The Most Famous Manifestation of Divine Wrath in the Law Being Satisfied at the Tree
The Doctrine of the Tree punctuates the Law in the Book of Joshua. This punctuation brings the needed closure to the story of divine wrath being depicted in the Law.
Sean Michael Morris·Oct 10, 2024·Updated Sep 3, 2026
The Doctrine of the Tree punctuates the Law in the Book of Joshua. This punctuation brings the needed closure to the story of divine wrath being depicted in the Law. This comes as no surprise to you if you have come to know the Doctrine of the Tree in the Old Testament.
The most famous and widely discussed manifestation of divine wrath in the Law is the wrath of God against theCanaanites. This is no secret. A careful reading of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy in chronological order will fix your attention on this frightening subject. A shallow understanding of the divine wrath in question will confound the Doctrine of the Tree. Oblivious readers will then study the Pentateuch without even realizing how the Law is leading us to the Tree in the Book of Joshua.
Gentiles and Jews alike need to sit down in the Theater of Typology and behold how the Law leads us to the Cross in the Book of Jesus. Providentially, this is how the Bible conducts readers forward in the school of God. Literally, by reading the Bible in order, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy leads readers to the Tree in the Book of Joshua. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
Those beholden to these heavenly visions made them famous all throughout biblical history Everyone and everything was put in fear at the sight of this divine wrath! But modern believers don’t even know why these miraculous things were happening to the sea, rivers, hills, and mountains. The emerging controversies in Scripture that came as a result of these heavenly visions only underscores the need for readers to discern the real target of this most terrifying divine wrath. “Was the LORD displeased against the rivers?” Discerning the target then leads believers to a spectacular revelation about the power of the Tree in the Book of Joshua.
The Sins and Abominations of the Canaanites were Listed with Detail and Categorically Warranted Death & Destruction Without Regard to Race
God was extremely angry with the Canaanites. Why? Sin. Not just any kind of sin! A detailed list of the sins being committed by the Canaanites can be found in & Categorically, these sins warranted death and destruction in a glorious display of divine wrath. These were “the doings of the land of Egypt” These were “the doings of the land of Canaan” Clearly, it wasn’t ever about race. If an Israelite ever dared to commit any of these sins, a single offence warranted a public execution. If the Israelites as a people were ever given over to these sins, then the Jews would have to face the same wrath that fell upon the Canaanites in being cast out of the Holy Land No exceptions.
No exception was given to Egypt. Justice is inflexible. God didn’t wink at “the doings of the land of Egypt” The LORD justly acted to impoverish, kill, and destroy the Kingdom of Egypt: firstly, in killing all the fish of the mighty Nile river by turning it into blood secondarily, in bringing an overwhelming and inescapable plague of frogs which “destroyed” the people thirdly, by sending diverse sorts of flies in swarms which “devoured” the people fourthly, by killing all of their cattle in yet another plague fifthly, by destroying everything and everyone in the fields through hail mingled with fire – men, animals, herbs, and trees sixthly, through sending locusts to devour every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees so that there was not one green thing left in all the land of Egypt seventhly, in the killing all the firstborn of man and beast in the land of Egypt lastly, in the drowning of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea insomuch that there was not one of them left The LORD was pleased to glorify the wrath of God in a punishing display of “power” as it was manifested in the execution of divine justice
Neither did God wink at “the doings of the land of Canaan” Statedly, there had to be a visitation of justice It was inevitable. The sins of the Canaanites were called “abominations” in the Law Categorically, they were terrible sins that anger and infuriate the benevolent heart of God! This is when bad things happen. Speaking of the Canaanites, God said, “I abhorred them” Why? Because the “wickedness” of these nations was shocking and unpardonable The land itself was defiled underneath them Their behavior was unclean, toxic, and dangerous to be around. Their societies were filled with demons Therefore, God had decided to drive them out of the land completely. “For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”
Prophecy in Genesis Demonstrates how the LORD Foresaw that the Canaanites would Become Unsavable Reprobates
God has been speaking about the Canaanites for a very long time. Prophecies about them began at the earliest possible occasion in history, even at the beginning of the New World during the Hamite Rebellion. The world had just been cleansed of sinners and renewed through the flood Things were looking hopeful! However, suddenly, things changed. Ham rebelled The utopia of righteousness in the new world was interrupted. Trouble was on the horizon.
The events of took place at around 2300 B.C., hundreds of years before the Canaanites would occupy the Promised Land. Nevertheless, Ham is identified by the narrator of history as, “Ham, the father of Canaan” Moreover, when Ham was cursed by divine wrath because of his rebellion, Noah prophetically declared: “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”
shows us that the curse of Ham would be enforced upon his seed. However, this would be manifest primarily through the curse of Canaan; not because Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, was currently the greatest sinner of the bunch, but because theCanaanites would eventually become the greatest force of evil in the distant future.
Nimrod was the primary adversary during the era of the Noah Covenant. This is made abundantly clear in & 11. Nimrod was the son of Cush, Ham’s firstborn Canaan was an emerging adversary who would rise to dominance in the next era during the Abrahamic Covenant. This is clearly indicated by the genealogical record provided in
“And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.”
— Gen. 10:15-19
In at around 2000 B.C., when Abraham finally arrived at the Promised Land from Ur of the Chaldees, it was already being called "the land of Canaan" The narrator of history made a point to explain to the reader, "…the Canaanite was then in the land" Obviously, this place was called "the land of Canaan" because the people who occupied these territories all descended directly from Canaan. The Canaanites had become mighty and spread out their borders A psalmist referred to the territories of their dominion as "the Kingdoms of Canaan" Then came the day when theAbrahamic Covenant was formed.
“And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.”
— Gen. 15:7
“In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
— Gen. 15:18-21
God specifically identified the borders of the Promised Land when He covenanted to give it to Abraham and his seed, and the land was currently filled with Canaanites. This would eventually prove to be a problem, but Abraham was going to have to wait until the appointed time. Abraham was not permitted to take possession of thePromised Land during his lifetime. Four hundred years were still to come Eventually, Abraham’s seed would realize this promise and possess the land.
Arguably, Abraham was fully capable of conquering the Canaanites in his generation. Abraham performed davidic exploits of war in the miraculous defeat of a confederacy of mighty kings with only 300 homeborn servants in Remember? Not even the giants among their ranks, “the Rephaims”, “the Zuzims”, “the Emims” could discourage Abraham from going to war against them …so why didn’t Abraham immediately go to war against the Canaanites to take the PromisedLand into possession? Joshua did it. Why didn’t Abraham do it? God told Abraham to wait.
“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”
— Gen. 15:16
Apparently, the LORD was not finished striving with the Canaanites. In speaking about the Amorites, God was referring to the iniquity that would spring up among the Canaanites because the Amorites were Canaanites reveals why Abraham had to wait. God was not ready to destroy theCanaanites during Abraham’s lifetime! Annihilating judgments always tarry until death and destruction are a last resort Our LORD prefers above all else that sinners would repent of their wickedness and live
This was demonstrated repeatedly in biblical history. The LORD had mercy on the Ninevites The LORD had mercy upon elect Egyptians who joined Israel in the Exodus The LORD even had mercy upon Manasseh ( Chon. 33:10-20)! The list could go on. Evidently, the LORD was still minded to patiently endure “the iniquity” of the Canaanites until it became “full”. Only then would their annihilation be justly required as a last resort. This language is used to imply the same thing in forthcoming generations
During Abraham’s lifetime, the iniquity of the Canaanites was not yet full, but divine foresight was seeing that it would eventually become full. Chiefly, this would happen through the influence of the Amorites among theCanaanites. In other words, the Amorites would eventually become the leaders of immorality among theCanaanite people. Partly, their influence was due to their great stature. Og and Sihon were two very famous Amorite kings on the east side of Jordan, and we know for certain that Og was a giant Similarly, the people in general were gigantic. The prophet Amos reported that theAmorites were as tall as cedar trees Incidentally, in ancient times, influence and leadership usually coincided with physical strength, power, and stature.
Given the circumstances, Joshua was most concerned about the strength and fortitude of the Amorites during the war In the most critical battle of the war, Joshua was fighting against “the five Kings of the Amorites” Nevertheless, in spectacular fashion, “the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel” This was the battle that won the war! Biblical history teaches us that whoever defeated the Amorites would go on to conquer the Canaanites. They were the tip of the spear. They were the strongest and most powerful force among theCanaanites. Immediately, when they were defeated, the land was quickly subdued before the armies of Israel
Clearly, Joshua understood the reputation of the Amorites. The Amorites were the head of the beast! Meaning, the rest of the Canaanites were followers of the Amorites. Accordingly, it was the “iniquity” of the Amorites that compelled the Canaanites to cross a threshold of divine justice Hence, they all became unsavable reprobates.
Therefore, in the Law, the LORD Repeatedly and Emphatically Demanded the Total Annihilation of the Canaanites, and these Demands were Accompanied with Strong Warnings which Forbade the Jews from Suffering any of the Canaanites to Survive
The divine mandate for the total annihilation of the Canaanites was repeated, emphatic, and pervasive. Scripture speaks for itself! Nothing here is difficult to understand or darkened by mystery.
One component of the mandated annihilation was physicaldestruction. This was a legal requirement of Deuteronomy. God gave commandments to the Israelites, saying, “…thou shalt destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed” All the altars, images, pictures, groves, and highplaces of the Canaanites had to be physically broken down and burnt with fire No trace of paganism should be left in the land in the aftermath of the war.
Another component of the annihilation was death. Under no circumstances was Israel allowed to let anyone survive. This too was a legal requirement of Deuteronomy. God commanded the Israelites to “consume all the people” and to “save alive nothing that breatheth” Of course, the Jews would be tempted to have mercy upon some, especially the old folks, women, and children. Therefore, the LORD was very bold to command the Jews, “thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them” Similarly, the LORD said, “thine eye shall have no pity upon them”, The Jews were required to agree with the justice of God on a heart level because there was a morality to the mercilessness
Normally, survivors would be allowed in the conquests of war. This allowance would come in the forging of an agreement or a covenant where the defeated nations proceeded to have a tributary relationship with Israel. A peace agreement like this would bring about a greater connection to the people through commerce and intermarriage. This was explicitly forbidden! “No covenant” should be made with the Canaanites Neither were the Israelites allowed to enter into any marriage covenants with the inhabitants of the land Rather, God said, “…thou shalt utterly destroy them” Israel did as they were commanded under the leadership of Joshua
The Canaanites were outrageously sinful. Anything short of total annihilation would perpetuate the “iniquity”, “wickedness”, and “abominations” that the LORD was determined to eradicate from the earth The Canaanites were unsavable reprobates! If they survived, we can be sure that they would never get saved. Rather, more people would be damned! Literally, the Canaanites would “make” the Israelites sin against God God said that they would “teach” the Jews “to do after their abominations” Furthermore, God said that they would “turn away” their children from “following” the LORD
Corresponding Heavenly Visions were Granted to Seers which Revealed The Glory of this Manifestation of Divine Wrath by Featuring its Presence, Form, Characteristics, Activity, Power, & Impact – The Excellencies of Divine Wrath!
God tested Abraham with the trial of his life. The word of the LORD came to Abraham, and the renowned Patriarch was immediately filled with unspeakable anguish. God commanded him to give up his son,
In the presence of God the Consuming Fire, all eyes were fixed on Moses as a Mediator (Gal. 3:19). Similarly, Abraham said under inspiration, “God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt-offering” (Gen. 22:8).
In a marvelous prophecy, Abraham was called by God to assume the role of the Father in the Passion of Jesus Christ (Gen. 22:1-14). This viewpoint is rarely brought before readers even in the New Testament (Jn. 3:16,Rom. 8:32).
Instead of using the word “Cross”, the apostles referred to it as a “Tree” on three occasions while preaching to Jews and Gentiles in Acts 5:30, 10:39, & 13:29. Why?
Many sinners stopped celebrating and began crying. The noisy sound of reveling was replaced with strong regret and remorse. Many unbelievers began to make confessions of faith in dread amazement at what just happened!
The Cross was a unique form of torture that forced the crucified ones to inflict pain upon themselves. In order to fully exhale they would have to press against the nail in their feet
