Deuteronomy 7

The Lord, the God of Israel, was bringing His people into the land that He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants forever. By His command they were to take possession of it.

But there were people already living in that land. God promised to clear away many nations before the Israelites, nations that were more numerous and more powerful than the descendents of Jacob.

God would give these nations over to Israel. Israel was told to defeat and to destroy them. This was the judgment of God upon the Canaanites. Israel was the Lord's agent to bring about what He had determined to do.

We may not like the directive that God gave to His conquest people. Yet we should acknowledge that God is the Lord Almighty. He raises up kingdoms and shatters them. He brings desolations upon the earth, and He will bring peace, exalting His holy Name all over the world. See Psalm 46:8-11. His command to destroy these nations was an expression of His much more extensive power over all of life and death. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Who can stand against Him? He is the Lord. He has a purpose in His mercies and in His judgments. He will glorify His Name throughout the earth.

Why did the Canaanites have to go? God was setting up the land and the nation of Immanuel, God with us. The Messiah would come from Israel. Israel was to be a distinct people, following the Law of God. They could not have a mixed system of faith and life with the people groups in Canaan. They were to sweep them away from this small land in preparation for the coming of the One Answer for all the nations of the earth. Israel was to kill now, but Israel's divine Messiah would one day be killed in this land, not just for Israel, but for the world.

The conquest is more than many can take, though it is only a small portion of the judgment of God against mankind for sin. Many also reject the message of the cross, where the innocent Christ dies for the guilty. Both conquest and cross would come not by popular demand, but according to the eternal purpose of Almighty God, who is is determined to bring peace on earth. Yet before heaven and earth are together in permanent grace and holiness, there will be a day of judgment for mankind.

Israel could not just blend into the world of the Canaanites, intermarrying, bowing down to their idols, following their religious and moral customs. The people of the world's Messiah were to be holy to the Lord, His chosen people.

Israel was not chosen because they were great. They would be great because they were chosen. The love and covenant faithfulness of God always comes first. He brings blessing, even to a thousand generations. But would Israel obey Him?

Christ came as the true obedient Israel. Thousands of generations are blessed in Him. Those who violate His commandments merit his hatred and the destruction that is expressed in the conquest. But on the cross, the Son of God faced the judgment of conquest for His people. To walk away from Christ and the cross is to lose all rational basis for eternal blessing from the Almighty. Christ is the one atoning sacrifice for us.

God had many purposes for Israel. He gave them a great opportunity to obey and be blessed. If they would obey the Lord, they would have great bounty. But if they coveted the silver and gold on Canaanite idols they would be ensnared in the destruction that had come upon those people groups. They did not need to fear the Canaanites. But they did need to fear the Lord and to follow His commandments.

The Lord does not come to us to learn what is right. He is the Almighty One. There is no one good but Him. The conquest of Canaan, the destruction of the Canaanites, the eradication of Canaanite religion; these were all to be accomplished through His direction. Yet salvation for the earth would not come from this conquest. Many generations later, Jesus would die for us. The message of His death and resurrection has become good news all over the world.