When reading through the Old Testament, one of the things many non-Christians object to, many former Christians cite as one reason for abandoning Christianity, and many current Christians struggle with (I think we all do, if we’re honest) is the brutality we see. This is especially true with the conquering of Canaan in Joshua and Judges. Why does God command Israel to destroy the people of Canaan? Isn’t this genocide? Even if there are not simple answers, we can all benefit from wrestling with the question. Is this Genocide? Genocide is the killing of one group of people by another. It often centers around ethnic differences. The Holocaust involved genocide. The Germans sought to wipe out the Jewish people (and a whole host of other groups). Hitler and his followers believed that Aryans (white, blond, blue eyes) were racially superior to people of other colors and countries. At first blush, what happens in Joshua and Judges is barely distinguishable from the genocides of recent history. God tells the Israelites—the descendants of Jacob—to destroy the Canaanites—people of another ethnicity. But as we dig deeper into Scripture (which we have to do if we’re going to really understand what’s going on) it becomes clear that there are some important differences between genocide and what happened in Canaan around 1400 B.C. Were the Israelites Ethnically, Racially, Morally, Religiously Superior to the Canaanites? The book of Deuteronomy answers this question. Was Israel better? God bluntly said, “No.” God repeatedly told the Israelites that the reason they were getting the land of Canaan was not because they were in any way superior to the Canaanites. It was grace. All grace. God made a promise to their ancestors and he was keeping it (See Deuteronomy 9:4-6). The other thing God made clear was that the Canaanites were not just in the wrong place at the wrong time. What happened to them was God's judgment. But the judgment on the Canaanites was not because of their ethnicity. It was because of their idolatry. They were guilty. At some point in their past, they had known the true God, but their ancestors had wandered away from him. God had given them centuries to repent and come back to him, but they had only gotten deeper into slavery to sin and Satan. Read through Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 18 and you will hear some graphic examples of what that led to (Leviticus 18:6-30; Deuteronomy 18:9-14). It was not that Israel was better or that Canaan was worse. It was about God’s mercy and his judgment. In the book of Joshua, there is an account in which the “commander of the armies of the LORD” appeared to Joshua with a drawn sword as he was about to start conquering Canaan. Joshua asked him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” Do you know what the angel said? “Neither” (Joshua 5:13-15)! The Lord’s love for people was never limited to Israel, even if he had given them this special purpose and promise. God said to Abraham, "through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed" (Genesis 22:18). The God of the New Testament of whom John says, “God is love” (1 John 4:7-8), is the God of the Old Testament, too. He is the “LORD, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love”. He is the God who shows “love to a thousand generations of those who love [him] and keep [his] commands.” He is also a “jealous God” who punishes “the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate [him]” (Exodus 20). Normally we think of jealousy in love as a negative trait. In the right context, though, jealousy is really the only appropriate reaction. The book of Judges says that Israel “prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them” (Judges 2:17). This was the same sin the Canaanites were guilty of. A husband finds out, for a fact, that his wife is having an affair. Does he say, “Well, better luck next time”? If he does, he does not love his wife! “If lively love was there, he should be upset, he should be jealous, he should be angry. Jealousy is love burst into its proper flame.” (Dale Ralph Davis, “Judges: Such a Great Salvation”, p.38). God was just as jealous for the people of Canaan as he was for Israel, but they had long ago abandoned him. Their worship of the Baals and Ashtoreths consisted of “sacred prostitution”. After centuries of patience, God, in his jealous anger said, “Enough.” He sent Israel to destroy them. Why use Israel? So Israel was not superior. It was Canaan’s sin of idolatry that led God to destroy them. Still, why did God use Israel to do that? Why did God force their armies to go in and annihilate the Canaanites? There are a number of reasons to consider. 1. A Snare – To guard Israel from abandoning God themselves . This is one reason God explicitly laid out to the Israelites. He knew that if the Canaanites and their idolatry were still around, the Israelites would join them (Exodus 23:31-33). When Israel quickly abandoned God, he did not let them drive the Canaanites out so that the Canaanites would become a snare (Judges 2:3). God had intended to guard them, but they would not have it, so God gave them over to more temptation. 2. The Effects of Idolatry – To show Israel the power of Sin. Throughout the course of Judges, Israel fell into a pattern of increasing idolatry. They abandoned God. He sent an enemy. They cried out. He sent a judge to save them. The judge died. The cycle repeated (Judges 2:19). “Why did they always do that? Why could they not break that pattern? It is mysterious; but Judges does teach us that that is the tragic tyranny of sin. Sin is not simply an action you do or fail to do, that you can choose to do or not to do. Sin is a power that holds you in its grip” (Dale Ralph Davis, “Judges”, p.42). They should have known better! We should know better, too. As they went conquering into Canaan and saw the effects sin had had on the people there, they should have been warned of the dangers of falling for Satan’s lies. They didn’t take that warning seriously. 3. Jealousy – To show how God feels about idolatry. Israel was commanded to wipe out the Canaanites. This was punishment for the Canaanites' idolatry. But it was not like Israel was exempted from punishment themselves if they went the same way. You find this out quickly in Judges. Whenever the Israelites abandoned God, he sent in an enemy to make life miserable for them to try to bring them to their senses. What happened to the Canaanites was not unusual. It is what ultimately happens to everyone who lives in rebellion against God, whether they call themselves Jewish, Canaanite, or Christian. The utter destruction of Canaan was not supposed to make Israel happy. The fact that they got the Promised Land was the blessing God gave them, not the fact that they had to wipe out an entire people to do it. The destruction was meant to be a warning to them. “This is where sin leads! Watch out!” Every act of destruction in the Bible is meant to point out to people that this world is decaying and dying. It has been ever since Adam and Eve sinned way back in the Garden. One day, God is going to put an end to his corrupted creation, and re-form it into a new creation. Who is going to get to enjoy that new and perfect creation? Those who have chosen God over the old creation. Those who would rather have him than sin. That is why so often when the Bible talks about destruction, it connects it to Judgment Day. Jesus did this when he predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world all at the same time (Matthew 24). Every temporary act of God’s judgment warns of a future and final judgment on sin. For the Israelites, the destruction they carried out in Canaan was a warning against idolatry, just like every group of raiders that tormented them throughout the book of Judges. God is a jealous God who is serious when he promises judgment on sin. But we should not forget the flip side of this. Why does God give warnings about judgment? Because he does not want us to have to suffer it. He wants us to find rest in his love and not go off looking for some other god to satisfy our deepest needs. He wants us to trust in his mercy given to us in Jesus which frees us from the power of sin that is so devastating when it takes a hold of a life. He wanted the Israelites, and wants us, too, to see where sin leads: no good place. He wants us to know what an incredible, amazing, undeserved blessing it is to live at peace with him and be a part of his people. I don't know how well you feel this answers the question we started with. In speaking with a non-Christian, I think you will still run into objections, because they will probably wonder why the God of the Bible is so intolerant to other religions. Those objections can ultimately only be answered by faith in the only true God who sent the only true savior. What those people need most of all is to hear the good news about Jesus. I do hope this gives you a place to start thinking about this issue for yourself. We need to wrestle with this, so we can stop apologizing for the God we believe in. God is not apologizing for his jealous love. He does not ask us to, either. In fact, he insists we don't. “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” Hebrews 3:12-14