Numbers 33 is a great chapter. It is a log of the entire 40 years journey of the Israelites. It documents each of the steps along the difficult way they had to travel. It showed how Israel became the free people God called them to be. The most significant passage, however is the last verse. In it, God drives home the principle of holiness in as clear language as He could. In summary, the Lord says–If you do not drive out the current inhabitants they will be your demise and I will do to you, what I intended to do to them.
After the destruction of the Amalakites, the Moabites and the Midianites–that promise should have been frightening! God does not mess around. He utterly destroys His enemies. He wipes away their lives, their riches, their legacy and even their memory. That is a daunting option, to say the least. Simply put, God knew that flirting with the Canaanite people, meant flirting with their gods. He also knew that such behavior would end poorly, and it would drive Israel back to the heathenish behaviors of the local inhabitants. Israel simply had to remain pure, to enjoy the reward He promised to His chosen people.
The same holds true for us–His children. We need to serve God and Him only. There simply is no hybrid version of faith that allows us to pick and choose who and how we worship the Lord. If we try to play mix and match, we will lose our love for God; and, we will end up in the same mess as the reminder of the world. God seeks our holiness–for our sake and our safety. He has big shoulders. He can forgive our stupidity–but, what He won’t do is take away the consequence for our unfaithfulness. He has shown us how to live, He has given His only Son to provide redemption so we CAN live. God requires us to accept His redemption and submit to His leadership–then, our lives will count for more than a simple existence. As His children, we will enjoy an eternal and abundant life.
God Bless You
They left the mountains of Abarim and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. 49 There on the plains of Moab they camped along the Jordan from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim.
50 On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho the Lord said to Moses, 51 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 52 drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. 53 Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54 Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.
55 “‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. 56 And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.’”
Walking With God 