Yahweh waited patiently for over four hundred years for the Canaanites to repent of their iniquity, which included sorcery, spiritism, divination, idolatry, incest, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, ritualistic prostitution, and even sacrifice of children to idols. The Canaanites were wicked in Abraham's day, and even though they had the witness of Abraham and his altars and were aware of the power of his God, they continued to worship their created gods. Eventually Yahweh's mercy turned to judgment. As Yahweh sent Moses and His people to the Promised Land that He gave them through an everlasting covenant He instructed:
Deuteronomy 20:10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. 11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, [that] all the people [that is] found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. 12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: 13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: 14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, [even] all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities [which are] very far off from thee, which [are] not of the cities of these nations. 16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee [for] an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: 17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; [namely], the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: 18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.
From our 21st century perspective this historical event of a few thousand years ago, regarding Yahweh's judgment on a whole people, may seem appalling. Yet the very reason our sensibilities are challenged by these passages, is testament to the effectiveness of these early lessons regarding divine judgment, that have been consciously and subconsciously transmitted to us down through generations, over the ages. Developing and instilling in mankind what some only recognize simply as a conscience, and what others of us recognize as the Spirit of God striving with mankind, enabling us to discern the difference between right and wrong as if it were instinctive.
While we were given the scriptures to help us understand what God expects of us we can't really know His judgments regarding persons.
Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
However those of us in relationship with our Creator can get a pretty good idea in regard to judgment through the scriptures, that seem to suggest that the Lord is not as interested in what doctrine we follow, as He is the condition of one's heart. So it stands to reason that innocent people that have died or have been killed, regardless of their age, are with the Lord.
Romans 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, [there is] no transgression.
That could perhaps be extended to suggest that innocence consists of everything short of understanding, from being too young to understand, to being mentally challenged, or the ignorance of a remote tribe for example, that simply hasn't had the truth presented to it. Understanding begets accountability.
It's reasonable to believe that any innocent Canaanites are with the Lord, and any babies and children killed were actually saved, from repeating the abominations and iniquity of their parents and thereby being separated from God forever.
The ritualistic prostitution and sacrifice of children to idols by the Canaanites was to be ended, in order to preclude future generations of Yahweh's people from being poisoned by the abominable behavior of the Canaanites, as Yahweh's people displaced them in the Promised Land, that He had given His people through that everlasting covenant.
Yet in spite of these early lessons in judgment Muslims - Ishmael's children of the flesh - seize on them as an opportunity to accuse and mock God's judgment in blasphemy against the scriptures.
Rom 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, [are they] all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these [are] not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Some of Muhammad's followers even suggest the following passage was a call to rape in efforts to excuse away Muhammad's sexual abuse of female prisoners:
Numbers 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Based on that verse out of context, it's no surprise that a call to rape would be the natural presumption of the unregenerate like atheists, and Ishmael's "children of the flesh". However from what we know about the ritualistic prostitution and sexual abominations of these tribes, and the faithfulness and morality of Moses and his people who were given the law, a fair presumption could be that this was God's way of halting the spread of diseases related to that sexual immorality, particularly in light of the next verse:
Numbers 31:19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify [both] yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
As if to suggest, if ya got any on ya, wash it off!
Blessedly Yahweh's 1600 year progressive revelation to mankind didn't end with the harsh lessons of a few thousand years ago, any more than the development of mankind was arrested at that time. As Don Richardson reports in "Secrets of the Koran", "By Muhammad's day, 1,500 years had passed since any Hebrew prophet was described in the Old Testament as using a sword in the service of God. Neither Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Amos, Malachi nor any other later Hebrew prophet is described as using the sword or prescribing its use."
The unique historical events described early in Scripture are not intended as open-ended calls to imperialistic conquest at an individual's personal discretion, but rather detail the movement of Yahweh's people to the small specific piece of land He gave them, a portion of which they again rule today, having been restored to their land after suffering thousands of years of persecution while being scattered among the nations.
As Matthew Henry characterized of one of the conquests ".....the measure of the Amorites’ iniquity was full and the longer it was in the filling the sorer was the reckoning at last. ..... They died ..... as sacrifices to divine justice..... The case being therefore extraordinary, it ought not to be drawn into a precedent for military executions, which make no distinction and give no quarter: those will have judgment without mercy that show no mercy."
Yet 1,500 years after the old covenant prophets had ended suggestion of the use of the sword in God's service, a man arose in the southwest Arabian desert and began an imperialistic conquest in efforts to subjugate all peoples of the world to himself and his followers.
What we find in Muhammad's imperialistic conquests is the mirror opposite of that revealed through the scriptures. Muhammad and his band of mass murdering, female prisoner abusing, concubine fornicating, child doing, band of cutthroat thieves, beheaded 800 innocent, non-combatant, peaceful, faithful, literate, hard working, productive, prosperous Jewish farm boys, and their dads and grandpas while pressing their little sisters, mothers and grandmothers into sexual slavery, while stealing the fruit of the labor of generations. In other words, Satan's people "took down" Yahweh's people - the exact opposite of the account we find in Genesis:
Qur'an Sura 33:26 "Allah took down the People of the Scripture Book. He cast terror into their hearts. Some you slew, and some you made prisoners. And He made you heirs of their lands, their houses, and their goods, giving you a land which you had not traversed before. And Allah has power over all things."
Bukhari:V5 B59 #448 "They then surrendered to the Prophet's judgment but he directed them to Sa'd to give the verdict. Sad said, 'I give my judgment that their men should be killed, their women and children should be taken as captives, and their properties distributed.'"
So Muhammad didn't even bother to feign a "revelation" that it was his "Allah's" judgment on the innocent Jewish farmers, but instead deferred to his "booty" coveting subordinate Sa'd to "give the verdict".
Tabari VIII:38 "The Messenger of Allah commanded that all of the Jewish men and boys who had reached puberty should be beheaded. Then the Prophet divided the wealth, wives, and children of the Banu Qurayza Jews among the Muslims."
Tabari VIII:35/Ishaq:464 "The Jews were made to come down, and Allah's Messenger imprisoned them. Then the Prophet went out into the marketplace of Medina (it is still its marketplace today), and he had trenches dug in it. He sent for the Jewish men and had them beheaded in those trenches. They were brought out to him in batches. They numbered 800 to 900 boys and men."
What do the books of the critics of Yahweh's judgment who follow Muhammad today, reveal regarding Muhammad's slaughter of pagan men, women and children?
Sahih Muslim Book 19, #4321 It is reported on the authority of Sa'b b. Jaththama that the Prophet of Allah (may peace be upon him), when asked about the women and children of the polytheists being killed during the night raid, said: They are from them.
It would seem that rather than recognizing the children that he killed as innocent, this "prophet" instead assigned the spiritual condition of their parents to them. But it gets worse than that.
Sahih Muslim Book 33, #6436 'A'isha, the mother of the believers, said that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was called to lead the funeral prayer of a child of the Ansar. I said: Allah's Messenger, there is happiness for this child who is a bird from the birds of paradise for it committed no sin nor has he reached the age when one can commit sin. He said: 'A'isha, per adventure, it may be otherwise, because God created for paradise those who are fit for it while they were yet in their father's loins and created for Hell those who are to go to Hell. He created them for Hell while they were yet in their father's loins.
So this "messenger's" god may have predestined that dead child, before it was ever even conceived, for his personal torturing pleasure and the child's own "entertainment" in the hell of Muhammad's overactive imagination.
In stark contrast Christians understand of our one great God:
2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The Canaanites didn't sacrifice children to idols because they wanted to be mean to children. They were disobedient to the one true God Yahweh and His Spirit, and sacrificed those children to idols, because they believed that by so doing they would find favor with the pagan gods they had indoctrinated each other into the practice of worshiping.
The followers of a 7th century false prophet have indoctrinated each other into believing they will find favor with his god, by prostrating themselves toward the Quraish pagan's black stone idol in Mecca, and invoking the name of the pagan Arabian deity "Allah" in vain repetitions five times a day.
Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
What jealous fallen angel might appreciate having the pagan Arabian deity's name "Allah" invoked in a mind-numbing, mind-emptying, repetitive fashion as folks prostrate themselves toward a stone idol in Mecca five times a day? How different are vain repetitions from mind-emptying mystic mantras that invite Satan and his angels to enter the vacuum that results?
There is at least one Arabic language bible version that doesn't blaspheme Yahweh's name at ArabBible.com. It's the same Van Dyck version but with the pagan Arabian god's name "Allah" changed to “al-ilaahâ€, a term for "the God".
It may not be a stretch to suggest, that by indoctrinating their children into Muhammad's blasphemy, in which his followers are compelled to profess the exact opposite of the whole subject of the Gospel, Muhammad's followers are effectively sacrificing their children to the Quraish pagan's stone idol.
Surah 4:157 That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
Sura 19:88 They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!" 89 Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!
But rather than loosing their temporal lives in this world as the children that were sacrificed to idols by the Canaanites - who are with the Lord today - Muhammad's followers sacrifice of their children could be forever, once they reach the point of understanding and accountability, yet remain unrepentant.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
