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Difficult Moral Issues:
      The Genocide of the Canaanites




Laindon 25 January 2012
Difficult moral issues: Genocide of the Canaanites
“So Joshua returned, and all Israel with
him, to the camp at Gilgal.” (Josh 10:15)
Difficult moral issues: Genocide of the Canaanites
Identifying the Israelites
             Destruction of religious artifacts:
             “The temples and their elaborate
             paraphernalia that are so typical
             of Late Bronze Age Canaanite
             society simply disappear by the
             end of the 13th century' (p126),
             … at Hazor there were 'six or seven
             Egyptian statues that must have
             been deliberately mutilated.
             Heads and arms were chopped off,
             the chisel marks still visible on the
             torsos.…the Israelites were
             responsible…there are currently
             no better candidates' (p67)”
Identifying the Israelites
            • Joshua 11:11
            “Such acts in the Amarna period
            were clearly religiously motivated,
            and, as such, are an isolated
            phenomenon in the Bronze
            Age. They are exceptional in terms
            of this early date, since they
            reflect a monotheistic concept of
            only one God, to the exclusion of
            all others. As a rule, religiously
            motivated iconoclasm makes its
            appearance only with the
            establishment of nation-states in
            the first millennium BCE and the
            introduction of monotheism, whose
            adherents believe that there is only
            one "true" God.”
Identifying the Israelites
           'Only four groups active at the time
           could have destroyed Hazor: (1) one
           of the Sea Peoples, such as the
           Philistines, (2) a rival Canaanite city,
           (3) the Egyptians or (4) the early
           Israelites. As noted above, the
           mutilated statues were Egyptian and
           Canaanite. It is extremely unlikely
           that Egyptian and Canaanite
           marauders would have destroyed
           statuary depicting their own gods
           and kings. In addition, as to another
           Canaanite city, the Bible tells us
           Hazor: "was the head of all those
Identifying the Israelites
           kingdoms," and archaeology
           corroborates that the city was
           simply too wealthy and powerful to
           have fallen to a minor Canaanite
           rival city. So the Egyptians and the
           Canaanites are eliminated. As far as
           the Sea Peoples are
           concerned, Hazor is located too far
           inland to be of any interest to those
           maritime traders. Further, among
           the hundreds of potsherds
           recovered at Hazor, not a single one
           can be attributed to the well-known
           repertory of the Sea Peoples. That
           leaves us with the Israelites.'
Was this genocide?
“And they smote all the souls that were therein with the
edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was
not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire.”
                                 (Josh 11:11)
“So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the
south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their
kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all
that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.”
                                 (Josh 10:40)
God’s command: Deuteronomy 20:16-17
Difficult moral issues: Genocide of the Canaanites
Idolatry and Morality
    For since the creation of the world His
    invisible attributes are clearly seen, being
    understood by the things that are made
    even His eternal power and Godhead, so
    that they are without excuse…
    …who exchanged the truth of God for the
    lie, and worshiped and served the creature
    rather than the Creator…
    …God gave them over to a debased mind,
    to do those things which are not fitting;
    being filled with all unrighteousness,
    sexual immorality, wickedness,
    covetousness, maliciousness… (Romans 1)
Canaanite religion
Ugarit Tablets
1500-1200 BC


                          1350-1300 BC
Baal & Anath

        Baal: the bringer of rain
        Anath: war and fertility
        Cult prostitution
        Incest/homosexuality
        Gang rape
        Bestiality
Under the influence of Canaanite mythology, so the argument runs,
many Israelites had come to see the processes of nature as the result of
the relations between gods and goddesses. Divine intercourse would
lead to abundant harvests and an increase of cattle. Cultic prostitution,
performed by humans, was a form of imitative magic by which the gods
could be moved to engage in similar activities, with all the ensuing
beneficial results.
                                             Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary
Molech
• Gods of the dead
• Communicating
  with those in the
  afterlife
• Child sacrifice
Effect on Israel
• Golden calf: “they rose up to play”
• Balaam: “people began to commit
          whoredom, they invited the people
          to the sacrifices of their gods”
• Jereboam: “there were male cult prostitutes
            in the land”
• Josiah: “brought out the Asherah…broke
          down the houses of the male cult
          prostitutes”
Some Conclusions
• God has moral authority and exercises it
• Humans are able to understand their moral
  responsibility
• Idolatry justifies and legitimises the setting
  aside of moral responsibility
• Canaanite religion and society illustrated this
• Israel’s morality repeatedly affected by
  idolatry
Not racism or xenophobia
• Promise to Abraham
  “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him
  who curses you; And in you all the families of the
  earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
• Treatment of foreigners in the Law
  “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you
  shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells
  among you shall be to you as one born among you,
  and you shall love him as yourself; for you were
  strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34)
Was it a massacre?
“So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country
and the South and the lowland and the wilderness slopes,
and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly
destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had
commanded.” (Josh 10:40)
“Then Horam king of Gezer           “And they did not drive out the
came up to help Lachish; and        Canaanites who dwelt in
Joshua struck him and his           Gezer; but the Canaanites
people, until he left him none      dwell among the Ephraimites
remaining.          (Josh 10:33)    to this day and have become
                                    forced laborers. (Josh 16:10)

   Josh 10:29-40               <>         Judges 1:9-11
Was it a massacre?
      • After each victory the Israelites
        returned to the camp at Gilgal
      • “these campaigns were
        essentially disabling raids: they
        were not territorial conquests
        with instant Hebrew
        occupation. The text is very
        clear about this.”
Was it a massacre?
                   The type of rhetoric in question was a regular
“The rhetoric of total conquest, completethe second and
                   feature of military reports in
                   first millennia, as others have made very clear.
annihilation and destruction “Israel is enemy,his seed is not”
                   Merneptah: of the wasted, killing
everyone, leaving no survivors, etc, is a commonMitanni,
                   Tuthmosis III “the numerous army of
hyperbolic way of describing a victory inhour, annihilated
                   was overthrown within the ancient
                   totally, like those now non-existent”
near eastern histories of “Israel has utterly perished for always”
                   Mesha:
                             the same period”
                   Ramses II: “His majesty slew the entire force of
                   the wretched foe from Hatti, together with his
                   great chiefs and all his brothers, as well
                   as all the chiefs of all the countries that had
                   come with him, their infantry and their
                   chariotry falling on their faces one upon the
                   other.”
                   It is in this frame of reference that the Joshua
                   rhetoric must also be understood.
Was it a massacre?
• We can also read this interpretation back to
  God’s command in Deut 20:16-17
• This hyperbolic language is consistent with:
  “I will utterly consume everything from the face of the land”, says
  the Lord; “I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds
  of the heavens, the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks
  along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the
  land,” says the Lord.” (Zeph 1:2-3)
   “I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.”
   (Jer 34:22)
   “the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land,
   and cause man and beast to cease from here” (Jer 36:29)
Some more conclusions
• Joshua’s campaign battles disabled the
  Canaanites’ military power
• They did not immediately occupy the whole
  land
• Both God’s command and the record of
  decisive victories uses the hyperbolic military
  language of the time.
• The command did not mean to commit
  genocide (in the modern sense) and the
  Israelites did not do this.
What’s the point?
• God was revealing himself through Israel to the
  surrounding nations (Deut 4:7)
• Israel & its Law was one step in God’s purpose a
  road, suitable for the times, but still morally
  distinct from the practice of surrounding nations
• The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to
  Christ (Galatians 3:24)
What’s the point?
• God still has moral authority and the
  intention to exercise it:
  “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked,
  but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
  because He has appointed a day on which He will
  judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom
  He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to
  all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)
Difficult moral issues: Genocide of the Canaanites

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Difficult moral issues: Genocide of the Canaanites

  • 1. Difficult Moral Issues: The Genocide of the Canaanites Laindon 25 January 2012
  • 3. “So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.” (Josh 10:15)
  • 5. Identifying the Israelites Destruction of religious artifacts: “The temples and their elaborate paraphernalia that are so typical of Late Bronze Age Canaanite society simply disappear by the end of the 13th century' (p126), … at Hazor there were 'six or seven Egyptian statues that must have been deliberately mutilated. Heads and arms were chopped off, the chisel marks still visible on the torsos.…the Israelites were responsible…there are currently no better candidates' (p67)”
  • 6. Identifying the Israelites • Joshua 11:11 “Such acts in the Amarna period were clearly religiously motivated, and, as such, are an isolated phenomenon in the Bronze Age. They are exceptional in terms of this early date, since they reflect a monotheistic concept of only one God, to the exclusion of all others. As a rule, religiously motivated iconoclasm makes its appearance only with the establishment of nation-states in the first millennium BCE and the introduction of monotheism, whose adherents believe that there is only one "true" God.”
  • 7. Identifying the Israelites 'Only four groups active at the time could have destroyed Hazor: (1) one of the Sea Peoples, such as the Philistines, (2) a rival Canaanite city, (3) the Egyptians or (4) the early Israelites. As noted above, the mutilated statues were Egyptian and Canaanite. It is extremely unlikely that Egyptian and Canaanite marauders would have destroyed statuary depicting their own gods and kings. In addition, as to another Canaanite city, the Bible tells us Hazor: "was the head of all those
  • 8. Identifying the Israelites kingdoms," and archaeology corroborates that the city was simply too wealthy and powerful to have fallen to a minor Canaanite rival city. So the Egyptians and the Canaanites are eliminated. As far as the Sea Peoples are concerned, Hazor is located too far inland to be of any interest to those maritime traders. Further, among the hundreds of potsherds recovered at Hazor, not a single one can be attributed to the well-known repertory of the Sea Peoples. That leaves us with the Israelites.'
  • 9. Was this genocide? “And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire.” (Josh 11:11) “So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.” (Josh 10:40) God’s command: Deuteronomy 20:16-17
  • 11. Idolatry and Morality For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse… …who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator… …God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness… (Romans 1)
  • 13. Baal & Anath Baal: the bringer of rain Anath: war and fertility Cult prostitution Incest/homosexuality Gang rape Bestiality
  • 14. Under the influence of Canaanite mythology, so the argument runs, many Israelites had come to see the processes of nature as the result of the relations between gods and goddesses. Divine intercourse would lead to abundant harvests and an increase of cattle. Cultic prostitution, performed by humans, was a form of imitative magic by which the gods could be moved to engage in similar activities, with all the ensuing beneficial results. Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary
  • 15. Molech • Gods of the dead • Communicating with those in the afterlife • Child sacrifice
  • 16. Effect on Israel • Golden calf: “they rose up to play” • Balaam: “people began to commit whoredom, they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods” • Jereboam: “there were male cult prostitutes in the land” • Josiah: “brought out the Asherah…broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes”
  • 17. Some Conclusions • God has moral authority and exercises it • Humans are able to understand their moral responsibility • Idolatry justifies and legitimises the setting aside of moral responsibility • Canaanite religion and society illustrated this • Israel’s morality repeatedly affected by idolatry
  • 18. Not racism or xenophobia • Promise to Abraham “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) • Treatment of foreigners in the Law “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34)
  • 19. Was it a massacre? “So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.” (Josh 10:40) “Then Horam king of Gezer “And they did not drive out the came up to help Lachish; and Canaanites who dwelt in Joshua struck him and his Gezer; but the Canaanites people, until he left him none dwell among the Ephraimites remaining. (Josh 10:33) to this day and have become forced laborers. (Josh 16:10) Josh 10:29-40 <> Judges 1:9-11
  • 20. Was it a massacre? • After each victory the Israelites returned to the camp at Gilgal • “these campaigns were essentially disabling raids: they were not territorial conquests with instant Hebrew occupation. The text is very clear about this.”
  • 21. Was it a massacre? The type of rhetoric in question was a regular “The rhetoric of total conquest, completethe second and feature of military reports in first millennia, as others have made very clear. annihilation and destruction “Israel is enemy,his seed is not” Merneptah: of the wasted, killing everyone, leaving no survivors, etc, is a commonMitanni, Tuthmosis III “the numerous army of hyperbolic way of describing a victory inhour, annihilated was overthrown within the ancient totally, like those now non-existent” near eastern histories of “Israel has utterly perished for always” Mesha: the same period” Ramses II: “His majesty slew the entire force of the wretched foe from Hatti, together with his great chiefs and all his brothers, as well as all the chiefs of all the countries that had come with him, their infantry and their chariotry falling on their faces one upon the other.” It is in this frame of reference that the Joshua rhetoric must also be understood.
  • 22. Was it a massacre? • We can also read this interpretation back to God’s command in Deut 20:16-17 • This hyperbolic language is consistent with: “I will utterly consume everything from the face of the land”, says the Lord; “I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land,” says the Lord.” (Zeph 1:2-3) “I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.” (Jer 34:22) “the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from here” (Jer 36:29)
  • 23. Some more conclusions • Joshua’s campaign battles disabled the Canaanites’ military power • They did not immediately occupy the whole land • Both God’s command and the record of decisive victories uses the hyperbolic military language of the time. • The command did not mean to commit genocide (in the modern sense) and the Israelites did not do this.
  • 24. What’s the point? • God was revealing himself through Israel to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:7) • Israel & its Law was one step in God’s purpose a road, suitable for the times, but still morally distinct from the practice of surrounding nations • The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24)
  • 25. What’s the point? • God still has moral authority and the intention to exercise it: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)