Page 24 - Advanced Apologetics and World Views Revised

The sixth of the ten commandments says, “Thou shalt not kill.” (KJV - Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy
6:6-17). Actually, the translation of the King James Bible is unfortunate, because the Hebrew translation
of the word ratsach means intentional killing without cause. A better rendering of the word is
“murder.” Most modern translations render the word correctly (ESV, NIV, NASV, HCSB, and even
paraphrases like the Living Bible). The best paraphrase of the commandment would be, “Do not put
anyone to death without cause.”

Think about it. God destroyed the world with a flood, killing all inhabitants, including animals which
breath air, because of the gross wickedness of man’s heart. God had just cause to eliminate all except
righteous Noah and his family (Genesis 7:21-23). Does killing evil mankind make God a murderer?

No, because murder is the “premeditated, unlawful taking of another person’s life.” Killing is the taking
of life for a reason or cause. For example, Exodus 22:2 allows a person to defend himself when
threatened with the force of even killing. Self-defense is a cause.

Well, what about all the “innocent” Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites that God commanded
Joshua to kill? Was that not God murdering without cause? Deuteronomy 9:5 says God drove these
societies out of the Land because of their wickedness. They were utterly defiled. The Canaanites were a
hideously nasty bunch. Their culture was grossly immoral, decadent to its roots. They practiced
divination, witchcraft, female and male temple sex, homosexuality, transvestitism, pederasty (men
sexually abusing boys), sex with all sorts of beasts, and incest. Sodom was a Canaanite city which God
destroyed for the cause of wickedness.

One of the gods of the Canaanite was Molech. He was a bull-
headed idol with a human body in whose belly a fire was stoked
and in whose outstretched arms a child was placed that would
burn to death. They not only sacrificed infants, but children up to
four years old were burned alive to their god. As the flame burned
a child, the limbs would shrivel up and the mouth would appear to
grin as if laughing, until it was shrunk enough to slip into the
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cauldron.
The Canaanites has been reveling in these debasements for
centuries as God patiently postponed judgment (Genesis 16:16).
God was willing to spare the evil city of Sodom for a few righteous
people, but none could be found. God is slow to anger and always
fast to forgive. But eventually, God’s justice reaches a point were
blatant defiance and wickedness are not tolerated and righteous
and deserved judgment is doled out.

Such is the case with the societies of the inhabitants of Canaan. God’s desire to utterly destroy them
not only was because the Canaanites deserved judgment, but to prevent their wicked ways from being
learned by the Israelites. It was for Israel’s protection not to assimilate evil people into their society.

The conquest was an exercise of capital punishment on a national scale, much like the flood. It was a
consequence for hundreds of years of idolatry and unthinkable debauchery. Indeed, God brought the

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