When you read parts of the Old Testament, and particularly the Israelite’s conquest of the land of Canaan, you might wonder how to reconcile this God with the God revealed in Jesus Christ. How should we understand the forceful conquest of the land of Canaan by the ancient Israelites as recorded in the books of Joshua and Judges? The question is worth considering for what it reveals about the Canaanites, the Israelites, and most especially about the nature of the God of the Bible (Who is the same in both Old and New Testaments). The question is explored in more depth in my book, The Judge and the Left-Footed Leaders: Judges and Ruth for Postmodern Times, and in two excellent books, The God I Don’t Understand by Christopher J.H. Wright, and God Behaving Badly: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry, Sexist and Racist? by David T. Lamb.
It is a gross misrepresentation of the God of the Bible to characterize him as a “God on the warpath” who uses violence to achieve his desired goals. The story is much richer, deeper, and relevant to our lives even today. Here are a few thoughts that I hope are helpful to you in thinking about this. Part 1 is below, with Part 2 soon to follow!
WHY WAS ISRAEL SETTLING IN CANAAN IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Israel’s conquest of Canaan comes on the heels of its miraculous rescue from over 400 years of slavery under the oppressive rule of Pharaoh in Egypt. In rescuing the Hebrew slaves, God had revealed himself to Israel and to Pharaoh by the name “I AM,” which is transliterated from Hebrew as “Yahweh.” The name can also be rendered “I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE,” a God who will not be manipulated by humans to serve our selfish purposes, but a God who liberates humans and sets us free from oppression. The story reveals that this God is a God full of compassionate love, justice and truth, Who keeps his promises to humanity.
Generations before, Yahweh had promised the shepherd Abraham that his descendants would settle in the verdant land of Canaan and would be a blessing for the entire world. Yahweh was now keeping his promise. The land of Canaan would be the place where the nation of Israel could “grow up,” where Yahweh’s Presence and Word could take root and flourish. Yahweh would reveal himself to these Israelites, and their understanding of him and his Words would begin to accomplish something new and unique in the history of the world. Yahweh had liberated these Hebrew slaves in order to settle them, and he settled them in Canaan for a particular purpose: so that these Israelites might be an instrument to demonstrate to the world who Yahweh is, his nature of love and truth, and to reveal his Words to a humanity desperate to hear grace and truth.
ISRAEL’S SETTLEMENT IN CANAAN IS NOT A STORY OF “ETHNIC CLEANSING” BY THE ISRAELITES
Something that is often overlooked is that as the Israelites moved into the areas of Canaan, they sought terms of peace with the people groups there (Deut. 2:26) and sought to coexist and dwell peacefully with them (Judges 1:27-26). Their settlement also had nothing to do with race or ethnicity– the multitude coming out of Egypt consisted of both Israelites (descendants of Jacob or Israel) and non-Israelites (Exod. 12:38). At least 2 of the 12 judges in the book of Judges were non-Israelites. The Bible stresses (in both Testaments) that Yahweh has a particular concern for foreigners and immigrants. Yahweh told the Israelites to treat foreigners just like other Israelites and to remember that they, too, were foreigners in Egypt (Lev. 24:22; Num. 9:14; Deut. 10:17-19). As one rabbi said, God only gave 3 love commands: Love God, love your neighbor, and love foreigners. In fact, as the book of Joshua opens up, we find Rahab, a Canaanite woman (and a prostitute for that matter!) being accepted by the Israelite community (Josh. 2). As Christopher Wright notes, “It is amazing, and it cannot be accidental, that the opening narrative in the book of Joshua describes not a conquest but a conversion.”[1] What is also amazing (and intentional) is that Rahab turned out to be an ancestor of Jesus (Matt. 1:5).
THE CONQUEST WAS ALSO A JUDGMENT ON THE VIOLENT AND OPPRESSIVE CANAANITE CULTURE
The Canaanites were ruthless and aggressive, ruled by what we would today call dictators. Instead of believing in a God of the whole world whose character was one of compassion and truth, the powerful among the Canaanites formed gods of their imaginations. Because power and survival were critical to the Canaanites, each city-state had its own particular “god” that would fight the gods of other city-states. God was manipulated to serve the purposes of the powerful. As a result, child sacrifice and slave prostitution (what we would call sex trafficking) were common. The idol of one of their gods, Molech, had a long ramp that lowered into a bronze furnace, and babies were helplessly rolled down the ramp to satisfy the demands of Molech, with the worshippers continually beating drums to “drown out the infant screams.”[2] Canaanites’ religious ceremonies were highly sexualized. They would try to emulate through open sexual displays the fertility they desired for their crops. Thus, cult prostitutes were used as slaves for the men. At the heart of Canaanite society was the desire for power and survival. “This was a society full of contentiousness and aggression, in which the ‘good man’–the ideal–was imagined as ambitious in the extreme, animated by a drive for worldly prestige, victory, success, with scant regard to what we would think of as ethical norms. This was a society that despised poverty.”[3]
Part of the reason Yahweh was settling the Israelites in Canaan was to “judge” these nations, to stop the oppression (Gen. 15:13-16; Lev. 18:24-30). Yahweh had been patient with the Canaanites for centuries. He told Abraham centuries earlier that their evil was “not yet complete” (Gen. 15:16), meaning that although the Canaanites had deserved judgment centuries before, Yahweh was “slow to anger, and abounding with compassionate love” in hopes the Canaanites would change. Yahweh gives a lot of freedom to humanity, and his judgment is often revealed by allowing humanity to reap the consequences of its actions. But the time had come for Yahweh to act and begin a change in humanity, a revolutionary change that still reverberates throughout societies and cultures worldwide. Yahweh tells the Israelites plainly why he is giving the land of Canaan to them: “It is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is driving them out before you” (Deut. 9:4).
YAHWEH WAS NOT GIVING CANAAN TO THE ISRAELITES BECAUSE THEY WERE “BETTER” THAN THE CANAANITES, BUT SO THAT THEY MIGHT BE A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS
God did not give land in Canaan to Israel because Israel was somehow more righteous than the Canaanites. In fact, Yahweh describes these Israelites as a “stubborn people” (Deut. 9:6), and the stories reflect again and again the unbelief and stubbornness of the Israelites. The Old Testament reflects how often Yahweh judged the Israelites too for their actions, leading eventually to the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles.
Nor was Yahweh giving Israel the land because of their military might. On the contrary, Israel was a tiny nation compared to the nations in Canaan. The Canaanites were armed with the latest Iron Age technology–iron weapons and chariots. It would be a miracle for the Israelites to settle in Canaan without being decimated! But as Yahweh had promised Abraham centuries earlier, Israel was chosen so that it might be a conduit of blessing to the world (Gen.12:3). Yahweh would bless all the families of the earth by revealing himself to the Israelites, by dwelling with them and thereby bringing about a transformation in the culture of Canaan. These former slaves would also bring deliverance to the women and children in Canaan who were under the oppression of the city-state kings. As these refugee slaves entered the land of Canaan they brought good news–they had been delivered from bondage by their god Yahweh, who “hears the cry of the oppressed and saves the afflicted.”[4]
The Israelites’ description of Yahweh appears to have had an impact on the underclass that was already in Canaan. This was good news for the marginalized and those who were outside the established political order. Their story, how Yahweh delivered them from the powerful in Egypt, could become the story of the marginalized fighting against the political power structures in Canaan. Their “exodus” could be a new “exodus” in Canaan. The bonds could be broken, and the oppressed set free! This Yahweh was for the underdog and the oppressed; He was a God of immigrants, poor and outcast. As Miriam, Moses’ sister, had sung when the Israelites escaped Egypt, Yahweh was a warrior who defeated the mighty armies of Pharaoh: “Who among the gods is like you, O Yahweh? In your unfailing hesed (faithful love), you will lead the people you have redeemed. The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia…the people of Canaan will melt away… You will bring them in and plant them. Yahweh will reign forever and ever” (Exod. 15:11,13,14,17). There was hope for the marginalized in Canaan. These non-Hebrews in Canaan were allowed to pledge their allegiance to Yahweh, and they, along with the Hebrew slaves from Egypt, were incorporated into a new political entity that became known as “Israel.”
[1] Christopher J.H. Wright, The God I Don’t Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 101.
[2] Michael Card, Inexpressible: Hesed and The Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2018), 40.
[3] Thomas Cahill, The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels (New York: Anchor Books, 1998), 24.
[4] Ibid, 36.