Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” He thus gave much of the credit for his own achievements to the great thinkers who had gone before him. If he erected mighty structures of calculus and physics, not to mention theology, it was only because he had the firm foundations of mathematics and geometry and Scripture on which to build.
The same thing was certainly true of the people God was preparing to bring into the Promised Land. After all, they were going to live in towns and cities that they had not built, to drink from cisterns and wells which they had not dug, and to eat from vineyards and olive trees that they had not planted (6:11). No, they would take all these things from the wicked unbelievers then living in the land – and only because God would clear away those nations from before them (7:1). Although they would participate in the conquest of the land (7:2), God was the One Who deserved all the credit for the successes they achieved and the material blessings they would enjoy.
So, what would happen if they forgot their history? What would happen if they turned their eyes away from the God Who led them out of slavery in Egypt and into peace and prosperity in their new home? What would happen if they began to behave like the people God had cast out of the Promised Land, following their gods and aping their religious practices? God said he would do to them what they would do to the people of the land – wipe them off the face of the earth” (6:15). And God would eventually do this – carrying them off into exile in Assyria and Babylon.
Many modern Americans are walking down a similar road. They are casting off not only any belief in God but any institution, any social or political practice that has its roots in His Word. So, is it any wonder that the peace and prosperity that our society has produced are quickly eroding? Once the foundation has been weakened, can any building continue to stand? And should we expect God to continue to bless us when we have forgotten all He has done for us?
Deuteronomy 6:10-19, 7:1-5 (NASB)
10 “Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build,
11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied,
12 then watch yourself, lest you forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
13 “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him, and swear by His name.
14 “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,
15 for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.
17 “You should diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.
18 “And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers,
19 by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.
“When the LORD your God shall bring you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and shall clear away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you,
2 and when the LORD your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.
3 “Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.
4 “For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you.
5 “But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.
