Sermon of the Week Killing Canaanites

David P. Murray is Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, but went there from the Stornoway Free Church of Scotland.

As a person with an English accent that some find "charming" I have some experience with the beguiling nature of voices. But it all falls rather flat when I go back to the UK and they think my accent sounds American. However, I do like a good Scottish accent myself. I love the way they say "wurreld" for "world" - and similar things.

But the Scots have produced some formidable and prodigious preachers, starting with John Knox, but by no means ending there. And who doesn't love listening to Sinclair B. Ferguson in the present age?

Well, David P. Murray tackles some pretty tough stuff in this sermon originally titled "Should We Kill Muslims?" In the course of this sermon Murray addresses God's commands to Israel to exterminate the Canaanites and His other seemingly harsh dealings with the enemies of Israel. He draws some very convicting parallels between the Canaan of old and the Western Nations of this age. And he is also not afraid to speak of the typology and foreshadowings contained in God's historical dealings with the nations of the Promised Land.

But this is also a sermon of love and hope, setting the gospel front and center despite what seems at first to be hard and troubling material. A good listen.


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