How Could a Loving God Command Genocide?

Maybe he didn’t?

The command from God in the Old Testament to “annihilate” the Canaanites because of their “iniquities” never really bothered me. (Maybe it should bother me that it didn’t bother me?) The Canaanites were wicked and sinful. They deserved punishment for their sins. Is what I thought.

But God is said to be merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, how does this God also command the annihilation of the Canaanites?

Recent scholarship has been questioning God’s command to utterly destroy the Canaanites for their iniquities. What if God never commanded to utterly destroy those in the Canaanites? What if the Canaanites are not being punished for their sins? What if there is more to the text than meets the eye?

This isn’t about me going back to the text because I don’t like how it sounds or how it makes me feel. It’s about going back to the text because it seems to be saying something else, that I missed before.

Looking back at Deuteronomy 20 on the rules of warfare and the sins of Amorites passage in Genesis may help us better understand what may have been going on, instead of divine punishments for sins in the form of genocide.

Does God command to annihilate?

At first glance, the commands for Israel to “Annihilate them”, and “utterly destroy them”, the Canaanites, seem clear and straightforward.

You shall annihilate them — the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanite and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites — just as the Lord commanded, so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 20:16–18 NRSV)

You shall annihilate them. That's pretty clear, right?

There seems to be some difficulty translating the Hebrew word translated as “annihilate” here. The common English bible translates it in this way,

Instead, you must place these under the ban: Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites — just as the Lord your God commanded you. Then they can’t teach you to do all the detestable things they did for their gods, with the result that you end up sinning against the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 20:16–18 CEB)

What this boils down to is the translation of the Hebrew word “herem” is used here in this passage. This Hebrew word is sometimes translated as “completely destroy”, or “devoted to destruction”, but can also be translated as being “banned from common use” or being “set apart for use by priests”.

The “ban” understanding urges Israel to separate from the Canaanites and not to affiliate with and was to be set apart from the people.

This seems to fit with the context of this immediate passage.

Why were the Canaanites to be “annihilated” or “put on the ban” here in this law concerning warfare?

The purpose of this command is laid out in the passage.

Then they can’t teach you to do all the detestable things they did for their gods, with the result that you end up sinning against the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 20:18 CEB)

The main reason for this command is so that the people of Israel will not be influenced by the gods of the Canaanites and follow after them. God is calling Israel to “annihilate”, “put to destruction”, and “ to put a ban on” so that the people of Israel don’t learn from them and sin against God.

The worship of the gods of Canaan is regarded as “detestable”, but in this passage, punishment for the sins of the Canaanites are not what is in mind. It is separation that is needed between the people of Canaan and the people of God.

This seems to be in line with other accounts of God’s command for the people of Israel when entering the land.

When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their figures of stones, destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places. (Numbers 33:51–52 NRSV)

In this account in Numbers, Moses commands the people of Israel to “drive out all the inhabitants” and the only things they commanded to destroy are the images and altars.

But how about the sins of the Canaanites? Don’t they deserve punishment for their sins?

Are the Canaanites being punished for their sins?

The main verse about God’s judgment on the sins of the Canaanites comes from this passage in Genesis about the “iniquity of the Amorites not being yet complete”, but there are some interesting things to note in this passage.

“As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:15-16 NRSV)

What is interesting is that the Amorites are mentioned but not the whole line of the people living on the land. The Hittites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites are not mentioned. Are the Amorites to be a representative of all the other Canaanite groups? Or is there something else going on?

If you flip a chapter forward, Abram has an encounter with the Amorites. Several kings come together to conquer Sodom and Gomorrah. They loot the city and Lot and his possessions are taken captive.

So the enemy took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way; they also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who lived in Sodom, and his goods and departed. (Genesis 14: 11–12 NRSV)

Abram sets out with his allies to bring back his brother Lot and all their possessions. One of the allies mentioned was Mamre the Ammorite who joins Abram on his mission to bringing back his brother.

This comment on the “iniquity of the Amorites” seems a bit off given that an Amorite was considered an ally of Abram a chapter before.

How about their “iniquities” not being “yet”? To better understand this concept, we need to look at the Hebrew and see what words are being used.

“Iniquities”

Often times this is understood as Abraham can’t take the land now because the sins of the Amorites have not reached their fullness. Once it reaches that fullness, Canaanites will be destroyed.

The hebrew word that is translated as “iniquity” in this passage is “awon” which also appears in Gen 19:15 when talking about the “punishment” on the city of Sodom. In this context, it is talking about Sodom’s “punishment”, and not his actual sin or offense.

This word “awon” is also different from the word used for “sin” when referring to the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah which is “hatta” which refers to offenses or crimes.

Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin!” (Genesis 18:20 NRSV)

The Hebrew word translated as “iniquity” here is referring to the punishment and not the sin.

“Not yet”

The Hebrew word “ad henna” which is translated as “not yet” does not indicate a future change in the current status.

Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have never seen him since.” (Genesis 44:28 NRSV)

Jacob is just sharing that he has not seen him “since”. There is no indication that he will see him again. As readers who know the whole story, we know he will see his son Joseph again, but in this initial comment by Jacob, he does not know that or communicate that.

To indicate a future change to the current status, the hebrew word that would be used is “ad ata”.

You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires, for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the Lord your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 12:8-9 NRSV)

They have not yet crossed the Jordan, but soon they will.

In conclusion, in this passage about the “sins” of the amorites, the hebrew word “ad henna” is used instead of “ad ata”, indicating just the current state without assuming a change in the future.

John Walton in his book The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest argues instead of the “traditional” reading, this passage should be read

“It won’t be after your lifetime is over that your family will return here because the destiny of destruction that has been decreed for your friends and allies has been and will continue to be deferred.”

Conclusion

• God doesn’t command genocide, God commands to push the canaanites out of the land.
• God is not waiting for the Canaanite sin to be full.
• God is not punishing the Canaanites for their sin.