DRIVING OUT THE NATIONS

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations – the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you – and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.”
Deuteronomy 7:1-2

After marching in the desert for forty years, the people of Israel were standing on the brink of entering into the Promise God had given them. In just a few short days Moses would stand on the mountain and watch as Joshua took the people into a land God called theirs. But there were a few final restrictions that God wanted to emphasize, or re-emphasize, before His people crossed the border. This second law that Moses repeated included a called to obedience, a challenge to teach the next generations of God’s ways, and here in Deuteronomy 7:1-2, a plan to prevent who God considered outcasts in His people’s land. Naming seven nations specifically, God through Moses made the point to call out nations which needed to be destroyed. But have you ever wondered why? True, they did not serve God but rather gods. But what was it about these nations that defined them?
The religious beliefs of the Hittites were based obviously on the worship of other gods, a “thousand gods” to be exact. This extreme polytheistic people were to be completely destroyed as their focus was not on the one true God. But let me also point out that these people were thick with terror, as the Hittites stemmed from Heth, whose name means terror. Let us not confuse fear with terror. Terror is the thing inside your mind you cannot see yet still paralyzes you. This same spirit of terror, however, is linked also to suicide, which can be linked to the massive number of suicide missions within terrorist groups. Furthermore, a deep depression and sadness followed these people based on the umbrella of terror they lived under. But God does not want us to live with terror.
The Girgashites were known as ‘clay dwellers’, referring to the fact that they focused on earthly, temporal things. Right away we see how this is contrary to God’s way as we are advised to focus on God and things eternal (II Cor 4:18). The Girgashites focused on things visible and as such were analytical people, basing their decisions on the pros and cons as opposed to the things ordained within God’s law. But we know that in some cases God’s ways are not seen visibly at first. Case in point, the book of Esther. Nowhere in this book is God even named, yet we see His hand in the very words penned. God may be working to warn you, preserve you, and keep you, but if our decision is based only on what we see as opposed to how God leads, then we will never fully know His still small voice. God wanted His people focused only on Him and His ways, therefore these people also had to be destroyed.
Nestled within the mountains were the people known as the Amorites. These ‘mountain people’ were bent on self-exaltation. The Hebrew word AMAR is defined as uttering or saying, and it was this people that wanted their five minutes of fame constantly. The spirit of these people can be seen in past leaders such as Saddam Hussein or Adolf Hitler, whose pictures of themselves plastered cities and subjects worshipped them. However, when the Word speaks of removing mountains, it may not only be referring to removing big problems. It very well may also be referring to the removal of the Amorites in our own life, those issues which strut their pride and prevent the humility that God calls strength.
The term Canaanite refers to the lowlands people, but also refers to low earthly passions. What is a low earthly passion? The answer to this is an addiction or sexual perversion. The best examples of a Canaanite cluster are the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 10:19). It is safe to say that the spirits of homosexuality and lesbianism, along with all forms of fornication, derive from the Canaanite spirits which operate the feel good emotions and close the mind to sound judgment. Why would God want these people destroyed? The answer to this can be found in Leviticus 20 where God lays down the law on sexual things not to do. These people were going against His law and to prevent Israel from following these un-Godly ways, they had to be taken out.
The term Perizzite means belonging to a village, giving the connotation of ‘smallness’. The Perizzites, though large enough to be named in this passage, were people who lived under the idea of limits. There was very little opportunity to get ahead. Their limited vision damned them as they were unable to dream big. Not only was their vision small, but the self-esteem was small. So as not to allow a spiritual stagnation, a low self-esteem, and the prevention to experience all God desired to pour out on His people, the Perizzites too had to be destroyed. God’s ways and thoughts are better, bigger, and higher than ours (Is 55:9), so let us not get stuck in the woe is me when bigger is He.
The only distinction between the Perizzites and Hivites, as both were of small villages, was the way in which they allowed themselves to be limited. The term Hivite is related to the idea of life in the Hebrew. These people enjoyed life. To really break it down, Hivite comes from the Hebrew word CHAVVAH, meaning life or living. CHAVVAH is where we get the name Eve. In Genesis 4:1 we read that Adam knew his wife, and the Hivites knew one another via the practice of hedonism. Again we can point to Leviticus 20 and see God’s list of don’ts concerning sexual matters and clearly see why these people were to be destroyed. God wanted, and still wants, His people pure. God not only did not want His people mixing sexually with other nations, but also did not want His people following the practice of this corrupt people.
Lastly, the Jebusites were to be expelled from the land. The Jebusites were known as threshers, people who beat the grain from the husk. This seems harmless – until we also realize that these people threshed and stomped others down as well. These people were constantly putting others down, constantly humiliating others, and constantly making themselves big at the cost of making others feel low. Sadly enough, we see this within our nation, our communities, our churches, and even our families still today. Add to this the fact that they worked to turn people against each other and we have a bigger problem. But God desires we be one body (Jn 17:21-22; I Cor 12:12-26). We are not to tear down, but rather we are to build up. We are not to divide for our benefit, but rather are to work in unity for the greater cause.
No treaty was to be made with these people, and perhaps we see a clearer picture of why. God does not want us to unify ourselves with terror when we are to walk in love. It is His perfect love and a trust in Him that drives out terror. God does not want us to base our decision only on the things we see, but calls us to faith and belief in things we cannot see but know as truth. God does not want us to exalt ourselves, but rather exalt Him and lift Him up. God does not desire for His people to be bombarded in addiction and sexual perversion, but wants us to walk in freedom, with an overcoming power that only He can deliver. God does not want us to see ourselves as the grasshopper when He has called us the victor. God does not want us to live in the freedom sin when He calls us to walk in the freedom of His ways. And God does not want us to live in the pattern of threshing others when He has called us to build up one another and work in unity. Making a treaty with these people, these sins, is wrong and must be stopped. Israel failed to do all that God commanded and as a result suffered the consequences. Let us not make the same mistake.