Published: July 6, 2025 | Speaker: D. Aaron Wells | Series: Deuteronomy - The Law Is Good, If One Uses It Lawfully 2 - Part 9 | Scripture: Deuteronomy 7:16-26
Transcript
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Excuse me. Okay. Um, that you might know where I'm headed. Um, as usual, I have an outline in front of you, scripture references. Um, there's also a second u a second
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page that we'll get to, and it's more just for you to glance and reference. Um, so no no intimidation uh intended there. Um, but it's a continuation of a
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discussion we had three weeks ago concerning the kiastic structure of chapter 7. So this is the law is good if one uses it lawfully. Uh section 26. Um we kind of got a little off point uh
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last week. Um so a few words to u hopefully restore hopefully restore a sense of of where we are um here. Um
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we are and have been in in Moses second discourse which is the body of
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it is also then divided into
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okay uh somewhat something along those lines. And we've been in the we've been in the first uh of of these things. Um the in chapter five um Moses opening
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message to to the people of Israel is remember the word. Remember the word that was spoken to you at the mountain. How God spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. Uh and
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then goes on to remind them that your your you and and yours said to me that you wanted to stand far off and let me speak to you the words of Yahweh. And he heard you. And so here I am uh speaking
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now in the in the segment we've been in for many weeks. U when you enter the land, keep to the word and remember Yahweh in all your daily affairs as they
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are laid out. You're sitting down, you're getting up, you're going out, you're coming in. Okay? When you're firmly settled and prosperous, keep to the word and remember Yahweh to one
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another. when you bear children, getting to the end of chapter six, keep to the word and remember him before them. And this is intended to be audible.
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Okay? As we get into chapter seven, remember that everything God said he would do, he has done. Therefore, you keep his word.
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Do not fear or admire the greatness of those around you and but remember your God and keep to his word. Okay? If you keep to his word, he will love you,
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bless you, and multiply you. And the point I intended to make last week about the prosperity held out in scripture and then what that means for us is that
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before receiving before receiving the whole earth as it is God's promise we will and before receiving all of its material things at Christ's appearing.
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The blessings of God for all who believe are first and foremost spiritual blessings. They are first and foremost in the heavens. And this is an argument
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from the greater to the lesser that if we are blessed in the heavenly places. If we are blessed in the spirit, we will certainly be blessed on the earth at his
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appearing. Okay? And and the material blessings that are held out for us in picture here will be ours securely.
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Okay? But they are first and foremost spiritual blessings. Okay? Knowing our God is near to us when we ask of him and always near to us in love. Okay? And
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though we suffer as the Lord himself did, the promise begun in the prophets and and ruminated on by the psalms, okay, and then confirmed by the Lord and
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by his apostles, okay, is that though we suffer as the Lord himself did, we we are able to truthfully declare that we are nonetheless blessed. that there is a
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greater reality in which we are blessed and the material things which do not yet show us that spiritual reality will certainly follow. Okay? Just as Hebrews
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tells us, we do not yet see all things in subjection to Jesus. But we see him who was for a little while made lower than the heavenly beings now crowned with glory and honor because of what he
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suffered. That is death for us. Okay. So that thirdly, as it goes on to say in that chapter of Hebrews that he's not ashamed to call us brothers and
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declares that here am I and the children God has given me. So that their their multiplication love, bless and multiply. Their
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multiplication is of children born from above. Okay? We are not that the children of Israel were a people in the flesh who marked their sons in the flesh and were
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under ordinances that Hebrews tells us were ordinances for the body. Okay? We are a people who have been given God's holy spirit. We are a spiritual people.
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We bear children in the spirit marked by his spirit. Okay? Not under law but under grace. not under the the thumb of ordinances for the body but rather
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recipients of the wisdom of God that is a spiritual wisdom. Okay. So our love and blessing and multiplication is greater than theirs by orders of
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magnitude. And we we would we would say concerning our material things that we wait for them in patience because the blessings that we have are higher and greater and the lesser will certainly
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flow from there. Okay. So, first concerning the the the blessings that it is a spiritual prosperity that that we
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expect being a spiritual people that logically follows. Secondly, that what this picture in chapter 7 shows us is that these blessings are only to be
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experienced together. There's a strong corporate overtone to the promised blessing for the obedience of the nation and not not specific people but together
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which goes back to what I was saying about remembering him. It's not a remembering him just in here. It is a remembering him to one another. Okay.
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So that as we get now into uh verse uh 16 um we we pick back up on the other side of that that literary structure that is
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is through somewhere in here in chapter 7. Okay, which is we we came down to the main point which was basically keep to
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the word. Okay. And and now we've been growing out from there with with further detail explicating at every level something more of what that looks like.
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Okay. So beginning few verses. Okay. This is this is the thesis.
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Okay. So so we're we're here. Okay. And so we're we're coming back to some of the same things we talked about three weeks ago here.
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So that we're now reminded again by the text that we should take care in view of these things in view in view of the fact that we are to receive all of these
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blessings and more. Okay? Then let us take care we assign proper honor to God and to one another. Okay? as they were adjured in the first few
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verses of chapter 7. So if you turn with me to chapter 7, be starting in uh verse 16. Okay? And you shall consume all the
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peoples that Yahweh your God will give over to you. Your eyes shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
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If you say in your heart, "These nations are more numerous than I, how can I dispossess them?" You shall not be afraid of them. But you shall remember,
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that is remembering, you shall remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the
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mighty hand, and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So will Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, Yahweh your God will send
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hornets among them until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. You shall not be in dread of them. For Yahweh your God is in your midst a great and awesome God. Yahweh
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your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you.
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But Yahweh your God will give them over to you and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. And he will give their kings into your hand,
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and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You
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shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be ens snared by it, for it is an abomination to Yahweh
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your God. And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. Detesting you shall detest it, and
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abhoring you shall abhore it, for it is devoted to destruction. So, as we've read, neither was Israel to
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pity the people of the land that was shown here at the beginning, okay? Nor serve their gods. Showing pity where God has decreed destruction is directly
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linked with serving their gods as the unavoidable trajectory. And we do well to think about that. To show deference to the things of the world is immediate danger to us, okay? to our to our life
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together. Okay. I want I want not so much to think about the the exactitude of a danger to our individual souls as I want to remember that the picture we are given of these things is a corporate
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picture. So the danger that that friendship with the world presents is not only indifference toward God but indifference toward one another. And in being indifferent toward one another, we
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are indifferent toward God. Okay. God has chosen to make himself known among
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and to pray for those who persecute us. Right. And and Right. I'm not suggesting that it is that is our that it is our destiny in the flesh to destroy uh destroy the nations yet. Okay. Um God has declared
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has held open a day when all men may repent and that day is now. Okay. So the the apostles are clear that until his
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appearing all men everywhere are commanded to repent. That that door is open. So as far as Israel's destruction of the nations of the land that is prefiguring
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for us that last day, right, the judgment. As far as their posture toward toward their enemies, these people were their confirmed enemies. It is not
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suggested in the teaching of the law that they were to be to the nations around them hostile. Okay? They they were to show the goodness of God among them and that
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goodness would spread. Okay? So I I don't overturn or or nullify the teaching of the Lord that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, especially now that that day is open that all men may repent. Um,
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I'm not sure if that quite quite answers your question, but um, you're welcome to rejoin if you'd like.
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Bernell, let let me go ahead and and and try to show. Um, I would I would note as and I'm and I'm speaking of of friendship with with the things of this world and even with the people of this world un unguarded, okay? That both are
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a snare for the people of Yahweh, being too open toward the sons of this world. I'm not suggesting hostility by any means. I'm suggesting an openness toward the sons of this world is what is
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dangerous. Also, a to open a regard for the work of men's hands. That that's shown us in in the detailing here. Even the silver and the gold is a snare to you. Okay. Um I'd note as an example,
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case in point, uh the life of Jehoshaphat uh the king of Judah. Uh if you read in 2 Chronicles his life, how he allied himself with King Ahab, the king of northern Israel, uh and even
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though Jehoshaphat himself was a godly king and Ahab was a Baal worshipper, he still allied himself with them in the interest of uh an ecumenical attitude.
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Okay? And the allied battle that he joined with Ahab went badly. And though Jehoshaphat was able to return home in safety, 2 Chronicles 19:2 says, "But Yahoo the son of Hanani the seer went
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out to meet him and said to King Yahosapot, should you help the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh? Because of this, wrath has gone out
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against you from Yahweh." So I'd offer his life for your consideration uh in these things. Yahoshaphat we we say in the Wells household, he was too nice.
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Okay. Um, our God rather, we are taught in the in the first discourse at the end, our God is a consuming fire. Okay. And note that he says of them, you shall
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consume, you shall consume the peoples Yahweh your God will give over to you. Okay? So that the people of God are following in his character and his work.
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Um in verse 17 uh we arrive at a really important second or maybe third at this point uh marker in the text that is a series of three um which is if you say
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in your heart okay so this is this is another closer together marker in the second discourse second discourse and I I'd say that and then the verses
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are um are as follows. I think you've got this in your outline, but um 717 where we are um 81 17 uh and
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94. Okay. And they do relate to one another. The the language is the language is the same. Okay. If you say in your heart, these nations are greater than I is where we're at. How shall I dispossess
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them? And then secondly in 8:17, beware lest you say in your heart, my power and might have got me this wealth. And then third in the progression 94, do not say
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in your heart after Yahweh has thrust them out because of my righteousness. Okay? And in short, the how and why of the three, take care lest you forget
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Yahweh is explained by the if you say in your heart. Okay? So you can think of you can think of take care lest you forget Yahweh being explained by if you
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say in your heart. Hey each expresses a heart attitude that will turn them away from their God. Fear okay turning them away from his love.
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Pride turning them away from his goodness and not remembering him. Right. And self-righteousness And self-righteousness turning them quickly from his law. the the inevitable trajectory of all three
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being serving other gods. And that's just expressing what the language uh says there. Um neither shall you serve other gods in uh
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in uh verse 16 uh to to go into and this is referencing your diagram um uh in uh and I've got the verse numbers on the
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right side. So neither shall you serve other gods. Okay, corresponds to keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. Both are a contractual relationship,
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right? To serve other gods is an agreement to do so, right? But God has agreed to keep what he said to your fathers and he has done so, bringing them out of the house of slavery. But
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but the warning is that they certainly may be recaptured to the ways of the nations if they serve the nation's gods. Again, it stands to reason. Secondly,
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the question asked these nations are more numerous. Okay, is in contrast to Moses teaching it is not because you were more numerous that Yahweh chose
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you. That's in verse seven. So this is and I I find it interesting that Moses having taught them it is not because you are more numerous still assumes that the question will be asked. Okay. Um
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no no teaching of scripture is a oneandone. um we are to remember and remember and remember which is why I'm up which is why I'm talking right now in the first
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place okay place okay okay then then the question itself as to how shall I dispossess them okay will will be answered in the verses following
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okay um in in where I've got B prime uh there 16 17 18 and 19 okay but the first answer way way back up in the B section
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is that they first remember those evidences of Yahweh's love as the antidote to their fear. So you shall not be afraid of them here is in contrast to
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Yahweh set his love on you. Okay. First John 4:18 says there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear. So
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we naturally then should see them as opposed as explaining one another. Okay. and they will cast out the nations of whom they are afraid by remembering Yahweh's steadfast love to them. Hey, do
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you see you see a more and then in verses 18 and 19, a more elaborate litany follows of the wonders of judgment that they saw Yahweh perpetrate against the Egyptians. Just
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as in verses 13- 15 or so, Moses elaborated on the increase of the nation previously figured at the at the beginning section as to a thousand
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generations. And then they get the details in in C. And so similarly, there is an a litany of the of the destruction against the Egyptians to explain and and
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elaborate on Yahweh brought you out from there from the house of slavery. Okay. And then there will be a further in in a prime. Okay, there'll be a a further litany of his intended destruction of
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the peoples of the land. Okay. Um, so as he did to the Egyptians, staying with verses 18-9, as he did to the Egyptians, so will he do to the peoples
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of whom you are afraid. Okay. His keeping faithfulness and love being the constant and immutable factor there. Um, any comments or questions thus far?
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Okay. Uh, going on to verse 20. Pardon me.
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Okay. as they remember what Yahweh did to Pharaoh because he says uh um excuse me as as they remember what Yahweh did to Pharaoh. Um it's that they will find that Yahweh fights for them in the same
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way. Okay, with the swarming creatures. Moreover, Yahweh your God will send hornets among them until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. And I find it I find a a
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relationship there between that and the plagues of Egypt. Right? It was the swarming creatures that frustrated the attempts if I remember correctly of the Egyptian magicians to replicate the
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plagues. The swarming creatures were the ones that defeated that and and were some of the worst u instances of God's judgment. So God is promising that he
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will do the same to those who are left, who they don't get, and who hide themselves. And he will be sure to complete his judgment. Um, and as told them later in verse 22, uh, the little
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by little clearing away is so that the wild beasts don't multiply against Israel. Okay? He'll multiply the swarming creatures against their enemies. He's not, but he does not intend that the wild beasts multiply
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against them. And I'll get to that in a second. Um, but as for their enemies, the hornets multiplied against them and find them wherever they hide. Okay, so there's a sort of asked and answered uh
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idea in here. So verse 21, these nations are excuse me, Yahweh your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God is the excuse me is the answer to verse 17.
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Um, these nations are greater than I or more numerous than I, but Yahweh is in your midst, a great and awesome God. Okay, again in verse 17, how shall I dispossess them? Okay, verse 22, Yahweh
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your God will clear away these nations before you. How shall I dispossess them? I will do it. Okay? And little by little, which may not be
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what they were expecting. Okay? for uh and and the little by little isn't really elaborated here so much, but uh I've related numerous times the teaching
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of Deuteronomy to Judges, and Judges 3 does shed a lot of light uh on what's going on here. Why little by little and not all at once. This is Judges 3. Um
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now, these are the nations that Yahweh left. These are speaking of the the nations that the Israelites in the third generation did not drive out. Okay? So
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these are the nations that Yahweh left to test Israel by them. That is all in Israel who had not experienced the wars in Kanan. It was only in order that the
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generations of the people of Israel might know war to teach war to those who had not known it before. These are the nations, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canonites and
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the Sidonians and the Hivites who live on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermmon as far as Lebo Hamat. They were for the testing of Israel to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of Yahweh,
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which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And
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their daughters they took to themselves for wives. That should be familiar. Okay. Their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and
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they served their gods. Precisely what the teaching is showing us.
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So that adds some color. But the wild beasts, that isn't answered by by judges. Not all at once, lest the wild beasts become too numerous. But why? Um,
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as I contemplated why, because I don't I don't want to be in in presenting a study of Deuteronomy for you just skipping over certain words that are okay, whatever. I've said over and over again, I don't think there's any
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throwaway language here. So if it stands out as strange, might want to look at that. So as I contemplated why wild beasts, the first thing I thought of was, okay, wild beasts are spoken of in
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the law as a judgment on on the people for disobedience. Leviticus 26:21-22 says, "Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will
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continue striking you sevenfold for your sins, and I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall be you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so
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that your roads shall be deserted." Put a pin in that last phrase. Okay, but this doesn't quite explain it, does it? Because what we're being told here is that you will clear away the nations
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little by little that the wild beasts not number against you. This is speaking of their doing as Yahweh has planned for them. It's not speaking of disobedience. So wild beasts as a judgment doesn't
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quite doesn't quite serve. Okay, but put a pin in so your road shall be deserted. So second thing I thought of was uh wild beasts are creation becoming unruly. And
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this starts, I think, to move closer to the point. Uh, their fight was not to be against the beasts, uh, but but the people of the of the land, not against
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the land itself. And there's a further passage in Deuteronomy somewhere where they're told in the way the way they should make war. And one of the restrictions put on them is that they should not go scorched earth on the
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land. They should keep it intact and only cut down such trees as are needed for siege engines. That's it. But otherwise it would treat the land with respect because that's God's gift to them. So their their fight is not
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against the land or against the beasts, but rather the land was to yield bountifully for them if they would obey God and they themselves would increase.
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So the contrast of the wild beasts increasing versus them increasing gets us closer to the point of why why the mention of wild beasts. Um there is a parallel passage in Exodus 23:29
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um where God connects explicitly the beasts and the land and the peoples multiplying saying, "I will drive them, excuse me, I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the
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land become desolate, and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little, I will drive them out from before you until you have increased
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and possessed the land. Okay. So thirdly, coming back to so that your roads shall be deserted. Um, wild beasts prevent passage to and fro. And
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so think think of their settling and the fact that wild beasts don't congregate in and among settled areas if at all possible. They they live in between. So
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the idea that uh that started to emerge for me in with these parallel passages in the law um was that such beasts would make travel unsafe and the people would
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end up scattered. Why is that a bad thing? It undermines their essential unity as God's people, especially that three
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times yearly appearing at the tent. Okay. Uh I won't read it. uh right now because it's a little long, but there's a passage in Ezekiel 34 that sheds a
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great deal of light on this by conceptualizing the nation of Israel as the places around my hill. Okay. So the the the picture is is there there are
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there are lots of settlements. Okay. But they they are all related to one another because they are situated around
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my hill. my hill. That's the visual concept of what the n the nation of Israel is, the land of Israel is. And furthermore, that passage
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de refers to the people of Israel as the human sheep of my pasture. Okay? Domesticated beasts whose natural enemy is wild beasts. Okay? So, just in in
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picture form, there's uh there's some u there's there's a lot of be I don't know. There's a lot of beauty there. Sorry, I'm geeking out a little bit. Um so, what's the point of what I'm saying?
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It is it is Yahweh's intention to keep the people close like a herd is. Okay. A herd is kept within sight of the shepherd. Okay. The Israel is the places
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around my hill not just wherever. Okay. and even in their spreading out later to keep them concentrated so that the
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interior is secure and they will safely draw near to the place where he makes his name to dwell. Again, so this is a statement about their essential unity. Okay? The
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necessity of Israel not fragmenting. Not in a year, not all at once, not even in the first couple of generations will you conquer all of this land. Okay? You are to spread out gradually.
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Okay, refer back to Deuteronomy 6:10-15 as well. Um, it is God's intent to handle, excuse me, to hand them a
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fertile cultivated land wherever they conquer it. Okay? So, letting the land become inhabit uninhabited rather, falls short of that promise, doesn't it? Okay.
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and leaving plenty of land to be conquered later, Judges tells us, was also that the later generations might learn war and participate in the conquest. So therefore, the mention of wild beasts in our text underscores the
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enduring nature of this blessing of great and good cities that you did not build even across many generations. And this is not something I had thought of before coming to this this time that the
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that the blessings enumerated in in chapter six of our copies uh is is not just for that first generation but continuous across many generations and
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that as a picture to us of ourselves. Okay, that we too are called to a patient endurance toward the purposes of God. It is evident in the teaching of the apostles and and especially in the
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rather graphic and and sometimes confusing uh pictures laid out for us in Revelation that the that the main message of seeing all of this upheaval everywhere and the times and the time
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and the halftime is a call for patient endurance on the part of the saints. So, uh, to to put a a somewhat crash point on it, we're not here to in our gener in
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our single generation start a movement and take the world by storm. Hey, that's that's wrongheaded thinking. We ought to think patiently about the purposes of God and consider how we speak of him to
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those who come come after. Okay. Would you agree there's kind of a little bit of a dichotomy there in the sense of it feels like there's a lot of times where it's like on who things have come.
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There's a sense even in the Old Testament of expecting now. Yes. But also patient endurance. It's this weird. Yeah. Well, Yeah. Well, I do need to behave as if it has come
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upon me. upon me. Yes, it has. Right. That's right. But I also don't necessarily expect fulfillment if it does. I don't know the mind of God is almost but behave as so
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it is now right even if it doesn't reveal itself in my right that seems like a thing that pops up it is yeah and that's part of the point I was making about material blessings is
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that it is upon us we we see that the fact that it is spiritual blessings is not a copout or a cope okay it it is to say that it is a certainty it is finished right And the what follows in
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the in the in between period is is the is the wrestling for us. But we have the the example of the Lord himself. Okay. Seeing that he though it was a certain
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that that the that that it that receiving the kingdom was a certainty and receiving the people whom God had prepared for him was a certainty. He
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nonetheless for that joy set before him endured the cross and all that he suffered in his life. Okay? Learning obedience through what he suffered. So we as his sheep follow our shepherd
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wherever he goes. Therefore we follow him into his sufferings. We follow him into death and we follow him into life indestructible receiving all things with
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him. Um so yes this picture in the law accords with that is is the I think the point I would make. Okay. Um also just a
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sidebar I I think one this shows us how quickly and from what great prospects they fell after two generations. There was more for them. And they fell short
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of that by forgetfulness. Okay. And secondly, seeing the grace of God in augmented for us in that he raised up David. As if you know the life of David,
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what he did was in in a the the conquest of the land was coldarted by him and he expanded it to
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its intended borders. So that God would raise up many centuries later his king and continue fulfilling his promise to Israel through his man uh is is a is a
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wonderful grace that we observe in
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tempered by their relatless
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nations continue to keep the land from wild animals. everyone like a common duty that a wild animal that was right you got to get rid of it right so
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right so bring that forward into our time we're so often told you know everything in the world is all evil except for the okay but there's also some blessing in that
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world you know the municipal government controls crime right you know there are blessings to living an orderly world that God has orained.
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Not all of it is redeemed. We are the Right? But we said earlier that living beside the world was not the sin that would
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undo them. It was intermingling,
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Right. Sometimes it feels like I mean there are many who are told you got to work at Christian organization otherwise you're not living a true Christian life.
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Yeah. Is that true? I don't think it is based on this argument that we're seeing in Israel. No. And and and that's part of why I went and and said that the the conquest
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of the land in particular is is a um serves a differing purpose. Okay. for us I guess ser serves a serves multiple
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purposes for us. One to show their separation and the necessity of that separation but two as far as their actual violent judgment uh over those peoples. I I think it is evident these
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are pictures of of that last judgment that is to come. Okay. So so our posture toward the sons of this world is one of the same caution and concern as we see
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taught here. But as far as but again the the door to their repentance is held open and as long as the Lord is holding that open we hold it open too. Okay. So there's a not yet to that as well. But I
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I agree with what you're saying and that is largely the point I'm making is is that the the fact that the world goes on as it goes on is another evidence of the
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kindness of God. Okay. In spite of their sin. Okay. And in spite of ours. And and that as another example, going back to Egypt, that Egypt was very prosperous
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while Israel was in their land and that prosperity was stored up for them that they might carry out the goodness of God to the world with them as God's goodness
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to them.
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Right. Well, and that that is exactly what I'm trying to speak to here is is to say that we often think of the conquest of the land as intended to be a oneandone and yet they fell away from it. But this
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shows us it was not intended to be a oneanddone, but rather by stages they were to push out the borders of where they were settled and where they had conquered out to the borders that God
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had promised them. So there was a certain outer outer border known in the days of Solomon that they were to experience, but not all at once. And at
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no point is the law showing us that it was supposed to be immediate. Just the opposite. In fact, as far as their
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particular attitude towards the peoples of the land within that outer border, it was to be complete and total destruction, no holds barred, but that they spare the
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land. Okay. Right. Right? That they might know war. Okay? So that so that the experience of
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receiving from God cities that you did not build and houses that you did not build and vineyards you did not plant and a fully cultivated good land might be the experience not only of the people
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that are Moses' immediate audience but their children and their children's children and the children to the fourth generation that that they might all get. So um in a
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sense and you see this in in the beginning of Judges that there are at least certain tribes that are experiencing that kind of immediate success in war that Joshua was. But it's
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but Joshua is dead. They are they're going up in their places and succeeding because Yahweh is with them. Um, so I I
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don't it is their attitude is the same out to the borders of the land that are promised. Okay? But it isn't that they take it all at once, but wherever they
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take it, Yahweh will utterly destroy those people before them. That's that's what the that's what he says here. Um, Yahweh will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not
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make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. In other words, lest you become scattered and disunified. Okay? But Yahweh your God will give them over to
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you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. Okay? So wherever you go, God will throw them into confusion.
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Because they didn't go up with that confidence in their God. They stopped in the third generation. They stopped and and settled in and began began to trade with people that they weren't supposed to trade with. Uh they they were
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supposed to they were supposed to wipe them out. Okay. Um so they they began to settle down and enjoyed a friendship with these people around them. Okay? particularly those tribes in the north.
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Okay? And Okay? And and it went badly for them. They they did not hold on to the purposes of God there. They they stopped. Um but the the
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nations themselves had been left for a few generations that those future generations might themselves enact that same judgment on them and keep going slowly, not quick. Joshua did an
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immediate very large campaign carving out enough for the for the people that went in, but they were expected to expand that uh even after the end of his life. Um I I also would point out that
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Yahweh would not allow them to act foolishly in this regard with wild beasts, exposing large and uninhabited and unpoliced gaps between the settlements uh the vacuum of which would
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be filled with dangerous things like wild beasts. Okay. out of contact with one another, disunified. Okay. Um the wisdom of the proverb shows us that this
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wisdom is here somewhere. Okay. Uh speaking explicitly, wealth, this is Proverbs 13:11, wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Okay? We we
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are expected to exhibit that wisdom in our lives. And that wisdom is exhibited partially by patience. Um, which brings us to as far as riches and possessions are concerned to one of
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the most important lessons of Deuteronomy. And I have very little time. Um, so I'll I'll try to be brief. Um, the parallel phrases with verses 1-6 are many. I didn't actually print that in your diagram, but if you want the
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full chapter 7 um, kiastic layout, I am happy to send that to you. I It was very edifying to me. U, but I I don't want to it's it's a lot. Um, but clear away
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these nations before you, give them over to you. Carved images you shall burn with fire. Both are language markers that exist in both the book ends. So, uh, the the chapter divisions in your
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copy, chapter 7, that that's a that's a literary hole. That's actually a very appropriate chapter division. Um, surprisingly. Okay. Uh so one additional detail then in this litany of blessings
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here at the tail of the keyasm um and and excuse me um sorry the litany of divine destruction.
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So we've had a litany of blessings had a a litany of the past destruction against Egypt and now here a a litany of divine destruction in detail. Okay. And one detail stands out uh lending I think
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some color to what is meant by the silver and the gold being a snare to you uh that he will give their kings into your hand. Um rather than simply arguing from general history and human nature um
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we can consult Genesis 34 to get a front row seat to the way the way we as people think about these things. Um this is uh
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the paricopy in which the the man uh who was the prince of Shem um took the daughter of uh Jacob either by coercion or force. It's not clear but he wanted
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to marry her after the way of the world and uh there was some trickery involved in that and the sons of uh Jacob laid waste their city uh and killed all of
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their inhabitants. But the reason why uh they were willing to then be circum that the the people of Shem who were pagans were willing to be circumcised uh is explained to us. His reasoning to the
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people of the town uh is laid out for us in chapter 34 21. Um he says these men are at peace with us. Let them dwell in
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the land and trade in it for behold the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters. Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell
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with us and become one people. Okay. When every male among us is circum circumcised as they are, will not their livestock, their property, and all their
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beasts be ours. Okay? Only let us agree with them and they will dwell with us. Okay? So Shem's reasoning is he takes
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for granted that the way to get possessions is the same way as he will get control over Israel's family and that is by intermarriage. So you know to
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or association I I extend this to close association of multiple kinds. Okay. is the you know the road to possessions and control.
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So Moses going back to going back to the text mentions their kings and says that Yahweh will make their name perish.
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Okay. And that seems connected with what follows concerning the finery of their riches. There it's one equation. Okay. You shall not covet the silver or
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the gold that is on the idols, lest you be ens snared by it, for it is an abomination to Yahweh. So I there's a lot to say about the nature of the
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riches and reading that like these are riches of the land that Israel is to possess. Whereas the the silver and the gold on the idols is an expression of the way that the nations see riches.
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Okay? Not just provision, but finery. Okay? Okay. And it's connected with the way that they worship. Okay. But but Israel's prosperity will not be of the kind cherished by the nations to which
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they bow down. Nor will it be derived from their gods or their practices which Yahweh is giving into their hands for destruction. I offer his example. Abram
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refused to be given all the riches of Sodom so that it might never be said that the pagans made him rich. Okay? In other words, to accept Sodom's riches
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was to accept Sodom's patronage. So to accept their riches is to accept their control. Okay? And it's tied in by
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bookends with marrying their their daughters and and um giving their daughters to them in marriage. Okay? marriage. Okay? We far underestimate the tendency to
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focus on things that are external that is in our flesh. Okay? and be led by that focus into idolatry. And I would say as as as my caution, we should be
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cautious of even admiring the finery of the objects of the world's devotions. Okay? And I include in those things that are nominally Christian. Okay? Manish
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religion, whether nominally Christian or not, is attractive to those whose minds are set on the flesh precisely because of material finery, buildings, vestments, smells, chance, and smoke.
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Okay? The things of the senses, and that's what they're being warned against. The gold and the silver on the idols will ensnare you. We got to take that very seriously. To
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put a finer point on it and to borrow the language of Genesis 3, a thing being good for food or pleasing to the eye or even desirous to make one wise is far
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from a commenation to us of an object when we are a spiritual people. Even regarding something as mundane as
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meat, Paul warns us, "I do not want you to be participants with demons." Okay, we are told not to bring an abominable thing into our house. Okay,
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contrasted with verse 21, Yahweh is in your midst. Hey, and compared with intermaring in verse three, they're not to bring the the material into their house that is abominable. Nor are they to bring the people into their
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households. The truth is, you've said this several times, people become what they tolerate. Okay? Um even though what was being threatened here is actual physical destruction. Okay, like in the case of
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Akan who took the devoted things from Jericho. Okay, we ought not rob ourselves of the wisdom behind it. Okay, that when we sow to the flesh, we should expect together to reap from the flesh
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corruption. It's it's a stern warning that we need to have to have especially as a spiritual people. but rather detesting we shall detest it. Abhoring we shall abhore it. The Hebrew
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could not be more emphatic there. Um uh in closing uh to revisit the wisdom of the proverbs uh that same uh that same triad of proverbs, wealth gained hastily
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will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is the tree of life.
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Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded. Okay? And appropriately, what
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follows describes their lean existence in the wilderness in chapter 8. And that they might know that man does not live on these things, nor on bread alone, but on the word. Let us pray.
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Father, we we look to you. We look to Jesus who showed perfect constancy in all of these things. That though he suffered for the joy set before him, he endured even the cross and and was even
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as as we are told scornful toward the shame of it that he might receive the kingdom you had promised. and receive us
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in looking to him. We we know that we find the the that same constancy and faith and strength. We thank you that we are to receive that kingdom that he possesses and that we
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are to see it with our eyes. We thank you in Jesus