Hornets and Snares

In verse 27, we have a very important statement. God declares, “I will send my fear, or my terror, before thee.” We are very, very prone to materialistic ideas of historical determination. Economic factors, military considerations, geopolitical determinants, and a host of like things are regularly weighed and weighted by historians. History is variously defined in humanistic or scientific terms, and routinely without the triune God. In one church-related college, a fine professor was summarily dismissed in the mid-80s for teaching history from a theological perspective. The other men in the history department, all whom claimed to be professing Christians, felt that such an approach would deprive the school of respectability on the part of other schools and scholars. Thus, while professing to be Christians, these professors insisted on a non-Christian, humanistic historiography. But, verse 27 tells us something basic about history. God’s determination. God’s terror can overwhelm His enemies and destroy them. They will run, as Leviticus 26:17 and other verses say, when no man pursues them, and this is true whether they are supposedly covenant people or open-covenant enemies. To oppose God is to invite His terror.

Proverbs 28:1 tells us, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold like a lion.” The next verse, Proverbs 28:2 is also of interest here. “For the transgression of the land, many are the prices thereof,” or as the Berkeley version gives it, “When a land transgresses, it has many rulers.” This will certainly be a fitting verse for our time.

Verses 26-33 tell us that, because God determines our history, we had better be obedient to His covenant law. We are not saved to go our own way, but to go His way. We are told in verse 26 that faithfulness means fertility. Neither man nor beast, nor the land, the soil, will be sterile. In verse 28, faithfulness, we are told, also means providential care. Now that’s an interesting verse. It reads, “And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.”

Because so much of Antiquity was forgotten in the modern age, it took archeology to shed light on this verse, in particular, the archeological work of John Garstang. Garstang, working earlier in this century, discovered that the sovereignty of Egypt’s pharaoh was symbolized by a hieroglyph of a hornet, and hornets were symbols of the royal power going after various peoples. Egypt had devastated the old Canaanite powers and civilization. Its plunder had included not only great amounts of gold, slaves, horses, and chariots, but as was common in many cases in Antiquity and refined in particular by the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Egyptians took some of Canaan’s leading nobles and their wives. Thus, they stripped the country of much of its leadership. So, when Joshua and the Israelites appeared before the walls of Jericho, they faced shattered powers. Shattered powers whose prosperity and morale were not yet restored, although they had again a measure of freedom. Egypt had broken the Canaanites, and Israel had broken Egypt with God’s miraculous power, and as Rahab was later to tell Joshua’s men, God’s terror had taken hold of all men. She said, “Your terror is fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.” God declares that He governs the hearts of all men, and He destroys our enemies before us when we are faithful to Him. So, we have the assurance that when we are faithful to Him, the terror of God goes before us to work in the hearts of men.

I was interested because, even as I had prepared for this, John Lofton the other day reminded me of our meeting with a group of men, about thirty or more, I think there were thirty-three or four, at the staff of a left-wing and somewhat anti-Christian publication, and as John described it, they were intensely curious and fearful, because they were afraid that we were going to take over the country.

Now the question of covenance is basic here. God by His grace and mercy, has entered into a covenant or treaty, with man, and His law gives us the terms of that treaty. Therefore, there is a very strict ban on any covenant or treaty with any person or people who are not membe3rs of God’s covenant. A covenant or treaty takes precedent over everything else. Now this is the historic law of treaties. If two nations enter into a treaty, that treaty takes priority of all the laws, because a treaty is a covenant. This is what many Americans have failed to realize in arguing against the U.S. Constitution and its clause on treaties. But there is no special innovation there. The U.S. Constitution is in line with the meaning of treaties throughout all history, in giving all treaties over priority over the Constitution. This is why Washington warned against foreign alliances. God declares that a covenant or treaty is a religious fact and also a legal fact. A treaty or a covenant presupposes a common faith, a common law, and a common cause. We therefore, have to say that twentieth century U.S. treaties make clear that the United States has abandoned this biblical premise, which Washington affirmed, and we have made common cause with anti-Christian states. Verse 22 makes clear that to make covenant with the ungodly is to make covenant with their gods, their religion, their laws, and to do so is to invoke the terror of God. There is a rightful concern today over international terrorism, but there should be more concern over the terror within, the terror God puts into men’s hearts when they break His covenant and His law.

In verses 28-30, God promises to drive out the pagan powers before Israel little by little. Instead of a devastated and empty land, they will take over a functioning one. A devastated land would become desolate. Its fields, vineyards, and orchards would revert to wilderness. Contrary to popular impression, a wilderness presents major problems in subjugating and cultivating. When the American settlers moved westward, we forget that they moved westward as groups so there would be in their midst men who knew something about blacksmithing, carpentry, and all the various skills. They had to have enough capital when they moved to survive at least two years before producing anything, because it would take time to clear the land of trees or to break the ground and so much else. Moreover, to cite a little example, in this state, California, when with the drought of the thirties, about five years, farms were abandoned because of droughts and bankruptcies. Restoration was a costly matter. It meant, not only that the dead trees and vines had to be dug up, but that there were very serious problems because jack rabbits and gophers, and other varmints as they were called, had taken over the area, and they would readily devour the young vines and trees that then prevailed. Well, the proliferation of larger wild animals is cited in verse 29. If the land were made desolate, to refill it would take time, and it would create serious problems.

Then, in verse 31, we have the promised potential boundaries of Israel, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and then to the river Euphrates, but these were never reached by Israel because of their disobedience, although they were approximated for a time under Solomon.

Two statements are made about the Canaanites. First, in verse 29, “I will not drive them out from before thee,” meaning that the conquest will not be quickly over, “lest the land become desolate.” Israel and the Canaanites were to coexist for a time. Second, in the long term, “They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me, for if thou serve their gods it will surely be a snare unto thee.” This means if independent pagan civil orders exist in their midst, that is, city states, there will be a tendency to make treaties with them which will lead to paganism. This statement, verse 33, comes immediately after 32 which forbids covenants, or treaties, with ungodly nations. So, the reference is not to individuals but to pagan city states. The word “snare” is used in verse 33, and is used several times with reference to ungodly alliances. In Joshua 23:13, Joshua declares that God will no more drive out the ungodly city states from before Israel. They will remain to test Israel, and Israel will fail the test. These city states, Joshua says, will be snares and traps unto you. The angel of the Lord reminds them of their failure to avoid these snares in Judges 2:3. Gideon’s compromise with pagan practices is termed a snare in Judges 8:27, and so on. The point is that God does not provide us with a trouble-free and temptation-free world. I knew a woman who claimed that since she was saved, God had taken all her troubles away. Well, there were two problems with her statement. First, she was not a Christian, and second, she had big troubles, and that’s why she was off her rocker. Even in the Garden of Eden, man had an option to disobey God. This side of heaven all life involves testing, and has its share of snares.

So, our text assures us of two things. First, God sends a hornet or hornets, some providential power, ahead of us to do much of the work for us when we move in terms of Him, and in faithfulness. On top of this, He sends terror into the hearts of His enemies and our enemies. Then second, we are not handed the victory without battle on our part, nor without snares when we have triumphed. We cannot expect heaven, this side of heaven. We are therefore to fear God and not man, and we are not to be arrogant nor overconfident in our powers, for the God-ordained snares are always there to trip us up in our pride. Hornets and snares. Israel is warned of both, and so are we. The providential going before of God and the terror of God among His enemies, and the snares to make us mindful that we still must walk in faithfulness when He gives us victory. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, we thank thee that thy terror is still at work in the hearts of thine enemies. Grant that thy grace may be as much prized by thy people, that they may be mindful that thou art at work not only in their hearts, but in the hearts of all thine enemies. Make us joyful in thy providential care. Teach us to walk day by day, casting all our care upon thee who carest for us. We pray for thy true church everywhere. Grant, O Lord, that thy church grow and flourish, and in the face of all thine enemies, witness to thy kingdom. In Christ’s name, amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] At the U.S. Constitutional Convention, did anyone ever propose that the Constitution explicitly state that the United States would make no treaty with a non-Christian nation?

[Rushdoony] Well, for a good many years, in particular since World War 2, there have been many groups to, who have insisted that that constitutional clause with reference to treaties should be amended. In the fifties, in particular, I believe it was Senator Jenner of Indiana, who came very close to getting something passed to that end, but it failed narrowly and had it succeeded, it is possible that it would have been invalidated by the Supreme Court. It is the nature of treaties, or, because they are covenants, that they do take priority. The sad fact is that in treaty making, because it is a or should be based on a common faith, and a common law, there is no such commonality between us, for example, and the Soviet Union. This is why the Soviet Union has never abided by any treaty made with it, and we feel that we have an obligation to abide by them. We have even observed some of the disarmament proposals with the Soviet Union, even though they were never ratified by our congress. Our state department has, nevertheless, and the administration, abided by them for some years. So, the nature of treaties is very much forgotten in contemporary, popular understandings of the law. A treaty is a covenant. It is a binding law that supersedes everything else. It presupposes a common law and a common faith. And sure if there’s a Constitutional Convention, there will be efforts to tamper with that and they will probably not succeed because I question whether the Constitutional Convention will accomplish anything of any consequence, other than more destruction. Yes?

[Audience] There does seem to be a general misunderstanding of the fact that troubles are tests.

[Rushdoony] Yes, yes. Troubles are always tests which we either pass or fail. There is no other choice. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience] In last week’s lesson, we saw the Lord was going to send His angel or himself ahead of the Israelites, and the focus seemed to be God’s grace to Israel. Today’s lesson we have this terror going ahead of them, and the focus being on the enemy. Are the angel and the terror the same thing?

[Rushdoony] The terror is the work of God in the hearts of men. It’s not the person of the angel of the Lord, but it certainly comes from the trinity, and it certainly is effective. More than a few times in history, the terror has been at work in the hearts of men in a startling way, and this is an aspect that is rarely considered when men evaluate the tides of battle. They always look for some humanistic reason as to why the tide turned, or why a particular power faltered and failed, not to the terror of God in their hearts. Any other questions? Well, if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, teach us that we are not alone, that thy presence is with us, and thy terror goes before us to work its accomplished purpose and to prepare the way for us. Make us ever mindful that this is thy world, that its destiny is ordained by thee, and give us a joyful faithfulness to every word that proceeds out of thy mouth. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape.