According to the Bible, God gave the land of Canaan to Israel. And so Israel invaded Canaan, killed most of the Canaanites, and took over the land.
So okay, God had promised the land to Israel. But why did he allow, indeed command, Israel to wipe out the Canaanites? Were they just "in the way"?
No. God had a plan for the Canaanites, too.
When God first promised the land to Abraham, God told Abraham that he could not give him the land immedidately, because, Genesis 15:16, "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." (The Amorites were the biggest nation in Canaan.) So God promised to give the land to Abraham. But he couldn't give it right away, because he had to give the present inhabitants time to repent. He knew that they would not, but he had to give them the chance. Only after they had been given a suitable chance could God destroy them.
So God's plan was two-fold: He punished the Canaanites for their sin by sending another nation, Israel, to destroy them. And he promised to give Israel a country of their own, Canaan.
I suspect that God's plans are often complex like this. Al gets Betty to marry him, rewarding Al. At the same time, meeting Al leads Betty to break up with Charles, who would have been a terrible husband, thus saving Betty. And by losing Betty, Charles is forced to face his flaws as a man, thus leading him to become a better person.
Just what was wrong with the Canaanites? Well, Canaanite religion had two distinctive features: 1. The "sacred orgy". The people would worship their gods by having a wild sex party. And 2. Child sacrifice. Babies were burned alive as offerings to Baal.
According to the Bible, the Jews often were led astray into worshipping the Canaanite gods. I've often heard Christians say this is baffling. Why would they worship these false gods? But surely it is obvious. A young Canaanite man would say to a Jewish friend, You see all those pretty girls over there? You could have any of them you like. You could have all of them. Just come to our festival tonight. If the Jew is reluctant, and says, But what if she gets pregnant?, the Canaanite replies, No problem. You just sacrifice the baby to Baal. Then you get rid of the unwanted pregnancy and you got points for your piety in sacrificing to Baal.
The Old Testament centers on Israel, so it doesn't tell us much about how God dealt with the Canaanites. But there are a few mentions that he sent priests and prophets to preach to them.
Number one, Melchizedek. He is described as the "priest" and "king" of Salem, a major city in Canaan. Ultimately Salem became Jerusalem. The Bible briefly describes Abraham meeting him, Genesis 14:18-20. His name goes by quickly again in Psalm 110:4. Then he is discussed at some lenth in Hebrews 6:19-7:19. But Hebrews mainly uses Melchizedek to prove that a priest doesn't have to be from the Jewish tribe of Levi, so that Jesus could be a priest. Melchizedek was not a Jew, as Jews didn't even exist when he lived. He was probably a Canaanite, but the text doesn't say. We'e told he had no father or mother, but it's not clear if this means he was specially created by God or that he was an orphan or what.
But in any case, we do know that Melchizedek was sent by God to preach to the Canaanites. Somehow he became king of one of their cities.
Another man sent to the Canaanites by God was Balaam. See Numbers 22. Balaam is called a prophet, and he wasn't a pagan prophet. We're told he prayed to Jehovah. Note, for example, Numbers 22:13 where Balaam says that Jehovah told him what to do. (Some translations say "the LORD". Either way, it's God's name, not a generic word for "god".)
Apparently Balaam was corrupt. 2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 1:11 tell us that he wanted the money that the Canaanite kings offerred him more than he wanted to proclaim God's word. According to Revelation 2:14, he tried to corrupt the people of Israel. So it seems that when God told him that he could not pronounce a curse on the peole of Israel, Balaam obeyed but sought to corrupt the Jews to destroy them from within.
DId got send other prophets and priests to the Canaanites? The Bible doesn't mention any others, but as I said, the Bible is not about Canaan but about Israel. I think it likely he did. But nevertheless, the people refused to repent.
© 2025 by Jay Johansen
No comments yet.