Make No Treaty with the Nations and Show No Mercy (Deuteronomy 7:1-26)

God commanded the Israelites to fear and love the Lord with all their hearts and with all their mind and with all their strength all the days of their lives in the land God gave them to possess according to the promise given to the forefathers. This is recorded in Chapter 6 after Moses reinstated the Law of God the second time in Chapter 5. The first Law was given in the Mount Horeb which is recorded in Chapter 20 of Exodus. Then the Lord God commanded the people of Israel who were about to enter the land that when God drove out and delivered many nations over to them they must destroy them totally without making any treaty with the nations and showing no mercy. It’s a God’s holy war and the Israelites were called as his holy instruments for the judgment upon the nations.

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.” (Deuteronomy 7:1-2)

The nations in the land of Canaan were larger and stronger than the Israelites but the Lord God would destroy them before them. The seven nations were the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah (Genesis 10:15). Canaan was cursed by Noah when his father Ham saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers. God would drive them out of the land and delivered them into the hands of the Israelites. Why did God deliver them over to the Israelites? It’s the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham that God would drive out the nations because their sins had reached its full measure (Genesis 15:17). God delayed the judgment upon the nations in Canaan more than four hundred years. Our God is kind and faithful and generous, giving time and opportunity to repent and come unto him. But when they continue to refuse his invitation they would be destroyed completely. Jesus warns that there is one sin which never can be forgiven. It is the sin of refusing the Son Jesus Christ to the end.

“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Matthew 12:31)

God said to the Israelites that they must not make any treaty with the nations in Canaan and show them no mercy but destroy them completely. They were called God’s holy instruments to execute the righteous judgment of the Lord. The people of Israel who were going to enter the land had no right to destroy the nations. God is the One who can judge the nations. God delivered his people out of Egypt from the hands of Pharaoh with signs and wonders and disciplined them in the wilderness, teaching them God was faithful and righteous and merciful and kind without any partiality. God is always good which means he is always the same forever without any compromise. He never bends by any means in any circumstance. It was the time for the Lord God to punish the people in the land of Canaan. That’s why the Israelites must not make treaty with the nations and show no mercy but destroy them completely.

“Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire.” (Deuteronomy 7:3-5)

Apostle Paul commands not to be yoked with unbelievers because nothing is common between righteousness and wickedness (2 Corinthians 6:14). God warned the Israelites not to intermarry with the people in Canaan because they would turn their children away from following the Lord God to serve other gods. If they did, then the Lord’s anger would burn against them and would quickly destroy them. This had happened in history when they entered the land and did not obey the commandments of God. They gave their daughters to the Canaanites’ sons and took their daughters for their sons. As a result, they fell into the trap of worshiping idols of the nations. But the Lord commanded them to break down their alters, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire.

Marriage is the union between one man and one woman. The mystery of the union between Jesus and the church is hidden in marriage. God instituted the marriage for humanity to learn what the true worship is. Marriage includes sex which represents the holy union between husband and wife physically, psychologically, and spiritually. Sex in marriage is the picture of worship. Worshiping God is the state of possessing him and being possessed by him. God searches for the people who worship him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). It’s the reason God strictly forbid the intermarriage with unbelievers.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-10)

God has made the people of Israel holy and his treasured possession to him not because they were deserved and more numerous than other peoples but because they were the fewest of all peoples. Since they were the humblest of all peoples God loved them and kept the oath he swore to their ancestors that he brought them out with a mighty hand and redeemed them from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. This is exactly the same as what our Lord Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) The people of Israel were holy to the Lord God for they were redeemed and belonged to him who is forever holy.

Therefore, they shall know and never forget that the Lord their God is God and he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. God is love yesterday, today, and forever. God is good and never changes in keeping his covenant faithfully generations after generations to those who love and obey all the laws and decrees. But those who disobey and hate the Lord their God he will repay to their face by destruction. The Lord will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. Apostle Paul says so pertinently what is happening to those obey and to those who disobey the commandments of God in the Epistle to the Romans.

“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” (Romans 2:7-11)

Apostle James calls the measure of the Lord as the royal law and the whole law and proclaims that there is only one Lawgiver and Judge who is able to save and destroy (James 5:12). He is Jesus Chris the Lord of glory.

“Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today. If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.” (Deuteronomy 7:11-16)

This shows that everything is coming from the Lord our God, health and prosperity in childbearing and abundance in grain, wine, and oil and all the livestock to those who take care to follow the commands and decrees and laws God is giving to us today. It is not too difficult to find out that many unbelievers enjoy health and prosperity in the world. But the promise of God is not only true in physical level but also true in spiritual level. By God’s mercy, many a people enjoys peace and prosperity, even the wicked people. It may seem to be so but it cannot be true spiritually because unless anyone has been redeemed by the blood of Christ all are under the wrath of God, full of trouble and distress. There is no other way to be blessed and prosperous in body and spirit except through the obedience to all the commandments of God.

“You may say to yourselves, ‘These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?’ But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.” (Deuteronomy 7:17-21)

One thing they might say to themselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” It happened forty years ago in Kadesh Barnea where the whole assembly of Israel wept aloud that night when they heard the report of the spies who scouted forty days in the land of Canaan (Numbers 14:1). Because they refused to enter the land and to possess God led them into the wilderness forty years. So, God commanded them not to be afraid of them and to remember well what the Lord their God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. They witnessed how the Lord their God brought them out of Egypt with the signs and wonders and the mighty hand and outstretched arm of the Lord. God would do the same to all the nations and peoples they feared. God would destroy and perish even the survivors by sending the hornet among them. One thing they shall not do was not to be terrified by them for the Lord their God who was among them was a great and awesome God.

“The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them. The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.” (Deuteronomy 7:22-26)

This is the most interesting and mysterious way of the Lord God that he would not drive those nations all at once but little by little, or the wild animals would multiply around them. It doesn’t mean that he is not able to destroy all at once but that he would do this way for his people. Surely, the Lord their God would deliver them over to the Israelites, throwing them into great confusion until they were destroyed. God would drive out the nations little by little for they couldn’t handle it if God did all at once. What does it mean to our lives in Christ? It means that God reveals the truth little by little, one by one. It’s because we cannot handle if it he did reveal it all at once. Jesus said to his disciples in the Upper Room Discourse that he wanted to say much more things they could not bear (John 16:12).

It is very encouraging to know that even Apostle Paul took at least 10 years to begin his ministry for the Gentiles since he was dramatically called on the way to Damascus. During those years Paul learned and was revealed the truth on the mysteries of God and of Christ little by little. Jesus says that those who have and obey the truth will be given more in abundance but who does not have nor disobey will be taken away from them (Matthew 13:12). The new life in Christ is a long process to learn the truth and mysteries of God. It takes a lifetime. But during the process we shall always trust the Lord our God that he will drive out all the enemies before us. We shall also not turn our ways to other gods which are detestable to the Lord.

“Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” (Matthew 13:12)

Prayer: Thank you Father for the promise of driving out all our enemies if we obey all the commandments of the Lord in the land you gave to possess. Believing in the promise that God will drive out our enemies little by little, we may obey you every time we are revealed the truth in our midst. In Christ’s name. Amen.

May 31, 2016

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