Were there any limits placed upon Israel in this venture, and what was the EXACT content of the orders?
•Unlike the early Amorites, Israel was NOT supposed to destroy the cities and buildings (Deut 6.10ff).
•Unlike the Egyptians, they were NOT supposed to destroy the vegetation and the trees (Deut 20.19).
•They were restricted from attacking Esau's land--Deut 2.4-6
•They were restricted from attacking Moab (Lot's descendants)--Deut 2.9
•They were restricted from attacking Ammon (Lot's descendants)--Deut 2.19
•They were NEVER allowed to take the cultic objects--with the precious metals and stones--Deut 7.25-26: (typical ANE plunder)
•They were REQUIRED to offer peace to nations at a distance--Deut 20.10-16
•There were restrictions on how Israelite men treated female war captives (from distant nations)--Deut 12.10-14
So, this obviously was NOT a war of unrestrained lust, greed for expensive goods, or even "empire-building"--God did NOT tolerate those attitudes. For example, in Joshua 7, an Israelite DID take some of the expense idol pieces, and God held the entire community responsible for this breach.
What EXACTLY was ordered?
The first thing to notice is the wide range of words used to describe what YHWH/Israel was supposed to do these nations.
1."wipe them out" (e.g. Ex 23.23)
2."throw them into confusion" (e.g. Ex 23.27)
3."make them turn their backs and run" (e.g. Ex 23.27)
4."drive them out of your way" (e.g. Ex 23.28)
5."struck down" (e.g. Ps 135.10)
6."dispossessed" (e.g. Num 21.32)
7."drive out" (e.g. Num 33.52)
8."thrust out" (e.g. Deut 6.19)
9."destroy them" (e.g. Deut 9.3)
10."subdue them before you" (e.g. Deut 9.3)
11."annihilate" (e.g. Deut 9.3)
12."delivered them over to you" (e.g. Deut 7.2)
13."defeated them" (e.g. Deut 7.2)
14."perish" (e.g. Deut 7.20)
15."give kings into your hands" (e.g. Deut 7.24)
16."wipe out their names from under heaven" (e.g. Deut 7.24)
Notice that there is a HUGE difference (at first blush) between "annihilate" and "drive them out"! These seem almost contradictory. This warrants a closer look
oThese words group into two categories: dispossession vs destruction. "Dispossession" would include the words like drive out, dispossess, take over possession of, thrust out, send away (33 occurrences). "Destruction" words would include annihilate, destroy, perish, and eliminate (11 occurrences). The Dispossession words would indicate that the population 'ran away'--migrated out of the Land prior to any encounter with the Israelites; Destruction words would indicate the consequences for those who stayed behind.
oWhat then is the mix of these two sets of words? The "Dispossession" words outnumber the "Destruction" words by 3-to-1!. This would indicate that the dominant 'intended effect' was for the peoples in the Land to migrate somewhere else.
Let's look at a few examples of the "dispossession" words.
From the garasl group ("drive out"):
1.Ex 23:28-30:
2.Ex 23.31-33:
3.Ex 33.2:
4.Deut 33.27:
5.[Notice that this word is used to describe the Pharoah 'driving out' the Israelites--obviously not annihilating them!--in Exodus 6.1:
The yarasl group ("dispossess"):
6.Ex 24.34:
7.Num 33.52f:
8.Deut 4.38:
9.Deut 9.3,4,5:
10.Deut 11.23:
11.Deut 18.12:
The salah group ("send away")
12.Lev 18.24:
13.Lev 20.23:
This is striking--it looks more like God is planning on "moving" a nation, than on "destroying a people"...Let's see if the evidence continues to support this...
God was destroying a culture and its carriers--not necessarily all the individuals in it. Roughly, it was the 'nations' that were destroyed, and it was the 'individuals' who were driven out.
With the national and cultic centers destroyed (along with the staunchest, die-hard defenders of that culture inside those cities), the culture would simply dissipate and evaporate in the Land. As OTHER cultures absorbed individual Canaanite families and groups, the Canaanite cultural depravity would not have had the critical mass to perpetuate itself. [Remember, Canaanite was a 'bad word' in the ANE.]
THE BOTTOM LINE: The culture is being annihilated with all it's evil and horrid religious practices.
Credits and Sources:
Glen Miller: http://www.christian-thinktank.com/
James Patrick Holding: http://www.tektonics.org/
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"Genocide" and the Bible Part 9 The Canaanitesby mdean1215274 views
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