Joshua and Judges: Canaanites under the ban - The false gods will turn the heart away from following the true God. Jos 3:9-13

Title: Joshua and Judges: Canaanites under the ban - The false gods will turn the heart away from following the true God. JOS 3:9-13   

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

 

JOS 3:9 Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God."

 

JOS 3:10 And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.

 

The summons to the children of Israel, i.e., to the whole nation in the persons of its representatives, to draw near to hear the words of the Lord its God, points to the importance of the following announcement by which Israel was to learn that there was a living God in the midst of it, who had the power to fulfill His word.

 

The God of Israel would now manifest himself as a living God by the extermination of the Canaanites, seven tribes of whom are enumerated, as in DEU 7:1.

 

The promise of destruction of the Canaanite tribes was to fill the Israelites with confidence, but it was also a reminder of the dangers that came with intermingling with them rather than destroying them - idol worship.

 

These particular tribes are mentioned as a reminder of the warning that they are to place the ban on all of them. The ban meant to "cut off," and denotes that which is taken away from use and abuse on the part of men, and surrendered to God in an irrevocable and unredeemable manner.

 

The ban - to "cut off." Under the ban humans are put to death. Cattle and material objects are either destroyed or given to the temple sanctuary.

 

They therefore were not to live with them as neighbors, not to intermarry with them because if they allowed this then their false gods would eventually infiltrate the Israelites and the root of poison would defile many.

 

DEU 7:1 states that these tribes are to be cleared away. The Hebrew word nashal means to draw out or to cast away. These nations are to be driven out from their lands and possessions.

 

Canaanites are to be driven away or they will draw the people away from following God. This is a clear reminder to us that we all must be careful what we allow in our own personal lives.

 

Sometimes we allow sinful and idolatrous things to exist before us and self-justify that we are strong enough to not allow it to influence us. We self-justify because we really do want the idolatry to continue, albeit, often in secret.

 

PSA 101:3

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;

I hate the work of those who fall away;

It shall not fasten its grip on me.

 

In Joshua's farewell he admonishes them that if they do not decide to serve the Lord from the heart, and not only because of the letter of the Law that their only options are the gods of Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites - feeble choices indeed.

 

JOS 24:15 And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

 

There is no life in these things and they are roots of poison that will defile the true life that is Christ. The cost is love, joy, peace, tranquility, etc.

 

DEU 7:4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you.

 

Much of the youth of this nation have been turned to idolatry of various types and the cost to them as well as the nation is high. Never before has so much idolatrous falsehood been spread to many so plentifully and so fast.

 

A leading Australian chiropractor was featured in the English newspaper the Daily Mail with shocking X-rays that show teenagers and children as young as seven developing hunchbacks and abnormally curved spines because of an addiction to smartphones. He called it 'text neck' - a condition often brought on by bending over phones and tablets for several hours at a time - and it's becoming an epidemic. Dr James Carter, based in Niagara Park, on the Central Coast, said the relatively new condition can lead to anxiety and ­depression as well as spinal damage. He revealed he had seen an 'alarming increase' in the number of patients with the condition over the past few years and said 50 per cent of them are school-age teenagers. 

 

Did the idols of the past or the smartphones of the present give a clear picture of right and wrong as it is clearly stated by God? After all, it is His universe and they, and we, are His creatures. Do they clearly present virtues as well as the history of the struggle that mankind has had with them, revealing the life of heroes who have championed them and the falls of the villains who have attacked them as well as the clods and blockheads who have fallen victim to the propagandist? These are found abundantly in history and literature and most importantly, in the Bible. What does the young generation do without any knowledge of them?

 

"By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes." The Abolition of Man, C.S Lewis.

 

"The human mind has no more power of inventing a new value than of imagining a new primary color, or, indeed, of creating a new sun and a new sky for it to move in." [ibid.]

 

The 17th century English theologian Thomas Traherne asked, "Can you be righteous unless you be just in rendering to things their due esteem? All things were made to be yours and you were made to prize them according to their value. [Centuries of Meditation, Thomas Traherne]

 

Aristotle said that the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought.

 

It would seem that in our day, the great idol of the time is "progress," and not towards something of more value but simply progress for progress' sake. The idols of the past as well as those of the present appeal to fundamental, base instinct and that whatever man wants or desires at any given time is not only a fundamental right but in fact the greatest of good. A system devoid of virtue or true authority in the Creator looks for virtue in itself, and through it look for eternity, it will never find it. Statements that people agree upon cannot become imperatives or commands. Commands demand true authority and not majority agreement. Something that is closer to fallen man's basest instinct is not more "real" as the progressive idol priesthood declares.

 

Children must necessarily be trained in these things before they reach the age of reflective thought, for if that time comes and no foundation is built they will be easy prey to the propagandist who will prey on their empty but reflective thought.

 

There is true beauty and true ugliness as one is of God and the other has been born of the rebellion against God. The well-nurtured youth is one who is taught each most clearly and then when the age of reason comes he will hold out his hands in welcome and recognition in the affinity he bears to one and the repugnance he bears to the other.

 

For those who have not been so well nurtured, the word of God, alive and powerful, piercing between soul and spirit, a judge of the thoughts and intensions of the heart, will set them right.

 

JOS 3:9 Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God."

 

JOS 3:10 And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.

 

JOS 3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan.

 

JOS 3:12 Now then, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe.

 

JOS 3:13 And it shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above shall stand in one heap."

 

That heap was likely very tall.

 

The Lord of all the earth is a reminder of His omnipotence and was to give the people confidence. The government of God is high and above all the elements of the earth.

 

The Israelites might have no doubt that as the seas and rivers are under His control so are His enemies and the results of His divine purpose are yes and amen. What need they fear when the Lord of the earth confronts the gods of wood and stone? Why should they fear when their enemies call upon demons for assistance who could not even move a leaf without the wind, never mind fully stop up in a heap a raging river?

 

PSA 56:1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me; Fighting all day long he oppresses me.

 

PSA 56:2 My foes have trampled upon me all day long,

For they are many who fight proudly against me.

 

PSA 56:3 When I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee.

 

PSA 56:4 In God, whose word I praise,

In God I have put my trust;

I shall not be afraid.

What can mere man do to me?

 

Go to:

ISA 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance, And the hills in a pair of scales?

 

ISA 40:13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him?

 

ISA 40:14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, And informed Him of the way of understanding?

 

ISA 40:15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

 

ISA 40:16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

 

ISA 40:17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

 

ISA 40:18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

 

ISA 40:19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

 

ISA 40:20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter.

 

ISA 40:21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

 

ISA 40:22 It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

 

ISA 40:23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

 

ISA 40:24 Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.

 

ISA 40:25 "To whom then will you liken Me That I should be his equal?" says the Holy One.

 

ISA 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power Not one of them is missing.