Let your enemies be scattered!
Thus goes the history of the Israelites in the wilderness: “And whenever the Ark set out, Moses said, ’Rise up, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.”’ (Numbers 10:35)
“And when the Ark was set down, he would say, ‘Return, O LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel!’” (Numbers 10:36)
Yaweh gave instructions to Moses about the route of the long journey that lay ahead of them:
“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.
“If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
“Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. If you worship me, the Lord your God, I will bless you with food and water and take away all your sicknesses. ” (Exodus 23:20-25)
There are people today who get very upset about this instruction of the Lord regarding other tribes It is clear their opinions are based on a real lack of knowledge and understanding of the truth.
God had once already dealt with human wickedness by sending the flood, in which He wiped out all but the members of a chosen family who would act righteously. He was looking for a righteous nation who would become His chosen vehicle for His redemption of mankind from sin, through the coming of His Son.
Idolatry
But fast forward 1000 years or so – sin was rampant again in the people: every kind of wickedness. The tribes mentioned above, in addition to ‘marketplace’ wickedness, were worshipers of idols: Baal and Moloch – and the people thought both of these inanimate gods favored temple prostitution, and the regular sacrifice of live infants on their altars.
Talk about gods formed in the image of man…
This idolatry was anathema to Yaweh. He wanted none of that in His chosen people – hence the instruction given time and again to wipe out the enemy tribes.
Well, the people disobeyed Him, and although the Israelites had women of their own, they made a practice throughout their history of taking foreign wives. The natural outcome of that was the reintroduction of the worship of Baal and Moloch. (Think King Ahab’s wife Jezebel as an example.)
This was a regular pattern in the history of the Jewish people. Time and again, they backslid on this point, time and again the Lord allowed their enemies to overcome them and their fortunes slumped. Time and again, there arose a righteous leader who cleaned up false worship and set the nation back on track. For a while…
It still goes on today. Abortionists, take note! Baal is still calling for worship, still anathema to God. Do not look for a lovey-dovey God of unconditional love – that is not His way, thank goodness!
He will not be mocked. Nor will He condone the slaughter of the innocents.
So spiritual warfare goes on – and it will continue until the End Of The Age. Our present troubles are evidence of this – and we wonder why life does not go well?
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