The nations that were left

God made a covenant with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). He spoke to him 7 more times about this covenant and gave additional details about it (Gen 12:5-7, Gen 13:14-17, Gen 15, Gen 17, Gen 18:1-15, Gen 21:12-13, Gen 22:16-18). He promised him the land of Canaan, which was inhabited at that time by 7 nations. Those nations were wicked before the Lord and were committing many abominations such as idolatry, witchcraft, and sexual perversion (Lev 18:24-28, Deut 7:22-25, Deut 9:4-5, Deut 12:2 & 29, Deut 18:9-14). They were not going to give up their land willingly, so God's judgment for their sins was that they would be conquered by Israel (Ex 34:24, Lev 18:24-28, Deut 7, Deut 8:20, Deut 9:1-5, Deut 11:23, Deut 12:29, Deut 19:1, Deut 20:16-18, Deut 31:3). Some people criticize God and the Bible about this conquest, but who are we to challenge God's judgment? This was a one-time situation, and conquest is not unique to Israel. It's interesting how sometimes people apply one set of criteria to God and the Bible and then abandon it for everything else. People have been challenging Israel's right to the land ever since they took it.

Here are some further points to consider regarding Israel's conquest of Canaan.

1. It was not genocide

a. Joshua and Israel did not totally eliminate the former occupants (see below).

b. People from those nations continued to live there for centuries after Israel took the land.

1. The Philistines continued to live there for at least 700 years despite numerous battles

between then and Israel (2Chr 28:18).

2. The Jebusites continued to live there for at least 400 years (2Chr 8:7-8). David

purchased the land that the temple was built on from a Jebusite after he took the city

from them (2Sam 5:6-9, 2Sam 24:16-18).

3. The Hittites continued to live there for at least 400 years (2Chr 8:7-8), One of David's

mighty men was a Hittite (2Sam 11, 2Sam 23:29). Ahimelech the Hittite was also in

David's army (1Sam 26:6).

4. The Kenites continued to live there for at least 400 years (Jud 5:24, 1Sam 15:6). King

Saul even went out of his way to spare them.

c. We must see words in their context and in their full mention.

1. All doesn't always mean every last one. It can be a general word,

a. Gen 11:8, Josh 10:20, Rev 13:5 with Rev 7:1-8 and Rev 20:4).

b. The tribe of Benjamin was killed in battle except for 600 men (Jud 20-

21).

c. 16 times just in Matthew

1. 2:3 – all Jerusalem

2. 3:5 – all Judaea, and all the region (not one person left?)

3. 9:35 – all the cities and villages (not one missed?)

4. 10:22 – ye shall be hated of all men (even the disciples?)

5. 12:23 - all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? (even the

   Pharisees?)

6. 17:11 - Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things (even the devil?)

7.19:26 - with God all things are possible (Heb 6:18 – impossible for God to lie)

8. 19:27 - Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all (1Cor 9:5 - power to

lead about a sister, a wife)

9. 20:6 - Why stand ye here all the day idle? (still one hour left)

10. 21:22 - all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive

(Jam 4:3 -Ye ask, and receive not)

11. 21:26 - all hold John as a prophet (Lk 7:30 - the people saying that did not)

12. 23:3 - All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do (Mt 16:6-

12 – beware of the leaven of the Pharisees)

13. 24:9 - ye shall be hated of all nations (every last one?) (vs 14)

14. 24:39 - the flood came, and took them all away (1Pet 3:20 – eight souls were

saved)

15. 26:52 - all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword (nobody that ever

used a sword in all of history ever died another way?)

16. 27:25 - Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us (including the

disciples?)

2. Forever doesn't always mean for eternity

a. Deut 23:3 with Ruth 1-4 and Mt 1:5 - Moabites

b. 1Sam 1:22 - Samuel before the Lord

c. 1Sam 27:12, 1Sam 28:2 - David a servant of Achish forever

d. 1Ki 12:7 - they will serve Rehoboam forever

e. Is 34:10 - smoke of Edom forever

f. Is 13:19, Jer 50-52 - Babylon was destroyed by Persia around 540 BC but later

continued as a smaller, declining city until the 11th century AD.

   g. The law of Moses was not to be forever (Gal 3:24, Heb 5-11, etc.)

      1. Ex 12 – Passover

      2. Ex 21:6 – he shall serve him forever, Deut 15:17

      3. Levitical priesthood (Ex 27:21, Ex 28:43, Ex 29:28, Ex 30:21, Lev 6:18 & 22, Lev 7:34 &

          36, Lev 10:9 & 15, Lev 24:3, Num 18:8-23, Deut 18:5, 1Chr 15:2, 2Chr 2:4

      4. Sabbath – Ex 31:17

      5. Day of atonement – Lev 16:29 & 31, Lev 23:31

      6. Pentecost – Lev 23:21

      7. Tabernacles – Lev 23:41

      8. Red heifer – Num 19:10

   h. Gentile slaves – Lev 25:46

   i. Memorial stones – Josh 4:7

   j. Ai (even unto this day) – Josh 8:28

   k. Saul’s kingdom -1Sam 13:13

   l. David and Jonathan – 1Sam 20:23 & 42

m. King that judges the poor – Prov 29:14

d. The phrase "drive out" is used 26 times from Exodus to Joshua to describe Israel's

conquest of Canaan; and the book of Judges, which is after Israel's entry to the land,

uses it 12 times. To drive out and to commit genocide are totally different.

e. Israel did not invent the conquest ethic. It is the history of the entire world. Why is it that

some people only have a problem with Israel's conquest of Canaan but none other?

f. This was a one-time judgment of God.

1. This conquest does not describe the pattern of Israel's history.

2. God has the authority to judge.

a. God destroyed the entire world except for those in Noah's ark (Gen 6-9).

b. In just 2 verses in the book of Revelation, half of the world's population will die (Rev

6:8 (1/4, and Rev. 9:15 (1/3 of the remainder). They will know they are under the

judgment of God but will still refuse to repent (Rev 9:20-21, Rev 16:9-11).

c. Although God will never again destroy the world with water (Gen 9:9-17), He will

destroy the world again by fire (2Pet 3:3-13). The only thing holding back His

judgment is that He is giving people time to repent.

d. Do people that question God's judgment of evil think that evil should be punished or

is it just their evil they think should not be punished?

e. Where do the deniers get their ideas of right and wrong without God? Any value

system that is not rooted in God is arbitrary and based on man's opinion which is

fickle at best. This is the lie the serpent told Eve - that she could know good and evil

on her own without God (Gen 3:5).

f. Critics of the Bible usually embrace a utilitarian argument when confronted with the

question of the basis or morality. This means that morality serves a general purpose

' to benefit mankind. That does not address the question. Who is to define good and

evil if it is not God? Hitler thought his program was serving the greater good of

mankind. His philosophy was based on Darwin's ideas. If someone could go back in

time and kill the baby Hitler to prevent World War 2 and the Holocaust, should they

do it for the greater good of mankind? If so, why then would God eliminating the

people that would corrupt His people into idolatry, sexual perversion, and other

abominations, and thus interfere with His redemptive plan for them and the whole

world, be unjust?

3. The same people that call Israel's conquest of Canaan genocide ask if God is good, then

why does He allow evil?

a. He allowed the Canaanites an extra 400 years to repent and they did not (Gen 15:13-

16).

b. He gave Nineveh a chance to repent. They did, and God withdrew His judgment (Jon

1-4).

c. Rahab survived the judgment of Jericho which was in Caanan because she repented

(Josh 2), and she became an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Mt 1:5).

d. Ruth was a Moabite but she chose God and became an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Deut

23:3, Ruth 1-4, Mt 1:5).

e. What about all the mercy God has shown to man? Manasseh (2Chr 33) and Paul (Acts

8-9) are individual examples. God manifested Himself in the flesh and gave Himself

willingly to a brutal death for the forgiveness of our sins (Jn 1:1-4, Jn 14:7-11, 2Cor

5:19, Col 2:9, 1Tim 3:16). He has done all He can do to provide for mercy and

forgiveness. Abraham Lincoln called giving your life for the cause the "last full

measure of devotion". How much more did God give of Himself?

2. What about the repeated attempts to commit genocide on the Jews such as the Roman

conquest, the Holocaust, and Islamic terrorism? It is part of the Hamas charter, and is the

meaning of the phrase "from the river to the sea". The Romans were so bent on

annihilating the entire Jewish population that they laid siege to Masada to kill about 1,000

Jews that had fled there and posed no threat to the Roman Empire. That is not even taking

into account the dozens of times Israel was attacked in the Old Testament, most notably

by Assyria (2Ki 17) and Babylon (2Ki 25).

3. Do the critics apply the same standard to Biblical history as they do to secular history?

God had told Abraham that before his descendants would inherit the land, they would be in bondage in another land; but after 400 years they would return (Gen 15:13-16). At the set time, Moses led Israel out of Egypt to go to the promised land (Ex 1-14). However, they fell into unbelief, so that whole generation was sentenced to die in the wilderness (Num 13-14). Moses also was not allowed to enter the land (Num 20:12, Deut 32:49-52). Joshua was appointed his successor, and he led Israel over the Jordan River to possess the land (Deut 1:38, Deut 3:28, Deut 31:14 & 23, Josh 1, Josh 3). He led them in battle until they possessed the land (Josh 6-11).

God warned them several times to drive out and destroy those nations so they would not lead them into their sins and bring a curse upon themselves instead of a blessing (Lev 26, Deut 28). That first generation did not fall away, but they didn't fully remove all the inhabitants (Jud 1). The Lord had told them that He would not drive them out all at once. He gave them 3 reasons for this. A natural reason was so that they would not be overrun by the wildlife (Ex 23:29-30, Deut 7:22-25). A spiritual reason was that God was going to use those nations that were left to test Israel to see if they were committed to keep His commandments (Jud 2:21-14, Jud 3:1-4). They had a history of falling into idolatry and sin. Abraham came from a family of idolators (Josh 24:2). They worshipped idols when they were in Egypt (Lev 17:7, Josh 24:14, Eze 20:5-10, Eze 23:3 &19). They worshipped idols when they were in the wilderness (Ex 32, Acts 7:39-43 (Amos 5:25-26). They also failed to circumcise their children (Josh 5:1-9), and God foresaw that they were going to sin in the promised land (Deut 31-32), which they did (Deut 31:16-18, Deut 32:15-21 & 37-40, Judges 2, Eze 23:8 &27, etc.). They worshipped idols during their captivity (Deut 28:36 & 64), and while in exile (Eze 20:39). They needed to be tested and proven, especially because they had failed many times before.

Another reason God left some of the nations in the promised land was because Israel had spent 400 years in bondage in Egypt and had no experience in war (Jud 3:2). That was why He did not bring them on the shortest route to the promised land, which was only an 11-day journey (Deut 1:2). They were not mentally ready for war (Ex 13:17-18). They were failing to get out of the mindset of their slavery in Egypt (Ex 14:11-12, Ex 16:3-6 & 32, Ex 17:3). The Lord gave them a preparatory victory over the Amalekites (Ex 17:8-16). When they were ready to enter the promised land, they chose to believe the 10 spies that said they could not conquer the land rather than the 2 spies who said they could (Num 13-14). They were afraid of the giants, but the descendants of Jacob's brother Esau as well as the Moabites who were not in covenant with God had already conquered giants (Deut 2:9-12). They chose instead to return to Egypt (Num 14:4)., although they did not. Later, God gave Israel three victories in the wilderness to prepare them for the promised land (Num 21, Num 31). They conquered the Amorites, the people of Bashan, and the Midianites. These were important victories which they referred to throughout their history (Deut 2, Deut 3:2-6, Deut 4:46, Deut 29:7, Josh 2:10, Josh 9:10, Jud 11:19-21, Neh 9:22, Ps 135:11, Ps 136:19). You can read the book "The Warrior Mindset" available on this website or at Amazon.com for more on the frame of mind Christians need for spiritual warfare.

The Israelites never did drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan, and they never did stop falling into idolatry and sin until they were conquered and taken captives. The northern tribes were conquered by Assyria (2Ki 17), and the southern tribes were conquered by Babylon (2Ki 25). There are references to such people as the Philistines, Hittites, and Jebusites throughout their history before they were conquered.

These 3 reasons God left some of the nations in the promised land have spiritual correlations for Christians today. Sometimes people get discouraged at the pace at which they are progressing, whether that is individually or as a church. Just as the Israelites were not ready to take all the land, we may not be ready to move into what God wants us to eventually possess. For example, a church may be relatively new and does not yet have trained staff to handle a sudden influx of many people.

God wants us to be successful, and He knows what we need to be so (2Tim 3:17). We cannot circumvent the process or we will end up not acquiring everything we need. God does not operate like the public schools. There is no age-based advancement. We don't get promoted to the next level automatically by virtue of time spent at this one. He will make sure we have learned the lessons of this stage before we move on. This includes testing to confirm that. Sometimes we wonder why we have struggles and why God does not remove them. One reason is because salvation does not eliminate our human nature (Rom 6-8). God equips us to mortify our sinful nature through self- denial, discipline, prayer, Bible devotion, fasting, and partaking of His divine nature (Mt 16:24-25, 2Pet 1:1-15). God will do what we cannot do, but He will not do what we can. He is not raising softees or entitled spoiled brats. He doesn't expect new Christians to act like they've been around for 20 years, but neither does He expect those that have been around for 20 years to act like babies. Sometimes we make the mistake of just working on overcoming bad habits without replacing them with good ones. There is no spiritual vacuum (Mt 12:43-45). So, just as with Israel's conquest of Canaan, some things fall relatively easily (Josh 10-11), and others will take effort (Heb 12:4).

Sometimes the question is not about if God wants us to possess His promises. It is about how much we want it. After the battles for Canaan were over, and after 5 of the 12 tribes had received their land, there were still 7 tribes that had not possessed their inheritance (Josh 18:1-10). God had not failed to keep His word (Josh 21:42-45), but there was apparent apathy among those tribes to go get what God had for them. Sometimes people make excuses for why they have not taken possession of their promises like the tribe of Joseph (Josh 17:14-19). They say it is too hard. Sometimes people blame others instead of taking inventory of their commitment. Caleb provides a stark contrast to this (Josh 14:6-15). When he was 85 years old, he went to Joshua to claim his promise, and he had to fight to get it. He imparted this drive in his daughter also (Josh 15:13-19). He demanded this tenacity in any who would marry his daughter. Othniel accepted the challenge of what it would take to be her husband. I taught my children to value the things they had and not to treat them frivolously. I told them God watches us to see how we take care of what He gives us. Why would God give more if we are not taking care of what we already have (Mt 25:14-30, Lk 10:11-12)? Whether you have $10 or $10 million, the question is about how are we handling what we have. Most lottery winners are back where they were and sometimes even worse within 5 years because they weren't handling what they already had. It is a matter of principle.

Entering the promised land has some correlation for us. It is not about taking possession of physical land like Israel did, but we are to take possession of spiritual territory. Just as Israel had to fight for their territory, so will we. God gives us the strategy, armor, weapons, and strength to win (2Cor 10:3-5, Eph 6:10-18). If we fail, it is not God's fault. We can enter into God's promise by being born again of water and the Spirit (Lk 24:44-47, Jn 3:3-5, Acts2:38-39), but there are still battles to face. The difference is we don't have to face them alone. God will be with us when we follow Him. David was one of the greatest warriors in the Bible, and the reason for his success was that he prayed to get direction from God before going into battle, and then He followed it. Someday Christians will be able to rest from their battles in this life. Whether by death or rapture, we will enter into a future rest (Heb 3-4).