Conquer and Divide to Inherit

Numbers 33:50-56
    50 Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, 51 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; 53 you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54 And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone's inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. 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 it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. 56 Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”

Instructions were given to Israel through Moses to conquer the land God was giving them, and to divide it by families.  The division was according to the number of each tribe, for God was being equal in the inheritance for each and all.  But this meant that they had to do exactly as they were commanded; they had to push them all out of the land, else or kill them.  They also had to destroy all places where false so-called gods were worshipped, lest they be misled and follow after them instead of the living God, the LORD who is and was and is to come, the One who simply exists because He exists.  Mere stones and images carved to resemble the creatures of the creator instead of the Creator of those idols were not alive and could not help anyone (Isaiah 44:10, 15-18).  If they did not drive out the worshippers of the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25), then those would harass and mislead the people of God in the future; they had to be decisively and definitively dealt with as they were told, or suffer the consequences.  History would sadly reveal their disobedience in this matter.  The inheritance would be soiled and taken away by the disobedience of deaf and blind sin.  We can learn about God’s commands for holiness and obedience out of love as He tests our hearts, knowing we who are in Christ cannot be tossed away from our inheritance in heaven, yet can be weighed down by unrepentant sin and suffer the consequences of even repentant disobedience.  When the books of our lives are opened, we will suffer loss, yet not our inheritance in Christ for eternal life (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).  We must therefore conquer sin in mortification by the Spirit in us and divide right from wrong in laying up treasures in the heavenly kingdom (Romans 8:13, Hebrews 5:14, Matthew 6:19-20).