When we read the whole Bible in a year we can tie parts of it together and see its coherence. Today we’re cross referencing one of the passages we have already read with the current reading so we can see how God followed through on what he said.

God had a master plan for Israel to inhabit and develop the Promised Land. He spelled it out to them in Deuteronomy 12:1-14.

Clear the Land

 Clearing the land was the first step.

“These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.” Deuteronomy 12:1-3

Worship God HIS Way

Israel came in contact with many kinds of pagan worship as they moved through Canaan. God told them to worship him only, and only in the ways he taught them through Moses.

“You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you” Deuteronomy 12:4-7

Worship in the Place God Chose

The Canaanites erected altars all over the land and there was an explosion of sinful practices as pagan priests led corrupt worship. God called his people to public worship in one place where they would keep each other accountable to the Law he had given them.

“Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord.  And there rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own.  Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.” Deuteronomy 12:11-14

The place God chose for the tabernacle was Shiloh, in Ephraim. Shiloh became Israel’s center of worship for the next 400 years. When Israel went to Shiloh and kept the festivals God gave them, they were more likely to remain true to him.

The Challenge of Pagan Influence

Ray Vander Laan, an expert on the Bible and ancient cultures, says that the fertility and beauty of Canaan must have been overwhelming to Israel when they encountered it. They had lived in the desert for forty years, eating the same manna everyday, rationing their water, wearing old clothes, and living in dusty tents. The hills, valleys, clear streams, and green fields of Canaan must have been dazzling to them.

The Canaanites attributed their prosperity to the pagan gods they worshiped. When Israel compared it to what their God had provided them since they left Egypt they naturally wondered whose gods were greater. The battle for the hearts of the Israelites was on.

The Forty-Year Detour

God had blessed Canaan in preparation for the Israelites arrival. It was ready for them two years after they left Egypt, and they could have gone straight from Mt. Sinai into the Promised Land, but they lacked the faith to do it. That sent them into the desert for forty years. The land was ready, but the people of Israel were not.

God kept Canaan in beautiful condition while it waited for Israel, and he was offended that the Canaanites persisted in attributing their blessings to false gods. He was more offended by the sins they incorporated into their worship.

God was also concerned that Israel might attribute his gift of the Promised Land to other gods. That was the greatest insult they could give him.

Pagan Cultic Practices

The Canaanites originally believed in a god named El and his mistress Asherah. The Canaanites believed that through union with Asherah El gave birth to other gods including Baal. Baal was believed to do battle and win victories over lesser gods that controlled the sea and the weather. Whenever the rains blessed the earth and their crops did well, the Canaanites thanked Baal and worshiped him. Eventually the worship of El faded away.

The Canaanites believed Baal and his mistress Asherah  were responsible for fertility (Asherah was Baal’s mother, but also his consort). So they incorporated public displays of prostitution into their worship. They also sacrificed animals and even their children as gifts to the gods.

The God of all the earth hated these practices because they broke all of his commandments regarding family, sexuality, and the value of the lives he had given. He commanded Israel to get rid of everything that had to do with those abhorrent religious rites.

The Gift of the Land

Joshua sent three men from each of the tribes to survey the land Israel had conquered and write descriptions of it. When their report came back to Joshua he asked the leaders of Israel to divide the land into seven parts. At this point no one knew which tribe would get which parcel.

In Joshua 18 and 19, God guided the assignment of territories by speaking through the casting of lots. The people of Israel had already divided the land into seven parts, as seemed best to them, now God decided who got each parcel. There would be no arguments over the final distribution of land.

“Joshua then cast lots for them in Shiloh in the presence of the Lord, and there he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions.” Joshua 18:10

You can see a map of the twelve tribes here:

https://www.bible.ca/maps/bible-maps-master-index-borders-twelve-12-tribes-israel-promised-land-joshua13-22-conquest-1400BC.htm

The Gods of Today

Ray Vander Laan studies how ancient pagan gods have continued to be worshiped down through the ages. Their names changed as they came and went in different cultures, but their ability to entice people away from the one true God remained constant. They are the same false gods people worship today.

Whenever people attribute their blessings to some source other than God, or when they believe their strength and protection comes from something other than the Lord, they are in danger of idol worship. God reaches out to people who worship false gods, but if they go on resisting him he will let them go. Then all they have left is idols . . . and they learn how feeble and empty the gods of those idols are.

One way to discover what you really worship is to notice the first source of hope that comes to your mind in a crisis. Are you counting on job security or your bank account? Is your hope in another person, or even the government?

If anything less than God comes immediately to mind, today is a good day to put the Lord back into his proper place in your life. Thank him for the resource you thought of, then give him complete control over it. He will manage it well for you . . . and God provides more resources than you can imagine when you make him Lord of your life.

Here’s a link to Ray Vander Laan’s article on the topics I mentioned today:

https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/fertility-cults-of-canaan