Wipe them out

(Numbers 33: 50-54)

The Lord told Israel when they got into the promised land to drive out all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. He told them that if they did not drive them out, the people of the land would be as barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides, and that they would be trouble.

There are many instances where God warns His people about being negatively influenced by those who do not believe in Him. He commanded the Israelites not to intermarry, for they would cause them to serve other gods (Deuteronomy 7:3:4). He warned about making covenants with these people of the land (people who worship other gods) that they would make them serve other gods (Exodus 34:15). King Solomon showed us how this can happen. He was dedicated to God, but his mistake was taking many wives from other nations who worshipped other gods. He and the whole kingdom suffered because of this (1 Kings 11:1-4). There are so many other verses such as evil company corrupts good habits (1 Cor 15:33), He who walks with the wise will be wise but the companion of fools will be destroyed (Proverbs 13:20), be Holy for the Lord is holy and have separated you from the people (Lev 20:26) and Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14-17).

So, this clearly shows us that there is grave danger in living so closely with people who do not believe in God. Did the Israelites listen to God? No, they did not listen.

(Genesis 10: 6-16)

The sons of Ham were Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan. Canaan fathered the Jebusites, among others.

Now, just a side note to keep in mind that Ham sinned against his father and got cursed. (Judges 1:20 -21)

The people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. So, the Bible tells us that the Jebusites lived with the people of Benjamin. And the details were not given, but knowing the warning that God gave, we know that Benjamin was corrupted because of this.

The story of Jebus

( Judges 19)

This horrendous story is harrowing to read but it shows us the evil that humans can do. Even today there are many horrendous things of evil taking place at this moment.

But what I want to point to in this story is that it was Benjamin who did this evil. How did they get to this point? Jebus chose not to stay in the city of the Jebusites, who were not his people. Instead, he stopped in the city of Benjamin, and yet still such evil fell upon him.

So did this city of Benjamin grow so corrupt because they disobeyed God? Were they corrupted like their neighbours, the Jebusites, who came from the line of Ham, who we also saw in sinned so many generations back? Perhaps. But what can we learn from this?

The more we drift away from God, the more corrupt we can get. When we do not listen and obey God, we can find ourselves influenced by the world, leading to our own demise.

 This is what I saw when I read this, and so I take heed in this message to hold onto God, to choose to obey Him and to be mindful of how easy it is to get carried away from God into the world.

We thank you, God, for keeping us, and we do not take it for granted that you have blessed us. Please help us to seek your will and always be obedient to it. Thank you, God.