Published: June 15, 2025 | Speaker: D. Aaron Wells | Series: Deuteronomy - The Law Is Good, If One Uses It Lawfully 2 - Part 6 | Scripture: Deuteronomy 7:1-6
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Okay. Well, this is uh the law is good if one uses it lawfully session 23. Um if you we will be in Deuteronomy 7 uh
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the first six verses. If you would like to turn with me, otherwise you may simply listen.
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Continuing from where we left off two weeks ago, um where uh we observed that the that the words of the son uh asking
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after these after these statutes were were no contrived scenario, but rather a question that came out of the father's example. And the father's answer being
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to take him back to the mighty works of God against the Egyptians uh as they were the reason that Israel was constituted a nation in the first place.
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Declaring to him that it would be righteousness for us then if we are careful to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God as he commanded us. And now we're going to see at least
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one of those uh specific commands with regard to the land that Yahweh was bringing them in uh and how they are to do what Yahweh their God commanded them
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as he commanded them to do it. Chapter 7 verse one. When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears
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away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Gegosites, the Amorites, the Canonites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven
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nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves. And when Yahweh your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then destroying you must destroy
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them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermar with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking
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their daughters for your sons. For they would turn away your sons from following me to serve other gods. Then the anger of Yahweh would be kindled against you,
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and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them. You shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and chop down
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their asharim, and burn their carved images with fire. For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his
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treasured possession. out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Um, we talked about some of the markers in the text that help us keep our keep
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our bearings and and anchor us and thematically carry us through the text. Uh, the first was in chapter six uh which was uh take heed lest you forget.
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Um, and a lot of these end up coming in threes. Uh there are a lot of them. Uh but this at chapter 7 verse one uh is another one that I noticed uh which is
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just worth putting up here where what those are. Um and it it's the phrase uh when when Yahweh brings you into the land roughly. That's a rough paraphrase.
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Um the first was was actually back where the first marker was um in in chapter six. Uh, and then there's this one here in chapter seven that we just read. That
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is really messy. And then the the final in the triad will be way toward the end of this uh beginning
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of the middle uh that we're in. Um, and and they go thusly. So, uh, roughly paraphrase a little bit cut into clips. Uh in chapter six, when Yahweh brings
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you into the land he swore to your fathers, Yahweh your God, you shall fear him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear lest he destroy you from the
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face of the ground. So we have the I put destroy
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as sort of the operative uh phrase there. Uh here we have when Yahweh your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess it, you must devote them to complete destruction or destroying shall you destroy.
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just put destroy destroy because the the Hebrew is emphatic there. So when he says destroying you will you shall destroy them. That's a doubling of the of the Hebrew term there. And so it's it's very emphatic.
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And then finally um in 11 29 when Yahweh your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Garazim and
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the curse on Mount Ebal.
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Okay, that's a little inconsistent, but okay, you get the point. Um, so it just to summarize what what this is doing that they're they are going into to this
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land to enact the curse of God that lies upon the nations that know not God. Okay, we all kind of can accept that. Um, by keeping the law, they remain separate. But by failing to obey, they
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become like them in the curse. So I if they if they forget their God, they will be destroyed from the ground. They are actually going in to destroy from the land those nations who know not God. And
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and a choice will be presented to them in perpetuity. uh a a blessing if they will obey the law and uh the the curse the curse if they don't they will become
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like these nations in the curse. Um which is uh an an excellent segue into uh what what we'll be discussing. Um but the but verse one uh has for us one of
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our contextual challenges which is that of seven nations. um because and a contextual challenge because these nations are actually difficult to
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rigidly define in their identities and their character. Um it may actually not serve us to try. Um and in that sense, the problem that we may have in if we do
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a lot of our own study and we start to notice the inconsistencies in the way that they're listed and named um that the problem becomes for us a lot like that of geography. Um, archaeology
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largely doesn't have any answers for us as far as the identity and the character of these seven nations. We're left to trust what scripture says about them. Um, and like the geography where Moses I
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is not using the geographical locations in the expectation that the future audience of Deuteronomy will actually know where these places are with any
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certainty. Similarly, these nations are set to be devoured by the people of Israel. And so, it is not the expectation that the exact character and
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definition of these nations be known to Moses' future audience, including us. That would be the case that I would make for why it may not really serve us to try to get real granular about um these
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nations. I would say it definitely does not serve us uh to regard scripture on the other hand as assigning some sort of um otherworldly divine or uh mythical
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uh aspect to these nations. I think that's one that's one ditch that we can fall into if we have a lot of exposure to scripture is that these these nations become something other than just pretty
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regular nations uh in a particular time and place. they become almost mythical in their character and they're not that they were real people at a real time doing real things. Uh and there's their
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their geographic and cultural situation was like any human geography and culture complex, changeable um mutable. Uh, so
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because you have the the twin ditches of trying to get too granular about their exact human definition versus them not really having any human definition at
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all. Um, I I did want to try to demystify a little bit um what's going on with this seven nations uh to ptoall
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any confusion in your own personal study. And I feel like these are things that eventually you're going to notice one way or another. Please. Sure.
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Well, and as as usual, you're anticipating somewhat where I'm going uh with with that. Yes. Um noticing the number seven there is is significant. Um there's there's a clear message that
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goes beyond the mere identity of these nations that Moses is getting at. And we will get to what that is. Um, I do want to just address that because, you know, sometimes, uh, well, if I, if I get out
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the data for you here, uh, you'll understand why I want to address it. Um, I think the first thing to make sure we all understand commonly is the functional definition of what's in your
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copy, the the suffix it. Um, you know, just just this, right? Okay. uh and and to establish that the
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the use of this suffix comes itself from two different ways of speaking I think in the Hebrew at least two um and secondly to establish its fluidity um in
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in the Hebrew there there will be sometimes the the phrase it's literally sons of sometimes that'll be rendered something it uh in your English and then
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other times it's it's that would be like and this and this a transliteration by somebody who does not know Hebrew, but Ben something or other. Uh Ben Yakan uh in chapter 10 is
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an example where they just transliterated it. So sons of versus uh versus a word like the uh Hebrews designation for the Egyptians which was mitzim.
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Okay. Um and and they are almost always just referred to in the plural. That's all that is. Um, so this this can come from either one of those in your in your
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English translation and it is it is very fluid. Um, it can refer to the inhabitants of a town or a city. Um,
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so it can like like Abe said, uh, they live on that hill. They're the they're the that hillites. Um, okay. They can also be more broadly the inhabitants of of a
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region of of a larger region. And notice I've said nothing yet about their their lineage. Uh which is the third uh use of of these of this way of speaking which
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is the descendants of a of a particular
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And then my my favorite is finding that sometimes the this way of speaking of a of grouping peoples together can be simply the descendants of any of the
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All right? So you can you can have people that settle in a town or a city or a region and then they have descendants and those descendants then know are known as as a new people group.
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Yeah, I love that example too because the according to their own legends, the Romans were gathered from malcontents from various tribal peoples in that region in Italy and then they established this is the lineage. These
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are the patricians. These are the real Romans and now those are Romans. That's a great example. Thank you. Um, and there are plenty in scripture. I I'm being general because I don't know which
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one to pick. Uh, it's just there's so many. Um, but with regard to so all I'm all I'm noting here is the fluidity of
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people groupings. Even in scripture, it's it's often very non-specific and changeable. Um, does everybody reasonably accept that that is so? And
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even in the text of scripture. Okay. Um, I know folks who would have an issue with that. Um, and and so if if that's so, I I want to make the reasonable case
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for it, not just uh state it. Um, with regard to these particular nations, um, the they are initially named in Genesis 10, which it would it would be, I think,
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beneficial to to look at that. Uh, chap chapter 10 verse1 15. Um, Kanan. There we go. There's the right guy. Kanan fathered Sidon, his
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firstborn, and He and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Gegosites, the Hivites, the Arites, the Senites, the Arvdites,
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the Semorites, and the Hamothites. Afterward, the clans of the Canonites dispersed, and the territory of the Canonites extended from Sidon in the direction of Guerrar as far as Gaza, and
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in the direction of Sodom, Gomera, Admma, and Zeboim as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their
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nations. So even there you see differing criteria. um their their individual clans, their nations, the land they lived in, the language they spoke. All
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of those things are qualifiers that make identifying a people group somewhat problematic. Um or at least make it something where specificity is not warranted. Um anyone notice which one
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wasn't mentioned? The parasites, right? Weren't mentioned at all. um where uh they are first mentioned in Genesis 13 uh chapter 7 um
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there being strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. This is much later. Okay, temporally, this is speaking much
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later. Um at that time the Canonites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land. Okay, so there's the first mention of that seventh one. Um, so not and so
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as you can see, not all of the nations listed in Genesis 10 are then listed in Exodus through Deuteronomy as nations that Israel will drive out either. Okay? And and the lists aren't co-extensive.
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We have at least one nation that's not mentioned in that table of nations, and then there's lots of others that aren't mentioned later. mentioned later. Uh, Josephus um, in the antiquities of
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the Jews, I think, is a is a good witness here to help put this in perspective or at least give some really excellent words to it. Uh, because he's about 2,000 years in our past. And he
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was speaking at this time about things that were about 2,000 years in his past. So, he's a nice midpoint for us. Uh, he says this, this is chapter six of Antiquities of the Jews, paragraph 2.
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The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Ammanos and the mountains of Leabanas, that's Lebanon, seizing upon all that was on its sea coast and
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as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away. Others of them being changed and another sound given to
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them are hardly to be discovered. Yet a few there are which have kept their denominations entire. Right. It's the the the names vanish, the names
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change, sometimes they stay the same. Knowing which one is which is often a difficulty uh of of academic historians if not us. Um so some of the some other
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difficulties inherent in this some of the groups listed are if their names are taken for granted um in chapter sorry in uh Genesis 10 some of those nations
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listed are actually outside the main boundaries of the land as Israel inherited it if I take their names for granted. Um, we discussed before that Israel's control was to be from the
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Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and it was during Solomon's reign. But the Israelites didn't really seem to permanently settle uh any farther north than the city of Dan um there sort of uh
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east of uh Tur um and and south of Sidon. Uh and then no farther south than Beersa um right about where they refused
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to enter the land uh in the first generation under Moses. Yes. Abigail's studies of brethren a
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point in their own time are not referred to the same way. So I'm an American European
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That's right. They're not given to you as time goes on in that time. people have multiple designations, right? And then historians have trouble when they see those
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multiple designations multiple designations determining whether or not they're actually referring to the same people, right? the the it is often alleged in biblical studies, at least in biblical
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scholarship. And I think this is interesting because this is a really I I I rarely see this accusation with anything but biblical studies, which is that that there is somehow an
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inconsistency uh in the text of scripture as opposed to it showing us very much the character of how these things work. the the list of seven nations and and Moses' use of it in his
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message may appear more neat than it actually is. But what I'm also trying to show is that scripture does not present it to us that neatly either. Um that it
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does present a changeable situation. People think that scripture should be tighter than any other human. I would say I'm I'm one of those that naturally would like it to be that that
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would suit me. Uh but but that that just simply is not the case often. Yeah. Um I I I speak as one deeply sympathetic
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with with that wish. Um
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basically for the rest of No, I think he does and and that's evident in the in the latter parts of of Deuteronomy that he is he is aware excuse me that he is aware of that. Um, in this
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case, um, I I think I would stop short of saying that it's necessarily that the the other nations not listed by him, but listed in Genesis, you know, same large
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work, right? Um, those those are in a place where Israel was later to expand, and yet they're unmentioned. um they were they were no less uh they were no
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no less put under control uh than some of the nations that lived in Israel proper at least for a time. Uh so in Judges when it says they put the conites who lived in a certain place and a time
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to force labor it's roughly the same state as as the hamothites and the arvodites and that sort of thing uh would have been in in Solomon's day put
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to force labor. Um, actually in mentioning that, uh, I want to say the the Arvdites in Genesis 10. Um, Arvad is another name for the city of Biblos. I I
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never see it referred to as Arvod in in in uh different resources I research. I always see it referred to as Biblo. Uh, and it's actually farther north than Sidon. Uh, as is the the large plain
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region of Hamat, um, north of Lebanon. Um, and then according to the sources I consulted, the Arites and the Senites are also thought to be occupants of modern day Lebanon uh andor Syria. And
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Josephus seems to say that too. Um, so these are these are up there and yet Moses makes no mention of them. Um, and it's also possible and Chuck you kind of
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alluded to this that that other people groups are grouped under the heading of another when listed later. That's another problem is that one can encompass the other. Okay. So again, not
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not as neat. Um by way of example, uh God actually mentions in his promise to Abraham in chapter 15 of Genesis, this is uh verse 17, um mentions uh 10 people
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groups. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces. On that day Yahweh made a
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covenant with Abraham saying to your seed I give this land. This is very very apppropo. Okay. From the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
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the land of the Kennites, the Kennesites, the Cadminites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Repim, the Amorites, the Canonites, the Gegosites,
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and the Jebusites. Okay. So even even when promised to Abraham, the the content of the promise is diff different with regard to the
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naming of the nations. That doesn't mean we're talking about some sort of wildly different people. And you could see there's a tremendous amount of overlap in the in the list. But um still
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something changes over time in that passage. I didn't look it up when we went there, but doesn't mention however that timing was due of the
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spec maybe. Well, and that's what I mean by one can encompass the other. I think there's some worse, right? Yeah. Maybe they were just waiting on them. Um the other is who's
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more dominant, right? Not that they like specifically g engulf another nation, but rather who's the dominant power in the region, I think is another thing you'll sometimes see changing.
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right? You're an Anabaptist. You need to acceptance a lot of times. Sure. Yankee is a great is a great term for that. I mean or Puritan. Okay.
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Right. Yeah, the the right now the chatter will is fantasizing about a some sort of ethnostate which is which with regard to the Americas is just hilarious um because that's not a resurgence of
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anything in in the United States that would be a completely new thing and the like the the modern idea of the of the
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ethnist state is is one that is a rarity in in history not common And and I think that's one of the more eye-opening things about looking at this is that oh even in ancient history which we tend to
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think of these groups as monolithic they weren't like these weren't ethnationalist states uh the these these were very fluid designations and and we need to
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come at it that way so that we don't miss the message for the details. Um uh speaking of which uh there are several of these. We don't really even know what
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the names indicate. Parasites is one of them. Gurgishites is another. It's it's I think the prevailing theory is that they were from the what's later called the u uh Gargusenes or I think that's
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what do you say the the region around Galilee. Um but that's that's a cognate. That's that's because the words sound similar. That's that's the only reason that's said. Um, in Exodus through
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Numbers, too, uh, the Gegosites are not listed at all. Um, not once that I found. Um, so that that at some point gave me a little bit of trouble. Um, and
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they're frequently left out in the history following in Joshua, too. So, most of the time when it's they're listed, it's six nations, not seven. Um, again, suggesting that Moses' use of seven is important uh there in a way
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that it wasn't important to do that uh in in the rest of his work. Um, some of these groups may have been offshoots of others with Canonite appearing to stand suitably for all of them. Um, especially
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given their their exact territory almost certainly changed over the 500 years between Abraham and Moses, possibly accounting for why the list to Moses was diff, excuse me, list to Abraham was
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different uh than the list Moses gives. Um, and some of these groups uh as as again Chuck me mentioned this that may be used interchangeably. Um uh an
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example is the Gibeonites are referred to as Hivites in Joshua and then said to be the remnant of the Amorites in 2 Samuel. They're not those are not um peoples
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that in whole or in part excuse I say in whole or in part. They are not peoples who in whole swallowed what one or the other. um know this because the the
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Hivites uh have show up in different regions or different areas of the region. Uh most notably they show up in the uh lineage of the peoples of Seir.
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So Edom's family and that of Seir um the the man from whom uh these particular Hivites were descended formed a coalition and eventually intermarried
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with one another. Um so uh the the Hivites show up in a number of different spots. And I think that's interesting too because the the it wasn't as if
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we're going to go specifically smoke out all the Hivites either. Um quite the opposite with regard to those who lived in on Mount Seir with the who themselves would be called by
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that point. Um so it's it's messy. Um yeah. Uh, and you mentioned United States, America, East Coast, South Appalachia, South Carolina, Greenville,
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Taylor's, your last name, the last name on your mother's side. Um, not to mention your particular pride in where you may have moved from or your ethnic heritage. Okay. Um, none of these are
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without meaning, but their specificity, like these terms, is solely contextual, right? Um, and these nations were not made a full end of, as Tim mentioned.
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Um, not not all of them were completely destroyed as peoples, nor does it seem to have been God's purpose to completely destroy each one of these people groups in its entirety. The Hittites, uh, lived
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well north into Turkey, uh, modern day Turkey. Uh, and as I said, the Hivites, uh, show up in the in the lineages of several different people groups. Yes.
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Yes, certainly. Um that that specifically Kanan ha had on him the curse of God. uh and the the land after his name is that that the land after his name is forfeit uh is no accident. Yes,
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it definitely is the fulfillment of the word of God against the son of Ham. Um it absolutely is. Um again, my my main purpose is just to to demonstrate that
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the the naming of those people groups has more to do with where they lived than it did their exact ethnic lineage. and knowing anything peculiar about their their culture is um really not
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necessary. Uh since scripture doesn't supply us with that data, then it we ought not think of it as necessary. Yes.
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specificity. Many of you probably
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right I think our faith should not be resting absolutely identify who these people were right
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right well that's what I meant about it he's talking about people in fact this is the living going through time that is analy
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shattered if you can't find out exactly who these people that's what I meant about the distraction of assigning a mythical sort of a mythos to these uh to these people groups because that it's going to be a tremendous distraction from but I would say with concern
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Christianity that's the greatest fear We want to prove that these weren't mythological. We want to prove that these were actually we can find them incriptions show these people actually existed.
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Well, this may be an issue of us our use of terms like I I I'm struggling to find the exact term for it, but doing that pretending like it's it's this almost like seven jewels that can't be divided.
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That is mythological thinking. Like that's that's how the nations told their their their myths concerning their gods and their origins were told
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with in such a way where it's like the um like that there there must have been seven kings of Rome. Okay. Or the exact history of Romulus.
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Um again to pick up on your example I don't know that he did all those things. He might have done some of them. I'm not sure. And and did any Roman really believe all of it? Probably not. Okay.
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But it that's the way they told that that's the way they told about their identity. Our identity doesn't rest on that kind of mythological nonsense. Our our identity rests on God having
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actually acted in history and that the text of scripture should exhibit to us normal historiographical realities is appropriate. James
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that is important. Yep. Yep. It is. Uh yeah. Why seven nations? Um given that the list is most often six,
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too. That's I see when I notice the details, I I go, well, okay, it's most of the time six. Why is it seven now? Uh and and I mean, I'm saying that in agreement with you. um that it may be
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that Moses is making a point about these nations greatness using the s symbolism of the number seven. That's what he's going to go on to say. So we're going to let Moses define him himself here saying
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that these nations are perfectly secure in their place, more numerous and mightier than yourselves. Um Israel being according to Moses the fewest of all peoples, not great and far from
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perfect. Uh so the contrast that there's a contrast being driven uh uh uh drawn here uh between these nations who are here in the eyes of the world right and
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and you fewest of all peoples um yes and and there is regardless of where exactly these peoples were settled whether or not some
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or whether or not it was the whole people that was to be cut off in the conquest of the land or whether it was whoever was living in the land of those nations that were to be cut off. And it
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it's both. Okay? Whatever the case, there is a land that Yahweh has promised his people, and he does not intend that the wicked should dwell in it. Okay?
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Going on uh to to verse two. Um go back to that.
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seven that are greater and stronger
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that's the emphasis I don't know Like everything,
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Yes. Well, and it's interesting that he treats their defeat with pretty much snap of the fingers summation here. And when Yahweh your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, destroying you will destroy them. You
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shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. Um the implication being that that the the making of a peace with them is assumed
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to involve closer association with them. And I want us to notice that as a principal wisdom of the law that the making of of peace with the nations with those who are not the people of God is
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assumed to involve closer association with them. Okay. Furthermore, that the making of peace with them is directly linked to assuming their ways. Look at verse three. You shall not intermar with
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them. Closer association giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons. Verse four. for they would turn away your sons from following me to serve other gods. So the
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making of a peace with them is in fact turning away from God. And the making of peace with the world will be the destruction of the nation.
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The destruction that God threatens is not just a declaration of judgment on Israel if they don't carry out their car carry out rather their act of judgment uh on these peoples. It is that at
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least. Um, but the destruction God is threatening, I think we need to see it that it is a natural and residual consequence of their involvement with these peoples
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these peoples that the destruction will simply grow right out of their association with these peoples. Not to mention the intervention of God in in his special judgment of them.
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Friendship with the world. Right. Right. and and there being no fellowship of of light and darkness. Um, and that that it's both the erosion of their
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fellowship with God, but also their erosion of their fellowship with one another. I find it notable that inner marriage is brought up right here at the beginning. That's that's a tightening of
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fellowship and will also be an erosion of fellowship with their brother Israelites. Um this is this is close to home for us uh that that we watch
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ourselves. Um so a prime example of catastrophic unfaithfulness is something as simple as a marriage alliance. That's it. Solomon comes to mind embodying this
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very reality. He took wives from among the surrounding nations and they turned his heart away to serve their gods. Uh that's in First Kings 11 if you wish to look. Um, no sooner was he buried than
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the result was the fracturing of the nations into two kingdoms and and not not two very good ones either. Yes.
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I think we are it the the people of Israel were born of Abraham, right? They were born of Israel and therefore they were to marry no one outside of Israel. We are born of the spirit and we are
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told we are certainly enjoined not to marry outside of the spirit.
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They are being sealed from others.
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but we are to keep our own camp. clean. We are to keep our own camp among the people the people the people who are who belong to God. Um so the the analog of of their land is
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not our land or my yard or the United States or what have you. The the analog to their land is our fellowship. We we are the camp of God in the spirit
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with him in our midst. They were the camp of God in this land with his spirit in their midst and they were to keep that land clean. Um that that's the analogy that I would draw. So them
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clearing out what God had designated for them was almost less important than what it means for them to do that. God. That was their land. Just like this is our
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house. We are among ourselves to to keep ourselves in a similar way that the Israeli Israelites were to treat the sanctity of that land. Um we are
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standing in in the place with one another that that God will expand to be across the whole earth. We
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we are denisens of the kingdom of God which is yet unseen but it will be seen. I don't say it's as visible as the people of Israel had it. Um but then
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again it wasn't complete for them. Wasn't nearly complete. Um and it was it was only promised in shadow whereas we realize it in we we realize it in
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reality in in the spirit. Um, so I I guess don't don't get too hung up on the the body politic of Israel. I'm saying that these things are not only for them,
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but for us that that we remain in separation toward the peoples who know not God. Uh, is as extraordinarily important for us as it was for them.
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um ex except that we are taken from many nations and and that is the glory that the promise to Abraham is is fulfilled among us that all the families of the earth will be blessed in him.
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Yeah. But yeah, but I think scripture shows us that the reality of the Holy Spirit dwelling in his people is is the more consequential
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reality. It it is to our separation is actually the more profound not less. Even though it looks less, it is not less profound than theirs. Ours is the more profound separation.
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It might be easy to get um confused with second temple Judaism and their habits versus versus what Israel was actually called to do. I think their as you say their relationship to the nations was a good deal more open than second temple Judaism professed anyways.
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But as to as to our spiritual outlook toward them, it it it needs to be as full stop as the people of Israel were physically full stop toward these nations. And I want to emphasize that with the time I have left. Um, a few
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points in continuence because I I again good discussion but um I do have a few things to lay on you from the text. Um so and I'd put just just in case the the
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lesson of Solomon is is you know okay well he was a king. Sure. Um Nehemiah said of him after the exile to the whole people generally uh did not Solomon king
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of Israel sin on account of such women among the many nations there was no king like him and he was beloved by his God that's a very important point for us and God made him king over Israel
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nevertheless foreign women made even him to sin Solomon had the promise of God that God would not remove his love from him so we can't go well you know they
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they could lose Yes, but not Solomon. Solomon has a unique designation and that he was loved by God and God would not take his love for him. And yet foreign women made even him to sin. We
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should take note of that. Such personal failure may very well ruin our fellowship with one another, beloved of God as we are. The erosion of their
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essential unity is to erode their commitment to their God. And their dissociation from their God will mean their dissolution as a people. that that is Moses' message to them. They will
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fall apart as a people. And this reciprocal back and forth decay uh is is evident in the familiar words of James, the Lord's brother. Uh James 4, what
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causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You desire and you do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so
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you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people, do you not know that
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friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Whoever wishes to be a
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friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. On the one on the one hand, the people of Israel could become like these people that they were commissioned to destroy
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by blending with them and they would be like them in their destruction if they became like them in practice. Uh verse verse five um but thus shall
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you deal with them. On the other hand, you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their asherim and burn their carved
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images with fire. the the people of Israel were in part commissioned to carry out a mass act of judicial violence by means of which God also intended to give them this promised
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land. As we discussed in part one, um we're best served to trust the witness of the scriptures that these people's sins had indeed reached a breadth infecting their entire culture right down to the
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children and a height deserving in the sight of God their full destruction. There have been efforts to demonstrate this with archaeology. I would simply say I there's so little known to history
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and so difficult to find that that is a fruitless exercise to try to demonstrate after a worldly fashion that just how wicked they were. Uh we have child sacrifice and really awful sexual
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relations as two things that are are evidences given to us in the law and that's about it. Okay? We have to trust the witness of scripture that God is just and that when he said that their
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their iniquity was complete and that was enough, then that was warranted. Um, far from and and secondly, far from implying any discussion of just war theory. Okay,
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the mission of the people of Israel was primarily a spiritual one. that God would by his word judge the nations in righteousness and his people who had
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held fast to his word would be his instruments in that righteous judgment. The sin of the Amorites was not the righteousness of the Israelites. Their characters are held apart later in in
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Deuteronomy explicitly. Okay? So it was not Israel's righteous and the nations are unrighteous, so we're going to go in them and smack them. God was dealing with these nations on his own according
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to his righteousness and fulfilling his righteous promise to Israel in giving them their land. He was accomplishing two things at once. And their mission was a spiritual one to demonstrate the
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wisdom of God and the strength and and his might. Okay? And concerning these things, um uh Paul has some choice words
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for us in second Corinthians. Now I think this is a pro to the to the reality of them actually carrying out physical warfare. Paul says this of us. I Paul myself entreat you by the
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meekness and gentleness of Christ. Note that phrase by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I who am humble when face to face with you but bold toward you when I'm away. I
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beg of you that when I am present, I may not have to show boldness with which such conf excuse me, with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according
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to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We
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destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is
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complete. It's worth contemplating. Okay. On the other hand, verse six, and the reason I included it, for you are a people holy to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has
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chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession. out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, God chose them to be a set aart people for himself.
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And later there's a parallel warning and it is literally speaking parallel to intermarriages. God warns them not to covet the treasures of the land. Okay?
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And and again they they correspond to one another in a very um meaningful way. So why why not covet the world's treasures? Because Yahweh's people are
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his treasure. his treasure. Why not make marriages with the people of this world? Because Yahweh's people are loved by him. Let us pray.
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Our father, please strengthen us according to these words as your psalmist asks that you would confirm to your servant your promise that you may be feared. be feared. We we ask for your wisdom that we might
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spend and be spent on the praise of your glorious grace. And we ask that you would confirm your love and your treasuring of us that we might not love
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uh those things which are fading and those things which you do not love. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.