Set Apart

May 2

Judges 1-2

Psalm 54

Proverbs 12:19-21

Luke 20:1-26

Set Apart

“The Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, ‘I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your ancestors.’  I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.  Yet you have disobeyed Me.  Why have you done this?’ And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you and their gods will become snares to you.’”  Judges 2:1-3 NIV

In Judges chapter 1 we see that when the people of Israel took over the promised land, they did not drive out all the inhabitants of the land.  They let them live there among them.  On the surface this seems harmless, even humanitarian.  After all, they were taking over land and possessions that they did not earn, they did not work for, and they didn’t deserve so it only seems fair that they should let the people who did work for the land at least stay there.   The problem is that God told them not to let anyone remain.  He instructed them very clearly on several occasions to drive out all the inhabitants of the lands they were to possess.  They were a separate people.  God had given them very specific instructions about how they were to live.  They had laws and principles and customs they were to follow.  God knew that if they allowed the inhabitants of the land to remain, they would likely be affected by their customs and beliefs and would not continue to follow all of God’s commandments.  And this is exactly what happened.  They were affected by the culture around them and even began to follow the gods of those people.  The last line of our passage today is particularly sobering.  “They will become traps for you and their gods will become snares to you.” 

The Israelites had the opportunity to live completely apart from the rest of the world.  They could be a “separate” people.  As Christians today, we cannot completely separate ourselves from the world around us and we should not.  We should, however, be distinct and different.  Jesus himself is our example. He was a part of the world He lived in.  He ate with tax collectors and sinners.  He talked to prostitutes and His best friends were working class, ordinary, sinful men. And yet He was completely without sin.  He affected the culture instead of letting the culture affect Him.  That is the example we are to follow.  The gods of this world can be very alluring and can easily become a snare for us.  And the people and things of this world are often thorns in our side, especially when we seek to live a godly, pure life.  Only by remaining close to Jesus and being obedient to Him can we be distinct and different from the world around us: set apart.