Deuteronomy

The Ban

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: The Ban

Lesson: 5-110

Genre: Lecture

Track: 05

Dictation Name: RR187C5

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. How amiable are thy Tabernacles oh Lord of hosts; a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. For the lord God is the sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk up rightly. Oh Lord of hosts blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Let us pray.

Oh lord our God; we pray that day by day, thou would strengthen us in faith and in trust in thee. Grant that we have the faith to surrender all our burdens and our problems, into thine own infinite hands. To know that thou art on the throne and it is thy will alone that shall be done. We thank thee for all past and present mercies and blessings. For the blessings yet to come. And for the blessed knowledge that in time and eternity we are thine. Our God we thank thee, in Christ's name, amen. Our scripture is Deuteronomy 2 verses 16 through 37, and our subject: The Ban.

Deuteronomy 2:16-37.

“16So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,

 17That the LORD spake unto me, saying,

 18Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:

 19And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.

 20(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;

 21A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:

 22As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:

 23And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

 24Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

 25This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

 26And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

 27Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.

 28Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;

 29(As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

 30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

 31And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.

 32Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.

 33And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.

 34And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:

 35Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.

 36From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us:

 37Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.”

Our text, Moses here continuing his statements, deals with the encounters of Israel with several nations. These conflicts are detailed in Numbers and are now cited as a part of the covenant. As items and a treaty or contract which require the response of faithfulness. The states mentioned are the Ammonites, the Amorites which means westerners and in chapter three Bashonites, Ammon was also descended from Lot and was not to be attacked. We have also two ethnological notes, the reference to the Zamzummim’s, and also to the Avims. The Zamzummim are in Genesis 14 verse 5 called Zuzims. And they were another very tall people. Now it is a curious fact that of the various peoples of great height that lived in antiquity, only the Watusi of Africa have survived into the 20th century and they may not live it long according to some. Size and survival and size and ability are not to be equated. It is interesting that no entrepreneur has brought the Watusi and trained them to be basketball players. But some of the side effects of the Watusi triumph in central Africa centuries ago are apparent on basketball courts today. The Avims lived in south western Palestine as far as Gaza and were destroyed by the Captorims. Probably the Cretans, or Philistines.

The reference to Ar is beyond our present state of knowledge. Aroer, verse 36 as mentioned on the Moabite stone as is also Jahaz in verse 32. Now this text is regarded as infamous and shocking by many because in verse 34, the ban. The Biblical Ban is emphatically not the province of men and nations but only of God. God can in his superior knowledge and wisdom, devote entire peoples to destruction when their sins and rebellion renders them totally derelict. Now Gods bans take effect in various ways. First it can come by natural disasters. In Genesis we have 3 examples of this if not 4. We have the flood, whereby all save Noah and his family are destroyed. The worldwide evidence for the flood is clear to all but the willful. When I was on the western Shoshoni reservation once when hunting and the floor of the valley was 5400 feet, we drove as high as we could and then walk up, and on this ledge of a high mountain, the whole side of the mountain and the ledge underneath was strewn with sea shells. Here at an elevation 8500 to 9000 feet.

And the Indians all believed from their stories that a flood had covered the earth. But when you asked a scientist about it he said, this was once ocean bottom once and there was an up-thrust and this is why it happened. But the obvious fact as you looked at the side of that mountain was that it was strata, laid down by receding waters. Next we have the disaster, the confusion of tongues and the scattering of the peoples in the tower of Babel episode. Then there is another Ban, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And finally there is a great famine referred to in Genesis 41: 53 to 57. These were all bans which however supernatural in origin were accomplished through natural forces. Such bans can be seen throughout history, and in our own time. They include not only judgment by weather but also by diseases. Plagues and epidemics usually proceed the collapse of a civilization. We should see such things as Gods bans or interdicts at work.

Then second Gods bans can sometimes be publicly proclaimed in advance, by His orders. Those cited in Genesis were not so public except for Noah in his preaching in the form of building an Ark. Prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, however openly proclaimed Gods judgment on the nations. This was true of Ezekiel as in Ezekiel 21:26 and 27. Where God declares that he will overturn all the nations, to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, to whom the right to govern and possess belongs. The nations are used to affect the interdict or Ban of God, but the cause behind the events is our God.

Then Third, Gods law is a form of interdict or Ban. For example the death penalty for certain crimes is required, and if nations set Gods Ban aside then they fall under Gods Ban. In such instances, the Ban is personal and specific, not general when it applies of course for certain crimes. Heedlessness where specific Bans interdicts are required, leads to Gods general Ban, to the destruction of a country or civilization.

Well it should be apparent by now that all law, and all warfare, is a form of banning. And the Bans of men and nations are usually evil and ungodly. The ungodly state reserves the right to ban but denies it to God. Scripture makes clear that the person or community which forsakes the law and the Lord for false worship is an abomination to him, and is under his Ban. Seven Canaanite nations were proscribed by God. The Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the (Parazites?), the Hivites and the Jebusites. Jericho later was placed under a Ban. Amolech was also Banned. The Ban was a radical form of excommunication.

Now the banned nations cited by Moses were not only faithless but militantly hostile to God and his law order. Their temple rituals included and/or required a variety of perversions as a part of worship. The Canaanites reserved the term holy one for cult prostitutes. And both male and female prostitutes, or holy ones, were a part of the sanctuary as well as animals that were used.

Gods Ban on the Canaanites is grounded in part on all the sexual transgressions listed in Leviticus 18:1-30. These things God said defiled a people, and defilement meant death. The main Biblical word translated from the Hebrew as ‘defile’ means to be contaminated or foul and totally so. The peoples of Canaan had defiled themselves; they had reversed all moral standards to call good evil and evil good.

We come now fourth to the kind of ban God required against Canaan. Here God required Israel to execute the ban. This is unusual in all the bans God pronounces against history. The non-Biblical example of such a Ban by God, and no non-Biblical example exists, nor is this a law, it is rather a revealed command. So it was not given to man to apply when he saw fit, but only when God in this particular instance required it. There are variations of this type of Biblical Ban which God has required, there is the total destruction of all persons and property, there is the total destruction of all persons but not property, and also the destruction of all males only. Now this type of ban no longer exists. The other types, Gods bans operating through natural and historical events, and through the law, are very much with us, and man and nation need to be aware of this.

As God decrees his bans in history he does so as the only Lord and Sovereign over all nations. It is his justice and judgment at work. We are told in the bible that God is love, but we are also told that the Lord is a Man of War. Lord is his name. The goal of his warfare, his judgment and ban is to destroy the enemies of God and to cause wars to cease unto the ends of the earth. Calvin observed on Deuteronomy 2:24 the Ban and I quote:

“From once again it appears how poor is the sophistry of those who imagine that God idly regards from heaven, what men are about to do. They dare not indeed despoil him of his foreknowledge, but what can be more absurd than that he foreknows nothing except what men please. The scripture as we see has not placed God in a watch tower from which he may behold at a distance what things are about to be, but teaches he is the director of all things, and that he subjects to his will, not only the vents of things but the designs and affections of men also.”

Calvin also in his sermons on Deuteronomy preached in 1555 and 1556, said that God in verse 5 and 6 forbids any meddling in the affairs of Edam, for example, and requires them to buy their food and even their water. There was to be a careful regard for the possessions of these peoples whom he was not ready to give over to judgment. God was still patient with Edam and Ammon. Only where Gods Ban applied was there to be a difference. God’s purposes are not limited to his chosen people, neither with respect to his blessings, nor his judgment. In verse 25 God promises: “This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee and shall tremble and be in anguish because of thee.” The marginal note on this in the Geneva Bible reads and I quote, “This declareth that the hearts of men are in God’s hands, either to be made faint or bold.” Men can neither understand the Bible nor history when they approach either of them with the presuppositions of the modern mind.

We must remember that a barbarian is a rootless man, who has no regard for the past nor the future and who like in existentialist, lives for the moment. We can see then, that our modern existentialist temperament has created histories deadliest barbarians. They rage in the streets. And they govern through politics and the media. These new barbarians feel free to judge God and man, to overturn all morality and order and to demonstrate or riot in the streets if their will is not done. But such a culture soon places itself under God's Ban. We have a great task ahead of us. Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly father, teach us to know thy way. To study thy word and give ourselves afresh unto thee. To know that in and through all the events of this world, thou art the Lord. The sovereign actor, the one who governs and prevails. Great and marvelous are thy ways oh Lord. We marvel at them and at thy mercy unto us. And we come unto thy presence to thank Thee and to look unto Thee. In Christ’s name, amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Man from audience] How long was Sodom and Gomorrah involved in sodomizing?

[Rushdoony] We don’t know and we are not told. But it was apparently an advanced culture and very thoroughly wedded to its ways.

[Man from audience] Were they socialistic and dealing with paper money back then in 1400 B.C.?

[Rushdoony] We don’t know, we simply don’t know and our curiosity is not satisfied there. And the ruins are apparently under the Dead Sea. So no excavation is possible, what little archeological work has been done in that area does indicate that it was once a very fertile and inhabited area. Yes?

[Man from audience] Ortega Y Gasset said that our forebears had to deal with the Barbarians outside of the gates, but we have to deal with the Barbarian that arises within.

[Rushdoony] Yes, I’m glad you brought him up because what Ortega Y Gasset said in the Revolt of the Masses is more apropos today than when it was written in the twenties. And it is interesting that he saw scientists as leaders in the barbarian court of our town. And one of the marks of the barbarian that he cited, the key mark was that they look at civilization and see it as something that is just there like air, or water, not that it is a product of a faith and centuries of work. And he said this is why they are barbarians and destroyers. Because they do not realize what has gone into the making of a civilization or culture. I was very interested; this brought back memories of something I totally had forgotten, years ago in the 40s late 40s, shortly after the war.

I recall hearing this man who was the science teacher in a high school. I didn’t know anything about his past, but he had apparently had a background in a college or university and because of problems had left. But he raged against Ortega Y Gasset’s book to me. And the interesting thing was, I felt that he was something of a nut, and I didn’t appreciate the implications of what he said, because what he saw in Ortega Y Gasset’s remark on science and the return of the barbarians was the rise of a conspiracy against reason and science. And he felt that this was some deep dark conspiracy. And it involved all the anti-modern forces. He saw some significance in the fact that Ortega Y Gasset was Spanish, because of course Spain was an area of very, very, backward Catholicism in his eyes. And they had had the rise of Franco there, and so on and so forth. He made a connection, in which every evil force in the modern world, in his eyes, was a raid against reason and science and Ortega Y Gasset was the tip of the iceberg of this evil conspiracy. Well the reason I’ve gone on at some length was that I suddenly realized in effect that is the mentality that prevails in the media today. And he was an early manifestation of that. Yes?

[Man from audience, Otto Scott I think] Well the Sunday newspaper had a long article attacking Quayle for bringing up family values, and they said “What family values? Whose family?” and of course there are new definitions of family to us.

[Rushdoony] Yes, yes. Everything has been redefined. It’s no wonder that the third Webster international has been a failure because it has waged war at the very idea of definition. And how can you have a dictionary that will not define, or that is at war with definition? I think you mentioned once what has happened to the third, could you repeat that I’ve forgotten the details?

[Man from Audience, Otto Scott] Well first of all they are selling it for $19 dollars apiece, although they’ve seeded it in all the libraries and all the editing houses and so forth, but they are not only changing old definitions but they are putting in mis-definitions. B.C. for instance is Bachelor of Chemistry.

[Rushdoony] [laughs] Yes, well at 19 dollars they are giving it away because that should be about a hundred dollars given what it represents in the way of costs.

[Man from audience] It’s a form of remaindering.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Man from audience, Otto Scott] When we had to draw up International Treaties we had to go to the Oxford Dictionary because we have none of our own that’s (expense?)

[Rushdoony] Well when the Third International Dictionary came out, and I read a review of what it was like, I rushed out immediately to a store where I knew there was a copy on the shelf of the Second International and bought it. And I was given a discount because the new and better one was supposedly coming in. On a subsequent occasion when I went to that book store the owner who knew me a bit told me he wished he had that back because he could have gotten better than the marked price for it time and again. Well our time is nearing completion; let us bow our heads now in prayer. Our father, thy word is truth. And thy word shall stand when the nations and the ungodly shall be foot notes in the history yet to come. We thank thee that by thy grace and mercy we shall stand and we shall be part of the kingdom that has no end. We thank thee our father for thy mercy unto us. 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.