Deuteronomy 13:12 – 18 “If, regarding one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said that wicked men have arisen from among you and led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known), then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you, you must surely strike down the inhabitants of that city with the sword. Devote to destruction all its people and livestock.
And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.
Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers, because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments I am giving you today and doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.”
UTTER DESTRUCTION!!! Can you imagine it? The Israelites go in and conquer a city and take it over, only for wicked men among them to entice the entire city to revert to the worship of pagan gods. For the Israelites sitting on the east side of the Jordan River, they are SURE that they would never do such a thing, but God knows better. God knows full well that there are those Israelites who have never actually chosen to follow Him but who are going along to see how they can benefit. Once turned loose in Canaan, these men have the potential to sway others whose faith is weak and entice them into idol worship and fertility rites.
Since God knows all the thoughts and intentions of human hearts, God also knows those who are likely to do terrible things. This is why God is warning the Israelites and instructing them to completely demolish any city that turns away from God to serve idols.
Why must the plunder be completely destroyed as well? Once an entire city has perverted itself, everything in that place has been devoted to demons and can no longer be kept. The only safe treatment is to make a burnt offering out of all the plunder and then to reduce the city to rubble, never for it to be rebuilt.
APPLICATION: Here in West Africa, Christians know that if someone repents and chooses to follow Jesus, any charms or idols or other objects devoted to demons must be burned with fire. The story is told of a missionary in northeastern Ghana who was called by a village to come help them destroy an idol. This idol was either stone or petrified wood and had withstood all attempts to burn it. These events took place in dry season when no rains would fall for months. As the missionary was speaking to the people, jet black storm clouds began gathering in the west and moving toward the village. That in itself was a wonder because storms here always move in from the northeast. The people quickly crowded into a large palava hut; there were so many of them that they were packed in. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the center pole of the palava hut, ran right out the door, missing the feet of the crowd, and struck the idol, vaporizing it on the spot! Needless, to say, the entire village repented and became Christians.
Evil is not to be played with or tolerated. We even need to be careful about trinkets that we may have collected as tourists. Pray over any carvings, paintings, or other objects that you might have in your home. If you do not have peace about keeping that item, then burn it, no matter how lovely it might be and no matter who has given it to you.
PRAYER: Father God, help us to be careful about the things we treasure and keep in our homes and the things we give others. Lord, give us discernment. Help us to realize that You desire us to be holy and that You will help us if only we will ask. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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