Exodus 34.12-16-Warning Against Covenants With The Inhabitants Of The Land Of Canaan
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday October 21, 2012
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 34:12-16: Warning Against Covenants With The Inhabitants Of The Land Of Canaan
Lesson # 57
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 34:12.
This morning we will study Exodus 34:12-16, which records the Lord warning the Israelites against making covenants with the heathen inhabitants of the land of Canaan.
Exodus 34:12 “Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods.” (NASB95)
This section and the one to follow in verses 17-26 contain regulations, blessings and warnings with respect to the reestablished covenant between the Lord and the Israelites after the young golden bull episode recorded in chapter 32.
Exodus 34:12-16 echoes Exodus 23:32-33 and in both passages, the Israelites are warned by God that they were to totally reject the gods of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites in order for them to secure the promised blessings.
The Israelites were to exterminate these people and their religion.
They could not eliminate one and keep the other (cf. Matthew 624).
Both must be destroyed but of course, sadly, Israel failed.
Both passages emphasize that the Israelites were not to compromise.
The Lord tells the Israelites in Exodus 34:12 that to make a covenant with the pagan inhabitants of Canaan would become a “snare” to them, which means “entrapment.”
Like an animal caught in a trap leads to its death, so forming alliances with pagan nations would lead the Israelites to destruction.
The purpose of this prohibition is to prevent the Israelites from practicing idolatry, which they practiced by worshipping the young golden bull as recorded in chapter 32, which led to the Lord severely disciplining the nation.
Thus, the prohibition here in Exodus 34:12-16 is to prevent such a situation occurring again.
In Exodus 34:14, the Lord says that He wants the Israelites to worship Him exclusively because He is a jealous God, which echoes the Lord when giving to Israel the second of the ten commandments (Exodus 20:4-5).
The Israelites were prohibited from worshipping other gods because Yahweh was a jealous God who tolerates no rivals, which is justified of course since He is the Creator and Redeemer and not a political ruler or angel.
God’s jealousy is not the same as the jealousy of men, which is a sin but rather it refers to God having the Israelites best interests in mind always and denotes His intense desire to protect the Israelites as well as His honor.
Exodus 34:13-15 record the Lord issuing two commands, which the Israelites were to obey when they entered the land of Canaan.
They were to destroy the altars of the inhabitants of Canaan and smash their images and they were also to cut down their Asherah poles, which echoes Exodus 23:24.
The Israelites were to utterly destroy any kind of monuments to the pagan gods of the inhabitants of Canaan or symbols portraying these pagan gods.
To obey this command was essential because the Lord knew that these pagan places of worship would serve as a temptation in taking the Israelites away from worshipping Him.
The stone pillars were to be broken in pieces.
These pillars are condemned throughout the Old Testament (cf. Exodus 34:13; Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3; 16:22; 1 Kings 14:23) since they marked pagan shrines and locations of worship.
For the first time in the Old Testament, we have the term “Asherim” mentioned in Exodus 34:13, which is the Hebrew term ʾǎšē∙rā(h (אֲשֵׁרָה) (ash-ay-raw´), which is in the plural and refers to any type of carved wooden structure that was used as a divine symbol of some sort in pagan religions of that day.
This word is not restricted to Asherah poles, which were pole-based carved representations of the goddess Asherah, nor is it restricted to those connected to the Canaanite weather-god Baal.
Therefore, the Lord’s instructions in Exodus 34:13 make clear to the Israelites that He does not want any of the trappings or accessories of the idolatry practiced by the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan since He did not tolerate any rivals.
The gods of the nations in the land of Canaan were the creation of demons according to Deuteronomy 32:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:20.
The Lord’s command in Exodus 34:15 echoes His words recorded in Exodus 23:32 and is thus making clear to the Israelites that they are to regard His covenant with them as absolutely exclusive if they were to experience the blessings of their salvation.
Failure to obey this prohibition would violate the terms of the covenant and they would suffer the consequences.
Obviously, the Lord knew very well the sinful nature of men.
He knew that most people follow the crowd and imitate what others do and will join others in whatever religious practices are predominant.
He also knew that people by nature want a comfortable social and political interaction and acceptance by other people and nations.
Also, the Lord knows that because of the presence of the sin nature in all the Israelites that many of them would be attracted to feasting and partying associated with pagan idolatry.
In fact, they had already demonstrated that they had a strong inclination to party as recorded in chapter 32.
In the ancient world, to be invited to eat at a sacrifice was equivalent to being invited out today to dine at a fine restaurant in the sense that it would be difficult to turn down.
In fact, turning this invitation down would come across as impolite.
Therefore, the Lord knows that the majority in Israel will compromise with the inhabitants of Canaan in order to feel accepted and to make their lives as comfortable as possible.
He also knows that pagan idolatry would be very attractive to them and thus He orders the Israelites to not “fraternize” with the enemy in the sense of getting involved in their religious practices.
Unfortunately, the majority rejected this command (see Judges; 2 Kings 22-23; Ezekiel 8).
King Solomon disobeyed this warning and command which resulted in him being led away from pure devotion to the Lord.
Instead, Solomon worshipped the gods of his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:3-4).
The Lord took the kingdom away from his son which led to civil war in Israel.
The Lord did not take the kingdom away while Solomon was alive for the sake of his father David.
In Exodus 34:15-16, “play the harlot” is the qal perfect form of the verb zā∙nā(h) (זָנָה) (zaw-naw´), which means “to be unfaithful as a prostitute, to conduct oneself in a sexually promiscuous way while in a marriage or covenant relationship.”
It is used in a metaphorical sense to describe worshipping other gods while in a covenant relationship with Yahweh.
Thus, the Lord calls idolatry spiritual prostitution.
In Exodus 34:16, the Lord prohibits intermarriage between the Israelites and the nations residing in the land of Canaan.
The reason is that by marrying a person who lived in a culture immersed in pagan idolatry would lead one astray from being totally and completely dedicated and devoted to the Lord.
If you recall in Ezra 10 and Nehemiah 13, the restoration of the Israelites after the Babylonian captivity was severely hindered because the Israelites had intermarried while in Babylon.
It was not that the intermarriage of the races was evil but rather that these intermarriages led the Israelites away from being totally dedicated to the Lord.
These marriages led to the practice of idolatry among the Israelites.
So the Lord prohibits intermarriage between the Israelites and the pagan nations around them because He knows their sinful inclinations and the power of the sex drive, which is so powerful that it can lead one away from pure devotion to Him.
Notice, in verse 16 the Lord addresses this issue with the Israelites in relation to finding wives for their sons and not husbands for their daughters.
The reason is that normally women coming into Israel through marriage brought idolatry into Israel.
The women leaving Israel to marry non-Israelite men posed no threat to the nation.
Also, Israelite men did not leave the nation when they married foreign women.
Therefore, this warning was not aimed at women as if they were more inclined to practice idolatry than men but rather it was designed to prevent idolatry from coming into the Israelite society.