Deuteronomy 7

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

God Commands Israel to Drive Out the Canaanites

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Israel’s conquest of Canaan brought God’s judgment on the Canaanite people.

  2. Israel’s conquest of Canaan brought God’s blessing on the chosen people.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Don’t play with fire!

QUESTIONS

  1. What was Israel’s history with the Land they were about to enter?

  2. Give a couple of the reasons God commanded His people to utterly destroy the people in the land.

  3. When else do we see God using a nation as His ax of punishment?

  4. Why was Israel God’s chosen people?

  5. List some of the blessing that were promised to God’s chosen people if they would just follow and obey the Lord.

ANSWERS

  1. God had given this land to Abraham and his descendants, but the descendants of Abraham had been temporarily out of the land while they were slaves in Egypt. Now they were coming back to claim what was theirs by divine right, and God was leading them.

  2. 1. These were wicked pagan people who had not taken the opportunity to repent.
    2. God did not want His people to be contaminated with the idolatry and immorality of these wicked people.

  3. God used Israel as His ax to cut down and remove the wicked practices that were rampant throughout the land. Years later God would use the Assyrians and Babylonians as His ax to remove His own people from the land for their wickedness.

  4. Israel was God’s chosen people not through any merit of their own, but because of God’s sovereign choice and the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

  5. They were promised blessings on their families, on their land, on their flocks, and on their herds.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. In Deuteronomy 7:21-22 we learn that God would strategically drive the enemies out little by little. God can use this same principle in spiritual warfare in our lives today. Some problems are best handled little by little. Can you think of an example?

  2. During the conquest, Israel was to burn all idols, images, and occult objects. These were an abomination to the Lord and there was always the risk that the people could become ensnared. So we must be ruthless in the removal of anything in our lives that begins to take our hearts and commitment away from the Lord. Can you give a testimony of this in your life?

CHALLENGE

  1. In Deuteronomy 7:23-24 we learn that God would use confusion within the ranks of the enemy to defeat them. God can do this in spiritual warfare today. Ask Him to be your conqueror and defender.

KEY VERSES

  • “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 7:6

  • “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9

Deuteronomy, Old TestamentRon ReidDEUTERONOMY 7