What was Israel’s responsibility after taking the promised land from corrupt and perverse nations? What is our individual responsibility in a corrupt world? Let’s look at Deuteronomy 7.
Did God forbid Israel from making covenants with corrupt and perverse nations? Why do our politicians do so?
When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire. (Deuteronomy 7:1-5 NKJV)
Does God lavish His unfailing love on those who love Him and obey Him?
For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today. (Deuteronomy 7:6-11 NLT)
Would Israel be blessed above all peoples for keeping the covenant with God?
It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you. (Deuteronomy 7:12-16 WEB)
What if Israel doubted their ability to conquer the perverted nations?
If you happen to think to yourself, These nations are greater than we are; how can we possibly possess their land? don’t be afraid of them! Remember, instead, what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt: the great trials that you saw with your own eyes, the signs and wonders, and the strong hand and outstretched arm the Lord your God used to rescue you. That’s what the Lord your God will do to any people you fear. The Lord your God will send terror on them until even the survivors and those hiding from you are destroyed. Don’t dread these nations because the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is with you and among you. (The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you bit by bit. You won’t be able to finish them off quickly; otherwise, the wild animals would become too much for you to handle.) The Lord your God will lay these nations before you, throwing them into a huge panic until they are destroyed. He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe their names out from under the skies. No one will be able to stand before you; you will crush them. (Deuteronomy 7:17-24 CEB)
What was Israel to do with the idols left behind by conquered nations?
After you conquer a nation, burn their idols. Don't get trapped into wanting the silver or gold on an idol. Even the metal on an idol is disgusting to the Lord, so destroy it. If you bring it home with you, both you and your house will be destroyed. Stay away from those disgusting idols! (Deuteronomy 7:25-26 CEV)
What did Jesus pray for the church in regard to our place in a sinful world?
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17:15-16 ESV)
Do we hide or go into the world? Do we observe what Moses or Jesus commanded?
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20 HCSB)
What was Israel’s responsibility after taking the promised land from corrupt and perverse nations? What is our individual responsibility in a corrupt world? You decide!
