The Book of Law: We are Priveleged

For the last little bit we've been working our way through Deuteronomy.  The book was written as the Israelites were about to claim their new homes in the Promised Land after wandering through the desert for 40 years.  Moses is reminding his people to keep God first in their lives as they enter into the new land and encounter new people.

Moses has some instructions about some of the new people the Israelites are going to encounter, too.  The Israelites are to completely obliterate them off the face of the earth (Deut. 7:1-5).  Wha??  How can a God of love and mercy wipe out everyone, even women and children?  Even though God is loving and merciful, He is also just.  The people the Israelites were too destroy were also decedents of Adam and Noah and had as much a share in His creation than anyone, but God cannot allow evil to continue unchecked.  For example, God punished the Israelites by making them wander through the desert until all the ones who rebelled had died off.  God's command to destroy these nations was both a judgement and a safety measure.  On one hand, these people were being judged for their sins, and Israel was the instrument of God's justice,and we know Israel was on the receiving end a few times later (II Chron. 36:17, Is. 10:12).  On the other hand, God was also protecting His people from ruining their lives with the idolatry and immoral living that brought these other people to destruction.

God told His people that they weren't to act like the people they were destroying because they were His own special chosen people (Deut. 7:6-8).  But how did Israel deserve to be chosen above all the other countries of the world?  Why does God choose us now?  It was not a matter of Israel's merit, but of God keeping His promises.  Just as God chose Israel and set them apart to be holy, He also chooses us today to be a part of His special possession.  It is not because of anything we've done, it's because God chose us out of His goodness and grace.

Moses also reiterated his warnings to the Israelites about modeling themselves after the nations they were going to conquer (Deut. 7:25-26).  They weren't to get the silver and gold that was on the pagan idols, but instead destroy them completely (precious metal and all).  Moses' warning holds as true for us today as it did for the Israelites back then.  Sure, it might not be little idol statutes or anything like that, but there are still plenty of sinful distractions around.  For example, we might think that it's okay to get close to sin as long as we don't actually participate.  After all, even though everyone else around me is going something wrong, I know I won't do anything!  But just being close to it all can still hurt us because we get attracted to what's going on around us and finally, little by little, we give in.

Moses is right, it is wiser to even avoid getting into a situation where we could be tempted to sin than going in and assuming that we won't!  Remember, God knows us even better than we know ourselves, and He wants to protect us from harmful things (even if you think it's the coolest thing ever)!