Numbers 33:50

Num_33:50-56

Ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you.

The expulsion of the Canaanites

I. The imperative command.

1. To utterly expel the inhabitants of Canaan.

2. To completely destroy all idolatrous objects and places.

3. To equitably divide the land.

4. The authority by which they were to do these things.

II. The solemn warning.

1. Those whom they spared would become their tormentors. Under these metaphors, says Dr. A. Clarke, the continual mischief that should be done to them, both in soul and body, by these idolaters, is set forth in a very expressive manner. What can be more vexatious than a continual goading of each side, so that the attempt to avoid the one throws the body more forcibly on the other? And what can be more distressing than a continual pricking in the eye, harassing the mind, tormenting the body, and extinguishing the sight? That which we are willing should tempt us we shall find will vex us.

2. The God whom they disobeyed would disinherit them. (W. Jones.)

The danger of allowing sin

The Israelites were now on the confines of the land of promise. So God speaks to them about the future, tells them what it was His will that they should do when they enclosed the land of promise, and what would be the consequence of disobedience. These, then, are the two points which we may consider--Israels calling, and the consequences of neglecting it.

I. Israels calling. This was to drive out all the inhabitants of the land, to dispossess them, and themselves to dwell in it. If we view this with reference to the inhabitants themselves, we must regard it as the righteous judgment of God upon them on account of their sins. But we may also regard this visitation with reference to Israel, and then it will become evident that it was necessary for their safety. The Israelites themselves were so prone to fall away from God that their being surrounded by many idolatrous and degraded nations would be sure to lead them gradually away from Him. They would soon cease to be a separate people--a people consecrated to Jehovah. That little word all is very expressive. It shows that the judgment was to be universal. It proved the greatness of Gods care for Israel. It was also the test of Israels obedience; and it was a test, we know, which they did not stand. They substituted a partial for an unreserved obedience, and drove out same, but not all, the inhabitants of the land. We find a long list of Israels defects of obedience in Jdg_1:21. Now, in this, as in so many other points, Israels calling is typical of the Christian life. In what way? We often take Canaan to be a type of heaven. Yet it is easy to see that there are many points in which Canaan was no type of heaven; and one of these evidently was that whereas in heaven there will be no sin, no enemies, no temptations, in Canaan all these existed. In this point of view, then, Canaan was not a type of heaven, but rather of the Christian life now; and to that command, Drive out all the inhabitants of the land, and dispossess them, we shall find an analogous one, descriptive of the Christian calling, Put off the old man with his deeds. There is a principle of evil, called in Scripture the old man, which comprehends sinful desires and evil habits; and this we are called to dispossess of the land. The old man is daily to be put off, the new man to be put on. The old man, though nailed to the cross, is never utterly extinct until the earthly house of our tabernacle is exchanged for the building of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The new man requires to be constantly strengthened by fresh gifts of the Spirit of God. When, then, God says, Drive out all the inhabitants of the land, it has a meaning for the Christian; and its meaning virtually is, Mortify the old man, crucify the whole body of sin. Do not spare any sin. Let all be resisted and overcome. Now, the old man is in no sense the same in every Christian. It is the principle of sin, the principle of self. In whatever heart it is, its nature is the same; but in other aspects it is not always the same--for instance, it is not always the same in its power. In one Christian it prevails much, in another more believing and watchful heart it is kept under control. Then, again, it is made up of different elements, and the elements which constitute it are not always the same in their proportions. Thus, the chief element in one case will be pride, in another self-righteousness, in another hypocrisy, in another vanity, in another temper, in another impurity. Sometimes two will appear together in intimate alliance, and those not unfrequently two very opposite evils. In endeavouring, then, to carry out the injunction, Drive out all the inhabitants of the land, it is important, on the one hand, that we should be aware of the element of the old man which is most prominent in it; and, on the other, that we should never forget that our besetting sin is not the only evil against which we have to contend, but against the old man as a whole.

II. The consequences of neglecting this calling. We see it in Israel. They did not fulfil the command, Drive out all the inhabitants of the land. Most of the tribes allowed some to remain, whom they brought under tribute; in fact, with whom they made a league. The consequence was that those few inhabitants, though not powerful, caused them constant trouble; sometimes they seized an opportunity to attack them again; still oftener they proved a snare to them by leading them into sin, so that in the expressive language of Scripture they were pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides. Thus Israels sin was made their punishment. They spared those whom they ought not to have spared, and they suffered terribly in consequence. All this bears upon the Christians life. There is a deep mystery in the spiritual life. How wonderful it is that there should be two principles--two natures in perpetual warfare with each other in the Christians heart--the one of God, the product of the Spirit, the other of Satan, the result of the Fall; the one the ally of God, holding communion with Him, the other allied with the powers of darkness, an enemy in the camp ever ready to open the gates! It seems to be Gods purpose not to put His people at once and for ever beyond the reach of temptation, but to exercise their faith and patience, and to show the power of that Divine principle which His own grace has put into their hearts. Do not, then, be cast down when you are deeply and painfully conscious of this inward conflict. Take it as Gods appointment. Remember that it is to prove you, and that God proves you in mercy, to make you more than conqueror. But there is another point of view in which we must look at this. There are many cases in which this painful severity of conflict is owing, in great measure, to previous unfaithfulness to God. Suppose a person to have indulged in some sinful habit at any period of his life; it may be a want of truth, or impurity, or in any other sin, though the power of that sin will be broken by the entrance of the Spirit of God into the heart, yet it will cast its shadow long after it. The habitual sins of the unrenewed man are the snares and temptations of the renewed man. There is much of practical warning in this solemn truth. If ever you are tempted to indulge any sinful thought in your heart, remember that that indulgence will certainly find you out again. God may, in mercy, forgive it; but if He does so that act of unfaithfulness will bring bitterness into the soul, will prepare the way for new conflicts and temptations. We should cast ourselves wholly on Jesus for the forgiveness of all past and present sins, and for strength to drive out every inhabitant of the land--the old man, with all his deceitful lusts. (G. Wagner.)

Thoroughness

The subject is evidently thoroughness. Do the work completely--root and branch, in and out, so that there may be no mistake as to earnestness--and the result shall be security, peace, contentment; do the work partially--half and half, perfunctorily--and the end shall be disappointment, vexation, and ruin. Causes have effects; work is followed by consequences. Do not suppose that you can turn away the law of causation and consequence. Things are settled and decreed before you begin the work. There is no cloud upon the covenant, no ambiguity in its terms. He is faithful who hath promised--faithful to give blessing and faithful to inflict penalty. There was so much to be undone in the Canaan that was promised. It is this negative work which tries our patience and puts our faith to severe tests. We meet it everywhere. The colonist has to subdue the country, take down much that is already put up, root out the trees, destroy the beasts of prey, and do much that is of a merely negative kind, before he begins to sow corn, to reap harvests, and to build a secure homestead. This is the case in all the relations of life. The weed is not the green thing on the surface; that is only the signal that the weed is underneath. The work that has to be done is a work of eradication. The weed must be torn up by its every fibre. The theory of the Bible is that it has to encounter a human nature that is altogether wrong. It is not our business, at this point, to ask how far that theory is true. The Bible itself proceeds upon the assumption that All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; There is none righteous, no, not one; God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions; there is none that doeth good, no, not one; the whole head and the whole heart are not righteous or true before God. That being the theory of the Bible, see what it proposes to do. What iconoclasm it must first accomplish! How it must swing its terrific arms in the temples of our idolatry and in the whole circuit of our life, breaking, destroying, burning, casting out, overturning, overturning! What is it doing? It is preparing; it is doing the work of a pioneer; it is uttering the voice of a herald. Mark the audacity of the book! It speaks no flattering word, never uncovers before any man, bids every man go wash and be clean. A book coming before society with so bold a proposition must expect to be encountered with resolute obstinacy. If we suppose that we are ready-made to the hand of God, to be turned in any direction He is pleased to adopt, we begin upon a false basis; our theory is wrong, and our conception will lead us to proportionate disappointment. God has to do with a fallen intelligence, an apostate heart, a selfish will; and therefore He undertakes much negative work before He can begin constructive processes. What a temptation there is, however, to reserve something. Point to one instance in all the Biblical history in which a man actually and perfectly accomplished the Divine will in this matter of destruction. A good deal of destruction was accomplished, unquestionably; but was there nothing left? What meaneth, then, this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? The temptation to reserve something is very strong. In many a life great improvement takes place without eradication being perfected. We are not called in the Bible merely to make great improvement. That is what we have been trying to do by our own strength and wit, and which we have always failed in doing. Nowhere do the sacred writers encourage us to make considerable advance upon our old selves. The exhortation of the Bible is vital. Suppose a man should have been addicted to the meanest of all vices--the vice of lying, the vice that God can hardly cure--suppose such a man should lie less, is be less a liar? Suppose he should cease the vulgarity of falsehood and betake himself to the refinement of deceit, has he improved? Bather, he has aggravated the first offence--multiplied by infinite aggravations the conditions which first constituted his character. So we are not called to great improvements, to marvellous changes of a superficial kind; we are called to newness of birth, regeneration, the washing of the Holy Ghost, the renewal the recreation of the inner man. If not, punishments will come. If you will not do this, those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell; they will tease you, excite you, irritate you; they will watch for the moments of your weakness, and tempt you into apostasy. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Unexpelled sin a thorn in the side

Every one can trace in his own life how one unconquered sin becomes a thorn in the side. For ours also is commonly but a half-completed conquest. We have not made war upon our sin in its fastnesses and breeding-places, in the lurking-places of thought and of our habitual tone. We did not believe that happy was he who dashed the little ones against the stones; we did not grapple and put an end to the young things that grow up to be strong and subduing sins. We were not remorseless, did not rouse ourselves to take stern and extreme measures. But it is not enough to let sin alone so long as it does not violently molest us. If we know our own hearts at all, we know that sin may be lodging in them, and gathering strength, without making incursions that visibly devastate the life. And so it has come true in our experience that God has not driven out what we would not rouse ourselves to drive out, and our sin has become a thorn in our side. Again and again that thing we would not slay makes us cry out before God that life is not worth having if it is to be life with this sin. We may learn to wear the thorn under our garment, and go about smiling, as if there were not terrible havoc being made of our peace with God; we may wear it as the ascetic wears his spiked girdle under his frock; but it is there, reminding us by pain and misery and weakness of our slackness in cleansing our life. One sin thus excepted and overlooked cleaves to us and makes itself felt in all our life: not a day passes but something occurs to give it occasion; it is a thorn in our flesh, carried with us into all companies, cleaving to us at all times; our one inseparable; exasperating, saddening, heart-breaking in its pertinacity. (Marcus Dods, D. D.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 33:50-52. Ye shall drive out all the inhabitants — They were to be entirely rooted out, that the Israelites might not be seduced by their abominable idolatries, Exo 23:33; Deu 20:16-18. And destroy all their pictures — Which seem to have been stones curiously engraven and set up for worship, Deu 16:22. Destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places — The chapels, altars, groves, or other means of worship here set up.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE COMMAND TO EXTERMINATE THE CANAANITES, AND TO DISTRIBUTE THEIR LAND. Num_33:50 to Num_34:29.

52. Destroy all their pictures — Literally, idols of stone, R.V., “figured stones.” Painting is the product of a more advanced civilization.

Molten images — Idols cast from brass. This verse is not to be construed as a charter for universal iconoclasm. In the case of Israel, strongly inclined to idolatry, this was the only safe course.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These instructions, with which the eyes of the Israelites were directed to the end of all their wandering, viz., the possession of the promised land, are arranged in two sections by longer introductory formulas (Num 33:50 and Num 35:1). The former contains the divine commands (a) with regard to the extermination of the Canaanites and their idolatry, and the division of the land among the tribes of Israel (Num 33:50-56); (b) concerning the boundaries of Canaan (Num 34:1-15); (c) concerning the men who were to divide the land (Num 34:16-29). The second contains commands (a) respecting the towns to be given up to the Levites (Num 35:1-8); (b) as to the setting apart of cities of refuge for unintentional manslayers, and the course to be adopted in relation to such manslayers (Num 35:9-34); and (c) a law concerning the marrying of heiresses within their own tribes (Num 36:1-13). - The careful dovetailing of all these legal regulations by separate introductory formulas, is a distinct proof that the section Num 33:50-56 is not to be regarded, as Baumgarten, Knobel, and others suppose, in accordance with the traditional division of the chapters, as an appendix or admonitory conclusion to the list of stations, but as the general legal foundation for the more minute instructions in Num 34-36.

Num 33:50-56

Command to Exterminate the Canaanites, and Divide their Land among the Families of Israel.

Num 33:51-53

When the Israelites passed through the Jordan into the land of Canaan, they were to exterminate all the inhabitants of the land, and to destroy all the memorials of their idolatry; to take possession of the land and well therein, for Jehovah had given it to them for a possession. הורישׁ, to take possession of (Num 33:53, etc.), then to drive out of their possession, to exterminate (Num 33:52; cf. Num 14:12, etc.). On Num 33:52, see Exo 34:13. משׂכּית, an idol of stone (cf. Lev 26:1). מסּכת צלמי, idols cast from brass. Massecah, see at Exo 32:4. Bamoth, altars of the Canaanites upon high places (see Lev 26:30).

Num 33:54-56

The command to divide the land by lot among the families is partly a verbal repetition of Num 26:53-56. וגו לו יצא אל־אשׁר: literally, "into that, whither the lot comes out to him, shall be to him" (i.e., to each family); in other words, it is to receive that portion of land to which the lot that comes out of the urn shall point it. "According to the tribes of your fathers:" see at Num 26:55. - The command closes in Num 33:55, Num 33:56, with the threat, that if they did not exterminate the Canaanites, not only would such as were left become "thorns in their eyes and stings in their sides," i.e., inflict the most painful injuries upon them, and make war upon them in the land; but Jehovah would also do the very same things to the Israelites that He had intended to do to the Canaanites, i.e., drive them out of the land and destroy them. This threat is repeated by Joshua in his last address to the assembled congregation (Jos 23:13).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

ELEVENTH SECTION

Anticipation of Canaan, Renewed Command Respecting the Expulsion of the Canaanites and the Obliteration of the Public Signs of their Idolatry

Num_33:50-56

50And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, 51Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; 52Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their 8pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: 53And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. 54And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance 9among your families; and to the more ye shall 10give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall 11give the less inheritance: every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. 55But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. 1256Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Comp. Exo_23:31; Lev_26:1; Deu_7:2; Deu_9:4-5; Jos_23:13; Jdg_2:3. Command to exterminate the Canaanites. So Keil entitles this section. The text does not admit of this extravagant, traditional representation. The religious assumption underlying the stern measures against the Canaanites is this, that Israel in Canaan can and must by no means tolerate any Canaanitish, or indeed any sort of idolatrous community, because it will affect Israel ruinously, This latter motive is reiterated again and again, and the most various changes rung on it. Hence in the Promised Land no sorts of signs of idolatry shall stand in places, or by the roads, or on bridges. But it is first of all assumed that they are not to exterminate the heathen as individual heathen in the land; already in the Decalogue there is mention of the stranger that is in Israel’s gates. This stranger, toward whom they are again and again commanded to behave themselves justly and kindly (Exo_22:21; Exo_23:9; Lev_19:33; Deu_10:19) might in later times be made a proselyte of the gate; originally he was only one that recognized the supremacy of the Israelitish established religion, and had renounced all public announcement of any heathen feeling. Hence it is the first task of the Israelites to expel the heathen from the land, as this sort of crowding out and pushing farther of one people by another frequently happened in ancient times. By such crowding out the Germans came to Germany, and the Celts have experienced crowding in many ways. If, however, the heathen made warlike opposition, the meaning was that they would maintain heathenism in the land itself, and then the cherem resulted, the prostrating of the warlike men, and only in consequence of that storm of war or vengeance, a more universal cherem. But in reference to this, a distinction must be made between the social task of Israel, and the religious sentence that was referred back to the decree of Jehovah. According to the latter, a universal judgment of extermination fell on the Canaanites; according to the social task, the extermination was conditioned in many ways, and in general the national spirit of the Jews continued to be tempted rather by a false, dangerous tolerance which it could not yet bear, than by an opposing, excessive fanaticism. The intercourse of Moses with pious heathen, the history of the Gibeonites, the book of Judges, and the later history of Israel serve for illustration. Solomon had a fall by anticipating the public freedom of worship.

Num_33:51. The meaning of the reiterated command is quite plain. The inhabitants of Canaan are driven out, while all public signs of idolatrous worship are destroyed. The most inconspicuous are memorial stones by the way-side having on them figures of idols or idolatrous inscriptions; of higher degree are molten images; still higher are the high-places, consecrated groves or enclosed places of worship with altars. More the religion of the law cannot and will not do. Press hearts, convert souls by constraint,—this dark thought of the middle ages and of the Syllabus cannot occur on Biblical ground, or, if it does, only as the heathenism of Jezebel, of Nebuchadnezzar, and of Antiochus Epiphanes. Thus they are to possess the land purely and wholly, but also in just relations, whence Num_33:54 repeats the command of Num_26:55. The law is enforced by threatening punishment for the transgressors. The natural consequences are these: the heathen become thorns in their eyes and pricks in their sides; their eyes become obscured for faith; their life will be trained in the way of superstition. But in the land that is given to them, the heathen will oppress and afflict them; and just because of this intolerance of heathenism they must not tolerate heathenism. It is here: either or; anvil or hammer. How long the vulgar liberalism showed itself too insipid to understand that! But the positive punishment shall be that Jehovah will, in that case, reject them also as He now does the Canaanites, Jos_23:13.

Footnotes:

[8]statues (stones with images—Stier, De Wette).

[9]according to.

[10]Heb. multiply his inheritance.

[11]Heb. diminish his inheritance.

[12]And.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Instructions Concerning the Conquest and the Boundaries of the Land

CHAPTERS 33:50-34

1. Command to drive out the inhabitants of the land (Num 33:50-56)

2. The division of the land (Num 34:1-15)

3. The names of the men who shall divide the land (Num 34:16-29)

The extermination of the Canaanites is first of all demanded. Everything of idolatry was to be destroyed. The land was to belong to a holy people who belong to Jehovah, therefore the Canaanite with his abominations had to be driven out of the land. “If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, those that ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them” (Num 33:55-56). The same warning was repeated by Joshua in his last address (Jos 23:13). They did not drive them out as they were commanded, and they had to suffer in consequence of their disobedience.

The land of Canaan does not typify heaven, but our heavenly portion in Christ. In the annotations of the book of Joshua we hope to follow this more fully. The enemies in the land typify the wicked spirits, Satan and his powers. With these is our warfare, and we are commanded, like Israel, to conquer them. The boundaries of the land are given, and we find at the close of the chapter the names of the men who were to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel. Notice the difference which is in the boundaries here as compared with Gen 15:18. The promise given to Abraham and to his seed was under the covenant of grace, but Israel entered into the land under the law-covenant. If they had kept the law-covenant and had been obedient to Jehovah, they would have received the whole land. This they could not do. The original promise made to Abraham and his seed will be fulfilled in the future when the Lord will bring Israel back to possess the land. This will be in the millennium. The land will then be divided in a new way, revealed in the closing two chapters of Ezekiel.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33:50-56 After the Israelites reached the plains of Moab opposite Jericho (22:1), they camped there for the rest of the period covered in Numbers (see 36:13) and Deuteronomy (Deut 34:8). While they were camped there, God gave Israel specific instructions for dealing with the population of Canaan. The Lord commanded his people to destroy the people groups that occupied Canaan and to obliterate all vestiges of their religious practices (cp. Exod 23:23-33; 34:11-17; Deut 7:1-6; 12:2-4; Josh 23:4-8). Moses’ commands included the destruction of their carved and molten images (cp. Lev 26:1) and the demolition of their pagan shrines (see Deut 12:2-3).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you--not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (Deu 7:1).

and destroy all their pictures--obelisks for idolatrous worship (see on Lev 26:1).

and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places--by metonymy for all their groves and altars, and materials of worship on the tops of hills.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

50–56. Commands with regard to the settlement in Canaan. With the exception of Num_33:54 the passage is derived from D . In it is enjoined the destruction of the Canaanite objects of worship, a command which is peculiarly characteristic of Deuteronomic portions of the Pentateuch; cf. Exo_23:24; Exo_23:31-33; Exo_34:11-16, Deu_7:1-6; Deu_12:2 f. On the other hand Num_33:54 is an insertion by a writer of the P school. It deals with the division of the land by lot, and is expressed in the language and redundant style of P . It should be compared with Num_26:52-56.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The expulsion of the Canaanites and the destruction of their monuments of idolatry had been already enjoined (see the marginal references); and Num 33:54 is substantially a repetition from Exo. 26:53-55. But the solemn warning of Num 33:55-56 is new. A call for it had been furnished by their past transgressions in the matter of Baal-peor, and by their imperfect fulfillment, at the first, of Moses’ orders in the Midianite war.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

THE CLEARANCE, THE BOUNDARIES, AND THE ALLOTMENT OF CANAAN (chapter Num_35:1, and again in the last verse of Nu 36, thus giving a character of its own to this concluding portion of the Book, and to some extent isolating it from the rest.

Verses Mat_5:3, "theirs is the kingdom;". (cf. Luk_17:21 Rom_14:17 Col_3:3 Heb_4:3) To this latter aspect (the kingdom as a spiritual and moral state) belong the lessons of this section, for the most part. Consider, therefore

I THAT THE ONE GREAT DUTY OF ISRAEL IN TAKING POSSESSION OF HIS OWN LAND WAS WHOLLY TO DISPOSSESS THE NATIVES, AS BEING ENEMIES OF GOD AND OF HIS WORSHIP. Even so the one condition on which we inherit that kingdom which (in its present aspect) is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, is that we put to death the deeds of the flesh, and crucify the old man, and wage a war of extermination against all the sinful affections which have made their home in our human life.

II THAT ISRAEL WAS FURTHER REQUIRED TO ABOLISH ALL THEIR MONUMENTS OF IDOLATRY, HOWEVER PLEASING AND INTERESTING. Even so all the devices and imaginations of the natural man, however attractive, which are contrary to the sole worship and service of the living God must be wholly, and without exception, destroyed.

III THAT THE COMMAND TO EXTERMINATE SEEMED HARD, AND WAS UNGRATEFUL (NO DOUBT) TO MOST IN ISRAEL. Why be so extreme? Why not enough to conquer, without extirpating? Why not enough to possess the best of the land, without labouring to clear all the corners? What harm could feeble remnants of heathen do? could they not even make them useful? Even so it seems hard that Christian people may make no compromise with, and show no toleration for, what is sinful and selfish in human life. Why need we be perfect? Shall nothing be allowed to the old Adam? May we never be content? If leading on the whole a Christian life, why weary ourselves about small points of moral excellence? Many things not exactly right may be very useful; may they not be turned to account?

IV THAT AS A FACT THE COMMAND TO EXTIRPATE WAS NOT OBEYED. Many were left unmolested out of indolence and cowardice when the first rush of conquest was passed; many were spared out of unwillingness to go to extremes with them. Even so most Christian people leave considerable portions of their own lives (which God hath given them for a prey, Jer_45:5) under the dominion of passions, emotions, motives which are not Christian. They overcome the tyrannies of sin, but leave the remnants of sin unsubdued; in other words, they subdue their evil passions and desires, but shrink from destroying them. E.g., how few have their temper entirely under control! Thus the kingdom of heaven is never truly theirs, because of the sins which they have been too indolent or too self-confident to dislodge.

V THAT AS A FACT THE OTHER COMMAND WAS NOT OBEYED WHOLLY; SOMETIMES GRAVEN IMAGES WERE SERVED, SOMETIMES HIGH PLACES TURNED TO THE WORSHIP OF THE LORD, TO THE GREAT DETRIMENT AND DANGER OF THE TRUE FAITH. Even so the vain devices and perverted imaginations of the natural man have not been discarded by the servants of Christ in many cases; too often they have been either adopted in their blank disloyalty to Christ (as, e.g., that "covetousness which is idolatry"), or else adapted to religious ends (as many forms of will-worship, material and mental) to the detriment of that singleness of eye and heart which God requires.

VI THAT THE REMNANTS OF THE HEATHEN, IF SPARED, WERE TO BECOME PRICKS AND THORNS (i.e., CONSTANT AND DANGEROUS ANNOYANCES) TO THEM, AND WOULD VEX THEM. Even so if we leave the remnants of sin in the new life which God has given us to lead, these will surely become a continual source of unhappiness and danger. This is why most Christians are more or less restless, dissatisfied, uneven in temper, uncertain in behaviour, having little "peace" and less "joy in the Holy Ghost." It is simply that they have not obeyed the call to make a clearance of old bad habits and evil tempers; do not recognize the sinfulness of little sins; think it does not matter; will not take the trouble necessary to hunt them down; have learnt by experience to tolerate them. No more than this, but no less. They can never be made happy save through patient, prayerful toil to root the remnants of sin out of their hearts and lives.

VII THAT THE END OF SUCH UNFAITHFULNESS, IF NOT AMENDED, WAS TO BE EXPATRIATION. Both races could not dwell in the land; if Israel would not drive out the heathen, he must be driven out himself. Even so if Christian people will not labour by grace to take complete possession in God"s name of their own lives, the end will be that they will lose them altogether. Either grace must make a full end of our sins, or our sins will make an end of grace, because God will withdraw it. There may not be any willful toleration of moral evil in ourselves, nor urging of excuses for its continuance.

Consider again, with respect to Canaan

I THAT ISRAEL WAS TO POSSESS IT, BECAUSE GOD HAD GIVEN IT TO THEM; IT WAS HIS, AND HE CHOSE TO DO SO; NO SUCH TITLE WAS EVER GRANTED TO ANY PEOPLE. Even so we are to take possession (by patient well-doing) of the kingdom of heaven, not because it can be earned, but because God hath freely given it to us, whom he hath chosen. This kingdom, therefore, whether as within us or as above us, is ours by a most absolute and indefeasible title.

II THAT THE GRANT OF CANAAN TO ISRAEL IMPLIED ALL NECESSARY SUCCOUR IN CONQUERING AND OCCUPYING IT, else had the name of God been disgraced. Even so the fact that God hath given to us the kingdom of heaven is pledge positive that we shall receive strength to overcome every hindrance and obstacle, if we be faithful.

III THAT THE DIVISION OF THE LAND WAS SO ORDERED THAT EQUALITY SHOULD AS FAR AS POSSIBLE BE PRESERVED, AND FAVOURITISM MADE IMPOSSIBLE. Even so God hath so ordered his kingdom that none has cause to envy other, and none can complain of partiality; since all shall inherit heaven alike, and yet heaven itself shall be diverse according to the growth of each in grace. (cf. Mat_20:13-15, 23 with Luk_19:15-19 and Mat_25:21-23)

IV THAT THE HOLY LAND WAS DELIMITED BEFORE THEY ENTERED, BUT THE BOUNDARIES ARE TO A CONSIDERABLE EXTENT UNKNOWN. Even so the kingdom of heaven is defined and described in manifold ways in the word of God, and yet it is hard to know how far it extends, and where the boundary runs between that which is of nature and that which is of grace. And as those frontiers could only be traced by such as were locally familiar with the places named, so the extent of the kingdom can only be known by such as are familiar by experience with every part of it.

V THAT THE LIMITS MARKED DOWN WERE APPARENTLY THE NATURAL LIMITS OF CANAAN, WITHOUT ANY RESERVATIONS (such as Philistia, Phoenicia, &c.). Even so God hath given to us to possess the whole life of man which may be lived in holiness, according to the utmost possible expansion of our human nature in all its fullness. ;

VI THAT THE LAND ACTUALLY OCCUPIED BY ISRAEL WAS BOTH LARGER AND SMALLER THAN THAT DELIMITED; not reaching so far from south to north, yet not so strait from west to east. Even so it is certain that Christian life, as lived, does not agree with the ideal in the New Testament. It does not reach so far, not attain its full measure, in one way, while it occupies additional space in another way. And as the additional breadth gained by the trans-Jordanic settlement, while not commanded, was yet (it seems) allowed of God, so the unexpected developments of Christianity (as in the way of civilization, with its varied gifts), although quite outside anything to be gathered from the New Testament, must yet be held allowed of God.

VII THAT KADESH, OF FAMOUS MEMORY, WAS SPECIALLY INCLUDED IN THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER. Even so the experiences of our pilgrimage the "sanctuaries" of our trial time will be part of our eternal inheritance; nothing "holy" will be lost to us.

VIII THAT THE LAND WAS ALLOTTED TO THE PEOPLE BY ELEAZAR THEIR PRIEST AND JOSHUA THEIR CAPTAIN. Even so our inheritance is in all particulars assigned to us by him who is at once the High Priest of our profession and the Captain of our salvation.

IX THAT TOGETHER WITH THEM THERE ACTED PRINCES FROM EACH TRIBE, THAT JUSTICE MIGHT BE MANIFESTLY DONE TO ALL. Even so it would appear that in the judgment of the last day respect will be had even to human ideas of justice; and, moreover, that in some way not yet explained men will themselves act as assessors in that judgment;" (see 1Pe_4:6, where kata anyrwpon seems to mean "in accordance with human ideas of justice) and 1Co_6:2, 1Co_6:3, which seems clearly to refer to the final judgment).

And note that the order of the tribes as here given is very different from any previous list; for two are absent, and the precedence of the rest is determined after a peculiar law by their subsequent position in the Holy Land. So the Divine order in which Churches or individuals stand is different front any founded on earthly or visible considerations, being in accordance with God"s foreknowledge of their heavenly place.

HOMILIES BY E.S. PROUT Ver. 50-56. No compromise with idolatry.

I THE COMMAND GIVEN. The Israelites were to he delivered from complicity with the immoral idolatry of Canaan by such extreme measures as these.

1. The idolaters were to be utterly driven out, and in some cases exterminated. On no account were covenants to be made with them. (Exo_34:12-17)

2. The idols were to be broken to pieces; even the precious metals on them were not to be spared. (Exo_23:24, 30-33 Deu_7:25, Deu_7:26)

3. The high places, groves, altars, pillars, &c. were to be destroyed. ; (Exo_34:13 Deu_12:2, Deu_12:3)

a. Works of art, "pictures," &c., were doomed if tainted by idolatry. ;

b. The very names of the idols were to he consigned to oblivion, and all curious antiquarian inquiries as to the idolatries of the land were discouraged. (Deu_12:3, Deu_12:30, Deu_12:31) Our missionaries have had to urge similar precepts on converts from heathenism; e.g., in Polynesia. And these precepts suggest applications to all Christians who have "escaped the pollutions of the world" and its spiritual idolatries, but who are still surrounded by them. No "covenants" are to be made with men of the world which would compromise the servants of Christ, or mar their testimony against the evil deeds of the would. (2Co_6:14 Eph_5:11) Apply to marriages with the ungodly, and to other close alliances of interest. Illustrate from Jehoshaphat"s history. (2Ki_8:18 2Ch_18:1 2Ch_19:2) Even things lawful in themselves may have to be abandoned; whether money, in order to conquer "covetousness, which is idolatry", (illustrate Mar_10:21) or pleasures which may have associations of evil clinging to them, (1Co_6:12) or even past helps to devotione.g., Luk_17:32 2Co_6:17) The Church of God has the duty of possessing the whole land, "the world"; (1Co_3:22) but to do this they must "dispossess the inhabitants," i.e., they must make no compromise with the spirit of the men of the world. Worldliness is a spirit rather than a course of outward conduct. We must "use the world as not abusing it.

II THE MOTIVES URGED.

1. The peril of perpetual unrest (verse 55). Just so if Christians seek to make compromises with the sins and idolatries of the world they are called to overcome, (1Jn_5:4) and become subject to its maxims and fashions, there can be no true rest. The joy of entire obedience can never be known. (Psa_19:11) Compromise is perpetual conflict, with the conviction of being on the losing side. We are wounded in the tenderest part ("pricks in our eyes") and vexed in the secret chamber of conscience ("thorns in our sides").

2. The peril of being regarded as "conformed to the world," and therefore treated as "enemies of God". (verse 56; Psa_106:34-42 Rom_12:2 Php_3:18, 19 Jam_4:4 2Pe_2:20-22) From such guilty compromises we may be delivered through Christ through his atonement, (Gal_1:4) intercession, (Joh_17:15) example, (ibid. Joh_16:33 Joh_17:16) and Spirit. P. (Rom_8:2 1Co_2:12)

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Ver. 50-56. How to deal with the Canaanites: an urgent warning.

It is assumed here that Israel will conquer the Canaanites; probably by this time the people had grown to somewhat of confidence, by reason of their recent successes over Sihon, Og, and Midian. But it was a thing of the first importance, when the victory was gained, to follow it up in the right way. Victories have been gained, and then worse than lost by want of wisdom to use them aright. Here we have a plain, strict, and severe command concerning the very first thing to be done upon the defeat of the Canaanites. They themselves were to be driven from the land, and all the instruments of idolatry utterly destroyed. The need of this command will be clearly seen if we consider

I THE GREAT OBJECT WHICH WAS BEFORE THE MIND OF GOD IN GIVING THE COMMAND. This is alluded to in verse 54. Canaan was ever under the eye of God as being the destined inheritance of Israel; it had been counted as such even from the time of Abraham. The sadness of the threat against Israel in the day of its apostasy lay in this, that it was a threat of disinheriting. (Num_14:12) And that which had been so long preparing for Israel, which even while the Canaanites were dwelling in it had been under the peculiar supervision of God, was become at last an inheritance of great value. It was to be cultivated to the full, and would then richly repay for all the cultivation. Such interest did God show in giving this land to the Israelites in all its fullness, that he was about to portion it by lot. Each tribe in particular was to feel that the place of its habitation had been chosen by God. Hence the need of leaving no precaution unemployed to make this favoured land secure. It must be guarded from every kind of danger, however remote, improbable, and practically innocuous it may seem. If Israel lost this inheritance, there was no other place for it, no other possession on which it could advance with the certainty of conquest and, what was even more important, with the consciousness of being engaged in a righteous cause. In Canaan, as long as it kept its allegiance to God, Israel was the rightful possessor; but everywhere else it was a lawless, unblessed invader. That which is of inestimable value, and which once gone cannot be replaced, must first of all be founded in security and surrounded with the same. "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?". (Psa_11:3) The security of the people was threatened by all that threatened the honour of God. And it was a distinct dishonour to his name to allow idolaters to remain in the land openly to practice their vicious and degrading rites. Moreover, there was every chance that the people themselves would be subtly and gradually drawn to idolatry. Recollect all these perils, and then you will see good reason why God made a stringent demand for such a sweeping treatment of the Canaanites. The cause of a world"s redemption was bound up with the safety of Israel"s inheritance. And we also have an inheritance (Mat_19:29 Mat_25:34 Act_20:32 Act_26:18 Rom_8:17 Gal_3:29 Eph_1:11, 14 3:6 1Pe_1:4) far transcending that Canaan which was so much in the eyes of the Israelites. If it is worth anything at all, it is worth everything; worth all the self-denial, perseverance, complete submission to God, and patient waiting which are necessary for the attaining of it. We must not leave unexpelled from our life or undestroyed from our circumstances anything that may imperil the inheritance. Walk with no companion, engage in no business, cultivate no taste or recreation, if there be in them the slightest chance of peril to the inheritance. It is a glorious thing to conquer temptation in actual conflict, but it is better still so to watch and pray as not to enter into temptation at all.

II THE GREAT TEMPTATION ON THE PART OF ISRAEL TO REST SATISFIED WITH AN IMPERFECT CONQUEST. Not of course that Israel thought it imperfect. Israel was anxious in its own way to have the conquest and possession complete. But God alone had the requisite wisdom and foresight to direct the people into real security.

There were many temptations to what he knew was a premature cessation of hostilities. The Canaanites would in due time make attempts at compromises and partial surrenders, even as Pharaoh had made like attempts when his people were smitten by the plagues. There was the temptation that came from the weariness of long waiting. A complete expulsion involved much delay. We are tempted even in the affairs of this life to premature conclusions through sheer impatience. We want to pluck the fruit long before it is ripe. Moreover, the Israelites, many of them at least, would wish to make slaves of the Canaanites. They were not entering Canaan with the steward-feeling in their hearts. The promise was sufficiently fulfilled in their estimate when they got the land to do as they liked with it. The tribes crossing Jordan had the same carnal views concerning their possession as Reuben and Gad concerning the land which they had chosen. There was the temptation coming from self-confidence; that of supposing an enemy enfeebled to be practically the same as an enemy destroyed. There might be the temptation also to show a human, ignorant, undiscerning pity, as contrasted with a Divinely wise severity.

Such utter expulsion as God demanded could easily be made to look unreasonable, and indeed nothing better than sheer tyranny. It takes much patient inquiry to discover that what may be kind on the surface is cruel underneath; kind at the present, cruel in the future; kind to the few, cruel to the many; kind for time, utterly ruinous for eternity. There was no reasonable pity in leaving those who were utterly corrupt to become the plentiful sources of idolatrous infection to the people of Jehovah. There was also the temptation that came from a very imperfect sympathy with the purposes of God. During their wanderings the Israelites had shown again and again their lack of apprehension and appreciation with respect to Jehovah. What then of hearty aversion from idolatry could be expected when its subtle perils came upon them? Only those who were filled with an abiding sense of the holiness and majesty of God could estimate the dangers of idolatry and take the precautions needful to guard against them.

III THE EARNEST WARNING IN WHICH GOD SPECIFIES THE RESULTS OF NEGLIGENCE.

1. The earlier result (verse 55). These Canaanites, however fairly they speak, and with whatever leniency they be treated, will turn out pricks and thorns in the end. "Those which ye let remain of them." One, even though he be a child, and seem easily moulded to other ends, may be the cause of measureless mischief. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Behold how great a mass of matter a tiny flame will kindle. A Canaanite, a real Canaanite, worshipping his idols, must be a bad man. Just as a true, believing connection with God leads into all purity and virtue, so a groveling before idols makes a man vicious; and not only vicious, but the viciousness is upon a sort of principle and rule. Those who change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things, change at the same time much besides. It is one of the unspeakable miseries of idolatry that it changes vices into virtues, and idolaters do the most wicked things for conscience" sake. Hence the Canaanite could not but hurt the Israelite; it was his very nature so to do. He might undertake allegiance and amity, but by the very necessity of the case he must prove in the end a prick in the eye and a thorn in the side. Therefore let Israel uproot with a timely and unsparing severity all that would end in pricks and thorns. Study the nature of things in their germs. Stop evil if you can at the very beginning.

Consider, in connection with this expulsion of the Canaanites and the dangers of idolatry, the whole of the first chapter of Romans.

2. The later result (verse 56). Leave the Canaanites unexpelled, and the end will be the expulsion of Israel. "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin". (Jam_4:17) In the light of this threatening, how clearly it is seen that what made the Canaanites so offensive in the sight of God was their idolatry! For centuries they had been pursuing their hideous practices in that very land where a holy and righteous God had revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And if the Israelites by a disobedient leniency fell into idolatry, their state would be even sadder and more dishonourable than that of Canaan, because the fall would be from such privileges. Note that God placed this expulsion of the Canaanites as a work of obedience for the people to perform. If they failed in obedience he would not by some miracle expel the Canaanites himself. "As I thought to do unto them." The land in itself was no more than any other land on the face of the earth. It was the people the holy people of God who sanctified the land, and not the land the people. And if they disobeyed God in the presence of all these idols, with their associated abominations, then the holy became unholy, and the Canaanites might as well stay there as remove anywhere else. Y. (Pro_8:20, 21 Ecc_7:11 Rev_21:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Command to Exterminate the Inhabitants of Canaan

v. 50. And the Lord spake unto Moses in the Plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho, saying,

v. 51. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan, an event whose happening is here assumed as most certain to take place,

v. 52. then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, idols hewn out of stone, and destroy all their molten images, idols cast from metals, and quite pluck down all their high places, the altars and places of worship on hills. Lev 26:30;

v. 53. and ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, namely, by exterminating them, and dwell therein; for I have given you the land to possess it.

v. 54. And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families, every generation receiving that part of the country for a home to which the lot drawn from the urn directed its members; and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance; every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. Cf Num 26:53-55.

v. 55. But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, namely, by uprooting them entirely, then it shall come to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, causing them just as sharp pains as the sharpest thorns would to the most delicate parts of the human body, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell, cause them oppression and tribulation.

v. 56. Moreover, it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them, namely, drive them out of the land and destroy them. This warning was repeated by Joshua, Jos 23:13, and was fulfilled in the history of both Israel and Judah. It is the will of God to this day that Christians, although living in the midst of the godless children of the world, should keep themselves altogether uncontaminated of the world.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

demolish all their high places

"destroy all of their high places"

translationWords

Yahweh

Moses

Israel

Canaan

cast out

image

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.