The Conquest of Canaan

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares YHWH.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

As we have a discussion about Israel's conquest of Canaan we need to keep the above verse in mind. God, by the very nature of being God, is above and beyond our complete understanding. This is important to remember as we talk about anything concerning God. We don't have all the answers, and that's just fine.

The Conquest of Canaan

How many of you have had questions concerning Israel's conquest of Canaan? Some of you may have never thought much about it. Others may have decided that it's wise to leave the subject alone. Whatever your thoughts on the subject may be, for quite a number of people (Christians included) the conquest of Canaan is troubling.

So what is the conquest, and why is it troubling to people? The conquest of Canaan is the event in the Bible when Israel took possession of the land of Canaan as promised to them by God. The issue is not from Israel moving into Canaan, it's what God orders them to do to the inhabitants.

"But in the cities of these peoples that YHWH your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall leave alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as YHWH your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against YHWH your God." Deuteronomy 20:16-18

God orders Israel to wipe out all the people in the land of Canaan. The reason given is so that Israel won't be led astray and sin against God, which we later see is exactly what Israel ends up doing. Still this command from God causes many people to doubt and wrestle with their faith.

How can a loving God order the extermination of entire people groups?

Before we get into this question that many people have, we have to address what the question is really about; worldviews.

The Bible does not exist to affirm and support your worldview. Too often that is exactly what we use the Bible for; to support our preexisting beliefs and opinions. The Bible exists to challenge, inform, and shape our worldviews to match God's. It's purpose is not to show us the god we want to see, but to show us who God is.

The conquest of Canaan is one of many events in the Bible that does not fit in our preexisting worldview. The answer of a lot of churches has been to simply ignore it. That is simply not an option if we want to be true to the entire Word of God.

Theology of the Conquest

God is absolutely sovereign. He has the power and the authority over everything in the universe; including us. This is one of the most important concepts the Bible teaches, and one that the conquest drives home. God has the authority to remove people from a place. God has the authority to topple governments and destroy empires. God alone has absolute authority over life and death.

Now for a lot of people God's sovereignty isn't the issue. Of course God has authority and power over all things. That makes perfect sense with their worldview. What the conquest challenges is our worldview and understanding of humanity. 

We are obsessed with human rights. The US political system is fundamentally about protecting the rights of people. The overall international worldview centers on human rights. We believe what the Declaration of Independence says, that we have been given the unalienable rights of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." 

The Bible has a very different view on humanity. We were created in the image of God, but we have fallen. Instead of living with God we have been corrupted by sin. Not only are we fallen, we are responsible for introducing sin and death into the universe. By all accounts we deserve to die. Our only remaining right is the right to be judged. 

This conflicts with the general view of society today. We like to think that we have rights just because we are human. We tend to think that everyone is essentially good, despite what the Bible says. When we view the conquest from this view, of course it is problematic. God violated the rights of good people. 

The challenge is not to make the Bible fit our current worldview, but rather to submit our worldview to God. The conquest is the story of a people group who actively spread evil and corruption in the world. Despite multiple attempts to bring about repentance the people continued to sin and cause others to sin. God pronounced judgement, as is his right. 

There are two other things we can't forget about the conquest. The first is the story of Rahab. She is one of the people that Israel was ordered to kill. Rahab turned to God and put her trust in him. God did not ignore her but ordered her rescue. This shows that even as judgment was underway, God was still seeking repentance. He was willing to let them come to him. 

The other thing is that Israel ended up suffering a similar fate as the Canaanites. They adopted the same sinful practices that were practiced before them. God then judged them the same way. The northern kingdom of Israel was obliterated never to return. The southern kingdom of Judah was carted off to Babylon only to have a small remnant return. God did not treat his own people differently than the Canaanites.

Conclusion

I pray that this blog has been helpful or at least thought provoking. The Bible challenges our society's view of the world in many respects. Sometimes it's easy to ignore the parts of Scripture that don't line up with what makes us comfortable. But when we do that we ignore what God is trying to tell us.