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GOD’S PURPOSE IN DRIVING OUT THE CANAANITES
LORD’S DAY, AUGUST 29
Deuteronomy 9:1-8

Psalm 92:1-6

 

“For thou, LORD, hast made me glad
through thy work: I will triumph

in the works of thy hands.”

 

GOD’S PURPOSE IN DRIVING OUT THE CANAANITES
 
The Lord specifically told Israel that it was not on the basis of their righteousness that He favoured them against the Canaanites. The wickedness of the Canaanites was the reason that the Lord had to destroy them. All along they were idol worshippers and they denied the true God. Their moral conduct was also so base that some of the things they did cannot be uttered. They also made for themselves images and pictures that represented their deities, and others depicted their lifestyle. Israel was told to destroy them including their handiworks.
 
Israel is also described as a stiff-necked people. The rebellion of Israel throughout their journey in the wilderness was still very fresh in the mind of Moses. He made them to understand that God was not giving them that good land to possess because of any merit on their part. God intended to perform the word that He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the covenant that He would give that land to their descendants. He also reminded them of how they provoked the Lord to anger in the wilderness. They had no basis to demand any favour from the Lord. These are the words of Moses to them: “Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD” (Deut 9:7).
 
Moses also reminded them of their rebellion in Horeb (another name for Mt Sinai), when Moses had gone to receive the Law from the hand of God. The events of that time are narrated in Exodus 32. The people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain (he was there forty days and forty nights), and they quickly forgot the Lord and put their hope in imaginary gods.
 
THOUGHT: Without the grace of God, what can man do?

PRAYER: Father, keep me close to Thee lest I forget Thy mercies.

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