Patriarchs and Prophets

I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land....
I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out
before thee. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their Gods. They shall
not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against Me: for if thou serve their Gods,
it will surely be a snare unto thee.” Exodus 23:27-33. These directions were reiterated
in the most solemn manner by Moses before his death, and they were repeated by
Joshua.
God had placed his people in Canaan as a mighty breastwork to stay the tide
of moral evil, that it might not flood the world. If faithful to him, God intended
that Israel should go on conquering and to conquer. He would give into their hands
nations greater and more powerful than the Canaanites. The promise was: “If ye shall
diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, ...then will the Lord
drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and
mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall
be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even
unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. There shall no man be able to stand before
you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the
land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.” Deuteronomy 11:22-25.
But regardless of their high destiny, they chose the course of ease and
self-indulgence; they let slip their opportunities for completing the conquest of the
land; and for many generations they were afflicted by the remnant of these idolatrous
peoples, that were, as the prophet had foretold, as “pricks” in their eyes, and as
“thorns” in their sides. Numbers 33:55.
The Israelites were “mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.” Psalm
106:35. They intermarried with the Canaanites, and idolatry spread like a plague
throughout the land. “They served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Yea, they
sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils: ...and the land was polluted with
blood.... Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch
that he abhorred his own inheritance.” Psalm 106:36-40.
Until the generation that had received instruction from Joshua became extinct,
idolatry made little headway; but the parents
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