07/03/2008 Exodus 23:27

07/03/2008

Exodus 23:27 - 33 (HCSB) ²⁷“I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror and throw into confusion all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat. ²⁸I will send the hornet (or panic) in front of you, and it will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites away from you. ²⁹I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year; otherwise, the land would become desolate, and wild animals would multiply against you. ³⁰I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous and take possession of the land. ³¹I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you. ³²You must not make a covenant with them or their gods. ³³They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against Me. If you worship their gods, it will be a snare for you.”

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The Israelites have crossed the Red Sea on dry land and watched as it closed in and consumed the Egyptian army. Now, they have camped at the base of Mount Sinai. Moses has gone up to the mountain and God has given the Ten Commandments and now Moses lays out the code of justice for the people.

In this segment, God is dictating to the people about how they should move into the Promised Land, and also the boundaries. I find this interesting in that the Israelites have been promised a land that is already inhabited. But, why *this* land? Honestly, I don’t know for certain except that the region is very fertile and somewhat central to Europe, Asia, and Africa.

As Israel enters the land, God had declared that the people will fear them and more or less simply abandon the land, their homes and cities. Remember how God hardened the heart of Pharaoh in order to show His power. Now, He has stated that He will place fear in the hearts of the nations so that Israel’s advance will be made easy.

But look at verse 29. This is very fascinating to me. God has planned for the Israelites to move into the land a little at a time and to expand throughout in stages. Thereby, when they go into a land, its cities are already built, its fields are already plowed, and its wells are already dug.

If the land were to be completely evacuated at once, then the abandoned places may fall into ruin before Israel could take possession of it. See, in my logic, I would think that God would use some natural disaster or event to completely evacuate the land, but God had a different plan. Rather than just giving them a land where they would have to “start from scratch”, He planned to give them a land that would immediately be habitable and accommodating.

Next, let’s look at verse 32. This verse jumped out to me because I already know of an instance yet to come where Israel breaks this command and it indeed, causes them troubles. Israel recently ceded territory to Palestine. Many Jews see this as breaking the command about Israel making treaties with the inhabitants. This brought about the swift decline of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. We’ll talk more about that later.

Finally, what are the boundaries of the land that Israel will inhabit? They are The Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Euphrates, and the “wilderness” – most likely the southern peninsula of what is now Saudi Arabia. This is a vast territory, compared to the land now occupied by Israel. For Israel to occupy this entire area would mean that Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Palestine, and possibly more countries to complete cease to exist or yield large portions of their land. This land has been promised to Israel, and Israel *will* someday possess it.

All in all, I want you, today, to consider God’s faithfulness. God has demonstrated His authority over nature (the Red Sea for instance and the 10 plagues), and over men (the heart of Pharaoh). We can trust Him to carry out His promises on our behalf. And even though we don’t always see the full result of those promises, if we remain true to His commands, He will be faithful in His promises.

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