Deuteronomy 7:20

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 7:20-24, “Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.[21] Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.[22] And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.[23] But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.[24] And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.” These verses are all about what God is going to do for the believer: fight. The Lord will defeat your enemies. The Lord will give you the victory. The Lord will make things happen so you will come out on top. He will do it. God will be against your enemies. You do not have to worry about it. Your main responsibility is to trust in the Lord. Verse 20 says, “the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them.” Verse 21 says, “the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.” Verse 22 says, “And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee.” Verse 23 says, “the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction.” Verse 24 says, “And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand.” Every one of those verses says that God is going to defeat your enemies. It is on God to do something. Do not do anything to your enemies. Sit back and watch what He does in His way and in His time.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 7:25-26, “The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.[26] Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.” Why would an Israelite compromise the true religion and allow falsehood in his midst? He might do it for economic reasons. Verse 25 warns, “thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them.” Has the Word of God ever been compromised by a speaker who is concerned about the financial repercussions of not saying what is acceptable? That is one benefit that an independent non-denominational church has over other churches. Every denomination has its acceptable approaches and emphases. Go against that which is generally acceptable, and you just might feel it in the offering. Did you look the other way when error was near you in order to gain financially? The love of money is the root of all evil, and it is the root of evil within Christian groups too. It is good to have a skill and occupation to rely upon for financial income so that you will not have to compromise your message to increase your financial benefit. That is one reason that it is good that a preacher be the same as other members of the congregation who work for a living and then attend church to hear a good sermon from God’s Word. A preacher might have a different spiritual gift than other church members, but why should their source of income be any different? When preachers have a source of income from a secular job, they are free to preach the truth without any pressure that what they preach might cost them dollars in the offering plate.

Notice the attitude that believers are supposed to have to false religion: “but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.” Truth comes from God, and error comes from the dark spiritual forces of the world. Notice also the strong language that is used in Jude 1:10-13 about false teachers, “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.[11] Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.[12] These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;[13] Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 8:1-4, “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.[2] And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.[3] And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.[4] Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” It is very interesting to notice the first part of Deuteronomy 8V2, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee,…” because it tells us exactly what God was trying to accomplish in the lives of the Israelites while He led them through the wilderness for forty years. This will show us what He is trying to accomplish in our lives too because we all have the same tendency: pride and self-will. God said that He wanted to humble them, and God took forty years to do it. It is a difficult task to humble someone. The problem is that people often have too high of an opinion of themselves. We should not look down upon ourselves with some kind of extreme negativism, but we should realize just how much we are dependent upon Jesus and cannot accomplish anything in service to God by ourselves. Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing.”

In addition to wanting to teach believers to be humble, God said that He sent the Israelites through the wilderness “to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” Life is a trial. It is a time of temptation. Life is when you face one difficulty after another and the question is always how will you react to each one of those difficulties, and what decision will you make at each time of temptation? God gave you commandments to help you know what decision to make. How have you been doing? God knows, and so do you, if you have been evaluating yourself. If you have not done so well, guess what: Jesus will forgive you. That is what the gospel is all about. Christ receiveth sinful men and women.

As we go through the wilderness of life, being humbled by God and being faced with temptations, what has God provided for us so that we will be ready? He has provided His Word. Life is a spiritual battle, and we need spiritual nourishment. Deuteronomy 8:3 is a wonderful verse and it is one that Jesus quoted in Matthew 4:4. It says, “that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” We are told that this verse explains the spiritual significance of the manna: the bread from heaven. God has given us bread from heaven. Jesus said that He was the bread from heaven. Jesus said in John 6:32-33, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.[33] For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” And then Jesus said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” This shows us how closely associated are Jesus and the written Word of God, since the scriptures says that both of them are the bread from heaven. You take in Jesus by believing on Him and trusting in Him. You take in the written Word by reading it, studying it, thinking about it, and applying it to your life.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 8:5-6, “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.[6] Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.” The relationship of a believer to God is similar to that of a father and son in some ways. Most of the time that is a very positive relationship. A good father loves the child, protects the child, provides for the child, instructs the child, gives to the child, makes plans for the child’s future and for the child’s benefit. But a father also corrects and punishes a child when the child mis-behaves. The way to help a child is to reward and encourage good behavior especially, and then after that when necessary to discourage and correct undesirable behavior. In this passage the word that is translated “chasteneth” can also be translated “instruct” and it is translated that way sometimes in the King James Version of the Bible. For example, it says in Deuteronomy 4:36, “Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.” The word “chastise” does not necessarily mean “punish,” and when, according to the context, it can be translated as “punish,” it certainly does not specify the kind of punishment. The word “chastise” or “chasteneth” does not refer to corporal punishment and does not mean spanking. Therefore, what this verse 5 really means is: “as a man instructs his son, using whatever punishment is applicable for the situation.”

When we sin, how does God chastise us? One way that He chastises us is that He allows the real and true consequences of our sins to come upon us. One reason that people sin is that they think there will be a good result to the sins that they are doing. Once someone suffers the true consequence that God allows in their life, that consequence is a big teacher of what to do next time. Let us talk about one of the ten commandments: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” What are the results when someone commits adultery? There can be unwanted pregnancy, venereal disease (some of which are incurable), abortion, a child without both parents to raise it, shame, guilt, hurt feelings and sadness, jealousy and anger from the spouse, violence, and divorce. In other words the results will be terrible. These bad consequences are among the chastisements that God gives to those who commit adultery. For those who have sex only with their own husband or wife, none of the bad consequences listed above will happen to them. Which person has something important to learn about faithfulness: the one who commits adultery or the one who does not? The negative consequences are God’s way of instructing people: “Stop doing that.” You can be instructed from the Book in which God says to the human race, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Or you can learn the hard way after suffering negative consequences from God. God is going to teach His children with one method or the other.

In Deuteronomy 8:6 the concept of fearing God in this context has to do with His chastisements. God is Judge, and He is true to His holiness. If you sin, you will find that out. You should fear Him and His chastisements because they will surely come. If you truly fear God, the result will be that you will sin less. When you sin, among other things it only proves that you do not fear Him. God has ways to teach you to fear Him. God has a way of instructing you. It is called chastisement. Thankfully, because of Jesus, He also has forgiveness. Turn to Jesus and find the forgiveness that you need.

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