Tuesday 5th August
Read Deuteronomy 7
“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 – 2 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. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 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. 5 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. 6 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.
7 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. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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.
11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.
12 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. 13 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 corn, new wine and oil – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. 15 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. 16 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.
17 You may say to yourselves, ‘These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?’ 18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19 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. 20 Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. 21 Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. 22 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. 23 But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24 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. 25 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. 26 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.” (NIVUK)
Instructions for living in the land continue; an ongoing exposition of Word 1; love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and all your strength (6:5). The call is for separation, and it seems very harsh and shocking. I can read this and be shocked by the human tragedy and cruelty and miss the point that this passage is painting a picture of a holy God and His desire to have His people (a people of faith beginning with Abraham) live as He intended them to be when He created them holy. God’s people must put Him first and remove/destroy all that would hinder that, those things that would lead to the worship and service of other gods [the NT makes it clear this is humanly not possible except in Christ and therefore I interpret this image as a metaphor, in fact there were people ‘saved’ during the conquest]. Why must this happen, because you are holy/chosen/set apart by God as a treasured possession, not because of the worth or goodness of your actions but because you were chosen, because by grace He loved you. That love is shown in God’s actions to redeem you from slavery and because He is faithful, he will keep His promise of love forever (v9) [I find it impossible to miss the NT images of a people redeemed by Jesus’ action on the cross that overcame sin and death completely]. However, be warned, for those who reject Him there is judgement and therefore, take care to follow, it’s a priority! If you pay attention, then His love will be seen in His blessing. Physical blessings are listed here as abundance and care but also requiring destruction, without pity, of all that would lead the people astray; how am I to read this through NT eyes? God’s favour/blessing shown in our relationship with Him, chosen and holy because of what Jesus has done to destroy the power of evil and also seeking to be what we are intended to be (holy). I am reminded of the dramatic illustration Jesus uses in Matt 18:9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell. Then Moses says: you might be worried about the strength of the opposition but remember what God has done for you previously with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. Don’t be fearful of what’s coming, your God is a great and awesome God (v21) who will destroy evil and provide a way to worship Yahweh alone. There is so much to ponder in the word pictures of this chapter but for me God’s holiness and His desire to save by grace the people of faith is clear; He is the one who has the right to judge, Jesus has already ‘destroyed’ the power of sin and evil.
Geoff Hinch
