Scripture Reference: Deuteronomy 12-13; 18:9-22

Moses was a wise instructor. He devoted the first part of his address (Deuteronomy 1–5) to reviewing the past and helping the new generation appreciate all that God had done for them. Then he told the people how they should respond to the goodness of God and why they should obey Jehovah (Deuteronomy 6–11). In other words, Moses was helping his people develop hearts of love for the Lord, because if they loved Him, they would obey Him. Moses repeated God’s covenant promises to the nation but also balanced the promises with the warnings of what would happen if they disobeyed. More than anything else, Moses wanted the Israelites to mature in faith and love so they could enter the land, conquer the enemy, and enjoy their inheritance to the glory of God.

In Deuteronomy 12–26, Moses built on this foundation and applied the law to Israel’s new situation in the Promised Land. The Jews had been slaves in Egypt and nomads in the wilderness, but now they would become conquerors and tenants in God’s land (Leviticus 25:23). He set before them the responsibilities they had to fulfill if they were to live like God’s chosen people and be faithful residents in the land, enjoying God’s blessing.

1. Purging the Land

“These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place.” – Deuteronomy 12:1-3.

The statement in verse 1 was both an assurance and a commandment. The assurance was that Israel would enter the land and overcome the enemy, and the commandment was that, having entered the land, they must purge it of all idolatry. Israel’s conquest of the nations east of the Jordan was a prototype of their cleansing of the land of Canaan (Numbers 21; 31). This wasn’t a new commandment, for Moses had mentioned it before (Deuteronomy 7:1–6, 23–26; Numbers 33:50–56), and he would mention it again.

The religions of the Canaanite peoples were both false and filthy. They worshiped a multitude of gods and goddesses, chiefly Baal, the storm god, and Asherah, his consort. The wooden “Asherah poles” (“groves,” in the KJV) were sex symbols, and the people made use of temple prostitutes as they sought to worship their gods. Since the major goal of the Canaanite religion was fertility for themselves and for their crops, they established places of worship on the mountains and hills (“the high places”) so as to get closer to the gods. They also worshiped under the large trees, which were also symbols of fertility. Their immoral religious practices were a form of magic with which they hoped to please the gods and influence the powers of nature to give them bountiful crops.

But Moses pointed out that anything idolatrous remaining in the land was dangerous because it might become a tool for the devil to use in tempting Israel. The admonition, “Nor give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27), warns us that, whenever we disobey the Lord and cherish that which He wants us to destroy, we provide Satan with a foothold in our lives. Israel was even to wipe out the names of the pagan deities, because their names might be used in occult practices to cast spells.

We live in a world that has abandoned absolutes and promoted “plurality.” As long as it “helps you,” one religion is just as good as another religion, and it isn’t “politically correct” to claim that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the world (Acts 4:12; John 4:19–24). But Moses made it clear that God rejected the Canaanite religions and wanted all evidence of their pagan practices removed from the land. The land belonged to the Lord and He had every right to purge it. His first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5:7). Israel did not purge the land and were disciplined for their disobedience. “They did not destroy the peoples, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them, but they mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works; They served their idols, which became a snare to them” (Psalm 106:34–36).

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Equipped, “Be” Commentary Series.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.