Israel Commanded to Destroy the Wicked...

“And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, no shew mercy unto them.” (Deuteronomy 7:2) In Deuteronomy we read about the Lord commanding Israel to destroy certain nations because of their wickedness and worshiping of false idols and gods. The Lord commands Israel to go into these nations and destroy all of their false idols and also their places of worship. These are the nations that the Lord commanded Israel to destroy when he delivered them into their hands: 

·         Hitties

·         Amorites

·         Canannites

·         Perizzites

·         Hivites

·         Jebudites

 Among these nations were the Canaanites. The Lord commanded Israel to destroy the Canannites because they had become so wicked and evil “that only just reparation is the death of the guilty parties.” (Old Testament Student Manual) There was no other way for God to show mercy unto the Canannites than to destroy them. They had gotten to the point where if God had allowed them to survive their wickedness would have spread to Israel and destroyed it as well. Some of the sins that the Canannites committed were idolatry, prostitution, homosexuality, inter-marriage, etc. Some may see this destruction as God not being merciful, but He was in fact very merciful and had given the Canannites plenty of time to change their ways. “God’s patience allowed them a few centuries from Abraham’s day to Joshua’s and then His judgment was ordered executed.” (Old Testament Student Manual)

Reading these scriptures and the Old Testament Student Manual scared me a little because I see many similar sins being committed in our own society. One quote that really stuck out to me in the Old Testament Student Manual was the following: “Prostitution and homosexuality had become religious practices to the point where the people were entrenched in depravity and proud of it.” I see the sanctity of chastity and the importance of marriage between a man and a woman getting lost in our society. In our recent election, states voted to legalize gay marriage and to add to the number of states that have already made it legal. We see people standing up for this wickedness and taking pride in it. We know from the scriptures and from the example of the Canannites that the Lord looks down on this behavior. 

We are also a society (especially in the United States) that focuses a lot on material objects and puts a lot of importance on obtaining them and showing them off. How many times do we place focus on worldly things more than God? If we place anything in priority above God then are we not too guilty of worshiping false idols? This is something that I know I have struggled with and it is hard to remain focused on God when everything around you is vying for you full attention. We must look to the consequences that the Canannites and other nations have suffered because of their wickedness. We must be careful that we don’t get swept away in all the empty promises of the world and that we truly value what is important. Let us remember to love our Savior and put Him first in our lives and as we do that everything else will work itself out and we will be able to retain the promise that we will be protected in our righteousness.