Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.
Speak not ... saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land. Moses takes special care to guard his countrymen against the vanity of supposing that their own merits had procured them the distinguished privilege. The Canaanites were a hopelessly corrupt race, and deserved extermination (Leviticus 18:24-25: cf. Genesis 15:16); but history relates many remarkable instances in which God punished corrupt and guilty nations by the instrumentality of other people as bad as themselves. It was not for the sake of the Israelites, but for His own sake, for the promise made to their pious ancestors, and in furtherance of high and comprehensive purposes of good to the world, that God was about to give them a grant of Canaan.
It has been justly observed that the Canaanites, with the exception of the inhabitants of the Pentapolis, far from exhibiting evidences of great and extensive demoralization, appear in the days of Abraham a liberal, polite, and virtuous community, showing respect to the patriarch as 'a prince of God' (Genesis 23:6), and enjoying the fruits of peace and prosperity. 'The degradation of the race who ruled over the land of Canaan is almost as incomprehensible for its rapidity as for its enormity. Soon after Abraham's death the shepherd power in Egypt was finally broken. Then began the great war of the races. It must have been during the interval of Israel's sojourn in Egypt that the work of depravation was consummated' (Corbaux, 'J.S.L.' Jan., 1853, p. 287.)