The ethical standards in the Bible are some of the greatest ever known. These include loving God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind ( Luke 10:27 ) as well as what Jesus Christ said, "Love your neighbor as yourself". ( Matthew 22:39 )

Thus many can become perplexed by God's command in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy 20:10-18 and Joshua 6:21 to completely destroy the entire inhabitants of Canaan. Granted, there is no simple solution to this problem; however, it can be understood to some degree by viewing this story with four perspectives in mind.

1. First, God is the author of all life and he has the prerogative to give or take away according to His divine purpose . It is very easy for us to become wrapped up in our own earthly-bound view of things. We can easily forget that God is in control, and just how evil man can become or how low human nature can sink in depravity. In fact, there is a verse in John's Gospel which reminds us of this, "This is the verdict, light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil" ( John 3:19 ). Thus, we must try to look at this issue from God's perspective . How do you remove evil without starting all over again with the human race? The global flood option card has already been played.

2. Secondly, the commandment "thou shall not murder" does not prohibit the taking of human life for capital punishment or for national defense to maintain social justice and freedom. The definition of murder is different than killing, just like the definition of lying is different than not telling the truth. Killing for the higher moral law is sometimes necessary to preserve the ultimate sanctity of life (for instance going to war to prevent the extermination of the Jewish people by Nazi Germany).  This is different from an unlawful killing and thus, would not be considered murder.

Not telling the truth to save lives may also be justified and necessary to ultimately preserve life. ( Joshua 2:3-6 ) (for instance Corrie ten Boom hiding Jews from the S.S. to save them).  This is different from lying where there is an unjustified discrepancy between what you know to be true and what you say. Both murder and lying are always wrong and never condoned in scripture. ( Exodus 20:13 , Exodus 21:12 , Exodus 20:16 )

3. Thirdly, when Israel was told to completely annihilate the Canaanites, this was entirely unique in their people's history. Israel's theocratic government at this time had no parallel in human history even to this day. God had set apart Israel as a redeemed nation which was to be distinct from all other nations. This is very important as the Canaanites had sunk so low in moral depravity and idolatry that God's chosen people would have been defiled if Israel would have coexisted with them ( Deuteronomy 20:18 ). God used the Israelites as his rod of judgment upon the Canaanite's wickedness and gross immorality. As in all of scripture, God never takes sin lightly . In the case of the Canaanite people, archeological discoveries confirm that their culture was overrun with religious prostitution coupled with infant sacrifice. They had become a religious fertility cult sacrificing to their gods and putting their material prosperity before the well-being of their women and children. Bestiality was common, along with other unspeakable abominations. The apparent cruel removal of the unrepentant Canaanites was not unlike the surgical removal of a cancerous tumor.

4. Finally, remember that God, by his very nature, cannot be and cannot create evil. When God created the first two humans on the planet, he gave them a choice to either accept or reject Him. What God created was the potential for evil to exist. By giving us free will to either accept or reject Him, He allows true love to exist. Otherwise, we would be like robots loving Him because He programmed us that way. However, our free choice also allows us to reject God, resulting in evil. In fact, the consequence of one's choice is always in direct proportion to the magnitude of the choice . For example, the consequence of you choosing a Coke over a Diet Coke is miniscule.  You might taste a slight difference and consume a few more calories.  However the consequence of accepting or rejecting God has massive eternal consequences.  In fact, when the first two humans rejected God, death entered the world and it plunged the entire human race into sin separating man from God.

The evil within the Canaanite culture had become so severe and perverted, that from God's perspective, in order to preserve Israel, He took drastic action. If God had not preserved Israel, there would be no hope for any of us.  For from Israel came the line of David which culminated in the birth of Jesus Christ who paid the ultimate and final punishment for all sins, past, present, and future allowing for the salvation for all who believe. ( Romans 3:22 , Luke 2:4 )

See also:

The Gospel Message

Am I going to Heaven?