Hittites, Canaanites, Girgashites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, are the seven nations that Israel defeated, destroyed, and took over their lands which their God Jehovah had promised them. That land of Canaan, today geographically covers Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and the southern portions of Syria and Lebanon.
All seven nations were descendants of Canaan, son of Ham and grandson of Noah, from whom they derive their collective name Canaanites. Other non-Canaanite nations too like Bashan, Ai, and Assyria, were also commanded to be utterly destroyed, looted, and dispossessed of their lands by Israel, on their way to the promised land. Their women, children, and livestock were slaughtered and their kings killed, hanged and their bodies thrown at city gates.
While some scholars say the destruction of those nations was occasioned because the nations weren’t obedient to the God that Israel worships (Jehovah), others hold that, whether the nations worshiped the God of Israel or did not, their destruction was already a given since their homelands had already been promised to the Israelites, the tribal custodians of Jehovah. Yet, seven times the Israelites rebelled against and disobeyed Jehovah on their journey, but on no occasion were they wiped out like others.
The social experiment I wish to do using this very serious, emotional, and touchy topic is this: assume for once that you were from any of the seven Canaanite nations; assume that you are a Hittite or an Amorite or a Jebusite, etc. And a deity unknown to you decides to will your homeland to its worshippers without your consent. And all your ancestors were truly wiped out from the surface of the Earth by another person’s tribal God. Will you still accept that deity as the almighty God who created everyone?
Was the killing of other tribes really commanded by a God who we are told created everyone in the universe or was the killing in defense of the adherents and interest of a tribal deity who was also a land grabber?
From the chalice of God’s mercy, how much do we each deserve if we were indeed, all created by that same God, or is the God disproportionately and preferentially dishing out the mercy to different tribes a la carte?
The thing is, calling a racist, tribal deity the God of the whole world is the easiest thing to do for those who have a God. But what is also the most difficult thing is, accepting that another person has equal rights and spiritual obligation to dress his or her own deity in the same omni-garment.
So when you say, the Jewish tribal deity Jehovah, is the God of all nations without whom we are condemned to eternal damnation, does that include the Canaanites?
And for those whose only answer to these posers is urging me to get spiritual eyes of understanding to discern how God works, I am pleased to inform you that the posers are sincerely not for you as always. You can just scroll past and I have no doubt you will still have a great day all the same.
I am just thinking aloud!!!
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.