Leviticus 18:24-26,30

Leviticus 18:24-26,30 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God. People who do not want to believe in the Bible have claimed that God was a very brutal God in the Old Testament. They say that God condoned killing innocent people and even genocide – the extermination of an entire people group! But God gave the Promised Land to Abraham 430 years earlier. When Jacob and his entire family moved to Egypt when Joseph was the ruler, the wicked Canaanites moved in to the Promised Land. They took over while the Children of Israel were gone for 430 years. And God put up with their idolatry and baby sacrifice and wicked sins for many, many years. God gave these wicked people time to repent. But they didn’t. So when it was time for the Children of Israel to leave Egypt and return home, they found these wicked squatters had taken over their land. God commanded Israel to utterly destroy the wicked Canaanites because of their sin. They had to be exterminated because God didn’t want His people to pick up the Canaanites’ bad habits. So God punished evil and protected His people both at the same time. Remember, God hates sin! Remember, God loves His people!