Deuteronômio 20
Leon Morris · Citado em PreceptAustin
Deuteronômio 20
Morris - save alive nothing. This commandment, repeated through Moses and Joshua in various ways and times during the exodus and conquest, has been the object of tremendous criticism by enemies of Biblical theism. Such critics have charged God with sadistic cruelty. The Lord, of course, does not need to defend His actions. Whatever He does is right by definition. There is a time coming, in fact, when all who have rebelled against Him, rejecting His righteousness and His love (as had these Canaanites), will be "punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Inheritance (possession, heritage) (05159) nachalah from nāḥal = signifies giving or receiving property which is part of a permanent possession and as a result of succession) means Inheritance, heritage, possession. A possession is any piece of property that passes by law to an heir on the death of the owner. It also speaks of God's promises to His people, such as the promise of the land to national (redeemed remnant) Israel. In Dt 4:20 we read “But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today." Nachalah in Deut - Deut. 3:28; Deut. 4:20; Deut. 4:21; Deut. 4:38; Deut. 9:26; Deut. 9:29; Deut. 10:9; Deut. 12:9; Deut. 12:12; Deut. 14:27; Deut. 14:29; Deut. 15:4; Deut. 18:1; Deut. 18:2; Deut. 19:10; Deut. 19:14; Deut. 20:16; Deut. 21:23; Deut. 24:4; Deut. 25:19; Deut. 26:1; Deut. 29:8; Deut. 32:9; THOUGHT (POSB) - God will judge every evil and brutal person upon the earth. A person will die; after that he faces the judgment of God. The Canaanites were an evil and brutal people, a people who had reached the point of no repentance, no return. They would never turn from their immoral, lawless, and savage ways, never turn back to God. Therefore, the judgment of God fell upon them. So it will be with every evil and brutal person upon the earth: the judgment of God will fall upon him. He will face the eternal judgment of God and be separated from God forever. (Jn. 5:28–29, Ga. 5:19–21, Ep. 5:5, 1 Co. 6:9–10, He. 9:27, 2 Pe. 2:9, Jude 1:14–15, Rev 21:8) (Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible – Deuteronomy) POSB - Again, it is critical to note this fact: Israel as a people did not receive the promised land because of their merit or value nor because of some righteousness they possessed. The Canaanites were destroyed because they were evil and their cup of iniquity had been filled to the brim. They reached the point of no repentance; they were beyond correction. Moses himself declared to the Israelites: a. It is not because of any personal righteousness within you, not because you have pure hearts, that you inherit the promised land (De. 9:5). The enemies of the land are to be conquered and destroyed for two reasons: ⇒ Because of their wickedness and because they are an evil people; their cup of iniquity is full ⇒ Because God is faithful; He fulfills His promise to the forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God has promised to give the promised land to their descendants, to all those down through the centuries who believe His Word, His promises. b. Understand this warning: it is not because of your righteousness that God gives you the promised land. On the contrary, you are a stiff-necked, stubborn people (De. 9:6). You are a sinful people. You have no righteousness within yourselves that merits God’s favor. Your hearts are not upright nor pure enough to make God accept you and give you victory over the enemies of the promised land. You are a stiff-necked, stubborn people. (Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible – Deuteronomy) James Philips makes an excellent statement on the justice and judgment of God that is well worth quoting in full. God was using His people as the rod of His anger against peoples whose cup of iniquity was full to overflowing. They were being judged for their sins and their depravities. This is, of course, stated explicitly more than once in the Old Testament itself (cf. Gen. 15:16 and Lev. 18:24–30). The time of their destruction was ripe. This is why they were thus dealt with, and it was no arbitrary act of injustice that drove them out of their land. They had forfeited the right to live as nations in Canaan by the extremes of their debauchery and depravity, just as Sodom and Gomorrah had done (Gen. 19), and just as the Cainite civilization as a whole had done, bringing upon itself the judgment of the Flood (Gen. 6). Furthermore, it should be remembered that God dealt with His own people in similar fashion when they proved themselves unworthy to life in the land of promise, and He brought them into the captivity of Babylon in 586 B.C. To understand God’s burning passion for righteousness in His creatures is to understand the basic reason for these judgments upon men and nations that refused to be righteous, and who rendered themselves incapable of being so by their continued sin. (Preacher’s Commentary on Numbers) Nelson Study Bible says this: Of Israel’s attacks on the northern part of Canaanite cities, the Bible states, “but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing. As the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did” (Josh. 11:14, 15). God clearly commanded Israel to annihilate the Canaanites, and that is exactly what Joshua did. Headlines such as this have caused many people to question God’s basic justice. How can a holy, just, and loving God command such extreme violence? Indeed, many have thought of this issue as the Old Testament’s biggest challenge to modern readers. Some have gone so far as to allege that there is no connection between the “God of the Old Testament” and “God of the New Testament revealed in Jesus.” However, this stereotype breaks down under examination. The Bible gives reasons for the Canaanites’ destruction—and these reasons are in concert with the whole tenor of the Bible in both Testaments. The primary reason for the Canaanites’ destruction was that they were guilty of gross sin. Abraham got a preview of this when God promised him the land. God said fulfillment of the promise would be delayed in part because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Ge. 15:16; the Amorites were the Canaanites). For many years, the Canaanites’ sins would not justify annihilation. But that time would arrive, and it did arrive by the time of Joshua. What were the sins of the Canaanites? The gruesome list in Lev. 18 gives some of the details, including incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality. Of course, every person has sinned in some fashion (Ps. 14:3). On this level, the Canaanites only received what all peoples deserved; others were spared only by God’s grace. But Canaan was not a community of upstanding citizens. It was a thoroughly debased society, hostile to all God’s ways (Deut. 9:4, 5). To a lesser degree, God was merely protecting His people. God promised Abraham that He would curse anyone who cursed Israel (Gen. 12:3). The Canaanites sought to destroy Israel on at least two occasions (Josh. 9:1, 2; 11:1–5), and God would not allow that. The stereotype also breaks down because it overlooks the highly localized nature of the judgment on Canaan. The Israelites did not have a license to kill. They had no right to do the same to whatever peoples they encountered, at any time or in any place. This destruction targeted the sinful Canaanites of that time only. As harsh as it may seem to us, the Canaanites brought God’s judgment on themselves by their own sin. The New Testament states that one day Jesus Christ will judge the wicked nations of the earth (Matt. 25:31–46). God once judged all the wicked with an overwhelming flood (Gen. 6–9), and the same God will one day again judge everyone who has ever lived (2 Pet. 3:10–13). The judgment against the Canaanites is merely one instance of His judgment on the wicked even as He extends forgiveness to others. Warren Wiersbe gives an excellent statement on God’s command to exterminate the Canaanite nations. But wasn’t it cruel and unjust for God to command Israel to exterminate the nations in Canaan? Not in the least! To begin with, He had been patient with these nations for centuries and had mercifully withheld His judgment (Gen. 15:16; 2 Peter 3:9). Their society, and especially their religion, was unspeakably wicked (Rom. 1:18ff) and should have been wiped out years before Israel appeared on the scene. Something else is true: These nations had been warned by the judgments God had inflicted on others, especially on Egypt and the nations east of the Jordan (Josh. 2:8–13). Rahab and her family had sufficient information to be able to repent and believe, and God saved them (Josh. 2; 6:22–25). Therefore, we have every right to conclude that God would have saved anybody who had turned to Him. These nations were sinning against a flood of light in rejecting God’s truth and going their own way. God didn’t want the filth of the Canaanite society and religion to contaminate His people Israel. Israel was God’s special people, chosen to fulfill divine purposes in this world. Israel would give the world the knowledge of the true God, the Holy Scriptures, and the Savior. In order to accomplish God’s purposes, the nation had to be separated from all other nations; for if Israel was polluted, how could the Holy Son of God come into the world? “God is perpetually at war with sin,” wrote G. Campbell Morgan. “That is the whole explanation of the extermination of the Canaanites. The main deity in Canaan was Baal, god of rainfall and fertility, and Ashtoreth was his spouse. If you wanted to have fruitful orchards and vineyards, flourishing crops, and increasing flocks and herds, you worshiped Baal by visiting a temple prostitute. This combination of idolatry, immorality, and agricultural success was difficult for men to resist, which explains why God told Israel to wipe out the Canaanite religion completely (Num. 33:51–56; Deut. 7:1–5). (Be Available Judges) Norman Geisler - DEUTERONOMY 20:16–18—Were the captives to be spared or killed? PROBLEM: In Deuteronomy 20:11, 15, Moses commanded the Israelites to spare the lives of their captives and make them servants. But only a few verses later he instructs them to “let nothing that breathes remain alive” (v. 16). SOLUTION: The general rule was to make captives of the people conquered. Only in the specific case of the “seven nations” of Canaan were they to exterminate them (see comments on Josh. 6:21). This was because of their “abominations” which were so obnoxious to God that the land “vomits out its inhabitants” (Lev. 18:25). (from When Critics Ask) Norman Geisler - Related to this same question - JOSHUA 6:21—How can the total destruction of Jericho be morally justified? PROBLEM: This passage states that the Israelites “utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.” But how can such a ruthless destruction of innocent life and property be justified? SOLUTION: First, the Canaanites were far from “innocent.” The description of their sins in Leviticus 18 is vivid: “The land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants” (v. 25). They were cancerously immoral, “defiled” with every kind of “abomination,” including child sacrifice (vv. 21, 24, 26). Second, it must be remembered that God had given the people of Palestine over 400 years to repent of their wickedness. The people of that land had every opportunity to turn from their wickedness. According to Genesis 15:16, God told Abraham that in 400 years the descendants of Abraham would return to inherit this land, but that the iniquity of the people was not yet full. This prophetic statement indicated that God would not destroy the people of the land, including those who dwelt in Jericho, until their sins were such that their guilt merited their complete destruction in judgment. Third, as for the killing of the little children, several things should be noted. (1) Given the cancerous state of the society into which they were born, they had no chance to avoid its fatal pollution. (2) Children who die before the age of accountability go to heaven (see comments on 2 Sam. 12:23). This was an act of God’s mercy to their souls to take them into His holy presence from such an unholy environment. (3) God is sovereign over life (Deut. 32:39; Job 1:21) and can order its end according to His will and in view of the creature’s ultimate good. Fourth, Joshua and the people of Israel were acting according to the direct command of God, not on their own initiative. The destruction of Jericho was carried out by the army of Israel, but the army of Israel was the instrument of judgment upon the sins of these people by the righteous Judge of all the earth. Consequently, anyone who would question the justification of this act is questioning God’s justice. Fifth, it was necessary to completely exterminate any trace of the city and its people. If anything had remained, except that which was taken into the treasure house of the Lord, there would have always been the threat of heathen influence to pull the people away from the pure worship of the Lord. Sometimes radical surgery is required to completely eliminate a deadly cancer from the body(from When Critics Ask) Related Resources: What does it mean that “the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” (Genesis 15:16)? | GotQuestions.org See more detailed discussion from several sources on God's command to Utterly Destroy Deuteronomy 20:17 "But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you, shall: Isa 34:5,6 Jer 48:10 50:35-40 Eze 38:21-23 Rev 19:18 the Hittites: De 7:1 Deuteronomy 19 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries TOTAL DESTRUCTION AT GOD'S COMMAND But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you - Moses had previously given similar instructions in Deuteronomy 7:1-2 declaring that "“When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them." They were despicably evil and easily could teach evil such as Dt 18:9-12 to Israel (which in fact over time they did!) NET Note on utterly destroy - The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.” The Hebrew verb charam refers to placing persons or things so evil and/or impure as to be irredeemable under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction. Divine judgment refers to God’s designation of certain persons, places, and things as objects of his special wrath and judgment because, in His omniscience, He knows them to be impure and hopelessly unrepentant. (Deuteronomy 20) Utley on utterly destroy - The word here is charam (Hiphil INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and Hiphil IMPERFECT, which was a grammatical way to show intensity), which is the idea of total and complete destruction because it has been dedicated to God (cf. 2:34; 7:1–5). (Deuteronomy 20 Commentary) Canaanite cities were treated like contraband (Nu 21:2,3; Dt7:2-6;13:12-15; 20:17,18; Jos 6:21; 8:26;10:28;11:11 The lure toward idolatry was removed by devastating the sources. (Jdg 1:17 "utterly destroyed") If people were included (Lev 27:28, 29; 1Sa15:3), they were executed.
Deuteronômio 20
Morris - This was the main reason for God's sweeping judgment on the Canaanites. In fact, when the Israelites failed to carry out God's command, they themselves were led into apostasy and finally into exile. It would have been better if these hopelessly apostate tribes could have been prevented from spreading their utter moral corruption to future generations. The immorality and cruelty of the Canaanite tribes has been confirmed by various artifacts and inscriptions found by archaeologists. Regarding the children who would be too young to choose right or wrong or to understand about God, we can assume such were safe in virtue of the future redemptive work of Christ. Detestable (abomination, loathsome) (08441) toebah refers to an abominable custom or thing and is primarily used of things, persons or practices that are either ritually or morally offensive to the Lord. Toebah is an important word in Deuteronomy (Dt 12:31; 13:14; 14:3; 17:1, 4; 18:9, 12; 20:18; 22:5; 23:18; 24:4; 25:16; 27:15; 32:16). Abomination. Loathsome. Detestable thing. Something or someone who is loathsome and abhorrent. Toebah "is primarily understood in the context of the Law. It identifies unclean food (Dt. 14:3); the activity of the idolater (Isa. 41:24); the practice of child sacrifice (Dt. 12:31); intermarriage by the Israelites (Mal. 2:11); the religious activities of the wicked (Pr 21:27); and homosexual behavior (Lev. 18:22). In a broader sense, the word is used to identify anything offensive (Pr 8:7)." Tobebah in Deuteronomy - Deut. 7:25; Deut. 7:26; Deut. 12:31; Deut. 13:14; Deut. 14:3; Deut. 17:1; Deut. 17:4; Deut. 18:9; Deut. 18:12; Deut. 20:18; Deut. 22:5; Deut. 23:18; Deut. 24:4; Deut. 25:16; Deut. 27:15; Deut. 32:16 In Deuteronomy 20:18 the Lxx translates toebah with bdelugma (from bdelusso = emit foul odor, turn away from something or someone on account of the "stench". A loathing or disgust, abhor in turn derived from bdeo = to stink;cf bdekluktos) which describes something foul, that which is extremely hated, disgusted, detested or abhorred. The first NT use of bdelugma is in Mt 24:15+ which is fitting as it describes the "Abomination (bdelugma) of desolation" (the Antichrist) (cp Mk 13:14+). The other 4 uses of bdelugma are - Lk 16:15+, Rev 17:4, 5+, Rev 21:27+.