The nations that were left

God made a covenant with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). He spoke to him 7 more times about this covenant and gave additional details about it (Gen 12:5-7, Gen 13:14-17, Gen 15, Gen 17, Gen 18:1-15, Gen 21:12-13, Gen 22:16-18). He promised him the land of Canaan, which was inhabited at that time by 7 nations. Those nations were wicked before the Lord and were committing many abominations such as idolatry, witchcraft, and sexual perversion (Lev 18:24-28, Deut 7:22-25, Deut 9:4-5, Deut 12:2 & 29, Deut 18:9-14). They were not going to give up their land willingly, so God's judgment for their sins was that they would be conquered by Israel (Ex 34:24, Lev 18:24-28, Deut 7, Deut 8:20, Deut 9:1-5, Deut 11:23, Deut 12:29, Deut 19:1, Deut 20:16-18, Deut 31:3). Some people criticize God and the Bible about this conquest, but who are we to challenge God's judgment? This was a one-time situation, and conquest is not unique to Israel. It's interesting how sometimes people apply one set of criteria to God and the Bible and then abandon it for everything else. People have been challenging Israel's right to the land ever since they took it.

God had told Abraham that before his descendants would inherit the land, they would be in bondage in another land; but after 400 years they would return (Gen 15:13-16). At the set time, Moses led Israel out of Egypt to go to the promised land (Ex 1-14). However, they fell into unbelief, so that whole generation was sentenced to die in the wilderness (Num 13-14). Moses also was not allowed to enter the land (Num 20:12, Dut 32:49-52). Joshua was appointed his successor, and he led Israel over the Jordan River to possess the land (Deut 1:38, Deut 3:28, Deut 31:14 & 23, Josh 1, Josh 3). He led them in battle until they possessed the land (Josh 6-11).

God warned them several times to drive out and destroy those nations so they would not lead them into their sins and bring a curse upon themselves instead of a blessing (Lev 26, Deut 28). That first generation did not fall away, but they didn't fully remove all the inhabitants (Jud 1). The Lord had told them that He would not drive them out all at once. He gave them 3 reasons for this. A natural reason was so that they would not be overrun by the wildlife (Ex 23:29-30, Deut 7:22-25). A spiritual reason was that God was going to use those nations that were left to test Israel to see if they were committed to keep His commandments (Jud 2:21-14, Jud 3:1-4). They had a history of falling into idolatry and sin. Abraham came from a family of idolators (Josh 24:2). They worshipped idols when they were in Egypt (Lev 17:7, Josh 24:14, Eze 20:5-10, Eze 23:3 &19). They worshipped idols when they were in the wilderness (Ex 32, Acts 7:39-43 (Amos 5:25-26). They also failed to circumcise their children (Josh 5:1-9), and God foresaw that they were going to do so in the promised land (Deut 31-32), which they did (Deut 31:16-18, Deut 32:15-21 & 37-40, Judges 2, Eze 23:8 &27, etc.). They worshipped idols during their captivity (Deut 28:36 & 64), and while in exile (Eze 20:39).They needed to be tested and proven, especially because they had failed many times before.

Another reason God left some of the nations in the promised land was because Israel had spent 400 years in bondage in Egypt and had no experience in war (Jud 3:2). That was why He did not bring them on the shortest route to the promised land, which was only an 11-day journey (Deut 1:2). They were not mentally ready for war (Ex 13:17-18). They were failing to get out of the mindset of their slavery in Egypt (Ex 14:11-12, Ex 16:3-6 & 32, Ex 17:3). The Lord gave them a preparatory victory over the Amalekites (Ex 17:8-16). When they were ready to enter the promised land, they chose to believe the 10 spies that said they could not conquer the land rather than the 2 spies who said they could (Num 13-14). They were afraid of the giants, but the descendants of Jacob's brother Esau as well as the Moabites who were not in covenant with God had already conquered giants (Deut 2:9-12). They chose instead to return to Egypt (Num 14:4)., although they did not. Later, God gave Israel three victories in the wilderness to prepare them for the promised land (Num 21, Num 31). They conquered the Amorites, the people of Bashan, and the Midianites. These were important victories which they referred to throughout their history (Deut 2, Deut 3:2-6, Deut 4:46, Deut 29:7, Josh 2:10, Josh 9:10, Jud 11:19-21, Nen 9:22, Ps 135:11, Ps 136:19). You can read the book "The Warrior Mindset" available on this website or at Amazon.com for more on the frame of mind Christians need for spiritual warfare.

The Israelites never did drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan, and they never did stop falling into idolatry and sin until they were conquered and taken captives. The northern tribes were conquered by Assyria (2Ki 17), and the southern tribes were conquered by Babylon (2Ki 2:25). There are references to such people as the Philistines, Hittites, and Jebusites throughout their history before they were conquered.

These 3 reasons God left some of the nations in the promised land have spiritual correlations for Christians today. Sometimes people get discouraged at the pace at which they are progressing, whether that is individually or as a church. Just as the Israelites were not ready to take all the land, we may not be ready to move into what God wants us to eventually possess. For example, a church may be relatively new and does not yet have trained staff to handle a sudden influx of many people.

God wants us to be successful, and He knows what we need to be so (2Tim 3:17). We cannot circumvent the process or we will end up not acquiring everything we need. God does not operate like the public schools. There is no age-based advancement. We don't get promoted to the next level automatically by virtue of time spent at this one. He will make sure we have learned the lessons of this stage before we move on. This includes testing to confirm that. Sometimes we wonder why we have struggles and why God does not remove them. One reason is because salvation does not eliminate our human nature (Rom 6-8). God equips us to mortify our sinful nature through self- denial, discipline, prayer, Bible devotion, fasting, and partaking of His divine nature (Mt 16:24-25, 2Pet 1:1-15). God will do what we cannot do, but He will not do what we can. He is not raising softees or entitled spoiled brats. He doesn't expect new Christians to act like they've been around for 20 years, but neither does He expect those that have been around for 20 years to act like babies. Sometimes we make the mistake of just working on overcoming bad habits without replacing them with good ones. There is no spiritual vacuum (Mt 12:43-45). So, just as with Israel's conquest of Canaan, some things fall relatively easily (Josh 10-11), and others will take effort (Heb 12:4).

Sometimes the question is not about if God wants us to possess His promises. It is about how much we want it. After the battles for Canaan were over, and after 5 of the 12 tribes had received their land, there were still 7 tribes that had not possessed their inheritance (Josh 18:1-10). God had not failed to keep His word (Josh 21:42-45), but there was apparent apathy among those tribes to go get what God had for them. Sometimes people make excuses for why they have not taken possession of their promises like Joseph (Josh 17:14-19). They say it is too hard. Sometimes people blame others instead of taking inventory of their commitment. Caleb provides a stark contrast to this (Josh 14:6-15). When he was 85 years old, he went to Joshua to claim his promise, and he had to fight to get it. He imparted this drive in his daughter also (Josh 15:13-19). He demanded this tenacity in any who would marry his daughter also. Othniel accepted the challenge of what it would take to be her husband. I taught my children to value the things they had and not to treat them frivolously. I told them God watches us to see how we take care of what He gives us. Why would God gives more if we are not taking care of what we already have (Mt 25:14-30, Lk 10:11-12)? Whether you have $10 or $10 million, the question is about how are we handling what we have. Most lottery winners are back where they were and sometimes even worse within 5 years because they weren't handling what they already had. It is a matter of principle.

Entering the promised land has some correlation for us. It is not about taking possession of physical land like Israel did, but we are to take possession of spiritual territory. Just as Israel had to fight for their territory, so will we. God gives us the strategy, armor, weapons, and strength to win (2Cor 10:3-5, Eph 6:10-18). If we fail, it is not God's fault. We can enter into God's promise by being born again of water and the Spirit (Lk 24:44-47, Jn 3:3-5, Acts2:38-39), but there are still battles to face. The difference is we don't have to face them alone. God will be with us when we follow Him. David was one of the greatest warriors in the Bible, and the reason for his success was that he prayed to get direction from God before going into battle, and then He followed it. Someday Christians will be able to rest from their battles in this life. Whether by death or rapture, we will enter into a future rest (Heb 3-4).