In Deuteronomy, after 40 years of wandering the wilderness, Israel is reminded of God’s law and promises before they ‘enter and take possession’ (Deut 1:8) of the Promised Land of Canaan. In chapter 7:1-2 Moses then preaches:
When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and he drives out many nations before you—the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you— 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them.
CSB, and throughout
A command for mass murder?
Do you see the command to destroy whole nations? Some today might call that mass murder, or ethnic cleansing, or genocide, or Jihad – and we’ve had our own examples of all of those on the continent of Africa.
But surely that command above is at odds with God’s commands of preserving life, or even loving our enemies, never mind our neighbours? So, how are we to understand this supposed contradiction or hypocrisy, and what it might say about God himself?
Destroying other people is hardly a light or flippant discussion area. And answering this question is not intended to dismiss the gravity or complexity, or even to simply smooth everything out. Instead, my aim is to give us some points of context so we can wrestle with this question – and enable us to see the consistency of God and his Scriptures. With that in mind, here are 5 points for us to consider.
1. These nations were guilty of great and prolonged wickedness
These nations in the land of Canaan worshiped other gods. They rejected and scorned the one true God as their rock and refuge (Deut 32:31, 37). And the overflow of that false worship showed in acts for their gods which the Lord hated and found detestable (Deut 12:31). What are we talking about?
Practising divination, telling fortunes, sorcery, casting spells, consulting mediums and spiritists, and inquiring of the dead (Deut 18:10-11) was part of it. Or from another list in Leviticus 18 we hear of deviant sexual practises which included sex with close relatives, sex with someone not your spouse, sex with the same gender, and sex with animals. And there was more: namely, they would burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods (Deut 12:31; 18:10) – sacrificing their children for fortune or favour.
In God’s eyes, all these acts were detestable. In fact the people themselves had become detestable to Him (Deut 18:12). Detestable is a strong word: imagine someone disgusted or so sick to the point of needing to vomit. Even more, in Leviticus 18:24-28, the picture is that these practises and people have so defiled or corrupted the land that the land itself needed to vomit them out. That’s how deep the evil was – both the Lord and the land are utterly disgusted.
Why this strong reaction from the Lord?
The Lord experiences this reaction and commands this action because He is so set apart to good. His creation is very good, because he is very good. And on this good earth, he created us to love him, and to love others. And when he looks at these detestable acts and people, who hate him and hate the people around them, he decrees that they deserve judgment. In other words, their ways of being set apart to evil mean they should be set apart for destruction (Deut 7:26) – as hard as it is to hear, they and their practises need to end. And there is nothing wrong with that judgment: it is right, because the Lord is right and good.
It was a long time coming!
Furthermore, it would seem from reading Genesis 15:13-21 that these nations had been practising these things for well over 400 years, for at least the duration of Israel’s enslavement in Egypt. In other words, when the Lord decrees judgment, and commands these nations to be destroyed, this is not a rash decision! No, the evil ran deep – common practises for over 400 years. And so now, when Israel entered the land, she would execute God’s judgment on these nations and their wickedness – their time was up.
2. Israel’s mandate was very limited (and not at all an ongoing or modern-day command)
The command to Israel was limited, limited, limited in multiple ways.
- It was limited to a specific geographic area – namely, the Promised Land
- It was limited to specific nations – namely, the current tribes and people of that land
- It was limited in time frame – it was to be for them then to take control of that land
That is to say, they were to be God’s arm of judgment for that specific time, and against those specific people, in that specific land. It wasn’t to be Holy War on the whole world, but just related to the Promised land only, and then. So, this is not general Jihad, and it certainly can’t be used to justify any type of actions like this today! The rest of the Bible doesn’t command anything similar. Actually, outside of this very limited mandate, the rest of the Bible instructs almost the exact opposite for God’s people when they are scattered among the nations, or even when they have returned to the Promised land after the Exile that took place.
3. Israel was a tool – not strong, not righteous, and instead prone to corruption
Israel actions were a carrying out of God’s judgment, she was to be His tool for this judgment. In doing this, Israel was not a large or more militarily powerful nation sweeping in to eradicate much smaller nations – examples we have seen far too many of, international and military bullies, often under evil dictators. Instead, in Deuteronomy 7:7 we’re told that when God chose Israel to be his, she wasn’t chosen because she was more numerous than other nations. In fact, it goes on, Israel was ‘the fewest of all peoples’.
Or later in verse 17 the point is underscored that Israel might be tempted to say: but these nations are all greater than us, how can we drive them out? And the Lord reminds them about how he brought mighty Egypt to her knees, and how he will do something similar here. It is the Lord who will drive out these nations (v. 22). And he’ll need to do it slowly because otherwise wild animals will come in – and Israel can’t even handle them! The Lord will give these people over to Israel, he will thrown them into great confusion, he will hand their kings over (v. 23-24). And then Israel must wipe out their names under heaven, and remove their idolatry (v. 24-26). So, this is the Lord’s judgment, but he will use Israel, little Israel, as his means of judgment.
Israel herself was not above reproach
Lest Israel fall into pride, she’s reminded that even though the wickedness of these nations is great, Israel herself wasn’t particularly righteous. Deuteronomy 9:4-6:
4 When the Lord your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ Instead, the Lord will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness. 5 You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
There is no space for pride here on Israel’s part.
Furthermore, Israel was prone to wander
Part of the reason why God commanded that these nations of the Promised land be so thoroughly removed is because he recognised the great weakness of his people morally. That is to say, he warned them again and again that if they lived side by side with these people, that Israel in the end would come to join these nations in their idolatry and wickedness (Deut 7:2-6, 16). And he didn’t want that, instead he wanted a people set apart as his own – a saved people enjoying life with him, loving and obeying this good God.
The overall point is this: Yes, the nations are wicked, but in carrying out God’s judgment Israel is a tool – double entrendre/meaning intended. In that way she’s somewhat similar to how Cyrus and the Babylonians or even the Assyrians before that, mentioned in Isaiah, are tools of judgment against Israel herself later on. And linked now comes a fourth point.
4. God didn’t have double standards between the nations and Israel
In other words, God’s judgment didn’t have one set of rules for the nations, and one set of rules for Israel. We hate that kind of double standard, so often seem in corrupt government or officials, or in cases of nepotism, or in our own lives. Instead, God’s stand against sin is consistent.
Warnings before entering the land
So, consider this warning to Israel in Deuteronomy 4:25-27:
25 “When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him, 26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you.
Or a second example: in Deuteronomy 28, the Lord basically sets before the people the opportunity to live with him as their God, and so to flourish. Or to rebel against him, and so to face judgment. He talks about the judgment like this in 28:15-20:
15 “But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all his commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you:
16 You will be cursed in the city
and cursed in the country.
17 Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed.
18 Your offspring will be cursed,
and your land’s produce,
the young of your herds,
and the newborn of your flocks.
19 You will be cursed when you come in
and cursed when you go out.20 The Lord will send against you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning me.
Examples once Israel is in the land
When Israel does enter the land, we see again, that God is consistent. Two examples to illustrate this. The first is in Joshua 7. Israel, under the leadership of Joshua has now entered the land and are carrying out God’s commands in Deuteronomy. But we’re told that during the destruction of a city, Achan and his family, part of the Israelites, kept several items that were meant to be destroyed. Remember: the Lord wanted the land cleaned. But what this man and his family are doing, perhaps picture it as bringing tainted or cursed or poisoned items back into the Israelite camp. And they risk contaminating the entire nation. And so, what happens? Achan and his family are judged and killed. The evil must be removed.
Or another example from much later on. At this stage Israel has been in the land for a long time. And it is the time of the Kings, and in 2 Kings 21:1-6 we’re told about Judah’s king Manasseh who ‘did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, imitating the detestable practises of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites’ (v. 2), even sacrificing his son in the fire, and practising witchcraft and divination and consulting mediums and spiritists (v. 6). So, does Manasseh get off Scot-free because he’s part of the nation of Israel? No, listen to the Lord’s judgment from 2 Kings 21:10-15:
10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets, 11 “Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts—worse evil than the Amorites who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, 12 this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder. 13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will abandon the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”
It’s that kind of rebellion and wickedness by God’s so-called people that leads to what’s called the Exile. Israel consistently didn’t love and obey the Lord as those saved by Him. And instead of being God’s nation, she became like the nations around her. And so, she fell under the same type of judgment as the nations who had once lived in the Promised Land. Namely, God used the superpower of the day to come in and conquer the people of Israel, and to drive (or pull) them from the Promised Land. There are no double standards here.
Lastly,
5. These commands are part of a greater warning and storyline, and a greater hope
What Israel does here as the arm of God’s judgment on a specific piece of God’s world, is a small and very physical picture of a much bigger coming day of judgment when God promises to cleanse all of his creation of all evil and rebellion.
In other words, for those who have continued to live without a relationship with the one who created them and offers them recreation in Jesus, that evil will be removed from the land, the whole land. God must judge what is evil and wrong – opposed to him, and contrary to his good intentions. Don’t we feel how evil and broken this world, and even our own hearts are? This is not how it should be. And this cannot continue as is, indefinitely.
The cry of joy however, is that God also longs to show mercy.
One of my favourite incidences occurs in the book of Joshua as God’s people have just entered the Promised land. And as spies are sent to scope out the first city to be conquered, they encounter a woman who helps them when they are discovered. And this prostitute, named Rahab, from the wicked town of Jericho willingly ties herself to the people of God, to the God of those people. And she is shown mercy – actually her and her whole family (Joshua 6:22-23). And so she goes from included under a judged people, to included under a saved people, God’s people in the nation of Israel – all through trusting in the word and promises of this God. And what’s even more remarkable is that this lady is then included in the lineage not just of God’s people, but in the very line that Jesus would come from (Matthew 1:5). An incredible offer of grace and inclusion, for someone once under great judgment!
And the same offer is made to us! Jesus, the greater and true Israel – God’s people – has come. And he fulfils God’s promises made to God’s Old Testament people of remaking us from the inside out – so we can love the Lord with all our heart and soul, and truly live (Deut 30:6). He is the judge, and yet he faces the judgment we deserve, taking it on himself. To the point that he is destroyed, he is exiled, so that we don’t have to be. And then, by God’s Spirit, he rises from the dead so we might have a living hope. He will take our judgment, and give us his righteous never-dying life.
But yes, what Israel does in the land of Canaan under God’s command is a picture and a warning of what is to come. And it is also an invitation to, like Rahab, flee from God’s judgment by fleeing to the One who will bring God’s judgement – and actually has taken God’s judgment on himself for us (cf. Psalm 32:5-7). Come to this Christ, trust in him, and have assured life with God, for the now and the new creation.
Image: Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash
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