The Extermination of Canaanites as a Biblical Incident - Research Paper Example

? The Canaanites of the Religion and Theology of the Concerned 6 July The Canaanites The extermination of Canaanitesis a Biblical incident that commands an immense importance for the practicing Christians. On one side, the extermination of Canaanites depicts the assurance and omnipotence of God’s justice, and on the other side it extends a note of caution to the wayward that no evil act escapes the attention and wrath of God. Many detractors of the Bible tend to convey that the extermination of Canaanites was an act of historical injustice in which one army vanquished the other in the name of God. However, such aspersions tend to misplace and misunderstand the wisdom of God. The extermination of the Canaanites was not a spontaneous or extempore act of bloodshed. Actually speaking, God allowed Canaanites a time span of 400 years so that their abominations could ripen to receive the justice of God. By ordering the Israelites to attack and exterminate the Canaanites, God achieved two objectives. First and foremost, He brought a true and righteous judgment on the deserving Canaanites. The Canaanites’ gods were known to engage in varied types of abominations that included bestiality and incest. Secondly, by commanding the extermination of the Canaanites, God succeeded in preparing the land for His true followers so as to give way to an appropriate religious setting to justify the advent of the Messiah, who had to redeem both the Israelites and the Gentiles. Therefore, to be able to grasp a possible insight into the ways of God within a Biblical context, it is imperative to delve on the history, religion and the culture of the abominable people like Canaanites. History of Canaanites Canaanites are the people variedly described throughout the historical and biblical records. Yet, most of the times the Canaanites were shown to be centered in Palestine (Driver 24). Perhaps the native, pre Israelite inhabitants of Palestine were known by the name Canaanites. The term Canaan and Canaanites could be traced in the ancient Egyptian records dating back to fifteenth century BC and more profusely in the Old Testament. Geographically speaking, varied biblical and historical records tend to place Canaanites in varied locations. As per some records, Canaan referred to an area encompassing most of Syria and Palestine (Driver 136). As per some other records, Canaan ascribed to the land lying to the west of Jordan River (Driver 136). Some records consider Canaan merely to be a strip of coastal land to the north of Acre (Driver 146). It was some time at the ebb end of the second millennium BC that the Israelites conquered and exterminated Canaanites. The Holy Bible tends to justify the extermination of Canaanites by associating Canaan with the Promised Land that was promised by God to the Israelites and their descendents. The origins of the word ‘Canaanite tends to be a bit disputed. However, many historians believe that the word ‘Canaanite’ originated from an ancient Semitic word meaning “reddish purple”, related to the rich purple dye that was manufactured in the area of Canaan or the wool dyed in a rich purple color (Driver 135). The Bible identifies Canaanites to be the descendents of Ham. Canaan happened to be the brother of Mizarim and the fourth son of Ham. Actually speaking, it was Canaan who happened to be the grandson of Noah, who was cursed by Noah in Genesis. In that context, historically speaking, Canaanites tend to have a vicious and evil ancestor. Perhaps, with the passage of time, Canaanites metamorphosed into a general term referring to all the tribes that inhabited the west of Dead Sea and the East of Jordan River. As per the available historical findings, the pagan ancestry of the Canaanites could be traced back to Paleolithic and Mesolithic ages (McCown 77). It was sometime during the Bronze Age that Semitic people are known to appear in the area known by the name Canaan (McCown 77). It was primarily the Semitic Amorites who entered Canaan from the northeast that constituted the dominant populace of Canaan during the Bronze Age (McCown 77). In the late Bronze Age, Canaan was primarily under the Egyptian domination. However, near the end of the 13th century BC, the domination of Egyptians over the region of Canaan diluted and waned (McCown 77). It was at sometime during the early Iron Age that the Israelites appeared in the region of Canaan, first settling along hill country to the South of Canaan. It was eventually under the rule of King David that the Israelites were able to challenge the power of the Philistines and to vanquish the local Canaanites, thereby wresting control over Jerusalem. No wonder, Old Testament tends to be the most important source of information about the Canaanites. The Canaanite culture was influenced by a blend of varied other cultures like the Egyptian, Cretan and Mesopotamian. The language spoken by Canaanites was perhaps an ancient version of Hebrew that is related to the Hebrew of the Old Testament (Sawyer 10). The historical records pertaining to the religion of Canaanites do refer to the ritual cannibalism, murder and prostitution, which will be elaborately dealt with in the later part of the paper. Canaanite Culture It goes without saying that Israelites during the leadership of Moses and Joshua could not help coming in contact with varied nomadic tribes. Thereby, coming in contact with these nomadic tribes, the Israelites absorbed many practices and norms of these people. The Israelites came in contact with Canaanites during the invasion of Joshua. Canaanites predominantly happened to be urban and agricultural people. The Canaanites, as already mentioned, adopted the customs and practices of varied civilizations over centuries, till they were overpowered and vanquished by Israelites. The religion of the Canaanites happened to be primarily an agricultural religion that laid down a heavy emphasis on fertility motifs and themes. Baalim happened to be the main god of Canaanites (Hastings et al. 210). The consorts of Baalim happened to be Baalot and Asherah or Ashtoret (Hastings et al. 210). Baal-berith was the god of the city of Shechem, which was peacefully absorbed by the Israelites under the leadership of Joshua. The Canaanites tended to have sacred pillars in their temples which were in fact phallic symbols (Hastings et al. 210). The Canaanite gods Baalim and Baalot where considered to be all powerful that were considered to have the potency to revitalize the earth and to bestow fertility on women and beasts (Hastings et al. 210). The revitalization rituals practiced by Canaanites consisted of sacred marriages loaded with sexual symbolism and replete with the practice of actual sexual acts between men and women, who were considered to represent Baalim and Baalot (Hastings et al. 210). The temples of Canaanites used to have sacred temple prostitutes who were considered to be the embodiment and representatives of Baalot. The Canaanite religion comprised of many cultic ceremonies and rituals that included sexual intercourse between the salient members of Canaanite community and the sacred temple prostitutes (Hastings et al. 210). These acts of carnal profligacy were mostly dedicated to Baalim and his consort Baalot and were believed to invoke magical powers and blessings from the Canaanites’ gods (Hastings et al. 210). It was believed that Baalim actually impregnated the sacred prostitutes through his human representatives. It was also held by the Canaanites that pleased by these sexual rituals, Baalim made the rain to fall on the earth, thereby rejuvenating earth and enhancing its fertility (Hastings et al. 210). The Canaanite religion was replete with a plethora of sexual and symbolic myths and practices. The mythology about sexual acts between Baalim and his passionate sister consort Ballot do testify to the fact that the Canaanite religion do gave some relevance to incest (Hastings et al. 210). The religion of the Canaanites perhaps proved to be a great temptation for the simple minded and pastoral Israelites. In fact, Old Testament do mentions that many of the Israelites succumbed to the sexually imbued and fertility driven religion of the Canaanites. There is no denying the fact that in case of many Israelites, the sexual attractions implicit in the rituals of Canaanites do allured them to turn away from the Yahwistic religion based on rigorous faith and fundamental morals and ethics. As the Canaanites and Israelites came in close contact with each other, the Canaanite practices and rituals started to infiltrate the religion of Israelites, thereby impinging on its purity and simplicity. Old Testament do mentions that the influence of Canaanite practices and rituals got so potent over time that some Israelites began to name their children after Baalim. Hence, it goes without saying that not only the Canaanite religion and culture was replete with sexual symbolism and rituals, considering their vicinity to Israelites, it was having a detrimental impact on their religion, thereby evoking the wrath and vengeance of God. Inherent in the cultic practices and rituals of the Canaanites seem to be the reason for their annihilation and demise. The Abominations of the Canaanites In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 18:9 - 22, stands to be an important passage in the sense that here God issues a note of warning to the Israelites while they were about to enter Canaan. This passage also elaborates on a long list of abominations practiced by Canaanites. Many a times God declares in the Old Testament that the Amorites (Canaanites) will be dispossessed of their land, going by their evil deeds. No were in the Old Testament one comes across an instance where the pagan gods of Canaanites forwarded to them a moral or ethical code. In fact going by the biblical accounts, the pagan gods of Canaanites seem to be more reclusive than the Canaanites who followed their cult. To the Canaanites, fertility and sex stood to be utterly important aspects of their religion (Goodman 223). The denizens of Canaan had been practicing varied immoralities for a long time, but God was patient and merciful towards them. Though the Canaanites had the example of the God of Israelites before them, yet they never evinced any inclination to give up their Gods or to forsake the abominations practiced by them in the name of religion. God many a times extended opportunities and signs to the Canaanites, bet they choose to ignore them. Finally came a time when the mercy of God had to graduate to God’s justice. Thus God met a just punishment to the Canaanites to punish them for their sins and to prevent them from leading away the Israelites. There is no denying the fact that the religion of Canaanites happened to be socially destructive. Their rituals were positively detestable and pornographic. Besides the religious practices of Canaanites were detrimental for children, which encouraged them to engage in blatantly promiscuous behavior while evincing no inclination to extend to them moral or ethical lessons. The Canaanites camouflaged their acts of sodomy, incest and bestiality in the garb of religious practice (Goodman 223). Simply speaking, for Canaanites anything was permissible, be it human sacrifice, prostitution or incest, so long as it assured a good harvest. Canaanites simply dared to ignore the noble values, be it in the family or in the larger social order. In fact the Canaanite society was self destructive in the sense that it placed carnal satisfaction and sexual pleasures above the will of God (Goodman 223). The Canaanite society was replete with superstitions and believed in soothsaying, divination, fortune telling and astrology. Human sacrifice was an integral part of the Canaanite rituals and religious practices. These abominations practiced by Canaanites tested the patience of God and eventually made Him pass His judgment. In that context God simply could not lead the Israelites to the Promised Land before He cleansed them of the Canaanites who would certainly have been an evil influence for the religious beliefs and morals of the Israelites. Conclusion The extermination of the Canaanites by God holds much advice and lesson for the contemporary society. In the times when the culture is getting sex saturated, many people today do not seem to be averse to sexual immorality and the havoc it brings down on the families, society, social institutions and especially the children. The vanquishing of the Canaanites by God stands to be a lesson for the humanity in all ages and times. Certainly God has a social agenda and he expects the believers to be above corruption and degeneration. Works Cited Driver, G.R. Canaanite Myths and Legends. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1956. Print. Goodman, L.E. God of Abraham. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print. Hastings, James, John A., Selbie, A.B., Davidson, H. B., Swete, and S.R. Driver. A Dictionary of the Bible. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1898. Print. McCown, Chester Charlton. The Genesis of the Social Gospel. New York: Alfred a Knopf, 1929. Print. Sawyer, John F.A. Sacred Languages and Sacred Texts. London: Routledge, 1999. Print. Read More