The Canaanites’ Iniquity
Read Genesis 15:16, Leviticus 18:24-30, Deuteronomy 18:9-14, and Ezra 9:11. What are these texts telling us about God’s larger plan in offering the land of Canaan to the Israelites?
We need to look beyond the book of Joshua to completely understand what was meant by the iniquity of the nations inhabiting Canaan. These nations’ abhorrent practices of child sacrifice, divination, sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, and spiritualism give us a hint (Deut. 18:9-12).
The discovery of the ancient Ugaritic texts (from Ras Shamra) provides more insight into the Canaanite religion and society, and they demonstrate that condemnation of this culture was not only understandable but—according to Old Testament moral standards—also justified.
The Canaanite religion was based on the belief that natural phenomena, which assured fertility, were controlled by the sexual relationships between gods and goddesses. Thus, they envisioned the sexual activity of the deities in terms of their own sexual behavior and engaged in ritual sexual practices in order to incite the gods and goddesses to do likewise. This concept resulted in the institution of “sacred” prostitution, involving both male and female prostitutes engaging in orgiastic rites, again all as part of their own religious practices!
A nation cannot rise to a moral ground that is higher than that of the gods its people worship. As a result of such an understanding of their deities, it is no wonder the Canaanites’ religious practices included child sacrifice, which the Bible warned specifically against.
Archaeological evidence confirms that the inhabitants of Canaan regularly sacrificed their firstborn children to the gods, really demons, whom they worshiped. Little skeletons found crushed into large jars with votive inscriptions testify to their degrading religion and what it meant for many of their children.
The eradication of the Canaanites, then, was not an afterthought, something that emerged in the wake of God’s decision to give the land of Canaan to the Israelites. The inhabitants of Canaan were granted a time of probation, a time of additional mercy during which they had the opportunity to discover God and His character through the witness of the patriarchs living among them. They had the chance, but obviously, they squandered it, and continued in their horrific practices until the Lord finally had to put a stop to them.