When we begin our study of Deuteronomy, we will discover key reasons why God commanded the Israelites to thoroughly conquer the land of the Canaanites. This passage gives a preview of why God ordered the people to explicitly follow His orders.
In the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
You shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their figured stones, destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places.
You shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess (Numbers 33:50-53).
God told Moses this about the Canaanites and their idols.
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they shall trouble you in the land where you are settling.
And I will do to you as I thought to do to them” (Numbers 33:55-56).
I will save some of the reasons why the Israelites were to drive out the Canaanites from the land for a later article. For now, I want to focus on the reason why God commanded them to destroy the idols of the Canaanites.
The short answer is that humans become like the idols they serve. Child sacrifice is the greatest example of how idol worship injures people. Temple prostitutes and the resultant effect on women is another. Here are some examples from modern times.
- When the pursuit of money becomes master, other humans suffer. From the slave trade in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to modern human trafficking, the acquisition of wealth is the primary motivator.
Pause for a moment and consider all the ways that money, as our master, is destructive to society. You won’t have to look too hard to find many illustrations.
- The idolatry of power not only damages the one who pursues it, but also others around them.
HBO has a two-part documentary called “Dark Money.” The show chronicles how we have legalized gifts to political candidates without revealing the identity of the donor. Powerful individuals and corporations can make massive donations, and no one knows who they are.
The show portrays the destructive nature of this practice on both people who sought political power and those who suffer from decisions that favored the “dark money” donors.
Once again, this is one among many examples of how seeking power as our ultimate concern is destructive.
- Sex is another idol of human culture. While sex is a gift from God, turning sex into a god makes it a destructive force. The destructive nature of the “idol-sex” is as evident as today’s news.
- Henry Blackaby characterizes an idol as anything that is a substitute for God. When we think of the many things that place our affection on over an obedient relationship with God, we will have other items to add to the list of destructive idols.
Destroying Idols
The Canaanites were a formidable force, and the Israelites were only able to conquer them through God’s power.
The same is true for our idolatry of money, sex, power, and other substitutes for God. Only God can defeat them. But he requires our trust.
Here’s a suggestion. Ask God to bring to mind something that has more power over you than God does. Pray every day about that issue and ask God to set you free from it.
Stay with that issue until God and you have conquered and eliminated the idol. Then, begin the process again with another substitute for God in your life.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 