God commanded the murder of the Canaanite People


If you tell Bible Christians how the Canaanites were killed by God's people at his command they will argue that the victims were so evil and practiced idolatry, had no respect for marriage, were into incest, into gay sex and sex with animals that God did the right thing.

The atheist view is that the killing could be justified only if it totally guaranteed that letting them live would result in far more death.

We do not know how evil the Canaanites were in relation to human life. It would be odd to suggest that a nation that killed a lot of its own should be destroyed! And what kind of morality wants a nation that murders its own dead? That is hypocrisy! And Christians don't make it an issue about human life - they suggest that the other sins that didn't kill people partly justified the divine command. They conclude that the liquidation of the Canaanites was not genocide but capital punishment. That is hypocritical. They seem to think that killing a nation for a sensible reason is not genocide. But capital punishment is not about just being fair. If you kill a nation because you think they are Satan's secret minions despite their seeming goodness that is capital punishment. Killing people for stupid or non-existent crimes is still capital punishment.

 

In 2017, it was found that far from being wiped out or nearly wiped out, there are many descendants of the Canaanites today according to DNA proof.  Dr Claude Doumet-Serhal said: “For the first time we have genetic evidence for substantial continuity in the region, from the Bronze Age Canaanite population through to the present day.

 

The Christian reply to how God told Israel to get rid of them all and they are still there is that survival had to happen for God directed that he would get rid little by little for the sake of the land and to limit the animal population.  Exodus 23:29 has God saying, "But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you."  So he is saying he means complete liquidation for only that would ruin the land that much.  And presumably the animals will thrive on the bodies.  The text in fact confirms that we should expect the Canaanites to have few if any descendants today.  God meant he would use Israel to wipe them out but he has not succeeded as the DNA has proven.  The Bible is wrong.  It mentions Canaanites still existing a long time after but that does not mean the liquidation had stopped or that God had softened the command or didn't mean he wanted them all dead.  Obviously Israel was meant to hurt them so bad that any survivors had to die out perhaps through having to wander into enemy territory and die or inbreeding or disease.  God was not suggesting that he expected them literally to catch them all.



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