Moses gave the people laws on incest, murder, adultery, fornication, inheritance, discipline of children, and social responsibilities.  The following passage will be hard to read and understand but we must look back in history to consider the barbaric times in which the evil inhabitants of the Promised Land lived before we become too overwhelmed with words that describe the sins followed by God’s command to “purge the evil.” God loves His People.  God knew what they were walking into and prepared their hearts and minds with detailed directions with how to purge the evil.  The Israelites will see behaviors that are appalling and detestable to God and should be to them. They will encounter the dark deeds of evil as a normal way of life for the Canaanites who lived in the land they were to possess. They must not become like them.

God’s order: Possess the land and purge the evil. 

God gave us principles that we should honor as given to us by Jesus who would explain the intent of the Law of God along with the love, mercy and grace extended by God by giving us His Son to redeem us from our sins.  For more understanding read Matthew 5-7, known as the “sermon on the mount”.  Jesus warns all who believe in God to get rid of all that is not of God and live in ways that are like God.  Jesus, who is God in flesh, teaches how to live with detailed instructions.  Remember God delights in the details of our lives and offers all the help we need to live for Him in power!

Here is why:  Satan is still at work, just as determined as in the Garden of Eden, to doggedly intrude in every detail of our lives, distract us from all that is holy, deceive us with lies about who we are to God, while dismantling what we believe about God who is Truth.  Evil’s goal is to destroy every living being who believes in God, the Father and follows Him obediently and willingly as redeemed people through Jesus Christ, His Son.  Satan hates. God loves. 

Cling to God; purge the evil by His power living in us!

Deuteronomy 22

If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. ² If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. ³ Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.

⁴ If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.

⁵ A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

⁶ If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. ⁷ You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.

⁸ When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.

⁹ Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.

¹⁰ Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

¹¹ Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.

¹² Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.

Marriage Violations

¹³ If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her, dislikes her ¹⁴ and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” ¹⁵ then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin. ¹⁶ Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. ¹⁷ Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, ¹⁸ and the elders shall take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰ If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, ²¹ she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

²² If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

²³ If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, ²⁴ you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.

²⁵ But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. ²⁶ Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, ²⁷ for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her.

²⁸ If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, ²⁹ he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰ A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Paul, inspired the Holy Spirit of God, said it best:

“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:17-32

Possess the promises of God; Purge the evil.

“Is there a realm untouched by Satan? Is there a place unscarred by his sword? The church? The government? Children? Purity? Promises? And you! And me! We are called to be holy. We were made to be holy. Set apart for his good work. We are the prized flowers of the garden. But is there one person who has not felt the foot of the intruder?

What Satan did in Eden, he does today. For that reason, we need to know that what Jesus did in Gethsemane, he does today. He reclaims the holy. He will not long sit silent while Satan strip-mines the sacred. At the right moment Jesus stands and speaks. And when he stands and speaks, Satan stumbles and is silent.” –Max Lucado, Encouraging Word Bible

Believe, repent, and be saved and sealed for eternity with God.  Truth: God so loved us He sent His Son, Jesus to redeem us and “whoever” else believes from all our sins.  He also gave us His Holy Spirit to live in us to help us purge the evil and stay attached to Him forever!  We are overcomers because Jesus overcame all that is evil for us. We are not perfect but we are perfectly forgiven by God “whose compassions they fail not—Great is the faithfulness of God! (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Possess the promises of God.  Purge the evil. 

Lord,

Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, transform our behaviors to be more and more like you.  Refresh our souls with your new tender mercies each day.  Daily restore and replenish the joy of your salvation at work with us which gives us blessed assurance and fills us with your peace.  Make us holy by your power with help to purge the evil that creeps into our lives to make us unholy.  Deliver us from evil. 

I’m listening.  I’m yours.  I trust you with my life for you are Life!

In Jesus Name, Amen