Deuteronomy 7:1-2 When God, your God, brings you into the country that you are about to enter and take over, he will clear out the superpowers that were there before you: the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Those seven nations are all bigger and stronger than you are. God, your God, will turn them over to you and you will conquer them. You must completely destroy them, offering them up as a holy destruction to God. Don’t make a treaty with them. Don’t let them off in any way.
3-4 Don’t marry them: Don’t give your daughters to their sons and don’t take their daughters for your sons—before you know it they’d involve you in worshiping their gods, and God would explode in anger, putting a quick end to you.
Now God is getting down to basics. When the Israelites enter Canaan, they are going to come up against seven nations that are much bigger and stronger than they are-superpowers! God promises to hand these nations over to the Israelites; however, there are conditions: The Israelites must completely destroy these people, refusing to make any treaties or compromising with them, refusing to make alliances by marriage. Such alliances will seduce the Israelites into idolatry and foul practices. God knows His people, and they are easily confused spiritually. God wants the Israelites to offer up these people as a holy destruction, a kind of offering. Why “holy destruction?” Because these people have degenerated to the point of no return spiritually.
Back in the day, Abraham had friends who were Amorites. At that time, there were still some Amorites who were virtuous; however, God advised Abraham that by the time his descendants returned from Egypt, the Amorites would have degenerated so far that they would require extinction. (Genesis 15:16) Now that time has arrived.
5-6 Here’s what you are to do: Tear apart their altars stone by stone, smash their phallic pillars, chop down their sex-and-religion Asherah groves, set fire to their carved god-images. Do this because you are a people set apart as holy to God, your God. God, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure.
Why is God insisting that the Israelites tear down the altars, phallic pillars, and Asherah groves and burn their idols? God knows that if the Israelites leave any of these things, they will eventually worship them, despite all His commands to the contrary. The Israelites might cherish illusions about their own virtue; however, God knows better. Bling has always been a big attraction for people, and the Israelites are no exception.
7-10 God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations. But he also pays back those who hate him, pays them the wages of death; he isn’t slow to pay them off—those who hate him, he pays right on time.
Well, in case the Israelites have been admiring themselves as God’s special pets, this is a reality check. God has helped the Israelites because He has made promises and is keeping those promises out of sheer love. The Israelites can depend on God, but can God depend on the Israelites? God keeps covenants, but what about the Israelites? Breaking covenant with God has consequences, something the Israelites will eventually learn to their sorrow. God can watch a thousand generations of a family remain faithful to Him; meanwhile, the Israelites can barely see beyond the end of their noses.
In an earlier age, people who tried to compromise and occupy both sides of a political fence were called “Mugwumps,” meaning that they had their mugs, their faces, on one side of the fence while their wumps, their rumps, were on the other. Some people are spiritual mugwumps; they want to appear as holy as possible while secretly indulging themselves in various sins.
We read Deuteronomy and marvel at God’s wonderful promises to the Israelites-health, wealth, descendants beyond counting. But as we are reading, we know that the Israelites are going to skitter off into idolatry, refusing to believe God. How many of us are guilty of the same behavior? We see God’s promises in His Word; yet, we want to indulge ourselves in ungodly speculations or become entranced by various kinds of social media. Today there are millions of people trying to become influencers to sway hearts and minds. How many of us will pay more attention to our favorite influencer than we do to the Word of God. Influencers can manipulate videos to tell all kinds of lies; meanwhile, the Word has stood for thousands of years. May God help us so that we pay attention to Him and not to fallible humans!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to study Your Word, memorize Your Word, and live according to Your Word. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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