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God Is Not Slow Regarding His PromiseThe Watchtower—1999 | June 1
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A Measure of Error to Be Filled
Studying God’s past dealings with mankind, we note that he often withheld his judgment until all hope of improvement was gone. In connection with God’s judgment upon the Canaanites, for instance, he pointed out their sins to Abraham long in advance. But the time for the execution of his judgment was not then due. Why not? The Bible says: “Because the error of the Amorites [Canaanites] has not yet come to completion,” or as the Knox version puts it: “The wickedness of the Amorrhites [had] not reached its full term.”—Genesis 15:16.a
About 400 years later, however, God’s judgment came, and Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites, took over the land. A few of the Canaanites, like Rahab and the Gibeonites, were saved because of their attitude and actions, but for the most part, they had reached an extreme level of uncleanness, as is revealed by modern archaeological excavations. They practiced phallic worship, temple prostitution, and child sacrifice. Halley’s Bible Handbook states: “Archaeologists who dig in the ruins of Canaanite cities wonder that God did not destroy them sooner than he did.” In the end, the Canaanites’ ‘measure of sin was full’; their wickedness had “reached its full term.” No one could rightfully accuse God of being unjust when he let the land be cleansed while sparing those who had shown a right attitude.
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God Is Not Slow Regarding His PromiseThe Watchtower—1999 | June 1
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a A footnote on this verse in The Soncino Chumash states: “To deserve expulsion, since God does not punish a nation until its measure of sin is full.”
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