Some Christians misunderstand Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan’s hyperbole argument to mean that they don’t believe that it ever occurred that Israel should take the lives of non-combatants. That’s not true.
The trouble with the Canaanite hyperbole explanation for troubling passages regarding God’s commands to kill every man, woman, and child, is that it is inconsistent with the fact that God wasn’t using hyperbole when he warned Israel that they was suffer a similar fate.
Arguably the most difficult story in the Old Testament is the killing of the Canaanites. Some have attempted to soften this hard story by saying that certain passages are hyperbole. Perhaps the most prolific purveyors of this theory are Paul Copan and Matthew Flanagan in their book, Did God Really Command Genocide?: Coming to Terms …
Hyperbole Interpretation Not Helpful for Canaanite Conquest Read More »
How could it be fair to kill Canaanite children? Here’s some important background. In a prior post we saw that the Canaanite childhood was full of terror and loathing. How could it not be when some friends and siblings were burnt to death in the arms of the bull-headed god Molech, family members raped them, …
How Could It Be Fair to Kill Canaanite Children? Read More »
Probably the thorniest question of all when it comes to the Canaanite conquest is why couldn’t Israel adopt Canaanite children? In ancient wars where parents died, soldiers faced three alternatives for the children: (1) take their lives; (2) leave them to starve and be eaten by animals in the desert; or (3) adopt them. Obviously leaving …
We saw in my prior post that we have no reason to believe that any of the adults were good in the territory that God ordered Israel to conquer. Not even one. But in some towns the Lord ordered that Israel kill all of the animals–“everything that breathes.” (e.g., Deut. 13:15; 20:16). Why kill the Canaanites’ animals? …
In my last post I wrote that God ordered the capital punishment of the inhabitants of the land God had given Israel because they were guilty of depravity and violence. The Canaanites heard of the miraculous approach of the Israelites and knew that Israel’s God was helping them, but some chose to fight rather than …
God Ordered the Canaanite Destruction Because of Their Sins In my introductory post I wrote that what God ordered Israel to do to the Canaanites wasn’t genocide but capital punishment. I say this was capital punishment for four reasons. First, the Lord clearly explains that He ordered the Canaanite destruction because of their sinfulness. In …
Canaanite Destruction Not Genocide but Capital Punishment Read More »
In recent years, much has been said and written about the Lord ordering Israel to destroy the Canaanites. This is largely because the new atheists proclaim it as “divine genocide.” But it’s not just a problem for Christianity’s detractors. Indeed, many Christians worry about the fairness of killing the Canaanites. After all, if the Old …
Richard Dawkins and other new atheists herald God’s ordering of the destruction of Canaanite cities to be divine “ethnic cleansing” and “genocides.” With righteous indignation, Dawkins opines that the God of the Old Testament is “the most unpleasant character in all of fiction.” But was the killing of the Canaanites an example of divine genocide? …
