What About the Inhabitants of Canaan Land

Tonight’s question is GOOD! Here is what was asked:

I know the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites were pagan people. I have always felt sorry for them being driven out of their land. Had they ever had the opportunity to hear about God?

Tonight’s question comes, I believe, from a position of empathy and compassion.

Those are two essential Christian characteristics, and unfortunately, these characteristics are too often missing in the lives of Christians. There is nothing wrong with sympathy - feeling sorry for another’s situation, or empathy - putting yourself in someone else’s position. There certainly is nothing wrong with compassion, Lord knows we could use some of that today!

Now, tonight’s questioner asks, “Had they ever had the opportunity to hear about God?” That is an easy answer, and I’ll do so now: yes. Before I get to the when and, more importantly, the how they had heard of God, I want to give a brief history, and to address some other points in this question.

It is interesting this question comes up, because many are still asking these same questions today. They use God’s treatment of the Canaanites as an excuse to declare God unjust and immoral. Let’s discuss some facts about the Canaanites, first...

They Were Not Driven Out of Their Land Because it was Not Their Land

Promised Sense

Genesis 12:1–7 KJV 1900

1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.

Genesis 13:14–17 KJV 1900

14 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Genesis 15:18–20 KJV 1900

18 In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

Genesis 28:13–15 KJV 1900

13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Practical Sense

They were living there, so it was in a real sense “their” land

They had build houses, they had planted vineyards and crops

They had tilled the land

But still, it belonged to God, and God had given it to Abraham.

Someone will ask, “Why did God order them, not just off the land, but ordered them to be utterly destroyed? How is that fair, how can you say God is ‘loving?’”

Well consider that....

They Had a History of the Worst Kind of Idolatry

You would not believe the difficulty I had in finding evidence of the wicked atrocities of the inhabitants of Canaan. Most sources claimed that they were “mostly peaceful” in their practices and that negative connotations of their practices derived from the Jewish invaders.

Here are the facts, the Canaanites (broad term for all the inhabitants) were polytheists, in fact Israel was the only monotheistic religion in the region if not the world at the time of the Exodus. That is why there was so much disdain for the Hebrew God, after all He was only God.

While the Canaanites were polytheistic, the majority of their worship centered around their chief god, Baal (pronounced “ball” - later it took the pronunciation from Babylonians bel). The worship of Baal later morphed into the worship of Molech. God wanted the inhabitants destroyed because this worship involved the sacrifice of innocent children, something that God detests even unto this day.

Interesting, that both Baal and Molech were both considered “fertility” deities, and that both “required” innocent human sacrifice. By giving the life of your child the promise was such that your future plans would be blessed, whether it be business, financial, or a larger family in the future.

Today we call this sacrifice “choice”. Consider the reasons most young women “choose” to end their pregnancies: financial reasons…can’t afford the child. College/career plans will change, “I can’t do this right now, it messes up my plans.” Almost sounds as if they’re offering their child on the altar of a god promising them a better future if they will but give up their child.

When Elijah contested with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, we see another aspect of the evil of this worship. Baal was the “storm god” and the drought Elijah predicted concerned them because it made their god look powerless and Elijah’s mightier. If you will remember in 1 Kings 17-18, the prophets cried out to their god to hear them and began to cut themselves…

Self mutilation is common among those under the influence of demonic oppression and possession. Listen to Mark 5:1-5

Mark 5:1–5 KJV 1900

1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

God’s command to utterly destroy the Canaanites was not out of hatred for them, but for the worship of the false gods which had corrupted them.

Just think, had the Israelites done what God had asked they would not have been led astray, but because they disobeyed and did not remove all the people and their gods, and stamp out the worship of the false gods, they were led astray bound by the enemy, both physically and spiritually…sound familiar?

Friends this is why it is so important that we keep ourselves holy. Listen to the last verse in John’s first letter, 1 John 5:21

1 John 5:21 KJV 1900

21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Now that we have seen the history of Canaanite worship, let us answer our question...,

Had they Ever Had the Opportunity to Hear About God?

We’ve already answered this question with a “Yes”, but when did they hear about God?

Let’s remember that it was Canaan land that Abraham was called to sojourn to Genesis 12:1

Genesis 12:1 KJV 1900

1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Let us not forget that after the events of the Exodus news had traveled far and wide about God’s mighty deliverance. Listen to the evidence that the inhabitants had heard about God...

Rahab the Harlot Joshua 2:9

Joshua 2:9 KJV 1900

9 And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

The name she called God was “Yhyh” the eternal God, the “I AM”

What about in Joshua 5:1 after the crossing of the Jordan

Joshua 5:1 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

Many other such verses we could read, but they all say the same thing....the heathen inhabitants of Canaan had heard of God’s mighty hand to save, heard of His power over Egypt, heard of His victories and provision in the desert, heard of the crossing of Jordan and they knew He was coming their way! Still, they did not repent!

Take away:

We’re not much different today are we?

By we I mean humanity in general. We worship the earth as if it is our Creator. We turn our back completely on the God of the Bible. We know how He has shown Himself mightily in our past, but we choose to ignore Him. Romans 1:22

Romans 1:22 KJV 1900

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Isaiah 5:21 KJV 1900

21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!

Proverbs 26:12 KJV 1900

12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.