Atheists and skeptics of the Bible will accuse God of being a “moral monster” especially because of His order to kill the Canaanites in the Old Testament. They will claim that God is genocidal and promotes violence through the hands of the Israelites against other people groups. But is this a fair assessment from people who have not studied the Scriptures nor have a personal relationship with the God of the Bible?

To introduce this topic watch this short clip where Frank Turek answers a question poised by a student: “Did God Really Command That All The Canaanites Be Killed?”

To go a little deeper on this topic…

First of all, it is important to understand who God is. He is not an earthly ruler, nor does He need human permission to judge His own creation. Since God is the Creator and Ruler of the Universe that makes Him the giver and taker of life whenever He deems fit. People often take for-granted the gift of everyday life and the fact that we even exist in this Universe, but we do.

So before making the fatal mistake that atheists and skeptics make, we must first come to know God’s character through what He has revealed about Himself in Scripture, and if we do we will find a God that we can trust. God is sovereign over all His creation and is perfect in His judgments, even if someone does not agree. The Bible demonstrates God’s characteristics as follows (not an exhaustive list):

HOLY
All-knowing—Omniscient
All-powerful—Omnipotent
Always present—Omnipresent
He is Complete Love
He is Merciful
He Offers Complete Grace
He is Absolute Truth; He cannot lie and will fulfill His promises (including the penalty for sin or the gift of eternal life through His Son, Jesus)
He is a Righteous and Just Judge
He is complete Goodness and cannot, and will not, allow for evil to prevail
He is Patient, not wanting any to perish (but we all have a choice to follow Him or reject Him)
God is our Peace and our Rest

We can trust Him fully!

Second, we need to understand the culture of that day. It was an accepted practice to annihilate enemy tribes, families and all, because any remaining member would be bound to blood retribution. However, this unique command by God is more than just enacting a cultural norm.

The Canaanites had a very wicked and debased society with extremely brutal methods of torture, and idol worship that included temple prostitution and even sacrifice of their babies on a burning alter. Upon careful examination of the text of the Old Testament, as well as a look into the culture of the time, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that God did not arbitrarily order Israel to kill the Canaanites, but instead was enacting a righteous judgment on an evil group of people.

Ponder this: Many skeptics and unbelievers question why God doesn’t prevent evil in the world, but here we have an example of God eradicating a wicked culture, yet they complain about it! We cannot have it both ways. Justice and anarchy cannot coexist.

God does enact justice on evil, and in His timing not ours.

For example, God told Abraham that He would give the Canaanites four hundred years to repent, but God knew they would not and would have to destroy them when their evil had reached its peak (Genesis 15:16). God also knew how few righteous people were in the city of Sodom when Abraham asked God to not destroy the city for the sake of ten (Genesis 18:23-19:29). God in his mercy did remove Lot and his daughters before He enacted judgment there just as He would do for any Canaanites, such as Rahab and her family, who had come to trust in Him.

Third, we need to understand that all of us must account for sin in our lives and God’s penalty for sin is death (Romans 8:23). God told the Israelites “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations.” (Deuteronomy 9:5). Israel too will face God’s punishment for their own wickedness as evidenced in their exile and captivity to other nations by the end of the Old Testament. Final judgment for all will come at Jesus’ second coming (Revelation 20:11-15), unless we have allowed Jesus to stand in the gap for us.

God does not enjoy the death of the wicked but patiently waits for us to repent of our sins (Ezekiel 18:23, 2 Peter 3:9). Yet, he will only permit evil for so long until he finally has to pass judgment as a righteous God. None of us want the injustices of the world, and those that have directly affected our own lives, to go unpunished.

But we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s expectations (Romans 3:23) and we can never work our way to goodness because of that. So what can we do? This is why Jesus became our sinless substitute and paid the penalty for our sins through His sacrificial death on the Cross. Not only did He pay our penalty but He also defeated the permanent status of death by resurrecting and preparing a place for us to live with Him eternally (John 14). All we have to do is accept that free gift of grace for eternal salvation, letting Jesus stand between us and due judgment, and then start living out a life of gratitude as His disciple.

Paul tells us that we are justified by faith in Jesus:

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26 (NASB)

The following is an excerpt from Biola Professor Clay Jones’ years of research on the problem of evil, and the destruction of the Canaanites in particular:

“The “new atheists” call God’s commands to kill the Canaanites “genocide,” but a closer look at the horror of the Canaanites’ sinfulness, exhibited in rampant idolatry, incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality, reveals that God’s reason for commanding their death was not genocide but capital punishment. After all, the Old Testament unequivocally commands that those who do any one of these things deserves to die. Also, God made it clear in His conversation with Abraham regarding the Canaanite cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that He knows who would or would not repent, and in the case of those cities, not one person would heed the warning and even Lot’s family had to be forcibly pulled away from the coming destruction. In Leviticus 18 God then warns Israel that if they commit similar sins that the land would similarly “vomit” them out. Later when Israel disobeys God and allows the Canaanites to continue to live among them, the corruptive and seductive power of Canaanite sin results in the Canaanization of Israel. Subsequently, God sent prophets to warn Israel of their coming destruction, but they didn’t repent and God said that they became “like Sodom to me” and He visited destruction on Israel for committing the same sins. This again reveals that God’s motive isn’t genocide, but capital punishment. That we commit similar sins today renders us incapable of appropriate moral outrage against these sins and thus we accuse God of “genocide” to justify our own sinfulness.”

Going Deeper:

From one of his many debates watch William Lane Craig take on this question: “Did God Command Genocide in the Bible?”

Dr. Clay Jones has extensively studied this topic and the question of evil. Read his book: “Why Does God Allow Evil?” and his articles on “God and the Canaanites” can be found on his website: www.clayjones.net or go to this link to begin reading his article on “The Canaanites.”

Watch Dr. Jones’ in-depth presentation from Biola University called: “Killing the Canaanites Was Justified Capital Punishment”

Also check out the following book by Christian Apologist and expert on the Old Testament Paul Copan: “Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God,”

Tim Stratton of Free Thinking Ministries has written an excellent article called: “God Behaving Badly? Destruction of the Canaanites.”

Reflection:

Take a few minutes to reflect on the answers to the accusation: “The God of the Old Testament is a moral monster.” Jot down any notes as reference for sharing, or questions you may still have and let us know.

Join us next week as we continue our Case for the Old Testament!

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in! Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15