In our last post, we talked about God’s instruction to Israel to annihilate the Amorites in the land of Canaan because of their wickedness and their lack of responding to God and turning from their wicked practices. God used Israel to enact the consequence to the Amorite’s sin but was also raising Israel to be his standard to the world. Let’s look more closely at this concept.

Israel was to be the standard to the world. For Israel to be a light to the rest of the world, Israel had to eliminate all elements which were ungodly. A standard must be flawless, or else it is not a standard. This was the reason Israel was held to a higher standard than other nations. All the laws given to Israel was for Israel, not for other nations to follow.

In addition, Israel was not to exclude outsiders from their land – after all, three main trade routes connecting three continents (Africa, Europe, and Asia) went through this area: Way of the Sea (later known as Via Maria), Ridge Route, and King’s Highway. All three of these trade routes would bring Gentiles through Israel so they could be taught the ways of God. Isael was to become the moral compass for the world. If Israel obeyed God and received all the blessings promised them (abundant rain, abundant crops, lush landscape, and longevity; Dt 28:1-14), that would be a testimony to all those who would pass through Israel on any of these three routes and inquire what makes things different here.

However, those living within the boundaries of Israel would be required to exclude wicked practices. Non-Israelites had to abide by the same laws of the land as the Israelites did (Ex 12:48-49, 20:10; Lv 16:29, 17:12, 15; Nu 15:14, 16). It seems God has always expected mankind to understand and follow what he knows is right (Ro 1:18-20), whether being his “chosen” people or not. Justice seems to always follow a failed response to the love of God’s longsuffering.

God allowed non-Israelites to live in the land but also had requirements for them. God often put the alien living in the land in the same category as the poor, orphan, and widow. This is because they were now a minority. They were to be taken care of in a loving way: allowed to glean the corners of fields and left-overs following olive and grape harvests (Lv 23:22; Dt 24:20-21), were to be treated judiciously (Dt 1:16; 24:17), should not be taken advantage of (Dt 24:14), and part of the third-year tithe would be for the alien (Dt 26:12). This was because God stated he loved the alien (Dt 10:18), and the Israelites were to remember they were once slaves in Egypt (Dt 24:22). This helped to train the Israelites to be kind to their neighbors who were not like them and to allow the non-Israelite to see how God loved them as well.

Those Gentiles living in the land had to obey the laws of the land (Ex 12:49; Lv 24:22):
• allowed to glean the corners of fields and left-overs following olive and grape harvests (Lv 23:22; Dt 24:20-21)
• had to observe the Sabbath (Ex 20:10)
• had to not work on the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:29)
• could not eat blood (Lv 17:10) but had to drain the blood from the animal before preparing and eating (Lv 17:13)
• had to cleanse themselves when encountering anything dead (Lv 17:15)
• would be put to death if they offered their children as a sacrifice to any god (Lv 20:2) or if they blasphemed the name of the Lord (Lv 24:16)
• had to abide by the rules of redemption and of the Jubilee (Lv 25:47-50) and had to abide by the decisions of the judges of the land (Dt 1:16)
• They were to be taught about God and His Law, just as were the Israelites (Dt 31:12-13).
• If they decided to become a proselyte, then all the Mosaic laws applied, and all males had to be circumcised before they could celebrate Passover (Ex 12:48).

God was inclusionary but required righteous living.

Also, God always gave warnings before his justice was administered. Before the flood, God announced coming judgment and the need for repentance (Gn 6:5-7) and announced a flood was coming during the time of Noah (Gn 6:17). He gave the Amorites time to repent before administering his justice (Gn 15:16). God announced his plans to the king of Nineveh (Jh 3:4-5), to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Dn 2), to Cyrus, king of Medo-Persia (Is 45:1-13), and gave visions to Alexander the Great. Paul gave the gospel to Caesar’s household (Pp 4:22) during the time of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, it seems that most of these did not heed his warning. He has also given us a warning of future judgment in his word.

God also glorified himself among the Gentiles. He did not restrict himself just to Israel. The king of Nineveh did respond to Jonah’s preaching (Jh 3:5) and gave Nineveh another one-hundred years before it was finally destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar did finally recognize the authority of God (Dn 4:37), and several times did announce to his entire kingdom that the One True God was to be respected (Dn 2:47; 3:28-29). Several of the kings of Persia did the same (Dn 6:26; Er 1:1-2). Many of Caesar’s household in Rome accepted Christ as their Savior (Pp 4:22).

So, what happened? We know that this ideal state for Israel being a calling card to the rest of the world and to show the world the path to God did not happen. Rather than being inclusionary, they became exclusionary. They used God’s words about them being his chosen possession to mean they were special, meaning, at least in their way of thinking, all others were not special. So, rather than harmony, disharmony occurred. Disobedience led to cursing rather than blessing (Dt 28:15). Then, as typical, and with Satan egging on the disharmony, things never got turned around. Even the coming of their promised Messiah did not produce the harmony that even the Jewish leaders taught. Satan had truly sold them a bill of goods they could not see beyond.

Next time, we’ll look at the New Testament in light of God’s love and justice and see how that affects us today. Please join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

For the past several posts we have been discussing how God has always had a plan for inclusion, but did this really include everyone? In the last post, we had the story of Rahab and how she and her family were saved and incorporated into Israel. Yet, some of you may have asked why this wasn’t an inclusion of everyone rather than just Rahab. How is a policy of inclusion really inclusion if it doesn’t include everyone? Let’s try and explore that.

First of all, inclusion cannot be inclusion if the one being offered inclusion doesn’t want to be included. Sound like a cop out? Well, not really. To understand this, we need to go back several years—actually, several hundred years. The inhabitants of Jericho were a section of the Canaanite people who were descendants of the Amorites.

The Amorities. We have to go back at least five hundred years. This would be during the time of Abraham. Remember him? He is the one God promised all this land to in the first place (Gn 13:15-17). Yet, he told Abraham that he was going to have his descendants to be slaves in Egypt for about four hundred years (Gn 15:12). Why would he do that if Abraham was already in the land of Canaan? Kind of like going around your elbow to get to your thumb, huh? It would be if it wasn’t because of God’s plan for inclusion. Confused? Let’s look further.

God told Abraham he was going to do this because “the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” (Gn 15:16). I know that sounds a little cryptic, but what it means is that God was dealing with the Amorites somehow. We don’t have details, but it shows God was trying to get their attention to elicit a decision from them. You see, God loved them and wanted the best for them. Yet, let’s not confuse love with permissiveness. God has standards. He is longsuffering, but ultimately there are consequences. Also, let’s not confuse longsuffering with inattentiveness. God is not pushy. He allows circumstances to give people opportunities to make the right decision. Some make the wrong decision, and because they don’t get zapped right away, they think God doesn’t care or isn’t even there. That is, until the consequences fall, and then, unfortunately, it is too late. God is loving, but he is also a God of justice. Longsuffering is due to his love, but that only lasts for a time. Justice eventually comes.

So, we don’t know what or how God was dealing with the Amorites, but there are some clues. Granted, what I am about to say is hard to substantiate fully, but there is circumstantial evidence. Before the flood, there were giants called Nephilim who apparently came from angels intermarrying with human women (Gn 6:2). Their offspring became men of renown who were all but worshipped (Gn 6:4). This was part of the reason for the flood. Mankind’s genetics were getting infused with fallen angel DNA. This was one of Satan’s plans to destroy God’s plan. He failed. Yet, Satan is relentless. Somehow, Satan became influential with the Amorites. They were known to have abandoned themselves to his worship, such as child sacrifice and sexual religious rites. It is likely they allowed him to lead then into genetic manipulation to produce giants again so he could again obtain something similar to what he had accomplished prior to the flood.

The angels who Satan had used to create the Nephilim were punished by being abandoned to Tartarus, a special place built for these angels in Sheol (2Pt 2:4). I find it interesting that Satan kept himself just distanced enough to not get caught in the consequences. Here, he goes to the line without crossing it. The Amorites, although influenced, followed willingly. The Amorites likely were influenced to intermarry in a way that giants were again produced in the land. Why? To prevent the Israelites from gaining the land of Canaan God had promised to Abraham. How do we know this? Just look at a map where these giants were located. The sons of Anak were giants and the ones who intimidated the Israelites the first time they tried to enter (Nu 13:31-14:10). Ten of these twelve spies influenced all of Israel they could not take the land. These giants lived in the southern and southwest region of Canaan. Then there were giants in the southeastern region of Canaan (Sihon was the king of these Amorites; Nu 21:21-25), and giants in the land of Bashan (Og was their king; Nu 21:31-35), the northeast region of Canaan. Therefore, these giants were almost like sentries around the land.

So, it seems the Amorites refused God’s promptings. God was longsuffering for almost five centuries. Justice was now due. God was now going to fulfill his promise to Abraham through the Israelites and use them to deliver his justice to the Amorites and their descendants who followed their practices. Through Moses and Joshua, God had the Israelites break through the giant barricade and they were now in the land he had promised them. Although justice was delivered starting at Jericho, we also see God’s mercy for individuals who responded to God even if their nation did not. God was always about inclusion. The nation did not agree, but Rahab and her family did.

This helps us see that God has plans within plans to achieve his master plan. We don’t always know what he is doing or how he is doing it, but we can trust him that he wants the best for us and is always looking for ways to include others and offering opportunities for people to make the right decisions. Therefore, that makes it easier for us to respond to him with faith and trust. We don’t have to understand him to trust him, we just have to trust him and allow understanding to slowly reveal itself.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens