Did God command genocide against the Canaanites?
In Deuteronomy and Joshua, God commands Israel to 'utterly destroy' the Canaanites, men, women and children. That is genocide. A good God could not command it, and a book that celebrates it cannot be a guide to morality.
— A common objection; see e.g. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (2006), ch. 7
These texts are genuinely hard, and Christians should not soften them. But several facts matter: the command was a unique judgment limited to one time and place, given after centuries of patience toward cultures that practiced child sacrifice; its main aim was to remove the Canaanite religious system, and it was not driven by ethnic hatred; and the same books show that 'leave none alive' was stock war rhetoric, since many Canaanites remained. It was never a standing command, and Jesus points to a different way.
What Scripture says
1When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. 3Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you. 5Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire. 6For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
The command of herem, linked explicitly to idolatry: so that Israel would not be drawn into the Canaanites' gods.
16However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. 17For you must devote them to complete destruction —the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you, 18so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.
The stated purpose is to keep Israel from learning 'abominable practices' done for their gods.
13Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions. 15You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. 16In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
God waits over four centuries because 'the iniquity of the Amorites' is not yet complete. Judgment came only after long patience.
21You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 22You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination. 23You must not lie carnally with any animal, thus defiling yourself with it; a woman must not stand before an animal to mate with it; that is a perversion. 24Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves. 25Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. 26But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you. 27For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled. 28So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
Child sacrifice and other practices are why the land 'vomits out' its inhabitants, and Israel is warned the same will happen to them.
4When the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, “Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” Rather, the LORD is driving out these nations before you because of their wickedness. 5It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
Israel is told plainly that it is not being given the land because of its own righteousness.
8Before the spies lay down for the night, Rahab went up on the roof 9and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you. 10For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction. 11When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. 12Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD that you will indeed show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will deliver us from death.” 14“Our lives for your lives!” the men agreed. “If you do not report our mission, we will show you kindness and faithfulness when the LORD gives us the land.”
Rahab, a Canaanite, turns to Israel's God and she and her family are spared; Joshua 6:25 says she lived among Israel.
40So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded. 41Joshua conquered the area from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, and the whole region of Goshen as far as Gibeon. 42And because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel, Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one campaign.
A sweeping summary that Joshua 'left none remaining'.
21The Benjamites, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live there among the Benjamites. 22The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. 23They sent spies to Bethel (formerly known as Luz), 24and when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us how to get into the city, and we will treat you kindly.” 25So the man showed them the entrance to the city, and they put the city to the sword but released that man and all his family. 26And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called it Luz, which is its name to this day. 27At that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. 28When Israel became stronger, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor, but they never drove them out completely. 29Ephraim also failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer; so the Canaanites continued to dwell among them in Gezer. 30Zebulun failed to drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced laborers. 31Asher failed to drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, and Rehob. 32So the Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out. 33Naphtali failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath. So the Naphtalites also lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served them as forced laborers. 34The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain. 35And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. But when the house of Joseph grew in strength, they pressed the Amorites into forced labor. 36And the border of the Amorites extended from the Ascent of Akrabbim to Sela and beyond.
The same Canaanite peoples are still living in the land, which shows the summaries in Joshua are idiomatic, not literal head-counts.
23Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?
God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; he desires that they turn and live.
The case
Face the text honestly
Deuteronomy 7 and 20 command Israel to devote the peoples of Canaan to destruction (ḥērem), and Joshua reports cities where Israel "devoted to destruction" men, women and children (Joshua 6:21). Christians should not pretend these passages are easy or skip them. The Bible itself does not hide them. What follows is not an attempt to make them pleasant, but to read them carefully and in context.
Five things to notice
1. It was judgment, not ethnic hatred
The texts give a moral reason, not a racial one. The Canaanite religious system included child sacrifice (Leviticus 18:21; Deuteronomy 12:31). God tells Abraham that his descendants must wait four centuries because "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete" (Genesis 15:16). Israel is warned that it is not more righteous (Deuteronomy 9:4–6), and that the land would expel Israel too if it did the same (Leviticus 18:28). That is exactly what happened in the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. Genocide in the modern sense targets people for who they are. These texts say judgment fell because of what was done.
2. It was limited and unrepeatable
The command applied to specific peoples in a specific land at a specific point in Israel's history (Deuteronomy 20:15–17 contrasts them with distant cities). It is never given as a general rule for Israel's later wars, let alone for the church.
3. The language is often hyperbolic
Joshua says Israel "left none remaining" (Joshua 10:40), yet a few chapters later much land remains to be taken (Joshua 13:1), and Judges 1 lists Canaanite peoples still living in the same regions. Deuteronomy 7:2–3 commands ḥērem and, in the next breath, forbids intermarriage with those same peoples. Ancient Near Eastern war reports regularly used sweeping language for decisive victories. King Mesha of Moab, for example, claimed Israel had perished forever (Mesha Stele, c. 840 BC). Scholars such as K. Lawson Younger have documented this convention. Many therefore conclude that the central aim was to drive out the Canaanites and destroy their cult centers (Deuteronomy 7:5; Exodus 23:28–30), and that literal extermination was not the aim.
4. Mercy was available
Rahab, a Canaanite, turned to Israel's God and she and her household were spared (Joshua 2; 6:25). She appears in Jesus' genealogy (Matthew 1:5). The Gibeonites sought peace and lived (Joshua 9). Conversely, the Israelite Achan came under ḥērem for his sin (Joshua 7). The line was drawn by response to God, not by bloodline.
5. God's character is the frame
The same Scriptures insist God is "slow to anger" (Exodus 34:6), takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23), and relented when Nineveh repented (Jonah 3:10). As Creator, God alone holds the rights over life and death that no human has. That is why human beings may never claim this command for themselves.
Comparing readings
| Approach | Core idea | Main concern raised |
|---|---|---|
| Just judgment, taken literally | God as Judge commanded real destruction for real evil | The fate of children remains hard |
| Hyperbole / driving out | Stock war rhetoric; aim was dispossession and destroying idols | Some texts still seem literal |
| Removing identity (Walton) | Ḥērem removed a people's identity and order, not individuals per se | Newer proposal; debated |
| Cross-centered reinterpretation (Boyd) | Read violent portraits through the cross | Many see it as compromising Scripture |
Why it matters
These passages show that God takes evil seriously enough to judge it in history. The rest of Scripture shows what he does next. At the cross God bears judgment himself rather than requiring it of his enemies (Romans 5:8–10). The conquest is not the Bible's last word on how God treats nations. That is found in Jesus, who commands his people to love their enemies and sends them to every nation (Matthew 28:19), Canaan's neighbors included.
Word study
hebrew · “something devoted (to God), banned, set apart for destruction” · Joshua 6:17
Herem means placing something wholly at God's disposal, removing it from ordinary human use. In war it meant destruction of a city and its spoils rather than taking them as plunder. Its focus was the removal of a religious system and its objects (Deuteronomy 7:5), not ethnic extermination. A Canaanite like Rahab could be spared, while an Israelite like Achan could fall under herem (Joshua 7).
hebrew · “to devote to the ban, destroy utterly” · Deuteronomy 7:2
The verb form. In the same passage that commands Israel to 'devote' the nations, Israel is forbidden to intermarry with them (7:3). That would make little sense if total literal annihilation were expected. Many scholars therefore read the language as focused on driving out and dispossessing rather than killing every person.
“But what about…?”
Isn't 'they were just exaggerating' a convenient dodge?
It is a claim that can be checked in the text. Joshua 10 and 11 say the land was totally destroyed, yet Joshua 13:1-6 and Judges 1-2 say large areas and peoples remained. Ancient Near Eastern conquest accounts, such as the Mesha stele's claim that Israel had perished forever, used the same sweeping style. Scholars such as Paul Copan and Nicholas Wolterstorff have argued for this reading, though others think it is not decisive.
What about the children?
This is the hardest part. Christians who take the text at face value note that God, as author of life, has the right to take it, and that children who die are, many Christians believe, received by God's mercy. Others stress that the command was primarily to drive out and that noncombatants could flee, as many evidently did. No answer makes the passage comfortable, and none should.
Couldn't someone use these texts to justify violence today?
The command was specific to one moment in redemptive history and to the land promised to Abraham. It was never a general mandate. In the New Covenant, God's people are a multi-ethnic church, not a nation-state. Jesus told his followers to love enemies (Matthew 5:44) and rebuked violence in his name (Luke 9:54-55).
Why would God judge a whole nation?
The Bible portrays God judging nations, including Israel itself (2 Kings 17; the Babylonian exile), for long-entrenched evil. Israel is told the land would vomit them out too if they did the same things (Leviticus 18:28). The standard was moral, not ethnic.
Where Christians differ
Go deeper
- book · 2014Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of GodPaul Copan & Matthew Flannagan
- book · 2011Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament GodPaul Copan
- book · 2017The Lost World of the Israelite ConquestJohn H. Walton & J. Harvey Walton
- book · 2008The God I Don't UnderstandChristopher J. H. Wright
- article · 2007William Lane Craig
- book · 2017The Crucifixion of the Warrior GodGregory A. Boyd
Sources (3)
- Mesha Stele, c. 840 BC: Mesha's claim that Israel 'perished forever' (lines 7-8), an example of ancient hyperbolic victory rhetoric
- K. Lawson Younger Jr., Ancient Conquest Accounts: A Study in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical History Writing (1990)
- Nicholas Wolterstorff, 'Reading Joshua', in Michael Bergmann, Michael J. Murray & Michael C. Rea (eds.), Divine Evil? The Moral Character of the God of Abraham (Oxford, 2011)
Related questions
Isn't the God of the Old Testament different from Jesus?
The contrast is a caricature of both Testaments. The Old Testament's most repeated description of God is 'merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love' (Exodus 34:6). Jesus, for his part, speaks about judgment and hell more than anyone else in the New Testament. Both Testaments show one God who is both holy and loving. Jesus claimed to be the full revelation of the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, whose Scriptures he quoted and loved.
Does the Bible condone slavery?
Much of what the Old Testament calls 'slavery' was debt service, not the race-based, lifelong chattel slavery of the Americas, which the Bible condemns at its root by forbidding kidnapping and slave-trading. Some laws, especially those about foreign slaves, remain hard. They regulated a fallen institution in a fallen world rather than endorsing it as ideal. Meanwhile Scripture planted principles (every person made in God's image, master and slave equal in Christ) that Christians eventually used to dismantle slavery.
Why did God tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?
Genesis 22 says from the first verse that this was a test, and God stopped it. He never intended Isaac to die. The story shows that God does not want child sacrifice: elsewhere he condemns it as something that never entered his mind. Abraham trusted that God would keep his promise through Isaac, even if it meant raising him from the dead. Above all, the story points forward: God provided a substitute, and centuries later he did not spare his own Son.
This entry is a draft and has not yet been theologically reviewed.