Why Did God Wage War Against The Canaanites

The land of Canaan became saturated with detestable practices of idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed. The Canaanite religion was extraordinarily base and degraded, their sacred poles evidently being phallic symbols, and many of the rites at their high places involving gross sexual excesses and depravity. (Ex 23:24; 34:12, 13; Nu 33:52; De 7:5) Incest, sodomy, and bestiality were part of the way of the land of Canaan that made the land unclean and for which error it was due to vomit its inhabitants out. (Le 18:2-25) Magic, spellbinding, spiritism, and sacrifice of their children by fire were also among the Canaanites detestable practices.—De 18:9-12.

Why did Jehovah decree the extermination of the Canaanites?
The historical account shows that the populations of the Canaanite cities conquered by the Israelites were subjected to complete destruction. (Nu 21:1-3, 34, 35; Jos 6:20, 21; 8:21-27; 10:26-40; 11:10-14) This fact has been used by some critics as a means for depicting the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament, as imbued with a spirit of cruelty and wanton slaughter. The issue involved, however, is clearly that of whether Gods sovereignty over the earth and its inhabitants is acknowledged or not. He had deeded over the right of tenure of the land of Canaan to the seed of Abraham, doing so by an oath-bound covenant. (Ge 12:5-7; 15:17-21; compare De 32:8; Ac 17:26.) But more than a mere eviction or dispossessing of the existing tenants of that land was purposed by God. His right to act as Judge of all the earth (Ge 18:25) and to decree the sentence of capital punishment upon those found meriting it, as well as his right to implement and enforce the execution of such decree, was also involved.

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[magygaby]

i keep on hearing that sentence which is heard from 3:13 to 3:18 said with the intent of shocking people and make them accept the idea that Israel was the chosen nation and Canaanites were the cursed ones. i wonder who these archeologists served: Israel? the American Protestants? How many times did the sons of Israel sin despite the miracles and the favor of God? This part of the bible has generated so much hate towards the arabs which they endure till this day. And that, is unacceptable.

[magygaby]

This part of the bible is so difficult to agree on for people who are born in Middle East. To keep His promise with Abraham is understandable but why let them dwell 400 years in Egypt and 40 more in the desert before giving them a land which was by then inhabited? Jericho was a city and not just tents. So you can't say that these people lived in a place that didn't belong to them. The whole old testament is a story of violence and injustice towards other nations who did not know God, unlike Jews

[SyntheticSheep]

Thanks for vid, it was helpful!

[ChulaKirby]

@Dendoi Destroyed? I remember reading somewhere in the Bible about Paul or Peter saying to the Christians. Do you not know you are a Sacred Temple.....and another place where it talks about Christians being living stones of the Temple of God. So a Temple of God made of Living Stones made in the image and likeness of God and filled with His Holy Spirit making it a Holy Temple, God's dwelling place. God present in His Temple, God present with His People, in thier hearts, minds, and bodies.

[1927Norma]

The Canaanites sacrificed their own children in fire to their gods....all sexualy practices were ok....they were probably the most evil and diseased people to ever walk this earth....God makes judgments we get offended at today. And umpteen years we are no better...liberty is distorted to vice....our time has come too.

[nyguy88A]

the real jew's are white sorry exf20 you need look into the bible the black come from Ham his son canaaan and his son cush and nimrod ALL black's!

[exf20]

The real Jews are black. The land of Isreal was taken from the twelve tribes. We were scattered throughout many nations on Earth. Deuteronomy 28.

[Dendoi]

If God abandoned the Jews for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, how do you explain how Israel managed to survive against all odds? Why didn't God allow the Arab and Muslim world to destroy Israel? Yes, Israel surviving was caused by the clever people, who built and defended Israel. It's also caused by God displaying miracles for Israel.

[Dendoi]

The Messiah is supposed to rebuild the Jewish temple, have all Jews gathered back into Israel and lead the way for a perfect age. During Jesus's time, the exact opposite happened. After the death of Jesus, the Diaspora began. The temple was destroyed. And many innocent Jews were killed. As for the idea of Jesus fulfilling this through his "second coming", there was no mention in the Old Testament [Tenach] about the Messiah coming twice.

[Dendoi]

This video does give you a good look at the Caananite sins. But it's false to say that since the Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah, they cease to represent God. The Tanech [Old testament] contradicts the notion that Jesus is the Messiah. [continued]