[Deuteronomy 7] Overcoming the Seven Nations in Your Personal Canaan. There were seven nations that Israel was instructed to war against and defeat in Canaan. Their names speak of fear, compromise, following the crowd, being discouraged, and not walking in love. These are elements that will show up in our own hearts, and in the lives of people that we have made covenants with that are going to have to be dealt with. Walking in false pity or rationalization can rob you of the blessing of God and cause your destiny to become an abortion. In this chapter we see how to overcome and destroy the contaminating influences that resist us as we move into our destiny.
[Deu 7:1-26 KJV] 1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, [and] utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 6 For thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that [are] upon the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye [were] the fewest of all people: 8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; 10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. 12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: 13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all [them] that hate thee. 16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that [will be] a snare unto thee. 17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations [are] more than I; how can I dispossess them? 18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them: [but] shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; 19 The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. 20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. 21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God [is] among you, a mighty God and terrible. 22 And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. 23 But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. 24 And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. 25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold [that is] on them, nor take [it] unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it [is] an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: [but] thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it [is] a cursed thing.
In this chapter Moses delivers from the Lord rules of war and conquest for the promise land. The seven nations occupying Canaan are to be completely dispossessed and not spared at all. They were to be utterly destroyed and there was no covenant to be established with them or mercy shown to them. What do these nations represent to us? Each of us has our own personal Canaan land – the fulfillment of promises God has made to us that will potentially reshape our whole life. God doesn’t intend that your life be a perpetual journey of wandering and struggle. There is a “coming into your own” for the believer that God has in store. In them midst of that happening there are struggles you will face and battles to wage. There are enemies that must be identified and dealt with. Let’s look at the names of these seven nations:
Hittites (terror, fear)
Girgashites (dwelling in clay – i.e. living in the flesh).
Amorites (a sayer – i.e. perverse speech. Fast talker).
Canaanites (low dweller – i.e. lowest common denominator, debauchery)
Perizites (village dweller – i.e. following the crowd, unwalled village)
Hivites (collector, to roll in a circle – i.e. “us four no more”)
Jebusites (trodden down – i.e. discouragement)
These are the seven things that constitute resistance to moving in to your Canaan land, into your promised destiny in God. How do we defeat these “nations” in our own life and experience? Remember there are a total of seven. Seven is a number that means “covenant”. These influences in your life are there not because you chose them – no one would choose fear, perverse speech etc., they are in our lives as the unintended and unwanted consequence of covenants, agreements and illegitimate relationships with people who provoke these problems in our lives.
God is in covenant with us but because we have placed ourselves in relationships and environments that He cannot bless we bring difficulty on ourselves and deny ourselves the “good place” we are promised. Then the contaminating influences that move on us tempt us to conclude it is God’s fault that we aren’t walking in the promise because “His word (supposedly) cannot be relied upon”.
In vs. 7-11 we see reminders of the nature of Israel’s choosing. We have to remember that God did not choose them (or us) because we are special. We are special rather BECAUSE He chose us. His choice changed our destiny. Our choices likewise change our destiny. Things are the way they are because of what we are doing – if you want something different you have to do something different. This is a very difficult lesson to learn but it holds the key to transformation in our lives.
In vs. 12-15 the Israelites were again as in the previous chapter, called on to keep the law. We are called on to follow Christ. Jesus is our “way, truth, and life” John 14:6. We are not called to walk in performance based religion but called to walk in faith. The law was merely our tutor to bring us to acknowledgement of our dependence on Jesus. God’s relationship to us and the gift of Christ into our lives is based on covenant not legalism. He has set his love on us and purposes to bless us. The word bless means to “cause to envy”. The world doesn’t envy religion but it will envy the blessing that comes upon the believer walking in covenant relationship with God as Abraham did. God is a God of covenantal blessing. He will bless the fruit of your womb naturally and bless those things that He births in your life spiritually as well. He will cause you to be fruitful. Things that you plant and investments you make will pay off and produce because this is God’s promise. He will give you corn (prosperity) wine (joy) and oil (anointing). He will increase your flocks (you will be a leader). God’s benchmark for your blessing is to “bless you above all people” in every area of life. You will not be barren and He will TAKE AWAY ALL SICKNESS and will not allow disease to come upon you. This is a hotly contended doctrine but if you take healing out of the doctrine of the church you redact and exclude massive portions of scripture both in the old and new testament. God is a healer.
In vs. 16-26 we see the admonition to be fearless warriors. We are not to be afraid. We are not to look at what may be happening in our lives and say “this is terrible”. Rather we are to say “God is terrible”. He is terrible in glory, and terrible in righteousness and terrible against all our enemies. We are not to be afraid. We are not to say “this is too big for me…” God will send the hornets after our enemies. This speaks of angels warring in our behalf. God will send His warring angels after those that have trifled with your life and assaulted your joy and attempted to rob you of your blessing or to deny your destiny.
God didn’t promise to wipe out all these nations with an instantaneous sweep of His hand. He won’t give you total victory all at once. You have to commit to the blessing of God being a process that takes time. But know that He will deliver kings (ruling principles) over to you. The spirits and people that impede your blessing or resist you will be delivered into you hand. We are to show no pity. False pity and compromise have turned victory into defeat many times. You must be prepared to put your foot down and refuse to compromise with the people, circumstances and spiritual influences in your life that will contaminate your blessing. If you say “yes this is a problem – BUT” – you are forsaking your own mercy. You must be resolute in dealing with the enemy.
