When God gave the Israelites the promised land, the land of Canaan after their deliverance from slavery, one of the stipulations for inheriting the land was that they must go throughout and conquer the indigenous inhabitants. Jehovah proclaimed to them, “I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand,” and then He commanded them, “you shall drive them out before you.” (Ex 23:31)

In another instance God said, “In the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded.” (Deut 20:16-17 )

The question naturally comes: Why did God want the inhabitants of Canaan to be driven out? Why not just cohabit together with a treaty of peace and live in harmony with one another? The answer is found in the words of God. Jehovah continued, “They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” (Ex 23:33)