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 8th – late 6th 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
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