And just as the Israelites were to deal with their own sin in a just way, so is the Church. “In fact, we have independent evidence that child sacrifice was practiced in the Canaanite (Carthaginian and Phoenician) world from many classical sources, Punic inscriptions and archaeological evidence, as well as Egyptian depictions of the ritual occurring in Syria- Palestine, and from a recently discovered Phoenician inscription in Turkey. El approves, and the palace is built by Kothar-wa-Khasis. 6:17-21), and even the things the people were allowed to keep were to be cleansed first with fire or water in the tabernacle. Not only was bestiality practiced and dreams about it seen as good omens, but it was also practiced as a form of worship. 16:21; 20:31; 23:37; Jer. As a just and righteous God, Yahweh cannot tolerate evil and sin. [41] As a result, the accounts contained within the Bible represented almost the only sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion. As sinners, we cannot even begin to have any concept of the magnitude of our sin from the perspective of a holy and righteous God. It means mourning.”[6], Remember, the gods themselves were involved in incestuous relationships. 30:33; 57:9). Page 35. abstract, K. L. Noll (2007) "Canaanite Religion", Olmo Lete, Gregorio del (1999), "Canaanite religion: According to the liturgical texts of Ugarit" (CDL), Hillers D.R. [1] Yahweh was not interested just in punishing sin but in maintaining the righteous purity of His people. It had everything to do with the judgment of a people for their sins. Pidray, goddess of light and lightning, one of the three daughters of Ba'al Hadad. 24:20-25:30). The Canaanite people were an extremely violent people involved in and promoting idolatry, gang rape, bestiality, child sacrifice, and many other evil and grotesque practices.[2]. 17:7-23; 24:20-25:30). 11:19-20). [43], Archaeological excavations in the last few decades have unearthed more about the religion of the ancient Canaanites. 7:4, 7-11; 9:4-6; 29:16-29). Molech was portrayed as a man with the head of a bull standing upright with his arms outstretched. c. 1650–1550 BC). People would go to the temples and have sex with these prostitutes as an act of worship. The issue was not whether (Jewish) people were entitled to use Alexander as a name, but where/how they came by it. Decade after decade, He will allow the sins of Israel to go unpunished. Some statements in the Babylonian magical text (pre-seventh-century BC) say: “If a man has intercourse with the hindquarters of his equal [male], that man will be foremost among his brothers and colleagues. [5] Martti Nissinen, Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: A Historical Perspective, trans. The question at the heart of this topic is how an all-loving God could command the extermination of the Canaanites and have Israel carry it out, as recorded in the books of Joshua and Judges. With Mot defeated, Ba'al is able to return and refresh the Earth with rain. [4] These are just a few examples, and none of these behaviors of the gods are portrayed with contempt in the texts of their religions. In Joshua 6, the narrator presents a wicked city that was being destroyed. 7-14), and other empires (2 Kgs. This implies that Yahweh waits until nations or people have become wicked enough before He judges them. First it must be understood that the extermination of the Canaanites had nothing to do with race, religion, or land. There were not distinct just because they worshiped other gods or were sinful, for that was true of all the nations, including the Israelites at times. Not once does the narrator or Yahweh condemn these acts of mercy. The First Testament also teaches that just as Israel failed to do this because they did not have Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, we, too, will fail if we do not submit to the will of Jesus Christ and depend on the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. More recently, detailed study of the Ugaritic material, of other inscriptions from the Levant and also of the Ebla archive from Tel Mardikh, excavated in 1960 by a joint Italo-Syrian team, have cast more light on the early Canaanite religion. Ugaritic Ba’al myth describes Anat as taking joy in slaughtering her enemies, cutting off their heads and hands and wearing them as a necklace and belt. More recently, the term Canaanite has been used for the secondary Iron Age states of the interior (including the Philistines and the states of Israel and Judah)[33][34] that were not ruled by Arameans—a separate and closely related ethnic group. One of the sacrificial animals, a complete donkey, was found beneath the foundations of a building, leading to speculation this was a 'foundation deposit' placed before the building of a residential house. … having intercourse with a woman: Bad. Simon B. Parker, p. 148. Though other cultures also participated in some of these practices, it was the widespread involvement and acceptance of these sins that brought the Canaanites under Yahweh’s judgment. Anat, Ba’al’s wife and goddess of war and love, fought her way into the grave to rescue her husband. 5:13-15; 28:19; Acts 1:8). But Moses interceded on Israel’s behalf, and Yahweh forgave them of their sin and stayed their judgment of death, contrary to the punishment decreed by the covenant. It is in the death of Yahweh’s Son that His mercy and justice are seen together clearly. A new discovery in Israel backs up claims in the Book of Judges that the ancient Israelites contended with the Canaanites for parts of the land promised to Moses. Furthermore, Israel and the Church have purposes that are different from each other. The late period of this cosmology makes it difficult to tell what influences (Roman, Greek, or Hebrew) may have informed Philo's writings. His companions will stick to him. Harriet Lutzky has presented evidence that Shaddai was an attribute of a Semitic goddess, linking the epithet with Hebrew šad "breast" as "the one of the Breast". Everyone, including women and, in some cases, children, were involved in the following practices. Today our true enemy is the demonic beings that were behind the moral corruption of the Canaanites (Eph. Syria (Arabic: سوريا ‎, romanized: Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية ‎, romanized: al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon to the southwest, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest. 18:20-30; Deut. 26-27; 2 Cor. [30], Canaanite deities such as Baal were represented by figures which were placed in shrines often on hilltops, or 'high places' surrounded by groves of trees, such as is condemned in the Hebrew Bible, in Hosea (v 13a) which would probably hold the Asherah pole, and standing stones or pillars.[31]. These sins exist in every culture, then and now, but are forbidden by most governments and are socially condemned by the majority of people in the culture. The Egyptian Dream book has a section for men that begins with: … having intercourse with his mother: Good. As the creator of all things, Yahweh is sovereign over all creation and has the right to execute His justice in any way He sees fit. Copyright © 2004-2021 Knowing the Bible LLC. Yahweh also showed his willingness to forgive and restore with His dealings with Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire (Jonah 3:4-10). Though on the surface Yahweh’s command to exterminate the Canaanites may leave us emotionally uncomfortable, we must realize that we really do want a God who hates sin and punishes evil justly. Ba’al, one of his sons, was married to his sister Anat. [15] Shelby Brown. (Not like modern cultures have done much better dealing out justice through prisons today….). Yahweh did not take pleasure in the extermination of the Canaanites. Dead relatives were venerated and sometimes asked for help.[25][26]. Even when Israel went into battle they were commanded to consecrate themselves (Josh. The Phoenician practice indicates a definition of the ‘family’ and the boundaries belonging to it and alienation from it that was incomprehensible to others in the ancient Mediterranean.”[15], [1] See Daniel Hawk. Rather, Yahweh made it clear that the Canaanite people were being destroyed for their sin. Likewise, Yahweh did not choose Israel alone to execute justice in every case throughout history. This is unlike any other records of battles from the nations of the ancient world. It means that he will inherit something. He used another nation to do it just as He had used Israel to judge the Canaanites (2 Kgs. From the other direction, Jean Bottéro has suggested that Ya of Ebla (a possible precursor of Yam) was equated with the Mesopotamian god Ea during the Akkadian Empire. [4] See W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths, p. 145. His very nature demands that He punish and deal with sin. Jericho should have served as an example of Yahweh’s mercy to the rest of the cities, but, unfortunately, it did not. They are points of operation, where attacks are waged on outlying areas. Three of the ten were dealt with before Israel entered the land of Canaan, leaving seven after they entered the land. [8] Text in brackes is provided because it was missing in the original document. This pattern is seen over and over in Scriptures—how little intercession and prayer it takes to move Yahweh to forgiveness. The sovereignty and justice of Yahweh gave Him every right and demanded that Israel be punished for their sin. After the palace is constructed, Ba'al gives forth a thunderous roar out of the palace window and challenges Mot. 5:21) on behalf of all peoples, including the Canaanites (Ps. [citation needed], Group of ancient Semitic religions practiced by the Canaanites. With no one to give rain, there is a terrible drought in Ba'al's absence. None of the inscribed tablets found in 1929 in the Canaanite city of Ugarit (destroyed c. 1200 BCE) has revealed a cosmology. Gorelick, Leonard; Williams-Forte, Elizabeth; "alleged but not securely attested", according to Johnston, Sarah Isles. Infants and children as old as four were offered up to him. 32. Whereas the Israelites originated as Bronze Age Canaanites, the origin of Yahweh is indeterminate (see. The Canaanites’ unwillingness to repent and change even to escape judgment shows how bad they really were (Josh. We already know that certain people are more genetically predisposed to alcoholism and other addictive tendencies; scientists are even trying to find a “gay gene.” Ultimately, this question can be answered only when one comes to understand that Yahweh is good and that a God who is willing to die for us—even for the Canaanites—is a God who can be trusted with where babies and children go when they die. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (around 2100 BC) came 600 years before Israel destroyed the Canaanite nation. 17:7-23) and Judah (the southern kingdom) in 586 BC with the Babylonians (2 Kgs. This is seen in the fact that only the main cities are listed as being defeated in the book of Joshua. Ba’al, the Canaanite storm god, became the high god by defeating Yamm, the sea god. Not only did they declare these acts as righteous morality, but they also participated in these acts in the worship of their gods as a means of gaining the gods’ approval. We might not agree with His form of justice, but our very sense of justice on which we base our accusations of Him comes from Him as our Creator. Adonizedek (a Hebrew word meaning “lord of justice”) is an example of many other civil leaders who chose titles for themselves or had titles bestowed upon them by greater rulers whose vassals they were (Fallows, Bible Encyclopedia, s.v. Nor did Yahweh command Israel to exterminate everyone who did not convert to Judaism. 7 all state the Canaanites will be in the kingdom of Yahweh), so that they might escape this judgment shows the love and mercy of Yahweh. This idea continues in the book of Judges with the many different foreign nations, including the Canaanites, that Yahweh allowed to oppress Israel for their sins of idolatry and social injustice. Yahweh did not just in a blind rage punish people when they first did something wicked. It shows that Yahweh did spare Rahab for her faith, and thus this is His true character. Molech was a Canaanite underworld deity[13] that required child sacrifice in order to prove devotion to him (Lev. No one would want to live and raise their children in a culture like this. He loves us so much that He does not want to punish us to the full extent that justice would require. There is no other God or being anywhere in history who dies for the sins of others so that they may experience life. Rather, for the same reason that only ten nations were marked for destruction and the others (even though they were unbelievers) were left alone in the First Testament, so today, in a post-Second Testament world, not every nation or people group is marked for destruction, though they are unbelievers as well. They were not to go out to the other nations but were to live so righteously within their own borders that they would become a better and more blessed nation; in doing so, the people from the other nations would be so attracted to this difference that they would want to leave their old lives behind and join Israel. 5:13-6:27; 8:1-29; 10-12). This was 400 years before the extermination of the Canaanites, meaning He gave them a long time to repent from their idolatry and sins. Because we have the Holy Spirit, we have been called to go into the world and be a righteous light among the nations, making disciples of all people (Matt. Afterward, with the help of Athirat and Anat, Ba'al persuades El to allow him a palace. Mot enters through the window and swallows Ba'al, sending him to the Underworld. In fact, the Canaanite people were Semitic just like the Israelites. But Yahweh is also a merciful God who loves us. [10] Hoffner, “Incest, Sodomy and Bestiality in the Ancient Near East,” p. 82. Finkelstein, Israel, and Silberman, Neil Asher, 2001, Asherah: goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament, By Tilde Binger. [27], Archaeological investigations at the site of Tell es-Safi have found the remains of donkeys, as well as some sheep and goats in Early Bronze Age layers, dating to 4,900 years ago which were imported from Egypt in order to be sacrificed. The overriding concern in all the episodes was remaining holy, found in Yahweh’s demand for holiness, obedience, and purity of worship. Also, this language of killing everyone may have been hyperbolic and reserved for the main political and military cities in which, by nature, all the women and children there would be more corrupt simply because of where they lived. 103:8). However, incestuous fantasies were looked upon with favor and seen as a good omen. However, it is unfair to … If someone wanted to guarantee a victory in battle, they could sacrifice one of their children to ensure the gods fought on their behalf (Judg. Spiritual strongholds are represented in scripture, in the same way as physical ones. As a righteous God, Yahweh cannot tolerate such sin and evil in His creation. Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice, p. 75. 9). And time after time, the prayers of the prophets lead Yahweh to pour out His mercy on Israel. 3:19-20). 12:3). If a man has intercourse with a horse or a mule, there is no punishment.”[10], There were even ritualistic practices involving animals tied to the bed of a woman in order to bring some kind of blessing. Israel had “sinned,” “violated” Yahweh’s covenant, “taken” some of the devoted things,” “stolen,” “lied,” and put things among their own possessions. There were laws against bestiality but only for certain animals. One must understand when we talk about the sin and practices of the Canaanites that we are not talking about a small group of people in these nations; we are talking about everyone. The Canaanites, as a whole culture, committed sins of idolatry, holy temple prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, incest, murder, bestiality, gang rape, and child sacrifice (see The Nature of the Canaanites’ Sin excursus at the end of the article). The become points of offensive operations, which are hard to remove, unless concerted effort is made to remove them. Incest and adultery were also part of the gods’ lives. 33:6; Ezk. They describe their conquests in great detail and brag about how they subjugated and destroyed other people groups. There is a concept known as generational sin, wherein a child will become like his parents not only because he was raised under their instruction and example, but also because he came genetically from those parents. 32 makes it clear that the character and actions of Yahweh are complicated, and the fact that Yahweh reveals this part of Himself through Scriptures shows that He refuses to allow humans to put Him in a box. 16:4-22). 19:22). And even then they were only to drive them back, not destroy them. Like other people of the Ancient Near East Canaanite religious beliefs were polytheistic, with families typically focusing on veneration of the dead in the form of household gods and goddesses, the Elohim, while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as Baal and El, Asherah and Astarte. At the end of the chapter, the two perspectives are brought together. Israel was called to be a distinct and holy nation with their own government and to remain separate from the rest of the nations. Yet the text makes it clear that this second law did not apply to those living in Canaan. Canaanite divinities seem to have been almost identical in form and function to the neighboring Arameans to the east, and Baal Hadad and El can be distinguished amongst earlier Amorites, who at the end of the Early Bronze Age invaded Mesopotamia. In the Baal Cycle, Ba'al Hadad is challenged by and defeats Yam, using two magical weapons (called "Driver" and "Chaser") made for him by Kothar-wa-Khasis. In Joshua 2, the narrator presents Rahab as a godly woman who wanted to be saved. Although child sacrifice was known to surrounding peoples, there is no reference to it in ancient Phoenician or Classical texts. The special meaning of circumcision in the Bible was for the people of Israel is found in Genesis 17 and occurs within the context of God's renewed covenant promise to Abraham, following the initial contractual relationship. There was also a form of homosexuality that was far more violent and subjugating than what we know today. 13:34-35). I do not know if sinners—who do not fully understand the righteousness, justice, and greater all-encompassing will of Yahweh—will ever be able to comprehend fully or accept the answer the Bible gives for this issue. The biblical representation of Canaanite religion is always negative. “Mightiest Baal hears;
 He makes love with a heifer in the outback, A cow in the field of Death’s Realm.
 He lies with her seventy times seven, Mounts eighty times eight; She conceives and bears a boy.”[9]. Today He is still judging people by many means we do not always recognize because we do not have divine revelation. She was slain by. Yahweh not only received her, but He declared her more righteous than even many of the grandsons of Abraham because of her desire to know Yahweh (Gen. 38:26). Anyone who has ever studied the mythology or religions of ancient people knows that their gods were not moral beings, according to anyone’s standard in the modern world. Also part of another trio with Baalshamin and Malakbel. In a world of no police or prisons, few options existed for dealing justly with these kinds of evils. Canaanite religion was influenced by its peripheral position, intermediary between Egypt and Mesopotamia, whose religions had a growing impact upon Canaanite religion. Most readers can understand the men being killed, but Yahweh’s command of the death of the women and children is much harder to understand. The extermination of the Canaanites had to do with removing all influence of the idolatry of immoral gods and practices that would corrupt the lives of the Israelites and lead to perverted and dysfunctional culture. There is therefore no reason to doubt the biblical testimony to Canaanite child sacrifice.”[14], “No other ancient people, however, regularly chose their own children as sacrificial victims, or equated them with animals which could sometimes be substituted for them. There were only ten nations specifically marked for destruction (Deut. Just as fantasies of incest were seen as good omens, so was homosexuality. When one reads records of the other nations’ conquests, they are self-glorifying and graphic. Shamayim, (lit. The “handing over” reinforces the command that the Israelites were to make no treaties, show no mercy, and not intermarry with the Canaanites. Anat goes to the Underworld, attacks Mot with a knife, grinds him up into pieces, and scatters him far and wide. The Hurrian goddess Hebat was worshiped in Jerusalem, and Baal was closely considered equivalent to the Hurrian storm god Teshub and the Hittite storm god, Tarhunt. This is what makes Him good, for no human is satisfied with a God who can look at the evil committed in the world and be all right with or apathetic to it, never exacting justice. The point, instead, is to give insight that is never discussed by those who attack Christianity over this issue. The righteousness of Yahweh and His covenant with the family of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; 15) is what led to Tamar leaving her Canaanite culture and joining the family and covenant of Abraham (Gen. 38). As with unbelievers, this principle requires that we are living such righteous and blessed lives that those outside the fellowship will recognize what they are missing (Jn. In Canaanite mythology there were twin mountains Targhizizi and Tharumagi which hold the firmament up above the earth-circling ocean, thereby bounding the earth. From the very beginning, Yahweh made it clear that the Canaanites were distinct from all the other nations. What is most interesting is that it goes on and states that if a woman has a dream where she embraces her own husband, she is doomed.[12]. 16:3; 21:6; 23:10; 2 Chr. Yahweh did not command Israel to exterminate the Canaanites because they were a different race. Yahweh was willing to show mercy to the Canaanites in the same way He had with Israel previously. Philo of Byblos states that Atlas was one of the Elohim, which would clearly fit into the story of El Shaddai as "God of the Mountain(s)". Present-day knowledge of Canaanite religion comes from: Until Claude F. A. Schaefer began excavating in 1929 at Ras Shamra in Northern Syria (the site historically known as Ugarit), and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablets written in an alphabetical cuneiform,[40] modern scholars knew little about Canaanite religion, as few records have survived. They were to first offer peace, and if the nation refused, they could kill only the adult males, while women, children, animals, and spoils may be taken as plunder. The Canaanites were a group of people who lived in ancient Canaan along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea known today as Israel. 17; Amos 1-2). 3:1-11; Rev. In contrast, the Bible gives very little detail of Israel’s battles, and the killing of the people is stated merely as a fact (Num. In the Mosaic law, a spiritual interpretation was imposed upon the procedure when the Israelites were instructed to circumcise their hearts. They knew, therefore, what would happen if they continued in the path of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Gemara (Bava Kama 60a) explains the underlying meaning of the verse (Shemot 22:5): If a fire spreads to weeds (in another’s field) and devours bales of … Also, it gives a very human face to Rahab the Canaanite as the city of Jericho filled with Canaanites is being destroyed. Israel was never commanded in the Bible to kill the Canaanites merely to take control of the land. Similarly Athirat (known by her later Hebrew name Asherah), Athtart (known by her later Greek name Astarte), and Anat henceforth were portrayed wearing Hathor-like Egyptian wigs. This shows that Israel themselves were now “a thing for destruction.” But they would no longer be thus when their sin had been dealt with. But did he miss the greatest truths of all? The destruction of the children is much harder to understand. With little intercession from Moses, Yahweh quickly relented and forgave Israel. Yahweh did not punish Israel (the northern kingdom) until 722 BC with the Assyrians (2 Kgs. W. F. Albright, for example, says that El Shaddai is a derivation of a Semitic stem that appears in the Akkadian shadû ("mountain") and shaddā'û or shaddû'a ("mountain-dweller"), one of the names of Amurru. By Jesus being a human, He could represent humanity in their sin. This record was supplemented by a few secondary and tertiary Greek sources: (Lucian's De Dea Syria (The Syrian Goddess), fragments of the Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos (died 141 CE), and the writings of Damascius). A. Kirk Grayson and Donald Redford, Papyrus and Tablet, p. 152:149. Yahweh has made it clear that He is willing to relent in His judgment if a nation repents of its sins and changes its ways (Jer. Kirsi Stjerna, p. 33. Why prohibit intermarriage if they were to be completely wiped out? Beyond these facts, there is little we know for certain. This was so prevalent in the Canaanite culture that Lot’s daughters, after growing up in and being influenced by Sodom, both slept with their father and thought nothing of it (Gen. 19:30–8). the Bible, the Canaanite cities were destroyed and the Canaanites attacked until ... spiritual promise, made by Pope Urban II,that fighting and dying in the name of ... reputedly meaning hashish eaters. To that point, Yahweh commanded the Israelites to not intermarry with the Canaanites, which seems odd if they were all supposed to be destroyed. 7:1-4 does not seem to be focused on the sole extermination of the Canaanites but on the theological principle of separation from the Canaanites and protection of the Israelites from their influence. For example, the promise of the eternal possession of the land certainly has reference to spiritual Israel's inheriting the entire world. El told him to go ahead and have sex with her in order to humiliate her, which Ba’al did. “Adonizedek,” 1:56). The main focus of Deut. Any idea of one is often reconstructed from the much later Phoenician text by Philo of Byblos (c. 64–141 CE), after much Greek and Roman influence in the region. Inside his stomach was a fire, and children would be placed in his arms for burning. 3:21-26). In the Middle and Late Bronze Age, there are also strong Hurrian and Mitannite influences upon the Canaanite religion. 7:3-4; 9:4-5). Canaanite religion was polytheistic, and in some cases monolatristic. Destroying a people is not the main point; rather, remaining loyal to Yahweh and the covenant is the focus. 7 Facts You Didn’t Know about Nimrod in the Bible. 600 BCE to ca. The other deities, especially El and Anat, are distraught that Ba'al has been taken to the Underworld. El, the father of the gods, was married to Asherah, by whom he had seventy children. In fact, he made it clear that Israel, too, would be judged and would lose the land if they committed the same sins (Deut. We are to live so righteously and love each other in such a unique way that the world cannot help but want to be a part of the Church.
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