Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

No mercy for the Canaanites
Joshua 11:20

"For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD had commanded Moses" (Joshua 11:20

We will comment separately on the Samuel passage, but, firstly, on Joshua 11:20 the United Bible Societies' Translator's Handbook on Joshua says that "Verse 20 provides the theological justification for the wholesale massacre of the people: the Lord 'hardened their hearts'"^F1.

Hardening, just as with Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 4:21; 8:15), is an awkward topic. Does God indeed force the Canaanites to come against Israel only in order to crush them. He does raise up the foreign Persian king Cyrus to wage war later (Isaiah 45:1).

The prose, poetry and prophecy, of Hebrew thought will often express an outcome as causation, and that cause as God since he is over all. This does not necessarily imply that God orchestrates but rather that he may allow people the full reign or measure of their sinful intent by removing restraint or not intervening. Thus the Canaanites and Pharaoh were "allowed to harden" themselves, God ceased to restrain their intent, they became increasingly callous and God did not stop them even though it would result in judgement against them. On Exodus 4:21, in his Figures of speech used in the Bible, Bullinger wrote that "I will harden his heart" meant "I will permit or suffer his heart to be hardened"^F2, regarding it as an idiomatic description of permitting something to run to its worst extent, not actually causing it but rather, allowing it to happen.

One could argue that the Canaanites were simply defending their land, and perhaps this is the greater difficulty in modern territorial ethics. Of course, in biblical ethics the Canaanites had lost any rights through idolatry. Furthermore, the reason for their destruction was to avoid contamination and temptation to evil (Deuteronomy 20:18), specifically the worship of false gods, "for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods" (Deuteronomy 7:4). The people of Canaan had a last chance to repent in that they had heard of God's miracles in Egypt, "We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea" (Joshua 2:10), and yet did not change. Although God predicted that none would repent he has said elsewhere that if a nation repents he will forgive and not destroy them (Jeremiah 18:7-8), indeed Jonah complained when God did just that with Nineveh (Jonah 3:4-10).

On the question of removing the foreign pagan influences when Israel did show mercy, against God's will, it resulted in apostasy and sin with the worship of foreign gods encouraged by intermarriage and later even the sacrifice of Israelite children (Psalm 106:34-40), as was the practice of some Canaanite religions.^F3

In order for this to be a just war, a topical caveat these days, the Canaanites had to be the aggressors even though prophetically God had already ceded the land to Israel and commanded "no mercy". The parallels are more modern than we think, for although Israel had warriors they were generally outnumbered and fighting battles under the Lord's direction, although I think the "we were only obeying orders" defence only helps plead Israel's case, it does not defend God's character. Israel was, nonetheless, essentially a nation of asylum seekers having left Egypt to avoid tyranny (e.g., Exodus 5:6-16) and genocide (Exodus 1:16). They then sought refuge much as modern Israel after the Second World War Holocaust in the spacious territory of the Canaanites. The tribes of Canaan though met the refugees with force rather than food or shelter. Certainly, a not dissimilar argument to this was put forward by John Calvin on Joshua 11:19:

". . . the Israelites, though they were forbidden to show them any mercy, were met in a hostile manner, in order that the war might be just. And it was wonderfully arranged by the secret providence of God, that, being doomed to destruction, they should voluntarily offer themselves to it, and by provoking the Israelites be the cause of their own ruin. . . . Thus the kings beyond the Jordan, as they had been the first to take up arms, justly suffered the punishment of their temerity. For the Israelites did not assail them with hostile arms until they had been provoked. In the same way, also, the citizens of Jericho, by having shut their gates, were the first to declare war. The case is the same with the others, who, by their obstinacy, furnished the Israelites with a ground for prosecuting the war."^F4

This is not divine manipulation though for a basic concept in Judaism and held by most branches of Christendom is free will. So the Canaanites had the freedom of choice not to sacrifice their children or prostitute their sons and daughters as temple prostitutes as part of their idolatrous worship. Instead, as Rabbi Akiva said in the first or second century, "Everything is foreseen; however, man has the ability to choose freely." (Pirqe Aboth 3:19), in other words God foresaw the Canaanites' sin and their destruction and expulsion as a result of it, nonetheless they could have changed, chosen differently, but they didn't. That is foresight not predestination. It is "allowing" as Bullinger put it rather than preventing. Previously, God has used fire and water to judge Sodom and the people of the Flood, this time Israel was his instrument, not because of their righteousness but because of the Canaanites' sinfulness. The hard thing for Israel was to fully obey and show no mercy as instructed.

We will pick up on some of the other issues in a subsequent article.

FOOTNOTES:
F1: Bratcher, R. G., & Newman, B. M. (1983). A translator's handbook on the book of Joshua. Includes index. Helps for translators, p.166. (London; New York: United Bible Societies).
F2: Bullinger, E. W. (1898). Figures of speech used in the Bible, p.823 (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co.)
F3: For extra-biblical sources on child sacrifice in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean see http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qamorite.html
F4: Calvin, J. (2002; 2002). Calvin's Commentaries (Jos 11:16). Galaxie Software.

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