Why the conquest?
Scripture References: Genesis 15:15-16, Deuteronomy 9:4-6, Deuteronomy 18:9-12, 2 Kings 21:6, 8-9, Galatians 3:7-9.
Introduction:
Have you ever come across topics from the Bible that are hard to swallow? I think if we’re honest, there are times when we come across a topic or question that can be uncomfortable to talk about, particularly if they are being asked by an unbelieving friend or family member. At times these questions can be asked from an attitude of anger or antagonism…sometimes they are honest questions asked from a genuine attitude of wanting to understand a hard topic.
In our One Purpose life group on Sunday morning, we are tackling one of these very topics head-on. We are studying the book of Joshua, and often the question might come up…’Why the conquest?’ If you’re familiar with the book of Joshua, you’ll know that the setting involves the people of Israel after their wilderness wanderings. They are about to enter the land of Canaan…the land promised to them by God. How will they possess the land? This will inevitably involve driving out the people who inhabit the land. This is the very topic some may have a hard time coming to terms with.
Some common questions or objections I hear on this topic may sound like: ‘Why is God commanding Israel to drive out entire people groups from their homes? Is this some sort of ethnic cleansing? Is God showing favoritism toward Israel?’
Graciously, God’s Word provides many answers to these questions. My hope is to help equip us to understand this with a solid Biblical foundation. The question is, are we willing to dig into His Word to find these answers? Are we willing to seek the heart of God on this matter? This may require effort on our part…but the understanding we gain when we make the effort is priceless! Where do we start? In a passage that we looked at a few weeks ago, Genesis 15 and God’s covenant with Abraham…
Devotional:
In a previous devotional, we looked at God’s covenant with Abraham. Following the events of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11…We almost immediately get the call of Abram. Why is this interesting? Because you may remember that previously the earth had ‘one language and the same words’ (Gen 11:1). The people build a tower to make a name for themselves…glorifying themselves and their own work. This leads God to respond by confusing their language and dispersing them over the earth (Gen 11:9). The very next chapter, God begins his plan to bless those nations…to restore them and bring them back into the fold. God tells Abram on multiple occasions…’In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’ (Gen 12:3), ‘All the nations of the earth shall be blessed by him’ (Gen 18:18), ‘And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed’ (Gen 22:18). God’s plan to bless these fractured nations starts with a human partner, Abram. He promises land (Canaan), seed (offspring) and blessing.
This begs the question: ‘If Abraham and his offspring are to be a blessing to the nations…Then why are we seeing this conquest in Joshua where nations are being driven out of their homes, out of their land? How is this part of the plan to be a blessing to the nations? We get our first clue to answering this question in Genesis 15 as God goes over the game plan for this land inheritance while Abram is in a deep sleep…
“As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” – Genesis 15:15-16 ESV
Our first ‘why’…because the ‘iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete’. God is telling Abram he will not inherit the land immediately. His offspring will come back to the land after their deliverance from Egypt. There’s this waiting period God lays out. ‘Because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete’. Who are the Amorites? This is one name which refers to the people groups in the land of Canaan. Faithlife Study Bible comments:
“Amorite” in this passage is a generic term (see Gen 10:16). This shows that Joshua’s invasion of Canaan, as recorded in the book of Joshua, represents an act of justice rather than pure aggression.”1
What exactly are these ‘iniquities’ that the people of the land committed and why do they warrant this type of judgement? The book of Deuteronomy lays this out very clearly for us…
“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6 “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.” -Deuteronomy 9:4-6 ESV
God tells Israel right up front…It is not because of your righteousness that I’m driving these people out and giving you this land. It is because of the wickedness of these nations…thus fulfilling the promise made to Abram. Deuteronomy also shows precisely what wickedness we are dealing with…
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.” -Deuteronomy 18:9-12 ESV
Here are these iniquities…starting with Child Sacrifice: ‘There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering.’ Child sacrifice, divination, fortune telling, sorcery, necromancy, inquiring of the dead…this is quite the list. The land had become so polluted with sin and bloodshed. God finally just says ‘enough’ this has to stop! This is critically important to understand. We are not talking about an innocent, peaceful people group in the land of Canaan. We are talking about appalling evil being committed.
Even today, we often see evil and injustice in the world around us. Horrible, unspeakable things. We often ask God to intervene…to stop this evil and judge those responsible. Well, that’s exactly what is happening in the conquest of the land of Canaan. If we think this is harsh punishment, I would ask this question. How long should God allow abominable practices such as child sacrifice to go on before He eventually says ‘Enough!’?
This is also not about ‘ethnic cleansing’…if it was, then we wouldn’t be presented with the story of Rahab in Joshua 2. We know from this story that the people have heard of the works of the God of Israel. How they were brought up out of Egypt. They are given the chance to align themselves with the one true God. Rahab the prostitute shows loyalty to God and her family is spared. Rahab…a prostitute and a non-Israelite. This shows that this conquest is clearly not about ethnic cleansing.
Finally, God is an impartial judge and does not hold back on judging Israel for these same sins. Later, in the book of 2 Kings, we read this of King Manasseh of Judah…
“And he burned his son as an offering[a] and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.” -2 Kings 21:6 ESV
Sound familiar?? A couple verses later we read this…
“And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.” -2 Kings 21:8-9 ESV
Israel eventually falls so low that they become ‘even worse’ than the nations that the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. For this, God acts as an impartial judge. Israel is driven from the land…just as the Canaanites were.
This is not indiscriminate violence against innocent people. This is judgement of sin and evil. What do we make of all this?
Takeaways
-I hope this brief study helps answer some tough questions and provide Biblical reasoning for this topic if we ever encounter objections and questions.
-More importantly, I hope we see why we need Jesus. Why the world needs Jesus. Israel broke covenant with God, like we all would have done and what we would continue to do by disobeying his commands. This is why Jesus makes a ‘New Covenant’ in His blood. Paying the price for our sin.
-Like Israel, we are not righteous in and of ourselves. As the late R.C. Sproul said:
“Christians have nothing to smug about; we are not righteous people trying to correct unrighteous. Just one beggar telling another where to find the bread.”
-We are called to be a blessing by bringing the gospel to all nations, making disciples. The promise of Abraham echoes in the Great Commission.
Paul tells us that through faith…we are the seed of Abraham…We are Gentiles among the nations, now brought into the fold through the finished work of Christ…God keeps His promises!
“7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” – Galatians 3:7-9 ESV
Let’s be a blessing to the nations this week…spreading the gospel wherever we go!
Amen.
Sean Wagner
1. Gen 15:15. Barry, John D. Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Nomar. 2012, 2016. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.