Judges 3:5-7 And the children of Israel dwelled among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:… When Israel entered the land it was on the express condition that no terms of marriage or intercommunion should be entered into with the aboriginal tribes of Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:1-3). This seems either to have been forgotten or deliberately ignored. The consequences predicted came to pass, and the hearts of the people were led away from the worship of the true God. I. THE LIMITS OF COMMUNION BETWEEN THE CHILDREN OF GOD AND THE WORLD, The law of extermination prescribed to Israel made the path of duty very clear. It was God's purpose to disentangle the national and individual life of his people from the perversions, corruptions, and self-contradictions of idolatrous worship. He desired to separate them entirely to himself. Severe and uncharitable as this rule might at first appear, it was true mercy to the world as yet unborn, and to the future that was to be redeemed to God. Some comforts and conveniences, a few really valuable fruits of pseudo-civilisation and the contact with the currents of thought and life in the great world of men, had to be sacrificed, but the advantage was more than worth them all. The same problem presents itself to-day to the Christian. How far is it allowable for the life of a child of God and a child of this world to intermingle? What relations of this life are to be kept apart from the world, and to subsist only between Christians, and what relations may be shared with the world? The letter of the ancient prescript is of course obsolete, but the spirit must still be binding. Evidently, however, the relations of what are strictly religious communions can only be sustained between true Christians. And many of the higher relations of our natural life, as, for instance, marriage, can only be worthily sustained by Christians. The spirit of the old law was, immediately, severe, but, ultimately and more largely, merciful. So ought the disposition of the Christian to be. Of course the extent and direction in which we observe this law of heavenly prudence must be left to every man's conscience in the sight of God. It ought to be remembered that often when it seems to act against others it is really for their good. II. HOW INTIMATE ASSOCIATION WITH THE WORLD AFFECTS THE TONE AND QUALITY OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 1. Habit blunts the conscience to unlawful customs. 2. Personal attachments and friendships lend attraction to social and religious observances which are really unrighteous. 3. The relations of civil life create entanglement and perplexity. 4. The peculiar, intimate, and profound relations of marriage add to the force of all influences that affect the religious nature and the spiritual life. - M. Parallel Verses KJV: And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: |
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