Exodus 23:25-33, “You shall serve the
LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take
sickness away from among you. (26) None shall miscarry or be barren in your
land; I will fulfil the number of your days.
(27) I will send my terror before
you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come,
and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. (28)
And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites,
the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. (29) I
will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become
desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. (30)
Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have
increased and possess the land. (31) And I will set your border from the Red Sea
to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I
will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them
out before you. (32) You shall make no covenant with them and
their gods. (33) They shall not dwell in
your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will
surely be a snare to you.”
The above verses demonstrate to us the blessings that come with
obedience, as well as the many mercies, favour, protection, provision and help
of God. The people of Israel are being encouraged to remain faithful to God, to
live in obedience to God’s laws and serve only God.
They are given encouragement by means of the promised blessings for
their faithfulness and obedience. God will provide for their physical needs, He
will keep them in health, He will bless their families and their land. He will
fight with and for them, granting them victory and success over their enemies.
He will be the one that leads them through the conquest and they shall eat the
fruit and crops that were planted by others, by their enemies. They will know
the full protection and provision of God. The final promised blessing is that
God would give them a great land, the promise inheritance.
Once having stated all the blessings they shall know and enjoy from
God if they faithfully and obediently serve Him, after having been encouraged
to this, this chapter ends with another call to faithfulness, and gives a clear
warning.
The Israelites are given some specific instructions: They are to drive
out the nations from the land, they are not to enter into any covenant with
them, they are not to embrace the idolatry of the nations around them, and
serve those gods alongside their worship of God. These instructions come with a
clear warning. If they fail to do this, to drive out the nations, making no
covenants and reject their false gods, then these very things, the nations with
their idolatrous ways, will become a snare to them, it will bring them into
danger, into a trap from which there is little escape.
Tragically, we know that in spite of this and other clear warnings,
despite all the blessings promised and encouragements given to be obedient and
faithful, they people of Israel fail on all three accounts. They fail to drive
out the nations, they enter into covenants with some of the nations and adopt
the gods of these nations as their own. Their actions truly become a snare and
the people of Israel suffer under God’s hand of judgement and wrath against
sin.
This is a clear lesson and encouragement to us to pursue the path of
faithfulness and obedience to God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. We must not
become like this generation of Israelites, for they presumed upon their
position as God’s people, and failed to address the sin in their lives, or to
respond in obedience to the simple commands of God. We must watch ourselves
closely, never presuming upon our special position as children of God, we must
realise that God takes our sin seriously and will therefore discipline us if He
deems it necessary. The path of obedience and faithfulness is the path that
leads to the further blessing, mercy and grace of God, and demonstrates our
thankfulness towards Him for His great faithfulness to us.
Holy Father, thank You for the clear
warnings that You give in Your Word, and for the many encouragements to help us
to remain faithful and obedient. We praise You that You are so good to us, and
when we walk in faithfulness and obedience You make Your goodness know to us in
even greater measure. We pray that You would help us to heed these warnings, to
understand that faithfulness and obedience is better, and to therefore strive
after it all the more. Amen.
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