Give Thanks for Our Heritage

Psalm 136:17-22 ESV

17 to him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever; 18 and killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever; 19 Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever; 20 and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever; 21 and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever; 22 a heritage to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Have you ever heard of a team getting a “fluke victory”? To say that a team winning a game is a fluke is essentially saying that the only reason why the team won is because they got lucky.

And because they say that the team got lucky, they almost act as though the victory that they won isn’t legitimate. Furthermore, when a team gets a “fluke victory” they say that there is no way that it could ever happen again.

For example, it might be the last game of the regular season in the NFL and we have one team, let’s say it’s the Kansas City Chiefs, they’re a good team, and let’s say that they have remained undefeated the entire season, and on the last game of the season, they’re playing against, let’s say, the Chicago Bears, and unlike the Chiefs, the Bears have had an awful season; in fact, they haven’t won a single game.

So, we have the undefeated Chiefs going against the winless Bears to end the season. If you’re a betting man, you will surely put all your money on the Chiefs winning and ending their season undefeated, and on the Bears losing once again and not having a single win to boast of that season.

But let’s say that against all odds, the Chiefs meet the Bears that day and the winless Bears somehow pull it off and defeat the previously undefeated Chiefs.

Now, in the postgame press conference the coach from the Chiefs may say something like, “That victory was a fluke! It will never happen again!” Most of the Chiefs’ fans will say, “Oh yeah! The Bears got really lucky there!” Maybe even many of the Bears’ fans will say, “Wow! I can’t believe they won! But it was just a fluke, there’s no way that would happen ever again.”

Well, let’s say that after that game is finished, the Bears of course are done for the season, but the Chiefs then go to the playoffs and win it all, and while the coach hoists the Lombardi Trophy over his head after his team wins the Super Bowl he is happy to be coaching the champions of the league, but he knows that despite having a great season, his team’s season wasn’t as good as it could have been due to that embarrassing loss that they took to the Bears at the end of the year.

Because of this, the Chiefs decide that they want to get payback, and they want to get it right away! The coach of the Chiefs comes to the commissioner of the league and demands that his team’s first game of the following season be against the Bears.

All that the players from the Chiefs can think about that offseason is getting back out on the field and crushing the Bears because of the embarrassing loss that they gave them at the end of the year.

So, the Chiefs just seem to get better and better, stronger and stronger in the offseason. The Bears, on the other hand, are not looking forward to the coming season, because they know that they are going to get creamed right away.

In the days leading up to the game, sports analysts are interviewed, and they’re asked whether or not they think the Bears will win their opening game against the Chiefs like they did in the final game of the previous season; to which they respond by laughing, saying, “That game last season was a fluke! Lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice! So no, the Bears will not win!”

But then, to everyone’s amazement, the Bears come out and beat the unbeatable Chiefs to start their season. I guess it wasn’t a fluke after all… But then to make matters even worse, the coach of the Bears walks over to the opposite sidelines where the Chiefs were gathered, and he takes the Lombardi Trophy from the Chief’s coach and says that he and the Bears were the rightful champions!

As Israel inched nearer and nearer to the Promised Land, many of those who were then living in the land of Canaan remained unmoved and weren’t really worried about Israel’s advancement.

Afterall, they saw that the fighting men of Israel were just a bunch of ragtag, untrained, unequipped soldiers, and while they knew that there was the whole thing with the Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea, they recognized that the Israeli’s themselves didn’t actually do any fighting, so they viewed it as a fluke and said that there was no way that that could ever happen again.

Well, we see though, in our reading for today, that that is exactly what happened.

As the psalmist continues to encourage, and in fact, command all people to thank God, we see first of all, in verses 17 and 18 of our reading how God was indeed faithful to continue to remain with His people, Israel, and to fight for them, when we read:

Psalms 136:17-18 ESV

17 to him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever; 18 and killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;

In ancient times, nations and kingdoms would attribute their military success to their gods. If one kingdom’s military defeated another kingdom’s military in battle, then it would be said that the god that represented the victorious military had effectively defeated the god that represented the defeated military and was therefore the greater god.

Well, as the people of Israel, who, like I said, could be described as a bunch of ragtag soldiers who were untrained and unequipped.

Furthermore, as they advanced closer and closer to Canaan, they hadn’t really engaged in any military combat to speak of, so to most of those in the promised land, they felt as though Israel had been lucky that Egypt had let them go and had gotten as far as they had.

But in their minds, they knew that when and if Israel ever came and tried to take them in battle, it wouldn’t even be close, that they would mop the floor with Israel, because in their minds, their “gods” had to be much greater than the God of Israel because their militaries were so much more impressive than the rag tag bunch that Israel had to offer.

The kings of these kingdoms are described in our reading as great and mighty. And because they were considered to be great and mighty, their gods were then considered to be great and mighty.

But when Israel came, these kings came face to face with the King of kings, these “gods” came face to face with the God of gods, the Lord of lords.

And these forces which are described here as great and mighty were, as our reading say, struck down, killed, all of their power and might zapped in the presence of the God of Israel, the God of heaven and earth.

Thus, the psalmist calls out for the people to offer thanksgiving to God as they recall His continued faithfulness and deliverance that He had given to them.

In fact, two specific kings that were great and mighty that God had put down are spoken of in verses 19 and 20 of our reading, where it says:

Psalm 136:19-20 ESV

19 Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever; 20 and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever;

In the 21st chapter of the book of Numbers, we read of how just east of the Jordan River lay the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites.

Knowing that they were approaching Sihon’s realm and having no desire to have any qualms with him, the leaders of Israel sent messengers to Sihon with the request that he let Israel simply pass through his land without being harassed in any way.

The messengers said that they will not turn aside into any field or vineyard to eat any produce, nor will they drink any water from any well, they basically say, “we will pass right through, and you won’t even know we’re here!”.

Sounds like a reasonable request. But apparently, Sihon didn’t see it as reasonable, for he replied to this request by sending his troops out to where Israel was then camping so that they may fight the approaching people.

Well, even though Sihon was considered to be great and mighty and though his border is described as strong, God ensured that Sihon was defeated by this ragtag bunch of untrained, undisciplined soldiers.

Then a few verses later, also in the 21stchapter of Numbers, we read of how another great and mighty king tried his hand against Israel when the king, Og came against them. But when Og came against Israel, God told Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand!” and thus, the God of Israel defeated the great and mighty Og.

But it didn’t just stop at defeating these kings, for as we see in the last two verses of our reading, it was as though salt was poured in the wounds of these great and mighty kings, where it says:

Psalm 136:21-22 ESV

21 and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever; 22 a heritage to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.

I spoke earlier about the scenario where the underdog team defeats the champions and to make matters worse, the coach of the underdog team takes the championship trophy from the coach of the championship team.

And here, we see God doing the very same thing. The great and mighty kings Sihon and Og proudly came against Israel, who seemed to be the underdogs here, and were soundly defeated.

But to make it even worse, the God of Israel, the true God of heaven and earth then took the land of Sihon and the land of Og and gave it to Israel.

Concerning the land of Sihon, we read in Numbers, chapter 21, verse 25:

Numbers 21:25 ESV

25 And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.

God caused Israel to defeat Sihon and then God caused the Israeli tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of the tribe of Manasseh to live in the very cities that Sihon and his subjects had dwelt in.

Then also, concerning the great and mighty kingdom that Og possessed, we read in Numbers, chapter 21, verse 35:

Numbers 21:35 ESV

35 So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.

Just like Sihon, God caused Israel to defeat Og and his kingdom until there were no survivors remaining whatsoever and the same tribes that possessed the land of Sihon, God then caused to possess the land of Og as well.

Now in doing this, God not only shows that He disapproves of and rejects those kingdoms that have been conquered, but it also shows that He approves of His people, Israel.

Our reading says that God took this land from Sihon and Og and gave it to Israel “as a heritage”. Heritage can loosely be understood like we understand an inheritance, but for a son to inherit what is his father’s, his father has to first pass away. “Heritage”, on the other hand, typically signifies traditions that are passed from father to son, which are embraced and utilized by the son while the father is still living.

Thus, what we see here is essentially the Living God taking what is His, the land of Sihon and Og, and giving it to those who He claims as His own, the people Israel. Thus, the Father gives to His son Israel, that which is His, the land of Sihon and Og as a heritage.

And as God hands this land over to Israel, the surrounding nations see that the God of heaven and earth has chosen Israel as His own people, that He favors them as His own. This is most certainly something that Israel was to be thankful for.

Beloved, it is something that we today should be thankful for as well, for as Israel was the foreshadowing of the full inclusion of God’s elect in the four corners of the world, so are we today the fulfillment.

But God does not give us as His elect a physical land as He did Israel, rather, for our heritage, God the Father gives us eternal salvation from our sins as He gives us to His Son as a heritage.

Beloved, on this Thanksgiving, may we be most eternally grateful that God the Father has chosen to publicly favor us by giving us to God the Son for a full salvation ready to be fully revealed at the last day!

Amen?