The “word on the street” says that scientific evidence says the Holy Bible is wrong about the Canaanites. The reality is some scientists have assumed what the Holy Bible says. Find out the facts, right now.

“Study Disproves The Bible’s Suggestion That The Ancient Canaanites Were Wiped Out” was a title of an article that really got my attention. The reason why that got my attention is because the Holy Bible never said or even suggested the Canaanites were “wiped out”. In fact, the Holy Bible points out the exact opposite! Sadly, the Jews failed their directive from YHVH to eradicate the hardened idol worshipers, with many who were roasting babies alive.

Indeed, under Joshua the Jews began quite well, except for the sin of Achan which caused them to be defeated at first when they attempted to conquer Ai (Joshua 7). After that it was mostly victory after victory, and some sections of Canaan were pretty well conquered. When we get to Joshua 18:1 we read, “Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them.”

Note that Joshua 18:1 says “subdued”. Strong states the Hebrew word here can generally mean {1}, “to subject, subdue, force, keep under, bring into bondage”.

I do not see “annihilated”, “eradicated”, or “wiped out” in that definition. Besides, verses 2 and 3 record, “There remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes who had not divided their inheritance. So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, ‘How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which YHVH, the God of your fathers, has given you?’”

The book of Judges shows that after the death of Joshua the Jews failed to finish the work. I will bring out some “forgotten” matters and an abundance of Holy Scripture later on to show the Holy Bible was very clear the Canaanites were never eradicated, but let us first see why the aforementioned erroneous article, and a few others like it, came about.

Not A Completely Scientific Study

The above mentioned article points to a “study”. That study was “Continuity and Admixture in the Last Five Millennia of Levantine History from Ancient Canaanite and Present-Day Lebanese Genome Sequences”. If you think that title is long, you should see the list of authors. Given the fact that at least one of the names has a non-English letter I am not sure if I can publish it over a platform I have little knowledge of nor any control over. I have seen before where articles are posted and a character comes across as unintelligible. Suffice it to say there were sixteen authors.

This study said it found DNA evidence that the Canaanites survived after Israel came into Canaan. It speaks of widespread destruction by the Jews. It boldly states, “the Bible reports the destruction of the Canaanite cities and the annihilation of its people”. However, it is very apparent that not one of the sixteen authors ever read the Holy Bible. Unless someone in that group was lying, they were glibly going by “street knowledge". 

I greatly appreciate the work of scientists. Before I became a Christian I wanted to be one myself. However, I have lived over half of a century and what I have seen is that there are times science makes assumptions. In this case, unless someone was lying, the sixteen authors (scientists), the editors, those that wrote articles based on the study’s erroneous statement, the editors of them, and the online publishers that permitted such articles on the Internet assumed things that were not true to be true. Did anyone of these people crack open a Holy Bible and actually read it? No. Unless someone was lying.

No doubt this study’s erroneous statement and the articles written based on that statement have caused spiritual damage. Many unsaved people doubt the validity of the Holy Bible and to say DNA evidence disproves what the Holy Bible says when it did not say it increases their doubt even more. As Jesus said (Matthew 15:14), “if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Actually Read What The Holy Bible Says

This case, and others like it, is one of many reasons why a Christian should read the entire Holy Bible. Sure, when you first come to Christ it is good just to read John and 1 John a few times, then nestle into the New Testament. However, at some point a Christian should venture into the Old Testament and later read the whole Holy Bible, not once, not twice, but continually until received into glory. I am of the opinion that each disciple should have read the entire Holy Bible at least once before being in Christ a full seven years.

The more you know about the Holy Bible the more you will be able to realize when someone makes a true or false statement about it. The more you know the Holy Bible the better you will know if a preacher or teacher is correct when they are speaking. And,  by “Holy Bible”, I mean a reliable translation {2}. Though we are not saved by works our salvation is dependent upon our knowledge of The Word Of God.

Anyone who reads the Old Testament will come across the conquest of Jericho. Was that not a Canaanite city? And, the fact is, not everyone in Jericho was annihilated. Because she hid Jewish spies, the life of Rahab was spared along with everyone who gathered within her house on that fateful day when Jericho fell (Joshua 6:22-25), and no one knows how many scared Canaanites had crammed into her dwelling. And, the fact is, Rahab became part of the lineage for the Christ child. That means if we could get a blood sample from a half-brother or half-sister of Jesus we would probably see their DNA would indicate a level of Canaanite ancestry.

Failure Of The Jews To Eradicate The Canaanites

So, what does the Holy Bible say about the rest of the Canaanites? What does it say about the Jews’ obedience, or lack of obedience? Even before we get to the time when the host of Israel crossed the Jordan there was an ancient prophecy by their ancestor Jacob. In Genesis 49:14-15 he is recorded saying, “Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. When he saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, and became a slave at forced labor.” This sure sounds like some Canaanites would survive and there would be no “widespread destruction”, at least within the borders of Issachar. 

Rahab and those with her, along with Jacob’s prophecy about Issachar, are the forgotten matters about the Canaanites. More likely it is that people have not read these passages, like many have not read the book of Judges. For a short space of time Israel did pretty well after the death of Joshua. Judges 1:1-26 record additional victories over the Canaanites with the exception of a failure by the tribe of Benjamin. After that we read of failures by the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, and others. For the record, and for those are afraid to even touch a Holy Bible, here is Judges 1:27 to 36:

“But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land. 28 It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.
29 Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.
31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob. 32 So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.
34 Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley; 35 yet the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor. 36 The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.”

As you see it is clear that the Holy Bible shows the Canaanites were not wiped out and there was no widespread devastation. Sadly, the Jews failed. It was so sad to God that (Judges 2:1-5) “the angel of YHVH came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, ‘I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you, 2 and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? 3 Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’‘ 4 When the angel of YHVH spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 So they named that place Bochim; and there they sacrificed to YHVH.”

Instead of widespread destruction and annihilation we read in Judges 3:5-6, “The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; 6 and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.” It is no wonder that scientists can find DNA code in various ways that points back to the Canaanites after Israel entered Canaan. And, according to verse 6, I would think that if the DNA of some Jews was examined today there would be a few with at least a smattering of Canaanite roots. After Judges 3:6 “Canaan”, “Canaanite”, and “Canaanites” are still mentioned in the written Word of God, and never once being referred to as “wiped out”.

Just because someone states that the Holy Bible says a certain thing does not mean that the Holy Bible actually says it. Find out for yourself. Or ask a godly born again Christian, because a godly born again Christian would have read the Holy Bible more than once. But- it is best that you personally endeavor to prayerfully and carefully read and study the Holy Bible yourself.

The Most Important Lesson From This

While it is important to know never to take the “word on the street” as being authoritative about the Holy Bible, and that we should not always accept as truth what science says about anything, especially the contents of the Holy Bible, what we brought out as fact about the Canaanites points to a most important lesson, one that affects our salvation. As the Jews were to completely displace all the inhabitants of Canaan those who say they are born again in Christ must completely remove the sin in their lives.

Yes, if we are saved Christ took our sins on the cross. But the Word of God is clear we must agree to this not just in word, but in deed. And, when we do deal with our sin it is really us letting Christ within to do the work through us, enabling us to daily turn away from sin and follow Him more closely each day.

However, if we do not, if we dabble in sin, if we let our iniquity tantalize us, then we follow the path of Israel, permitting the enemy to dwell in the land. Then, like Israel, we become pestered by it, then oppressed by it, and if we are not careful we will stop being servants to the righteousness of Christ and become slaves to sin once again.

Thanks To Those That Replied

As I read the above mentioned article and others like it I saw that there were an abundance of comments posted after the articles that called out the authors’ error. To my joy many were quick to post the fact the Jews never fully conquered the Canaanites. There were even comments that pointed out that some of the Jews married Canaanites. I was so glad to see that some people did read the Holy Bible.

During that time I emailed directly to the publishers of any article I saw along this line, pointing out the erroneous assumption about the Holy Bible that the study contained. I also attempted to contact by email two of the authors of the study, however it came back to me that the emails could not get through. Since there is only one of me and I do pastor a church I had little time left to pursue the matter. Hopefully some of those authors will read this. And, greater than that, hopefully they will start reading the Holy Bible and surrender to God through Jesus Christ.

Let me close with this: Do not trust any scientist, author, publisher (online or offline) that would propagate this erroneous assumption that the Holy Bible states the Jews eradicated the Canaanites. You cannot believe everything on the Internet posted by people, but you sure can believe, and fully trust, what the Holy Bible says, provided you have a good translation {2}.

When, as a little boy, I wanted to be a scientist. I learned that scientists were to go by facts (at least back in the 1950s). When measuring something I was to check more than twice in doing so. Doing an experiment I was to weed out any factors that would cause me to come to a wrong conclusion. While the scientific study about some of the inhabitants of the Promised Land did well regarding DNA analysis, it miserably failed in the realm of intellectual integrity when it stated the Holy Bible said something that it really never said.

Notes:

{1} From an electronic version of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong incorporated in the Online Bible program, and so throughout the article whenever the ancient language is referred to and no other authority is cited.

{2} Please read Holy Bibles Good And Bad at http://thesureword.expertscolumn.com/article/holy-bibles-good-and-bad .

Find more apologetics information at http://thesureword.expertscolumn.com/ , and please visit this ministry’s apologetics index at http://sapphirestreams.com/life/api.html .

Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the New American Standard Bible changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates and adding “(The Existing One)” to readily express the meaning of His Name without making repeated explanations in articles. * = For other versions the spelling of some words is updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates.

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