When Coexistence Becomes Sin

Read Judges 1-2:5.

Controlling the land and taking possession of it are two different issues.  Joshua led the nation into the land, exercised great power over it, and set the boundaries for the tribes.  But the land was far from being occupied by Israel.

One by one the tribes set out to take the land that God had given to them.  Yet, about a half-dozen times we are told that a particular tribe "did not drive out" the inhabitants.  Instead, they worked out a covenant of coexistence.  Most often that meant that rather than death, those who lived in the land submitted to forced labor.

While on one hand that may sound like a wise, even merciful, thing to do, it was in direct violation of what God told them to do.  The command was clear.  Israel was not to make any agreements with the surrounding peoples.  The reason was not to display military might and power over others.  From the beginning of the conquest, the LORD warned them against spiritual compromise.  The Canaanites had rejected the God of Heaven to worship their multiple man-made idols.  In Genesis 15:16, God told Abraham that his descendants would return and take the land at that time because of the completed sin of the Amorites.

There can be no compromise or coexistence with sin and false worship.  God is a jealous God and will not share the honor due Him with anyone or anything. 

The good news is that the people repented in tears for their disobedience.  Then, they worshipped the LORD.

The Apostle Paul wrote that believers in Jesus are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  In stating his case, he quoted Leviticus 26:12 and continued-"God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."

We must be diligent and vigilant about the spiritual areas of compromise and attempts at coexistence with sin in our lives.