament texts dealing with Israel's clearing of Canaan from its inhabitants?  While not the least surprising in the history and culture of the Ancient Near East, the story poses a potential ethical challenge when it appears in Holy Scripture and as an event called for by God.  Putting people to the sword hardly sounds moral.  It sounds like an evil military force like ISIS or Hamas.  We might view it as ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Ancient Near Eastern peoples practiced people displacement and annihilation.  For example, in 1595 BC, Mursilli I (a Hittite) captured Babylon.  He removed the temple treasure and scattered the people.  This was a pattern throughout the region and over many centuries.  The stories of such practices are told on steles erected by rulers and depicted on walls and cliffs throughout the Ancient Near East.  Israel’s conquest of Canaan is the ‘stuff’ of Ancient Near Eastern politics, culture, and history.

In historical-political terms, the story fits the narrative explanation that the land belongs to the Jews.  In theological terms, it fits the narrative that the land belongs to God, and He cleanses the land from any who pollute it, whether Canaanites or Israelites.  As such, it is not a story endorsing ancient warfare or ethnic genocide but one that makes a theological claim about God’s statutes for all people and His right to judge.  Further, it is a story about God’s unfolding plan of salvation, including His grace in giving the land to a people delivered from slavery as their inheritance.  Ethically, Israel’s possession of the land is not a right but a gift and a responsibility (and therefore something that was lost for a period in the late 8^th – late 6^th centuries BC).

Following are eight points to consider regarding Israel’s conquest of Canaan and possession of the land.  The points are made from Scripture and pertain only to the period covered in the Bible.  A Biblical study of the issue involves consideration of the historical and theological progression in Scripture, from the Patriarchal period to the Israelite period to the Christian New Testament.

1. God Called for Himself a Holy People for His Mission to the World.

God’s choosing a people for Himself from the nations is fundamental to salvation history, both Israel’s salvation and that of the nations.  Choosing a people involves promising a place for them to dwell in righteousness before the one, true God, separate from the nations.

God’s Covenant with Abraham involved the promises of a land, a people, and the people’s being a blessing to the nations.  Because humanity was sinful (Genesis 6.5; 8.21), God’s dealing with His people involves judgement and salvation.  Over against stories in Genesis 1-11 of the eviction of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden for their sin, the destruction of sinful humanity in the story of the Flood and salvation of Noah and his family, and the dispersion of people when their unified civilization claimed rivalry with God, the story of Israel begins with God’s promise of blessing and salvation that includes the promise of the land:

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (All quotes are from the English Standard Version.) 

 The Israelites were rescued from Egypt and brought to God.  He adopted them as His people at Mt. Sinai, when He gave them His Law.  As God’s treasured possession, they were to fulfill their role as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation:

Exodus 19.3-6 The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Deuteronomy 1:8 See, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land that I swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them."

 

Deuteronomy 4:32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. ³³ Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? ³⁴ Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. ³⁶ Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷ And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, ³⁸ driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, ³⁹ know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ⁴⁰ Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

 

2 Samuel 7:23 And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods?  [Cf. 1 Chronicles 17.21]

 

2. Occupying the Land was Tied to Living the Righteous Life.

 Occupying the land of Canaan has to do with righteousness.  Being removed from the land has to do with punishment for sins.  This applied to the Canaanite tribes as well as to Israel.

 

Leviticus 18.3, 24-30 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes…. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, ²⁵ and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you ²⁷ (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), ²⁸ lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ²⁹ For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. ^30qSo keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.”

 

Lev. 20:23 And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

 Not only Canaanite tribes but also Israel is punished with respect to occupying the land.  They are kept in the Wilderness and not allowed to enter Canaan because of their sins. 

 

Numbers 14:43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will confront you there, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you." 

Once in the land, the Israelites are eventually removed and sent into exile for not obeying God.  When God restores them from exile among the nations, it was for the sake of His Name.  To restore Israel from captivity meant to cleanse them from their past sins and to make them a righteous people.  Thus, living in the land of promise was tied to righteousness and the witness of the people among the nations.  If the Canaanites were to be removed from the land for their sinfulness, a sinful Israel was not to be tolerated in the land.  Of the many Old Testament passages that capture this theological understanding of the people, the land, the witness to the nations, and God’s plan of salvation, consider this passage about the New Covenant after Israel’s exile:

Ezek. 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from fall your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you ia new heart, and ia new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.1 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And nI will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and play no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

3. God’s judgement comes on an entire people when the righteous among them are too few.  He saves the righteous and destroys the unrighteous.

Three stories demonstrate that God brings judgement when the number of the righteous is too small to expect that the people will turn from their sins: the story of Noah and the Flood, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the story of Rahab and Jericho.

Genesis 6.5-8 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Genesis 18.32 Then he [Abraham] said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there [in Sodom].” He [the LORD] answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

Genesis 19.29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

Joshua 6.17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

4. The timing of cleansing Canaan had to do with the fullness of the Canaanite tribes’ sin reaching a tipping point.

 God dealt with Canaan as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18-19): judgement only came when the land was bereft of righteous people.

 

Genesis 15:14-16 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.  15 As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.  16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." 

 

Deuteronomy 9:4-5 "Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.  5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

5. Holy War is God’s War.

The Old Testament does not speak of ‘just war’—a theory that originated with the Stoics and came to be applied in Christian Europe after the empire was ‘Christianised’ (after the 4th century).  Holy War is holy because the battle really belongs to God.  Israel is God’s instrument of punishment, as with the battle against Jericho. 

 

Joshua 3:9-10, 13-14 Joshua then said to the Israelites, "Draw near and hear the words of the LORD your God."  10 Joshua said, "By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites…. 13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"  14 And he said, "No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come." 

 

Joshua 7:10-13 The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! Why have you fallen upon your face?  11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings.  12 Therefore the Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they turn their backs to their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted for destruction themselves. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.  13 Proceed to sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "There are devoted things among you, O Israel; you will be unable to stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you." 

6. Ungodly influences are to be removed from God’s people.

The occupants of Canaan are not only punished for their own sins.  They are also to be removed in order not to influence God’s people with their idolatry and sins.

 

Exodus 23:23-24 When my angel goes in front of you, and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,  24 you shall not bow down to their gods, or worship them, or follow their practices, but you shall utterly demolish them and break their pillars in pieces.

 

Exodus 23:28-33 And I will send the pestilence in front of you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.  29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, or the land would become desolate and the wild animals would multiply against you.  30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.  31 I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates; for I will hand over to you the inhabitants of the land, and you shall drive them out before you.  32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.  33 They shall not live in your land, or they will make you sin against me; for if you worship their gods, it will surely be a snare to you. 

 

Exodus 34:11-17 Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.  12 Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you.  13 You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles  14 (for you shall worship no other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God).  15 You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice.  16 And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods.  17 You shall not make cast idols. 

 

Leviticus 18:3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes. 

 

Numbers 33:50-56  50 In the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, the LORD spoke to

Moses, saying:  51 Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,  52 you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their figured stones, destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places.  53 You shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.  54 You shall apportion the land by lot according to your clans; to a large one you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small one you shall give a small inheritance; the inheritance shall belong to the person on whom the lot falls; according to your ancestral tribes you shall inherit.  55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they shall trouble you in the land where you are settling.  56 And I will do to you as I thought to do to them. 

 

Deuteronomy 7:1-6 When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you-- the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you--  2 and when the LORD your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.  3 Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,  4 for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.  5 But this is how you must deal with them: break down their altars, smash their pillars, hew down their sacred poles, and burn their idols with fire.  6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

 7. The occupants of Canaan were a ‘failed’ culture, full of sin, not just individuals who were sinful.

The sinfulness of the Canaanites is a major theme in the Old Testament, beginning with the sin of Ham against his father, Noah (Genesis 9).  It continues with the story of God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah for their many sins, including homosexuality and the rape of foreigners (Genesis 19; cf. Judges 19).  Examples of the sins of the people of Egypt and Canaan are given in Leviticus 18, especially regarding sexual sins.  Note also these extra-Biblical references:

·       Regarding the Egyptians: ‘…and the Egyptians take their sisters in marriage (Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism III.205; AD 200).

·       Regarding the Hittites: 199. ‘If anyone have intercourse with a pig or a dog, he shall die. If a man have intercourse with a horse or a mule, there is no punishment. But he shall not approach the king, and shall not become a priest’ (Code of Nesilim; 1650-1500 BC—Old Hittite).

The Canaanites also sacrificed children to gods.  The Ammonites sacrificed their children to Molech and the Canaanites to Baal (1 Kings 11.7; 2 Kings 3.10; 13.10; cf. Jeremiah 7.31-32; 19.4-15; 32.5; Leviticus 20.1-5).

The Canaanites also sought answers from the dead (Leviticus 20.27).  The nations that the Israelites dispossessed in Canaan practiced divination, listened to fortune-tellers and people who interpreted omens, sought out sorcerers, charmers, mediums, and the dead (Deuteronomy 18.9-14; cf. 12.31; Exodus 22.18; Leviticus 18.21; 19.26, 31; 2 Kings 17.17; cf. 1 Samuel 28.7).  These religious practices were also repulsive to God.

 8. Terms of peace are to be offered certain towns first.  Israel’s war does not mean total annihilation: only particular nations which have done abhorrent things are put to the sword so that they might not teach God's people to do them.  The cleansing of the land was to do with God's judgement and the people's purity. 

 

Deuteronomy 20:10-18 When you draw near to a town to fight against it, offer it terms of peace.  11 If it accepts your terms of peace and surrenders to you, then all the people in it shall serve you at forced labor.  12 If it does not submit to you peacefully, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it;  13 and when the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword.  14 You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children, livestock, and everything else in the town, all its spoil. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you.  15 Thus you shall treat all the towns that are very far from you, which are not towns of the nations here.  16 But as for the towns of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive.  17 You shall annihilate them-- the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites-- just as the LORD your God has commanded,  18 so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against the LORD your God.

 9. The New Testament presents a non-violent ethic for God’s people.

 The Church is not a state.  Unlike Israel, it has no land, no borders, no army, no king.  It is a community, and it is made up of all peoples of the earth.

 a. Leave vengeance to God.

Romans 12:18-21 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."  20 To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head."  21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 b. Pray for your enemies.

Matthew 5:43-44 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….

 c. Forgive others as God has forgiven you.

Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 d. There are no ethnic exclusions among God’s people.  Instead, the Church is inclusive of groups that used to fight.  Inclusion is not a characteristic of ethnic diversity (multiculturalism) but of non-ethnic identity.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12.13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Colossians 3.11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

 e. The Church approaches discipline differently from a nation like Israel.  The Church is a community of faith, not a civil government. 

Leviticus 20:11 If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

1 Corinthians 5:4-5 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,  5 you are to deliver this man to Satan [i.e., outside the church) for the destruction of the flesh [i.e., sinful desires], so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

 f. God will ultimately bring judgement to the earth.  Now is the time of God’s grace, the time to evangelise the nations, the day of salvation.  Israel's actions took place as part of God's plan that involved a nation and without an eschatology of final judgement on the earth.  The New Testament sees judgement as belonging to God, which leaves the Church--God's people--without the sword.

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.  2 For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

 

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, 8-10 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  3 While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape….  8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.  9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

Conclusion

These points are significant when considering the Biblical perspective on Israel’s cleansing and conquest of the land of Israel.  The event, while typical in Ancient Near Eastern history, is unique from a theological perspective.  Holy war relates to the particular narrative, and it is not something that is repeatable or a right of a particular people.  In fact, the New Testament removes God’s people, the Church, from such a narrative or role altogether.  (The Crusades were an illegitimate reclaiming of the Old Testament narrative of Holy War for the Church in response to Islamic claims.)  The legitimacy of Holy War resides only with God, and it is only to be enacted again at the end of history when God establishes righteousness on the earth.  It will be His judgement, and there is no Biblical grounds for associating it with the land of Israel or ethnic or national identities.

Links:

Lesson 1: Land, Religious State, Coexistence of Religions, and Non-Muslim Taxation

Lesson 2: Whose land?  Whose rights?  Theology and Politics of the Land, and the Power of the Cross

Lesson 3: Israel’s Theology of the Land in Deuteronomy 26

Related Discussion from Associates for Biblical Research on Archaeological Evidence for Israel's Conquest of Canaan in the 15th Century BC:

Joshua: The Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries-Digging for Truth Episode 219

Some Brief and Timely Lessons for Christians about Islam and Israel: Lesson 3

 Lesson 3: Israel’s Theology of the Land in Deuteronomy 26

Deuteronomy 26 provides a theology of the land of Israel and of the Israelites as a people.  Two opposite dimensions of Israel’s identity are brought together in this chapter: as a landless people, and as a people of the land.  These two identities work together to explain the unique identity of Israel and of the land in Old Testament theology.

First, the Israelites affirmed their original, landless identity.  They did not lay claim to the land of Canaan on the grounds that they had always dwelt there.  Their origins were nomadic and as slaves.  Their first ancestor, Abram, was a ‘wandering Aramean’ (v. 2).  The Aramean tribes’ appear in history as people from northern Mesopotamia (northern Syria and eastern Turkey today), and Abram’s family does connect with this area.  When Abram left Ur of the Chaldeans in southern Mesopotamia, he and his family settled in Haran, where his father, Terah, died and was buried (Genesis 11.31-32).  When Isaac and Jacob sought wives, they returned to this region to marry within their clan.  The chapter also explains that the Israelites became a nation while in slavery in Egypt.  They arrived in Egypt ‘few in number’ but there became a ‘nation, great, mighty, and populous’ (v. 5). 

The rehearsal of this nomadic and slave history of Israel has a purpose in Leviticus 26.  It is something each Israelite ‘confesses’ when the tithe is brought to the priest every third year (v. 12).  Israelites tithed every year, and the tithe was given to the Levites, who managed the store houses of Israel as elsewhere in the Ancient Near East.  Tithing barns can be found beside the ruins of temples from Egypt to Mesopotamia.  Every third year, however, there was a special tithe of the produce of the land for those without land: the Levites, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow (vv. 12-13).  This tithe acknowledged three things about Israel’s identity and the land.

Second, as an originally landless people, their possession of the land was not understood to be a right of their own but a gift from God.  The chapter begins,

When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it… (v. 1, ESV).

Third, giving the tithe in acknowledgement that God gave them the land was an act of worship.  When bringing the tithe to the priest, the person says,

…. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God (v. 10).

As a religious act, giving the tithe was an act of thanksgiving to God.  The people were to ‘rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you’ (v. 11).

The religious understanding of the tithe brought to mind not only the good that came from a harvest but also other things the LORD had done for the people.  He had delivered them from the harsh treatment they received in Egypt (v. 6), He had performed mighty signs and wonders for them to accomplish their freedom from slavery (vv. 7-8).  And He had brought them ‘into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey’ (v. 9).  The tithe of the first fruit of the land, then, was an offering of thanks to God (v. 10).

As a religious act, the giving of the tithe of the land was also a prayer to the LORD to bless ‘your people Israel and the ground that you have given us’ (v. 15).

Fourth, this ‘sacred portion’ was not a gift of charity but a duty to God.  Giving the tithe was obedience to God’s commandment (v. 13).  While the tithe benefitted the needy, it was more than a moral duty.  It was a religious duty in which the people acknowledged that they served God and owed Him their obedience.  They were to obey all His commandments.  The tithe constituted a ceremony of promise and commitment, like marriage, between the people and the LORD:

You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. 18 And the LORD has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, 19 and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.”

Fifth, the religious aspect of Israel’s occupation of the land explains the relationship between the purity and holiness of the people and the purity and holiness of the land.  Israel did not receive the land until the wickedness of its occupants had reached a peak.  God expelled them from the land and gave His people the land.

Sixth, Israel’s own historical identity as a landless people over hundreds of years provided a moral narrative for their own treatment of the landless in their midst who were consequently in need.  Not having access to land on which to grow food could mean poverty, hunger, servitude, and, in non-Israelite cultures, enslavement.  Having been landless, the people of Israel had a moral duty to care for the landless in their midst so that these calamities would not befall them.  The tithe was a type of tax on society so that the landless could be helped, but as a religious act it was treated as a voluntary act.  Taxes fulfil a legal requirement, and giving taxes is neither a religious nor moral act.  By conceiving of the tithe as religious, it was also a moral act of obedience and voluntary kindness.

Thus, the land of Israel 'belonged' to Israel from the time of the Exodus from Egypt and conquest of Canaan (mid-2nd millennium BC), but theologically it belonged to Israel only because Israel belonged to God.  It was His land, and Israel’s possession of the land was as His people.  Theologically, the land was a gift not a right, involved an act of worship, and laid on the Israelites both religious and moral duties.  This does not lessen the claim Israel had to the land but increases their responsibility in possessing it.  In fulfilling their responsibilities, they were set by God ‘in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations’ and were to be ‘a people holy to the LORD’ (v. 19).  These words in Deuteronomy ominously hung over the nation, for to reject God's commandments and to turn to the idols of other nations would mean to be 'vomited' out of the land (Leviticus 18.28; 20.22).

Previous Lessons:

Lesson 1: Land, Religious State, Coexistence of Religions, and Non-Muslim Taxation

Lesson 2: Whose land?  Whose rights?  Theology and Politics of the Land, and the Power of the Cross