Canaanite Religion: What Israel Faced

The Gods of Canaan

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The kings who gathered against Joshua (Joshua 9:1-2) served gods very different from the Lord. Knowing what Israel faced helps us understand why God gave such strong commands about Canaan.

Baal. Baal was the chief god most Canaanites worshiped. His name means lord or master. People believed he sent the rain and the storms, so they prayed to him for good crops.

Asherah. Asherah was a goddess. People set up wooden poles for her near their altars, often on hilltops and under green trees.

Molech. Some Canaanites worshiped a god called Molech. God's law warned Israel never to give their children to Molech (Leviticus 18:21), because his worship included sacrificing children.

Shameful worship. Canaanite worship also included sexual sins at their temples. God called these practices detestable and said they made the land unclean (Leviticus 18:24-25).

Idols cannot help. “Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see” (Psalm 115:4-5).

Like what they worship. “Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them” (Psalm 115:8). People become like the gods they serve.

God waited. Hundreds of years earlier God told Abraham that the land would not be given yet, “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:16). God gave Canaan more than four hundred years to turn back.

Patient God. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9).

Not because Israel was better. Moses told Israel they were not getting the land because they were good, but because of the wickedness of those nations (Deuteronomy 9:5).

Mercy for those who turned. Rahab and the Gibeonites show that any Canaanite who turned to the Lord could find mercy. God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).

A real danger. Later Israel did turn to Baal and the Ashtoreths (Judges 2:11-13). That is why God told them to have nothing to do with these gods.

Why it matters. When Israel faced Canaan, they were not just fighting armies. They were facing a whole way of life built around false gods. God's commands kept His people from being pulled into that darkness.

What to do. Thank God that He is not like the idols. He sees, He hears, He speaks and He loves. Tell Him so in prayer today.

Archaeologists have found clay tablets at Ugarit (say: OO-gah-reet), a city north of Canaan, that describe the gods the Canaanites served. They help explain why God's commands about Canaan were so strong.

El and Baal. El was the old father of the gods. Baal (say: BAH-al) means lord or master; he was the storm god believed to bring rain. Baal worship was a religion of trying to control the weather and the harvest.

Asherah. Asherah (say: ah-SHAIR-ah) was a mother goddess. Her wooden poles stood beside altars on high places (Deuteronomy 12:2-3).

Molech. Molech (say: MOH-lek) was worshiped with child sacrifice. Leviticus 18:21 forbids it, and Deuteronomy 12:31 says the nations burned even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

Defiled land. Leviticus 18:24-25 says the land itself became unclean through these practices and would vomit out its people. The judgment fit the sin.

Genesis 15:16. “The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” God would not judge until the sin had grown full. The conquest came only after four centuries of patience.

Deuteronomy 9:5. Israel did not earn the land. God gave it because of the nations' wickedness and to keep His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Psalm 115:4-8. The psalm mocks idols that cannot speak, see, hear or walk, and warns, “Those who make them are like them.” Worship shapes the worshiper.

Romans 1:22-23. “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image.” Paul traces all idolatry to this exchange.

Mercy at the edges. Rahab (Joshua 2) and the Gibeonites (Joshua 9) were spared. God's judgment on Canaan was never a judgment on a race. It fell on sin, and mercy was open to all who turned (Ezekiel 33:11).

Israel's failure. Within a generation Israel served the Baals (Judges 2:11). The pull of Canaan's gods was real, which is why the warnings were so strong.

Why the warnings were strict. Deuteronomy 7:4 explains that the nations would turn Israel's children away from following the Lord. The commands about Canaan protected Israel's worship, not only its borders.

Application. Modern idols seldom have names like Baal, but they promise the same things: control, success and pleasure. Whatever we trust for those things in place of God has become our Baal.

The One True God

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Canaan had many gods, but Israel's faith began with a different claim: there is only one true God. That truth was the heart of everything God taught His people.

The Lord is one. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

None like Him. At the Red Sea Israel sang, “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11).

Above all gods. “For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods” (Psalm 95:3).

Fire on the mountain. Long after Joshua, the prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Baal never answered, but the Lord sent fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:21-39).

The God who speaks. Idols have mouths but cannot speak. The true God spoke the world into being: “For He spoke, and it was done” (Psalm 33:9).

The God who saves. “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22). God invited every nation, even Canaan's, to turn to Him.

Made known in Jesus. “For us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things” (1 Corinthians 8:6).

Eternal life. Jesus prayed, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

Idols today. An idol is anything we love or trust more than God. It could be money, games, popularity or even a good thing like sports. “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Mammon means money and riches.

Keep away. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).

Choose today. Joshua later told Israel, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

The best news. The one true God did not stay far away. He came near in Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again so that people from every nation could know Him.

What to do. Ask God to show you if anything has become more important to you than Him. Then tell Him that He is first in your life.

Israel's confession of faith, the Shema, stood against everything Canaan believed. The Lord is not one god among many but the only God.

The Shema. Shema (say: sheh-MAH) means hear. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Israel confessed one God and was called to love Him with everything.

Exodus 15:11. “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?” The answer is no one. The plagues on Egypt were judgments on Egypt's gods (Exodus 12:12), showing that they were powerless.

Psalm 95:3. “The great King above all gods.” The so-called gods of the nations are not rivals to the Lord. They are idols or demons, not true gods (compare 1 Corinthians 10:20).

Carmel (1 Kings 18). Elijah asked, How long will you falter between two opinions? (18:21). Baal, the storm god, could not send even a spark. The Lord sent fire, and the people cried, The Lord, He is God! (18:39).

Isaiah 45:22. “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” One God means one way of salvation, offered to every nation.

1 Corinthians 8:6. Paul takes the words of the Shema and places Jesus inside them: “one God, the Father… and one Lord Jesus Christ.” The one true God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

John 17:3. Eternal life is to “know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Knowing God personally is the opposite of idolatry, which uses gods to get what we want.

Colossians 3:5. Paul calls “covetousness, which is idolatry.” Idolatry today is less about statues and more about what we trust for security, happiness and worth.

Matthew 6:24. “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Jesus names money as a rival master. Divided loyalty is not possible.

1 John 5:21. John ends his letter, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Even believers must guard their hearts.

Joshua 24:15. At the end of his life Joshua set the same choice before Israel. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

God made known. The one true God did not remain hidden. “No one has seen God at any time” is answered by the Son who has made Him known (John 1:18), who died and rose so that every nation might come to Him.

Application. Ask yourself what you turn to first when you are afraid, bored or sad. Bring that to God, and let Him be your first trust.

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