The list of Canaanite "religious" practices included:
1.Child sacrifice (with at least some of it in fire)
2.Incest
3.Bestiality
4.Homosexual practices
5.Cultic prostitution--both male and female.
1. Child Sacrifice - explained in part 7 of this series.
2. Incest - Incest was likewise NOT an acceptable ANE practice.
The only external data about Canaanite practice we have here (you can imagine how difficult it would be to leave archeological traces of this around!) comes from the religious myths and 'role models' of their gods. [It must be remembered that the religious rituals of ancient cultures were generally 'reenactments' of divine activities. For example, when a religious myth would have one god impregnating another--producing "spring"--the humans would "re-enact" this with the cultic prostitutes.]
3. Bestiality. - Here we have the same situation as above--it is forbidden in other ANE codes
Baal is generally pictured in human form, and is often accompanied by a bull or rides upon a bull. (He is sometimes pictured as a bull as well, but this is in drawings, not in literary texts.) In one Ugaritic text, Baal, on his way to the underworld, has sexual relations with a young heifer (Nelson's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts)
4. Homosexual practices - This appears to be an issue unique to Israel.
Homosexual practice was generally not outlawed in the ANE, and certainly tolerated in the ANE in private life (Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods, Jean Bottero, Univ of Chicago:1992). But, it was part of cultic practice.
But Israel's God condemned this behavior in EVERY culture in which it was mentioned (!): ANE (i.e. Sodom), Canaanite and Egyptian (i.e. Lev 18:3), Israelite (Lev 18, 20), Roman (Rom 1), Hellenistic (I Tim 1.9), and Greek (I Cor 6.9). [I have always found the claim that Judeo-Christianity's lack of acceptance of homosexuality as a morally legitimate sexual expression was merely a cultural stance--not 'timeless' or 'transcultural'--to be a bit weak, in light of the above list of cultures. The range of times/cultures included in the list above--many of which ACCEPTED it as 'okay'--would certainly count as very strong evidence for a moral 'universal/transcultural' conviction against the practice by Israel alone.]
5. Cultic prostitution--both male and female.
The use of male and female prostitutes is also attested and sanctioned (to some extent) throughout the ANE, and clearly so in Canaanite sanctuaries.
What is important for us to note here is that this sacred prostitution was NOT unquestioned by the surrounding cultures. Remember that in the paradigm cases of annihilation we looked at, the culture was UNIFORM--ALL the people (save a handful) were proponents and transmitters of the "values" of that culture. There were no rebels, or dissidents, or minority voices. There was no such recorded "protest" in Canaanite--but rather, an 'evangelistic' posture in favor of it that reached (successfully) deep into Israel!
"By 1400 B.C. the Canaanite civilization and religion had become one of the weakest, most decadent, and most immoral cultures of the civilized world. Many of its repulsive practices were prohibited to Israel in Leviticus 18. In view of the sexual perversions listed, it is more than likely that venereal diseases ravaged a large part of the population. Hence stern measures were required to prevent decimation of the Israelites by the spread of these and other diseases such as malaria and smallpox. Contagion would be possible by sudden fraternization before immunity could develop. (Zondervan Pictorial Ency. of the Bible 1986).
So, we have international and extreme violence and unusually decadent (and destructive/dangerous) religious practices. What other data do we have about them? We will pick up here in Part 9.
Credits and Sources:
Glen Miller: http://www.christian-thinktank.com/
James Patrick Holding: http://www.tektonics.org/
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9:44Why Did God Wage War Against The Canaanitesby miguelantonio19751,271 views
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