#915 The Problem of Evil and the Slaughter of the Canaanites

Dr. craig’s response

Thank you for your intelligent question on this issue, Corey! It seems to me that what your question reveals is that the problem posed by the slaughter of the Canaanites finally reduces to the old problem of evil, to which abundant answers have been given.

The point of your concern is that the killing of the Canaanite children was an “unnecessary and awful way” to achieve the end of their salvation. Since children die every day in apparently unnecessary and awful ways, your question really adds nothing new to the usual problem of apparently gratuitous and horrific suffering in the world. In my work on the problem of evil, such as in Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview,[1] I call into question the cogency of the argument from apparently gratuitous and horrific suffering, and I would commend that chapter to you.

Specifically, with regard to the brutal slaying of the Canaanite children, what I originally wrote in QoW#16 remains relevant:

The terrible totality of the destruction was undoubtedly related to the prohibition of assimilation to pagan nations on Israel’s part.  In commanding complete destruction of the Canaanites, the Lord says, “You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons, or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods” (Deut 7.3-4).  This command is part and parcel of the whole fabric of complex Jewish ritual law distinguishing clean and unclean practices.  To the contemporary Western mind many of the regulations in Old Testament law seem absolutely bizarre and pointless:  not to mix linen with wool, not to use the same vessels for meat and for milk products, etc.  The overriding thrust of these regulations is to prohibit various kinds of mixing.  Clear lines of distinction are being drawn: this and not that.  These serve as daily, tangible reminders that Israel is a special people set apart for God Himself.

I spoke once with an Indian missionary who told me that the Eastern mind has an inveterate tendency toward amalgamation.  He said Hindus upon hearing the Gospel would smile and say, “Sub ehki eh, sahib, sub ehki eh!”  (“All is One, sahib, All is One!” [Hindustani speakers forgive my transliteration!]).  It made it almost impossible to reach them because even logical contradictions were subsumed in the whole.  He said that he thought the reason God gave Israel so many arbitrary commands about clean and unclean was to teach them the Law of Contradiction! 

By setting such strong, harsh dichotomies God taught Israel that any assimilation to pagan idolatry is intolerable.  It was His way of preserving Israel’s spiritual health and posterity.  God knew that if these Canaanite children were allowed to live, they would spell the undoing of Israel.  The killing of the Canaanite children not only served to prevent assimilation to Canaanite identity but also served as a shattering, tangible illustration of Israel’s being set exclusively apart for God. . . .

Nothing could so illustrate to the Israelis the seriousness of their calling as a people set apart for God alone.  Yahweh is not to be trifled with.  He means business, and if Israel apostasizes the same could happen to her.

As C. S. Lewis puts it, “Aslan is not a tame lion.”

The very gruesomeness of the slaughter of the Canaanites was the most powerful object lesson imaginable to the Israelis of the need for and importance of separation from pagan nations and religions. Having the Canaanite children simply “ascend to heaven” would certainly not have furthered that goal! God had more in view than simply taking these children to heaven.