But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.
Numbers 33:55
This is a warning to Israel that God gave to them BEFORE the conquest of Canaan. It concerns the consequences of casually disregarding God’s command to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Any Canaanites who remained, no matter how small and inconsequential a minority they seemed, would create painful problems for Israel. God expected a complete obedience in this matter. It could not go well for them in any scenario where they failed to drive out the inhabitants before them.
This warning is sadly prophetic. We know from the rest of biblical history that Israel failed to heed this call to completely drive out the inhabitants of Canaan. And they actually let several groups of Canaanites continue in the land, some by treaty of peace with them, and some as practical slaves forced into labor for Israel. It might have felt like good politics or smart business to make peace and get free labor, but the price of disobedience is always high!
The price Israel paid was expensive for two reasons. First, the sin of idolatry became endemic among them, always simmering because of the Canaanite influences they allowed to remain in the land. Secondly, the judgment of God on these sins was cyclically at play in their history. Generation after generation endured judgment because of this idolatry, starting quickly after the conquest as detailed in the book of Judges, and lasting all the way through the entirety of the Old Testament until the Exile. The Old Testament stories of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah repeatedly show the various thorns and barbs that pained God’s people just as God said they would. Nobody ever gets a great deal on judgment at no to low cost. The cost of disobedience to God is always high!
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