“The earth and everything on it belong to the LORD. The world and all its people belong to him.”
It was God’s plan to give that prime real estate to those who would recognize Him as God. It wasn’t just because of His ego. God repeatedly told Israel going in:
“"Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you (Deut. 9:4).”
God used Israel as His tool for punishment, and that never makes one popular with the wicked.
Second, God wanted to sanctify His people. He never has chosen to do that by making them friends with pagans. God told them, “Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you (Deut. 11:16-17).”
God told us that “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’ (James 4:4-5)?”
God knows that if we become too friendly with the world, we will become like the world. The same is true with Israel.
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