Listen to the confidence which Moses had in The LORD his God in verses 1-5. The passage begins with ‘When’ not ‘if.’ God had promised to bring them into the land and that they would possess it and that He would cast out the seven nations which were greater and mightier than they were. He believed in and knew that God was infinitely more powerful than their enemies. You might think, well that’s it then, they can sit back, and God will do it all, but no, they were to conquer these enemies and utterly destroy them, and they were not to make any covenants with them, nor show mercy. They were not to intermarry for they would turn them towards other gods and if they served other gods, God would be angry and destroy them. They were to break down and destroy their idols of worship and their despicable practices.
We too, have a responsibility, as His disciples, to obey God and seek, by His power, to destroy the evil in our own lives
God gives them reasons as to why they must conquer completely the inhabitants of Canaan (v6-11). Firstly, they were a holy people and God loved them. They were chosen as His special treasure, not because they were more in number, in fact, they were least of all peoples. Rather, because He loved them and had made His promise and would keep it.
What more could we ask for? God loves us and that should drive us to love, obey and serve Him with all our being and everything we have. To do less would damage that amazing relationship which we have with Him. He gave His life to pay the price for our redemption and without Him we would be lost forever and bound for a lost eternity.
Secondly, God is faithful and a God of absolute justice. He shows mercy to those who love Him and will repay those who do not love and obey Him with destruction.
God goes on to say that there are blessings for obedience. He does not just demand it, but he rewards obedience (v12-16). God says that He will love them, bless, and multiply them, bless their offspring, the fruit of their crops, new wine, oil, grain, cattle, and flocks. These are great rewards indeed, but He went even further, they would blessed above all peoples, there would not be a barren male or female even amongst their animals. He would take away all sickness and they would not be inflicted with any of the terrible diseases of Egypt which they had known. Finally, they were to destroy all the people who God delivered to them without pity, and they were forbidden to worship any of their gods, because that would be a trap for them.
What fantastic promises to Israel as they were to enter the Promised Land. Notice it was all from God and it all depended upon their obedience to their God. It was not to be their achievement. All this was a promise to Israel as they enter the land and they, sadly, didn’t always keep their end of it in obedience. Some have tried to claim these promises for us, but they were specifically to Israel. Not that God has lost any of His power at all, but we need to be careful in interpreting Scripture to always read it in its context.
God urged them to have confidence in Him (v17-24). They were not to be afraid of these nations even though they seemed to be greater than themselves. They were to remember what God did to the Egyptians, how He had brought His people out in a miraculous way, so The LORD promised to do to these other nations even though Israel was afraid. He said that He would send hornets among the nations until they were destroyed. God told them not to be terrified of the people because He is great and awesome and that He would drive out those nations little by little. Surely, they would like them to be driven out all at once, just as we want everything done ‘yesterday,’ but God knew that that would not be good for them. They wouldn’t be able to cope. The LORD God would deliver them over to them until they were destroyed. God’s timing is always perfect. He is concerned for our good. No-one would be able to stand against them.
The final order in this chapter was a reminder of being faithful to The LORD their God. They were to burn their idols completely and they were not to covet the silver and gold on them nor take it. If they did it would be a trap for it is an abomination to The LORD. If they failed it would mean utter destruction. It was to be utterly detested and abhorred for it was accursed (v25,26). They had One True God, and they were to worship Him alone.
