So, why did God insist that His people take exclusive control of the land He promised to give them? Why did He tell them to drive out all the people who were living there at that time (Numbers 33:51)? Why didn’t He tell them to do what He tells us to do, to make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19)?

Well, notice what God says about the people who were then living in the promised land – they worshipped figured stones and metal images on their high places. And back in those days, if you were a member of a certain tribe or nation, you were expected to worship the god or gods the rest of your people worshipped. Religion and ethnicity weren’t really distinguishable, because one’s cult and one’s culture were the same thing. So if someone stopped worshipping his people’s gods, he would be thought a traitor – remember, Socrates was condemned to death just because he questioned the gods of Ancient Athens.

So, the only way to rid the land of idolatry, the worship of false gods, was to rid the land of idolaters. And why was that so important? God warned His people that if they let those idolaters hang around, they would become a source of big problems (Numbers 33:55). They would tempt the Israelites to commit treason against the One True God in order to worship all the fancy statues and images of their phony gods. And such treason would mean the Israelites would deserve the same death sentence they were supposed to be imposing upon the idol-worshippers of the land.

So, what does all this mean for us today? With the coming of Jesus, the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile has been torn down (Ephesians 2:12-16), but the need for the Church to keep itself separate from the sin of the world remains constant. So, while we should welcome anyone who comes to Christ, regardless of his or her ancestry or personal history, we must be vigilant to oppose any sinful thoughts and practices in our own hearts as well as in our congregations and communities (II Corinthians 10:5-6).

For make no mistake – if we try to compromise with sin, if we allow sin to gain any foothold in our lives, it will eventually drag us down. As Paul says, becoming part of the Body of Christ means we must “make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14). May we follow Jesus more consistently today and every day.

Numbers 33:50-56 (ESV)

50 And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 51 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. 53 And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. 54 You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. 55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. 56 And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”