This morning I read a post on social media that states Israel used October 7 as an excuse to commit genocide against the Palestinian people. I asked the person who posted this comment if the United States used December 7 as an excuse to destroy Japan.

Some people use moral inequality to justify evil actions. The murder of 1,200 innocent Israeli citizens in their homes is not the same as seeking to destroy the evil men who conducted these murders.

The Israelites Attacked by the Canaanites on their Journey to Canaan, Copyright (RCR)

The People of Israel have a very long history of attacks by the Canaanite people and God’s destruction of these evil people. We find this history in the Bible.

Most people know the story of the Israelites departing Egypt and making their journey across the desert into the land God promised them. The narrative of the Hebrew people in Canaan really begins with Abraham, who was born in Haran. As he made his way into the land that God was bringing them to. In this land there were many nations of the Canaanite people, the people referred to today as “Palestinians.”

The Canaanites are the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, one of Noah’s three sons. Among the Canaanites are the most infamous—the Amorites, who lived in the hill country of Israel. The rest of the Canaanites include: the Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, Amalekites, Hittites, Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, and Girgashites. The people of the Canaanite nations were some of the most brutal and vicious human beings who have ever lived on the planet.

One of the Canaanite nations was the Amalekites. History records that these people attacked the Israelites unprovoked and without mercy on their journey from Egypt to Canaan. This event is always left out of every discussion by modern Palestinians and their advocates in the United States and Europe.

Archeology Confirms The Total Depravity Of The Canaanites

Professor H. H. Rowley asserts that the commands by the God of the Bible to destroy the Canaanites are contrary to the texts of the New Testament.[1] Critics of God often claim that the God of the Old Testament is a monster who indiscriminately murders women, children, babies, and animals who have no culpability.

Today, due to modern archeological discoveries, we understand that the Canaanites were some of the most depraved and vicious people ever to live on earth. Because of archeology, the statements made in the Old Testament regarding the Canaanites are confirmed by what these reprobate people left behind.

In these facts of evidence, we learn that the Canaanites were fully culpable and deserved judgment for their bloodthirsty and immoral lives perpetrated all over the land of Canaan. The idea that God was unjust in their destruction, or that Yahweh committed genocide upon innocent people, is preposterous, in light of the archeological evidence.

Canaanite kings forcibly married their sisters. Young boys were kept as sex slaves and temple prostitutes at the temples of Canaanite gods. The Canaanite god, Anath, was a combination of sister and spouse as a goddess who was a mirror image of the deviant practices of Canaanite kings.[2]

The Canaanite goddess, Qudshu, “the Holiness,” is seen as a perverted moral goddess riding nude on the back of a lion, with a lily in one hand and a serpent in the other, seeking sex with her worshippers. Male prostitutes were dedicated to the sex cult of the Qudshu, offering themselves to this goddess in her honor.[3]

The vast number of Canaanite gods in Ugaritic epic literature displays the depth of depravity that characterized the Canaanite people and their demonic religion. Rooted in a debasement of normal human morality, Canaanites considered nothing off limits in the expression of their evil and licentiousness. Canaanites practiced barbaric rituals of murder while in mass orgies, as part of their religious ceremonies.

Psalms 106:37-38 describes the gods of the Canaanites as “demons” whom they sacrificed their sons and daughters on the altar of Molech. “They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder.”

A part of these horrendous practices is illustrated in Anath, who appears in a fragment of the Baal Epic depicting a bloody orgy of destruction. In this display, Anath is seen butchering young and old, “in the most horrible and wholesale fashion, wading delightedly in human gore up to her knees—yea up to her throat, all the while exulting sadistically.” [4]

Attacking The Israelites From Behind

While the people of Israel were traveling across the desert on their way to the land that God had promised, the Amalekites ruthlessly attacked from the rear where the elderly, sick and handicapped, women, children, and animals came along at a much slower pace.

The Amalekites intentionally came up from behind so that they could kill as many of the helpless people of Israel as possible. After this great slaughter of the Israelites by the Amalekites, the God of Israel reminded them that He would do to the Amalekites what they did to the people of Israel.[5]

When God ordered judgment against the Amalekites, He said that their punishment would be equal to what they had done to the Israelites: the elderly, sick, handicapped, women, babies, children, and animals.

God was not committing genocide; He was bringing judgment for a nation and people who had mercilessly slaughtered the people of Israel who were simply traveling along in a caravan to the land God promised.

As a result of their cruelty to Israel, the Lord instructs Moses to record these events, so that later generations might understand why the Amalekites were destroyed when God finally sent judgment upon these people—so that His actions would be justified.

Exodus 17:8-14 8. Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. …Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

In the Book of Deuteronomy, as the Lord is instructing Moses in the statutes and requirements for the people, He also tells Moses: “Remember what Amalek did to you.” This is a reminder for the future when the people come into the land that God has promised them, so that they will understand why He will instruct His people, the Jews, to completely annihilate the Amalekites from the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 25:17-19 “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

There are two places in the Old Testament where the Lord describes Israel as being attacked from the rear by the Amalekites: At Rephidim and Hormah.

Exodus 17:8 Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

Number2 14:45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.

In a large group of more than 2 million people—making their way across the desert of Sinai, there would be many thousands of the elderly, the sick, and women with children, who would be at the rear of the multitude of Israel. The Amalekites viciously came up from behind and slaughtered the weak and the helpless who were already traveling by great difficulty.

At the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses begins his instructions to the people whom he has led out of Egypt by God’s power and grace. In chapter 9, Moses reminds the people that God has not led them into this new land because they were righteous and deserved the land; it was because of the wickedness of the Canaanites that God was going to drive these nations out.

Deuteronomy 9:1-4 Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, “Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?” Therefore understand today that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said to you. “Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you.”

God remembers the cruelty of the Amalekites, but He will not destroy them just yet. He is still granting time for repentance, almost 900 years. This is a fact that those who condemn God for finally destroying the Amalekites forget. Many people incorrectly assume that God suddenly gave an order to indiscriminately destroy women and children without mercy. What we discover is that the Lord allowed the Amalekites nearly 900 years before His judgment arrived.

Contrary To The Assertions Of Critics, God Did Not Commit Genocide; He Rendered A Righteous Judgement

Most reasonable people would agree that warning a nation to cease offering their babies to the fiery hot arms of a pagan god, Molech, for nearly 900 years, is more than fair. Atheists see this act as an example that proves the Old Testament texts are not true or reliable.

The ironic thing about this assertion is that the people referencing for an authority to impeach the Old Testament are the very people God destroyed for burning their babies to death as a sacrifice to their god, Molech.

Archeologists have uncovered the ruins of Canaanite villages and found the remains of clay jars that were used in their ritual worship.[5] Newborn babies were dismembered, and their body parts were placed inside these jars and sealed inside the walls of newly built homes—to bring the blessings of their brutal gods.[6]

It is not necessary to list all the horrendous acts that were perpetrated by the Canaanites. It is sufficient to say—if all the facts were known by people today, the horrific deeds carried out by these cruel people, we would likely commend God for ending their lives.

The Amalekites were among the four kings that Abraham defeated, who had taken Sodom and Gomorrah captive as well as Abraham’s nephew Lot. In the period of the Judges, the Amalekites joined forces with the Ammonites and King Eglon of Moab to attack and capture Jericho. The Amalekites were defeated by Gideon and his armies in the Valley of Jezreel, where the future Battle of Armageddon will be fought. By the time Saul is king of Israel, the Amalekites had gained a mountain in the land of Ephraim in Israel, where they were once again living and multiplying.[7]

Judgment Is A Part Of God’s Righteousness

God is making a statement to the world that He loves us all, but He will only put up with our sin and rebellion against His law for a finite period of time. The fact that we can observe the judgment of God so carefully depicted for us in various places throughout the Old Testament should greatly humble us and bring our hearts to repentance. As surely as God has judged the horrible acts of the Canaanites, He will also bring into judgment all of our sins—if we do not repent and turn to Him for Salvation.

What kind of nation would the United States be if the laws instituted by the executive and legislative branches of our government were not enforced by the judicial branch, with penalties exacted against those who violated these laws? This land would be unsafe and unfit for any decent person to live in.

If God cannot be trusted to do what He has said, both positively and negatively, then He cannot be trusted at all. What makes God trustworthy is the certainty that He always does what He says He will do. More importantly, since God has promised to punish sin, we can understand that there are moral absolutes in the world. We are not left to decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. All of the laws of civilized societies have, as their origin, the laws of God—defined first in the Old Testament.

Are The Modern Palestinians Related to the Canaanite People?

There is strong scientific evidence that proves the Palestinians do have substantial ancestry rooted in the ancient Canaanite people and culture.  A major 2020 ancient-DNA study found substantial ancestry related to the present-day Palestinians, alongside other Arabic-speaking populations.[8]

How Does The Historical Attack by the Canaanite People Compare to the October 7 Attack on Jews in Israel?

On October 7, 2023, Hamas led a coordinated attack from Gaza into southern Israel, involving mass killings of civilians, attacks on military positions, and hostage-taking. These central facts are documented through survivor testimony, verified videos—including footage recorded by attackers—and independent investigations.

Approximately 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians. Victims included children, women, babies, elderly people, and the disabled. This attack is a mirror image of the attack by the Amalekites when the Israeli people were on their journey out of Egypt.

The assault began early in the morning with rocket barrages and armed incursions. Attackers breached the Gaza border and entered Israeli communities and military bases. Hamas’s military wing led the operation, with other Palestinian armed groups participating. Human Rights Watch

Civilians were deliberately targeted. Attackers entered residential communities, including Be’eri, Kfar Aza and Nir Oz, and attacked people at the Nova music festival and on surrounding roads. Investigators documented shootings of fleeing civilians, attacks on shelters, and houses being set on fire while people were inside. Soldiers and police were also attacked and killed. Human Rights Watch investigation

251 people were taken into Gaza as hostages. They included women, babies, and children.

There is substantial evidence of sexual violence. A March 2024 UN mission found reasonable grounds to believe rape and gang rape occurred at several locations during the attacks. Eyewitness reports at the scene of the attack document pregnant women having their babies cut from the womb, with the mother and baby being murdered. Documented reports also found clear and convincing information of sexual violence against hostages in captivity.

Independent investigators found grave international crimes. A UN commission found that Hamas and other armed groups committed war crimes, including intentional attacks on civilians, murder, torture and hostage-taking. Human Rights Watch additionally concluded that the planned civilian killings and hostage-taking constituted crimes against humanity. These are investigative legal findings, distinct from criminal convictions.

The following are survivors’ accounts of shootings, grenade attacks, arson and the aftermath, with short direct quotations and fuller descriptions of their testimony.

Neta Portal — shot repeatedly while escaping her home in Kfar Aza

“Six more bullets hit me, three in the left ankle, two in the left thigh and one in my arm.”

Portal recounts that attackers broke into the apartment and fired through the safe-room door, wounding both her and her boyfriend, Santiago. They escaped through a window. Outside, she says, attackers stood in a row and fired automatic weapons at them. She fell; Santiago returned for her and was shot in the back. He applied a makeshift tourniquet, and they hid beneath a house for approximately three and a half hours. She describes violence inflicted directly on her.

Rotem C. — gunfire, a grenade and a burning house with children inside

“They had thrown a grenade at the iron window, but I kept holding it tightly.”

Rotem describes attackers trying to force open the safe-room door while her husband, Yakir, held it shut. Bullets penetrated the door, wounding Yakir and their dog. A neighbor sheltered beneath the bed with her baby and the couple’s three children. After the attackers stopped trying to enter, the family smelled smoke; the walls became intensely hot and the children began vomiting. They eventually escaped through the window because they were suffocating. This is her account of the attack on the room where she was sheltering.

Ella S., aged 14 — what she saw during evacuation from Be’eri

“There was blood everywhere; you could see internal organs.”

Ella describes being evacuated after hiding with her mother, younger brother, and his friend. She says she covered her eight-year-old brother’s eyes as they passed through the devastated community. She witnessed the aftermath; she does not claim to have witnessed the killings that caused those injuries. Her account also records desperate messages from other children reporting attacks on their families.

Arad F. — attackers shooting into a car fleeing Nova

“One of my friends was shot in his thigh, but we kept moving.”

Arad describes three attackers surrounding their car and firing into it. After they drove onward, another armed man beside a vehicle with a mounted machine gun also fired at them. They abandoned their damaged car and hid in vegetation. Someone improvised a tourniquet for his wounded friend, who remained quiet while they concealed themselves for approximately two and a half hours. Arad was present in the attacked vehicle.

Ayelet Shahar Epstein — finding her mother-in-law dead in Kfar Aza

“I rolled her over, and she was still warm, so I put a hand on her neck to feel for a pulse.”

Epstein describes finding 81-year-old Bilha lying face down outside her home. She found no pulse and noticed a cartridge casing near Bilha’s head. Later, attackers fired repeatedly at the house where Epstein sheltered with her elderly father-in-law. She personally found Bilha’s body and experienced the subsequent shooting. Her account of her son Neta being shot while jumping onto a grenade came from his girlfriend, Iren, who was with him—not from Epstein witnessing it herself.

Itamar Y. — people shot while fleeing Nova

“The terrorists started shooting at us, people started falling, and we split up.”

Itamar describes escaping from beneath a festival stage and encountering two young women lying on the ground. He and others checked their pulses and found none. Around them were other bodies and wounded people they could not help while under fire. Later, he describes an attacker firing a rocket into the area where survivors had gathered, followed by bursts of gunfire as they scattered. Hiding in agricultural ditches, he narrowly escaped further shots when he raised his head. These are events he describes personally witnessing and experiencing.

Ron S. — pursued by gunfire across the fields

“Once more, shots were fired, the bullets striking the ground next to us, the sand exploding all around us.”

Ron describes fleeing with his younger brother, Dan, who has asthma and struggled to keep running. They repeatedly crawled, hid behind vehicles, and descended into a ditch. At one point, Ron saw two helmeted attackers above their hiding place.

As the attackers approached, the brothers heard bullets striking the cars sheltering them. They eventually found an abandoned vehicle with its engine running, drove away under fire, and collected other fleeing survivors. Ron describes the pursuit and shooting directly; he does not identify every shooter.

Chanel B. — shooting at an escaping vehicle

“Eventually, we turned left and caught gunshots from terrorists who approached us.”

Chanel, who had gone to photograph Nova, describes repeated attempts to escape as gunmen approached on all-terrain vehicles. She and her companions alternated between taking cover, running through fields and returning to their car.

When they reached the road, she says attackers fired at their vehicle, forcing them to accelerate away in the opposite direction. They eventually reached the Tze’elim military base. This describes an attack she experienced herself; her statements about missing friends concern what she knew afterward. Chanel’s full testimony.

A widely circulated Be’eri story came from ZAKA volunteer Yossi Landau. He claimed to have found a woman whose fetus had been removed from her abdomen and remained attached by an umbilical cord. Report published by The Times of Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister — October 11, 2023

“We saw boys and girls, bound, shot in the head. Men and women burned alive. Young women raped and slaughtered. Fighters decapitated…”

He made these remarks at the announcement of the emergency government. The Times of Israel, reporting the address.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs — official document dated November 2, 2023

“executing handcuffed persons, burning alive, beheading – including of babies, children and the elderly”

The same document reported the killing of pregnant women and their fetuses. It did not, in that passage, state that babies had been cut from wombs and then beheaded. Original Israeli government document. Tal Heinrich, spokesperson for Netanyahu, October 11, 2023. She said babies and toddlers had been found in Kfar Aza with their “heads decapitated.”

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Sources and Citations

[1] Rediscovery of the Old Testament, 1946, P 187, “Relevance of the Bible,”, P321.
[2] 1. Ugaritic Literature, Gordon, p. 9-56. 2. Albright, Archeology and the religion of Israel, P. 73. 3. William Albright, “From The Stone Age to Christianity, (Baltimore) P 178.
[3] 1. Albright, Archeology and the Religion of Israel, P 76, 2. Gordon, Ugaritic Literature 11:2-240, P 171.
[4] Gordon, Ugaritic Literature, 11:2-40; P 171., “Archeology And The Old Testament,” Merrill F. Unger, P. 174.
[5] The attack of the Israelites by the Amalekites is confirmed by various sources:

1. Fritz V., The Emergence of Israel in the Twelfth and Eleventh Centuries B.C.E.. Atlanta 2011. ISBN 978-1-58983-262-6.
2. The Oxford Bible Commentary, oprac. J. Barton, J. Muddiman, New York 2001. ISBN 978-0-19-875500-5.
3. Barton, John; Muddiman, John (25 January 2007). The Oxford Bible Commentary. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-927718-6.
4. Judges 3:13, Judges 7:12; 1 Samuel 15:33, 1 Samuel 27:8–11; 1 Kings 4:41–43.

[6] From the Expositor’s Bible Commentary on 2 Kings 23:10, regarding child sacrifices to Molech by the Amalekites: “An eighth- century b. c. Phoenician inscription speaks of sacrifices made to Molech before battle by the Cilicians and their enemies. Topheth was the cultic installation where children were offered to the god Molech. The word is thought to signify the hearth where the child was placed. The Hebrew term has parallel terms in both Ugaritic and Aramaic with the meaning “furnace, fireplace.” Scholars have thought that Topheth was at the edge of the valley of Ben Hinnom before connecting with the Kidron Valley. The valley of Ben Hinnom has been identified with Wadier-Rahabi southwest of the City of David. Many consider Molech to be a netherworld deity featuring rituals with Canaanite origins focusing on dead ancestors.”

[7] JAR-BURIAL CUSTOMS AND THE QUESTION OF INFANT SACRIFICE IN PALESTINE: W. H. WOOD, PH.D.”An unqualified affirmative answer has been received from Mr. Macalister, director of the British work at Gezer, based on his interpretation of the unique find made “in the earth underlying the temple area” of that ancient city. This “cemetery of infants deposited in large jars” when carefully explored produced such positive evidence that the conclusion was reported at once: “that we have here to deal with infant sacrifices is, I think, so self-evident that it may be assumed without argument.” This opinion has not since been changed but has been further affirmed by the other Palestinian excavators, Professor D. E. Sellin and Dr. Schumacher, and also by the distinguished Father Vincent of Jerusalem, author of “Canaan d’apres 1’exploration recente.”

“The description of the discovery as given by Mr. Macalister may be summarized as follows: In the earth underneath the temple area were found a number of large jars, each of which contained, besides the infilling earth, the bones of either a young infant or a child up to six years of age; the bodies had not been mutilated; they had been deposited in the jar usually head downward; the jars were full of earth which there was reason for believing had been put in at the time of burial; in four cases the bones showed some traces of fire; the usual food and liquid vessels accompanied each burial. These observations, strengthened by the opinion of Robertson Smith -that in human sacrifice “effusion of blood was normally avoided,” immediately produced the conviction that these infants had been “suffocated-perhaps smothered in the earth with which the jars were filled,” and therefore the Canaanites followed the practice of sacrificing their first-born children to their gods.”

[8] The principal study cited was Agranat-Tamir and colleagues’ 2020 paper in Cell. Here is a book-ready citation, along with the relevant qualifications:

1.Agranat-Tamir, Lily, et al. “The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant.” Cell 181, no. 5 (2020): 1146–1157.e11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024.
2. Lily Agranat-Tamir et al., “The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant,” Cell 181, no. 5 (2020): 1152–1155, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024. The researchers compared ancient DNA from populations associated with Canaanite material culture with modern populations, including Palestinians and several Jewish populations. Study, Discussion, p. 1155

Netanyahu’s October 11, 2023, address

Carrie Keller-Lynn, “Gallant Vows to ‘Wipe Hamas from Earth,’ after ‘the Worst Terror Attack’ in History,” The Times of Israel, October 12, 2023. Read the article

Supports: Attribution of Netanyahu’s statements concerning children shot in the head, people burned alive, rape, and decapitated fighters.  “In his televised address on October 11, Netanyahu reported that Hamas attackers had shot bound children, burned people alive, raped women, and decapitated fighters.”

2. Israel’s Foreign Ministry document

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hamas–Israel Conflict 2023: Some Factual and Legal Aspects, November 2, 2023. Official government PDF

Supports: Both Tal Heinrich’s statement about decapitated babies and toddlers and another Israeli official’s subsequent statement that the government could not confirm the victims’ ages or identities.

The later investigation of the pregnant-woman allegation

Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, “Following Visit to Israel and the Occupied West Bank …,” press release, March 4, 2024. Original UN findings

Supports: The finding that a widely publicized Be’eri allegation involving a pregnant woman and her fetus.

Categories: Robert Clifton Robinson