DRIVE THEM OUT

“…you are to expel all the people living in the land from in front of you. Destroy all their stone figures, destroy all their metal statues, and demolish all their high places.”
Numbers 33:52

We have seen it time and time again in the scriptures – Adonai is a jealous God. We have read it in the Commandments, we have read it in different passages throughout the Torah thus far, and here again we see it once more. Because Adonai doesn’t appreciate competition, His command to the people of Isra’el is to drive the pagan tribes out. Now please note that Adonai is not in the business of killing people, but Adonai does come to a point where He has had enough. In that time He gives them over to the ways of their flesh (Rom 1:24), and the people move outside of His covering. I pray I never find myself outside His covering.
The nations were, however. And it was against them that Isra’el was to expel all the people. The command was simple and the words of Adonai stated that in order to inherit the land they would have to destroy the ba’als and drive out the people. But notice the words of Numbers 33:55. “But if you don’t drive out the inhabitants of the land from in front of you, then those you allow to remain will become like thorns in your eyes and stings in your sides…” Why was Adonai so determined to have the Promised Land clean of these people? The number one answer to this question I believe rests in the fact that the wicked would sway His chosen people away. This was the case with the golden calf. The people reverted to the ways of sin. This is the case with us still today. While there is a bend toward Adonai, there is still out freewill and human nature that, when left alone, we will lean toward sin.
The way to prevent the sway is to remove the cause. This too is the way it is with us today. When the drunkard wants to be free he doesn’t leave a beer in the fridge. No, he removes it. What happens when it stays there? It will eventually get drank.
We know in looking ahead in the book of Joshua that this was their fate. Because the army of Isra’el failed to remove completely the people of the land, they fell into their ways. Treaties were signed, peoples were allowed to live, and in the end, years later, Isra’el slipped into captivity because it failed to remove the pagan peoples from the land. As we approach the 9th of Av, the day in which we lament over the destruction of both temples, I hope we are leery about what we allow in our land. I hope we see this date as a reminder to ourselves that even a hint of sin, even one person left un-removed, can be the thorn in the eye and the sting in the side.

Numbers 33:50 – 34:15
Numbers 34:16 – 35:8