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Numbers 33:50-56 – A Promise And A Warning

While the children of Israel are in the wilderness their total separation from all other people keeps them away from temptation to idolatry, and perhaps this is one of the things intended by their long wandering in the wilderness, that the idols of Egypt might be forgotten, and the people purified from that infection, and the generation that enters Canaan might never know those depths of sin. But now that they are to pass over the Jordan they are entering again into that temptation. So, they are strictly ordered to utterly destroy all remnants of idolatry. They must not only drive out the inhabitants of the land, that they may possess their country, but they must destroy all their idols, and pull down all their high places. They must not keep any of them, but they must destroy all, as a sign of their hatred of idolatry and to prevent their being tempted to worship those images, and the false gods they represent, or to worship the God of Israel by such images. They are assured that, if they do so, God will give them the land of promise. If they will keep themselves pure from the idols of Canaan, God will enrich them with the wealth of Canaan. They are threatened that, if they spare either the idols or the idolaters, they will be punished. The Canaanites they leave alive will be thorns in their sides, insulting them, robbing them, and causing as much trouble as possible. We must expect trouble from that sin we allow in our lives, whatever it is. God also says that He will turn that judgement upon the Israelites which was to have crushed the Canaanites. It is intended that the Canaanites should be dispossessed; but if the Israelites learn their ways, they will be dispossessed, for God’s displeasure will be greater against them than against the Canaanites themselves. If we do not drive sin out, sin will drive us out.

Questions

  1. What are the Israelites commanded to do?
  2. What does God say will happen if they don’t?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray that you would be kept from temptation.
  2. Use prayer points from your congregation.
  3. Pray for family matters.