Summary Of 'Slaughter Of The Canaanites'

Is God a moral monster? A rhetorical question as well as a Book written by Paul Copan. The book asks and opens the big questions about the morality of many situations of the Old Testament such as; slavery, polygamy, and genocide. The book itself is full of counter arguments in hopes for people to see both the atheistic and the religious defense. The religious view is more of “God has commanded so let it be” type of outlook, much like William Lane Craig writes in his article “Slaughter of the Canaanites.” In the article he says, “The command to kill all the Canaanite peoples is jarring precisely because it seems so at odds with the portrait of Yahweh, Israel’s God, which is painted in the Hebrew Scriptures. Contrary to the vituperative rhetoric
But what is out of character for him is that he commanded the people to commit the mass murder instead of doing it himself like he did with the flood. “You can’t read the Old Testament prophets without a sense of God’s profound care for the poor, the oppressed, the down-trodden, the orphaned, and so on. God demands just laws and just rulers.” (Craig 30) Scholars wrestle with the morality of God’s character in the Old Testament because of such “cruel” practices that are included in books such as; Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy . Things just as Yahweh commands at child sacrifice (Exodus 22:29); selling daughter into slavery (Exodus 21:7); prescribing the death penalty (Exodus 21:17). For anyone growing up in the 21st century of course all of these commands sounds hanis and barbaric. An argument that Craig uses is, “The Pentateuch itself contains the Ten Commandments, one of the greatest of ancient moral codes, which has shaped Western society. Even the structure “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” was not a prescription of vengeance but a check on excessive punishment for any crime, serving to moderate
Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman sees five phases of Yahweh war in the Bible. In phase one, God fought the flesh-and-blood enemies of Israel. In phase two, God fought against Israel when it broke its side of its covenant with God (cf. Dt. 28:7. 25). In phase three, when Israel and Judah were in exile, God promised to come in the future as a warrior to rescue them from their oppressors (cf. Dan. 7).
In phase four there was a major change. When Jesus came, He shifted the battle to the spiritual realm; He fought spiritual powers and authorities. Jesus’ power was shown in His healings and exorcisms and preeminently in His victory in the heavenlies by His death and resurrection (see Col. 2:13-15). Christians today are engaged in warfare on this level. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places”