Canaanites

Hyperbole Interpretation Not Helpful for Canaanite Conquest

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 …

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Why Couldn’t Israel Adopt Canaanite Children?

As I pointed out in a previous post, when God freed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, He told them to drive the Canaanites out of a portion of land promised to Abraham’s descendants. The Israelites’ coming was preceded by miracles such as the Red Sea and Jordan River parting, so the Canaanites knew there was …

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Was the Destruction of the Canaanites Just?

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 …

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Killing the Canaanites

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? …

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