For you are a people holy to the Lord (Deut 7)

Deut 7:1-27

Key Verse: 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally

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.

Introduction: Israel is ready to move over to the Land of God’s blessing. There are many things to teach concerning the life in the land of God’s blessing. Last time (Ch 6) Moses talked about how they were to keep God’s blessing for the generations to come. Moses told them they must love the Lord with all their heart, mind, and strength. To do so, they had to put the words of God at the doorposts, forehead and…. God wanted to see their obedience to the commands, decrees, and laws in their living within themselves. The key feature of this living is, as God is holy, that they must be holy as well.

Today’s passage (ch7) is about what to do with the people living in the land of God’s promise. In handling the nations that God would deliver into their hands, they also must keep the Law so that they must be holy, i.e., how the covenant condition they must keep in their relationship with those that they were to destroy.

The land is significant in few ways; first, it was the land God promised to give to Abraham and his descendants. Second, it is the land where God would establish His kingdom with His people. Third, it is often called the land flowing with milk and honey, signifying that the land is very fertile.

The world is God’s and whole people of the world is God’s creation. But except those whom God has chosen live as the enemies of God. God wants to fill the land with His people only or only those who keep

1.       For you are a people holy to the LORD your God: When the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally (1-11).

V1-2a. In the land, there were seven nations larger and stronger than them. It means that each of them was far greater and powerful than Israel, not only in size but also in all other aspects of military power. They were well fortified, they had superior weapons and had rich resources, such as food and other materials for the war, including human intelligence and wisdom. Regardless, when God delivers them to the hands of Israel, they are to destroy them completely. What God meant is that they must kill all and wiped them out from the earth. No treaty and no pity on them! No, intermarry with them. Also, they must break down all their altars. In this way God does not want any traces of these people, any people associated with them, i.e. children and women, any vestiges of social and religious makeup of those ungodly people, left behind as Israel lives there.

God sites the reason behind; if they establish a treaty, or show some pity, then Israel was to coexist with them, probably Israel as suzerain, and these nations as a subordinate nation.  If they do so, then it is likely that they may marry as they chose with daughters of these nations or men as their sons in laws. This will surely lead them to violate the Law of Moses because their hearts are more drawn to people than to God. Since I came to the US, I had to discard many of my Korean habits because such habits are often unacceptable to the people living in the US. Also, many customs of America were too strange for me to accept. Some are even thought to be evil and ungodly to my eyes. In the course of time, I have to change my views or at least must accommodate a room for such unacceptable lifestyles so as to live in peace and joy. In this way, when totally two different kind of people live side by side, in the course of time we assimilate each other.

God does not want this at all. No influence or no association with the people living in ungodly and unholy life! Simply Israel must live only with what God gave them and what God taught them, the Law of Covenant. No other things shall influence their lives in the land of God’s blessing. The reason?

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.

God said that they ‘WERE’ a people HOLY to the LORD. Just before receiving the Ten Commandments, God told them not to go beyond the limit (Exodus 19:23 Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, 'Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.'") The moment they cross the limit, they would die for they were unholy and God was Holy. Before Israel and God ratified the Covenant (Exo 24), God said this:

Exodus 22:31 "You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs. (Exo 22:31 NIV)

They were not holy and they were not a treasured possession (Exo 19:5) then. Since this time, something happened to them. NOW, for the first time, Moses indicates that they are a people holy to the Lord. How has Israel become a people holy to the Lord? As soon as the Covenant of the Law was agreed, God began implementing the Law fully to His people, Israel so that their lives might reflect the holiness of God. God did this for forty years as they roam in the desert. God disciplined them and purified them, resulting in the death of all the age 20 above. The number of men when they came out of Egypt was about 600 thousand. The number of death by God’s punishment might be more than half of this (above 20), mounting 300 thousands or more. At the fortieth year, they were heading back to the Promised Land, a pagan diviner, Balaam, saw Israel camp and gave this oracle;

How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? (8) I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations. (Balaam Num 23:9)

21 “No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them. (2nd)

Balaam saw the distinctiveness of Israel that stood apart from all nations around them. He also saw God’s blessing was upon them. Simply speaking, ‘the holiness’ of God in the nation Israel could be perceived as Balaam saw the camp of Israel.

The history or the life of Israel with the Lord testifies for the fact that God loves Israel in His faithfulness to His promise made to Abraham and his children. In handling with Israel, what was the one thing that stood out? In His love for Israel, God gave them a great promise, the promise of the land of God’s blessing. Toward this goal, God made all-out effort to make them holy for only then they could represent Him, the only one who is holy. This effort came in two ways; God gave the Law and then he implemented that law on Israel. Israel was not different from any other peoples of the world. They must conform to the holiness of God. When God implemented His holiness upon his chosen, all men above 20 died in the desert including Moses and Aaron except 2. According to my own calculation, the number of death of Israel was as great as the number of the death of Egyptians, i.e., all the firstborn that died on the last plague as well as the entire army of Egypt that was buried in the red sea. Even when Israel was just across the land of God’s promise, they were engaged in sexual orgies in Peor (Num 25). God inflicted them with plague and 24000 died. This was not the first generation but the second generation who saw their fathers succumbed to sins in their unbelief. This says one thing; God would not allow anyone who is unholy to be his people and certainly would not allow anyone who is unholy can come to live with him in the land of His blessing.

When they disobeyed or disbelieved Him, they were punished. In this way, they were disciplined for forty years to love him, to trust him and most importantly to be like him

Israel went through it and now God wants to apply this to the people that occupy the land God set apart to give His people. Having God made such an effort, even by punishing and consuming so many lives of his chosen, now God makes his people know that the people living the land of His blessing must be holy as well.

They must know what they have become, totally new and different from all the nations of the world.  They become the only one nation holy before the Lord and they must maintain the holiness in the land of God’s blessing. This is their duty. Out of this goal and duty, they must wipe out the nations that God hands over to them.  

This action must be backed by two important truth; first

Why did God give Israel such an authority and power to destroy the nation of the Land?

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.

In the eyes of God, Israel has nothing inherently better than the other nations. The reason why God chose them and blessed them and is leading them to this land of blessing is His love and His promise made to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So God’s command to destroy them all is part of that love, and the hope to fulfill the promise. Who is the LORD in doing all these, loving Israel, and destroying the nations of the land?

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.

Israel had known God. But here God introduce himself in a different way; The word “LORD” is YHWH and God is Elohim, a general name of any gods. In the Hebrew, there is an article before God. So it should be understood like this: the LORD your God is the God. In this way, he declared himself to be the God, the only one God over all nations of the world. The only God who rules all nations of the world has one policy; bless those who love Him according to the Covenant and curse those who do not abide by the Covenant, no matter who they are, including Israel.  Based on the God of heaven and earth’s rule, Israel must follow the Covenant of blessing—that of love. If they do so then, they would be blessed than any other people in the world. They will be blessed to have many children. They will be blessed to harvest many crops. Their flocks and herds will multiply. There won’t be any sickness or diseases that lead to premature death. It would be like having the blessing seen in the Garden of Eden.  His blessing would be so great that Israel would be standing far above all other nations of the world. What should they do based on the principle that He set up on the world?

By His grace, Israel becomes the first getting this blessing and they should continue to obey the Covenant in order to keep this blessing. After all, destroying all the Canaanites is also an essential part of ‘keeping the Law’ and to live holy as God’s people. But in their hearts, there might be some lingering thoughts

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.

The more serious concern is this:

17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?”

They must not be afraid of them; instead, they must remember what God did in the past. God destroyed Pharaoh and all its army. None of these seven nations are more powerful than Egyptian kingdom, the superpower of the time. These nations are far inferior to Egyptian kingdom in size, in military forces, and in all armors. If God defeated Egypt so thoroughly, then He would and could do it again without any problem. They also must remember the ways that God inflicted on Egypt. Turning the river into a bloody water, frogs, gnats, flies, locusts, hails, boils and darkness, and the angel of death. In addition, God divided the red sea and they were able to walk the sea on dry ground. God rained down manna and gave water from a rock. Simply there was nothing that God could not do for the sake of His people. If God wills, it shall be done. Now God wills his people to destroy thoroughly the seven nations, mighty and strong. Instead of fear, they must remember all these and be encouraged and strengthened. So Moses concludes:

21 Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.

2.       God will continue to be with Israel until she fills the entire land of God’s blessing (22-24)  

As God highlights the blessings that they would enjoy in the land, it is hard to wait to see the day. If God is with them and is willing to drive them out or to wipe them out thoroughly from the land, it would be no problem at all. It could be done in a matter of few months or less than a year. After that, Israel would enjoy as much blessing as they could, so abundant and so rich blessings that no nation had ever enjoyed. Such hope and anticipation is brewing among His people; Moses said this;

 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.

This tells them about God’s plan and what they are to expect in coming month or years.

·         It will not happen in a short period of time.

·         The time to displace all the inhabitants will depend on how fast Israel grow in number. The more quickly Israel grows in number, the more quickly God would drive out the pagan king so as to replace the place with God’s people Israel.

·         The ultimate goal of God is to fill the land of God’s blessing with His people and until that time God would continually work with Israel to help them to eradicate or to drive out them for good.

God’s long-term plan is clearly express in saying that they will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once. For this generation, it will be a lifelong project. It might take many generations as well. Actually, it took more than 5 generations from this time on to the time of King David, when, we can say reasonably, Israel conquered the whole lands of God’s promise (though some argue that Israel had never fully conquered the entire land of God’s promise). Here is an interesting reason why God would not drive them out all at once. It is because if they do so, then, many parts of the land will be filled with wild animals. This implies that those animals are not under the control of man. When God created the Garden of Eden, God entrusted the care of all the animals under the care of Adam and Eve, the ones who had the Spirit of God. After the rebellion of Adam, the ground was cursed and all the animals rebelled as well. So just driving out the ungodly people or nations does not satisfy God’s purpose. The order of the land must be restored as was before. Only Israel who obeys the covenant of God can and must restore the order of creation again of the land of God’s blessing. A glimpse of such order in Israel was seen by Balaam in his third oracle (Num 24)

5 “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel!  6 “Like valleys they spread out,  like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the LORD, like cedars beside the waters. 7 Water will flow from their buckets; their seed will have abundant water. (Num 24)

Isaiah saw the coming of such time:

Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD. (Isa 65:25 NIV)

This means that God would work with Israel long period of time until He accomplishes his purpose, filling the land of His blessing with His chosen people Israel.   

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.

The time to remove all the ungodly kingdom will be long and protracted. Nevertheless, God would not sit back and watch what happens. Rather as He has done since He rescued Israel from Egypt, he would be with Israel to help them to destroy the nations. The Lord God will surely help them remove all the pagan kings. What does this all mean to them?

They have eagerly waited for the land of God’s blessing so long. They are so much tired of roaming the barren and dry land, though God provided everything to live on. They wished to have fresh fruits and sit and enjoy the richness of God’s blessing. But that will be a foregone dream. Instead, they must plan long and must resolve to follow through God’s command to the end.

3.       An attraction of the images of gods made of gold and silver, the greatest danger  

As the last warning in handling the people, Moses gave the final warning:

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.

It is about the images of gods made of gold and silver. Gold and silver are very precious commodity and values a large sum of money. It is an attractive source of wealth. Though the intent of stealing and storing these images has nothing to do with worship, God said that they are to be burned in the fire. Otherwise, they will be ensnared by the images and it is detestable to the Lord. They should not bring those things into their houses. They must be set apart for destruction. They must regard it as utterly detestable.

Our attraction to precious things, more specifically money, is not formidable more often times. The bigger the money, the more temptations. It is interesting that the money and the idol are combined or fused together as an attraction for our taste or wants. “One-time big money will make the rest of my life easy! Just one time only!”  It is minor and forgivable sin or is considered well justified in reason; Money becomes an object of worship… goes beyond a simple means of life and becomes the source of life…

When Israel attacked Ai with a high spirit, they were defeated badly. The reason, they violated the Covenant. They did not know who had done it. They must cast lots to find who; before they do this; Moses said:  

15 Whoever is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!'"  (Jos 7:1 NIV)

Nobody knew it and in order to find the source, they must choose lots—eventually fell on Achan

20 Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."  (Jos 7:1 NIV) 

When he saw good things, he could not help but take them. God’s judgment is thorough: 

24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.  (Jos 7:1 NIV)

‘Herem’ is not just for the pagans but first for His chosen, Israel. It must come from the Lord because he is the only one holy. The God of Holiness began His holy war against all ungodliness through his chosen Israel, starting from the land of God’s promise. But Israel utterly failed.  Nevertheless, God’s hope did not die.

4.       God made us holy so that we may conquer the land of God’s promise.

As we noted in this passage, God meant to establish a Kingdom, which will be like the Garden of Eden. This land is filled God’s people and His holiness will rule and prevail through and through. But as we know through the history. Israel failed to keep up with the Covenant of the Law and unable to keep the blessing of God in the land. Eventually, they were driven out of the land and went under another discipline mode as they roamed in the wilderness. But their failure did not discourage God. To keep up that vision, He decided to create a holy people in a new and totally different way. It is through Jesus, his begotten Son. What did Jesus do?   

Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

God let the Covenant of blessing and curse fall on His Son Jesus. By His sacrifice, God’s curse on unholy people was done away with and then God imparted His holiness to those who believe in the Son, creating a new people of holiness. So we are the people holy to the Lord now. What God meant to do with Israel, the conquering the land of His blessing is upon us. Keeping the Covenant was the key to keep the blessing, so is true to us. But not in the way where Israel failed, but through the Covenant that was fulfilled in the Son Jesus. By believing in Son’s suffering, death and resurrection, we keep up with the Covenant of the Lord.  The most central issue is being holy for the LORD who stated that His people must be holy. It was then and it is now as well. How can we keep ourselves holy? It is by the blood of Jesus who gave himself as the sacrifice for our sins. We have let His blood wash away our sins. This is the direct path for us to conquer the land of God blessing. God let us stand in front of this mission, to go forward to the world, to undo all ungodliness. But it is through the Law but through the blood of Jesus, that cleanses the sins of men.

As God promised to Israel, to be with them until she conquers the land, Jesus promised us that he would be with us, his followers, to the end of ages. It is not through our ability but through the holiness that we can attain through the faith in Jesus that we can enter the land of God’s blessing.

Be courageous because the victory is assured in Christ! Be holy and stand firm in the blood of Jesus and God will lead us to conquer the land.