Page 16 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised

The Canaanites have 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 where 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 of hundreds of years of idolatry and unthinkable debauchery. Indeed, God brought the
same destruction to His own people when they sinned in like manner. His command to kill the
inhabitants of the Promised Land was a cleansing of the Land with just cause.

Israel did not obey God’s command to cleanse the land. Instead of completing the conquest of Canaan
and driving its people out as commanded, the Jews capitulated with the inhabitants (Judges 1:28-33).
Blending with their enemy’s godless culture, they quickly were corrupted by it and began practicing the
same evil:

Judges 3:5-7 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites,
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and Jebusites, and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite
daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites served their gods.

Disobedience always has consequences. The Canaanites' debauchery brought them destruction, just as
Israel’s disobedience brought them death and captivity. We see God dealing not with individuals but
with nations as a whole when grand designs are in play. When a community sins, there are
consequences for every member of the population, even the children. When Israel did evil, God brought
famine into the land, and adults and children suffered alike. Every act of corporate judgment sustains
collateral damage.

So to answer the question, when God kills, is he a murderer? The answer is no. Sin against God brought
death into the world. Every person is going to die. Jesus holds the keys of death (Rev. 1:18). Does the
fact that everyone dies make God a murderer? No.

In the big scheme of things, God will save the righteous, and God will hold the “unrighteous for the day
of judgment while continuing their punishment” (2 Peter 2:9). He has promised eternal life to those
who choose to receive Him (John 1:14). There is a way to avoid God’s wrath against sin, supplied by God
Himself in sending His son to die for sinners. Jonah went to the evil society in Nineveh and warned them
of the wrath to come. They repented of their sin, and God’s wrath was abated. It was not until years
later that Nineveh returned to its wicked ways that God’s judgment led to their destruction. God is just
in His judgment for sin.

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