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Context No. 1791 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 33:49-56: in context

49They encamped by the Jordan, from Beth Jeshimoth even to Abel Shittim in the plains of Moab. 50The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 51Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, “When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places. 53You shall take possession of the land, and dwell therein; for I have given the land to you to possess it. 54You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger groups you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. 55“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those you let remain of them will be like pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land in which you dwell. 56It shall happen that as I thought to do to them, so I will do to you.”

As Israel prepares to enter Canaan, God gives a command about more than conquest. When you cross the Jordan, he says, drive out the inhabitants, and destroy all their idols, their molten images, and their high places. Take possession of the land. But if you do not drive them out, those you let remain will be like barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, harassing you in the land where you live. The command is not only to take the land but to remove the idols and the high places, the settings and sources of the idolatry that would otherwise ensnare them.

Notice that God commands not only that Israel resist Canaanite idolatry, but that they destroy the idols and high places themselves, the very sources and settings of the temptation. It was not enough to intend to worship God and merely resist the pull of the local gods; the high places where those gods were served, the images that drew the eye, had to be torn down and removed, so that the temptation would not be constantly present. God knew that leaving the sources of temptation standing in the land would prove too much; the occasions of sin, left in place, would draw them in. There is practical wisdom here for our own battle with temptation. We often try to fight temptation only in the moment it comes, while leaving in place all the sources and settings that provoke it, the things we keep near us that draw us toward sin. But this passage suggests a wiser strategy: to remove, as far as we can, the occasions and sources of temptation themselves, to tear down our own high places, rather than merely resisting them again and again while they stand. If something in our environment reliably draws us toward sin, the counsel is not only to resist it but to remove it, to make no provision for it, to tear it down, so that we are not perpetually fighting a temptation we could have eliminated. It is easier to avoid the occasion of sin than to conquer it every time it arises. God told Israel to destroy the high places, not just to resist them, for what we leave standing will draw us in. The wisdom is to remove the sources of temptation we can remove, rather than leaving them in place to ensnare us.

Are there sources or settings of temptation in my life that I keep in place, trying to resist them again and again while they stand, and can I heed God's command to Israel to destroy the high places, tearing down the occasions of sin I could remove rather than perpetually fighting a temptation I have left standing to ensnare me?

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