READ Deuteronomy 9–12
Years ago our young grandson asked why God commanded His people in the OT to kill all their enemies. We didn’t answer right away and he was thinking. Then he said, “I know! It was because those enemies were so evil.” I marvel at God’s ability to bring truth to mind that is written in His Word:
“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:4–5)
It is easier to see evil in pagan people than to see and admit our own sin. After the above statement, God immediately says this:
“Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. (Deuteronomy 9:6–8)
Moses prayed for these people, fearful the Lord would destroy them and almost surprised that He answered those prayers. et He put the onus on God to rescue them rather than have their enemies say: “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” It’s important to pray for the sins of others in humility rather than with a self-righteous “I’m better than that person” attitude. Moses wanted God glorified for His power to save sinners. (Deuteronomy 9:27–29)
God also wanted His people to obey Him for their own good. He told them to “fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord for your good” and “be no longer stubborn.” (Deuteronomy 10:12–16)
He also reminded them that the life stretched before them was far better than what they had in Egypt. There they had to irrigate the land to produce food, but this land would “drink water by the rain of heaven” as a land that He cared for. Obedient people would see His care in many ways but sin and idolatry would “shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 11:10–17)
Not only that, obedience to the Lord was insurance in defeating their enemies and gaining possession of what He promised them. When they lived as He commanded, “No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.” (Deuteronomy 11:22–25)
God set before them “a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.” (Deuteronomy 11:26–28)
Instead of following other gods, they must destroy pagan places of worship and stop the nonsense of “everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you” and added if they were “careful to obey all these words that I command you it would go well with them and with their children forever” and they must be careful to do “Everything that I command you . . . . not add to it or take from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:2–9; 28; 32)
Christians know that salvation in Christ is not about earning it with good works but is a grace gift of faith. Yet we also know that the same principle applies: live like a child of God not a pagan. God is committed to transform me into the image of His Son. As He takes a chisel to my sin, far better that I cooperate because this is for my good. It is better to yield and enjoy His blessings rather than continually be chastened for my stubbornness.
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