The Canaanites knew forty years in advance of Israel’s coming and had powerful evidence that Almighty God was with them. (Josh. 2:9-21, 24; 9:24-27) However, with the exception of Rahab and her family and the cities of the Gibeonites, those who came in for destruction neither sought mercy nor availed themselves of the opportunity to flee, but instead chose to harden themselves in rebellion against Jehovah. So there was no injustice on God’s part in ordering the execution of such stubborn opposers.—Josh. 11:19, 20.

The decreed extermination of the Canaanites was actually a loving command of Jehovah God, and by failing to carry it out completely the Israelites suffered greatly. For the continued presence of the Canaanites among them brought infection into Israel that, in the course of time, undoubtedly contributed toward more deaths (not to mention crime, immorality and idolatry) than the decreed extermination of all the Canaanites would have produced had it been faithfully effected.—Num. 33:55, 56; Ps. 106:34-43.

By his execution of the Egyptian armies in the Red Sea, his fiery overthrow of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and his decreed extermination of the wicked inhabitants of Canaan, Jehovah God reveals that he will not tolerate wickedness indefinitely. Therefore, how happy we can be that very soon, by means of his chief executioner Jesus Christ, he will destroy this wicked system of things and usher in a new order of righteousness!—2 Thess. 1:6-9; Rev. 19:11-21; 2 Pet. 3:13.

Missionaries Encouraged to Mirror Godly Qualities

“WHAT do you see when you look into a mirror?” This question set the theme of an address by N. H. Knorr, the Watch Tower Society’s president, on the morning of September 8, 1968. The occasion was the graduation of the 46th class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead in New York city.

Holding up a large mirror, the president asked the audience of 2,045 persons what they could see when they looked into it. It would be their reflection. But that reflection would be only of one’s physical, or outward, appearance. It would not reveal what a person was really like on the inside.

Then, the president held up an open Bible and asked: “What do you see when you look into this mirror?” When a person looks into this book, does he see himself? By reading the Bible, we listen to Jehovah God talk to us. We will thus see what Jehovah requires of us and can compare what we really are to God’s standards. How much better a Christian can see himself when peering into God’s Word than he can when looking into a literal mirror! The audience appreciated this fine illustration.

From the book of James, chapter 1, it was pointed out that if a person is just a hearer of God’s Word, but not a doer, then “this one is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, and off he goes and immediately forgets what sort of man he is.” (Jas 1 vss. 23, 24) But one who persists in peering into the perfect law of God and who takes to heart its counsel will change his personality to conform to God’s law. Then this person, “because he has become, not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, will be happy in his doing it.”—Jas 1 vs. 25.

This counsel was especially appropriate for the ninety-nine missionaries being sent to other lands after their training at Gilead School. They were reminded that their physical appearance is not what counts with God, for “God does not go by a man’s outward appearance.” (Gal. 2:6) Far more important is what they look like when compared to God’s Word. Since these missionaries will be taking the truths from the inspired Scriptures to persons in other lands, it is vital that they let people see what they are really like, that they uphold God and his Word and live by his laws.