God and the Caananites
The conquest of the Canaanites by the Israelites in the Book of Joshua was ordered by God because of the child sacrifice, idol worship, violence, and temple prostitution that was practiced there, not because of ethnic cleansing of a people group. [1] God judged the Caananites because He had given them 400 years to stop their wicked practices (Genesis 15:13) but their depravity only got worse. God used Israel to judge the people not because of Israel's moral superiority, but because of the idolatry of the people. [2]
God may have had another reason for wiping out the Caananites: to prevent the spread of mixed DNA between humans and demons such as the Nephilim. [3] Consider this passage in Numbers 13:32-33:
"The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them."
References:
- Invasion of Canaan
- "Is God Just a Human Invention?" Sean McDowell & Jonathan Morrow - Kregel Publications Chapter 13 "Is God a Genocidal Bully" pages 177-178.
- Giants in the Land