About Jesus Steve Sweetman

About Jesus Steve Sweetman

chapter 7

Driving Out The Nations (ch. 7:1 - 26)

In verses 1 through 6 God said that He would help Israel defeat seven nations that were in the land of Canaan. Once they defeated these nations, they were to totally destroy all aspects of these nations. The reason being was so there would be absolutely nothing to temp Israel from serving their gods. Israel was not to intermarry. If they did, this would weaken Israel sufficiently that they would serve the pagan gods, and at that point God would be very angry at Israel. Of course, this was always the temptation of Israel. They eventually failed to obey this command and experienced God's judgment as a result. It is also the temptation of the church. We too often marry ourselves with the world by adopting their ways and their philosophies.

In verses 7 through 10 Moses reminds Israel that God was faithful to them, not because they were great in number, meaning, not because they were strong and powerful. God is faithful on two counts according to Moses. One count is that He promised Abraham certain things and He would not break these promises. Count two is based on His love for Israel. God simply loved Abraham and his descendents. He calls the Mosaic Covenant here, "the covenant of love". Yet, even though the covenant was based on love, obedience is important. God cannot overlook sin, even though He loves us.

Verse 10 isn't politically correct today. Moses said that those who hate God, God will repay them to their face, and He won't be slow about this. It seems like on every page of the Old Testament we see this side of God. It is a side of God that we cannot ignore, although we often do because we just don't understand, and we can't fully understand how much God hates evil.

In verses 10 to 16 Moses reminds Israel that if they obey God's law, He will bless them in every way possible. He will bless them in ways that no other nation has experienced. I would suggest, although I know the text does not say it here, but I believe it says it elsewhere, that the reverse could be true as well. If Israel does not obey God, He will curse them, and I'd say, curse them in a way no other nation has known. I think Jewish history shows this to be true.

In verses 15 and 16 Moses commands Israel to destroy the pagans in the land of Canaan. They are not to have any pity on them, if they do, they will be a constant snare in the side of Israel. That is what happened. That has been the history of Israel. The same can be true for Christians. If we fail to destroy the sin in our lives, that sin will become a snare to us and inhibit us from receiving God's blessings.

In verses 17 to 21 Moses admits that the seven nations in Canaan are larger and stronger than Israel, but that makes no difference to God. He is stronger than all seven put together, and it is God who is actually winning the battles for Israel. Yes, they are fighting, but God is winning the fight for them.

From verse 22 to the end of the chapter Moses repeats the admonition to utterly destroy the pagan way of life, for it is detestable to God, and Moses says it should be detestable to God's people. This is yet another lesson for Christians to learn today. My thinking is that we are so overtaken with the ways of the world, that we have little understanding how detestable this is to God. We no longer know what is acceptable or detestable.

Verse 22 states that God would not allow Israel to wipe out their enemies all at once. This would be a process, a little bit at a time, and there was some logic to this. If Israel killed off all seven nations at once, they were too small of a nation to inhabit the whole land, and while the time it took to spread out over the land, the land would go to waste. So, until then, the pagans could look after the land for Israel until Israel could destroy them. That's a good strategy, and I'd suggest there is something there for us to learn as Christians. We can't defeat the enemy in our lives all at once. Little by little, with the help from God we can, and we will.

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