Why were the Israelites told to destroy the people living in Canaan? (Numbers 33:50-56)
Why were the Israelites told to destroy the people living in Canaan? (Numbers 33:50-56) 50 While they were camped near the Jordan River on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho, the Lord said to Moses, 51 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, 52 you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines. If anyone has the "NLT PARALLEL STUDY BIBLE," it might help here.
Numbers 33:50 - 56
ESV - 50 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying. 51 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan.
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Asked December 31 2018
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
As Moses indicated in Deuteronomy 7:1-5, and again in Deuteronomy 20:16-18, God commanded the Israelites to destroy the nations living in Canaan (the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) because, if they were left alive, they would draw the Israelites (through such practices as intermarriage) into adopting their worship of false gods, along with the abhorrent rituals (such as human sacrifice, including infants) that that worship entailed. (And, in fact, such corruption occurred when the Israelites later failed to follow this command, for which God judged them, as noted in Judges 2.)
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