Chapter 10: Overcoming Seven Nations

In Deut. 7:1 and 2, we read,

¹ When the Lord your God shall bring you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and shall clear away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, ² and when the Lord your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.

The seven nations of Canaan are types and shadows of carnal attributes that we should destroy or obliterate in our own lives. Hittites are the children of Heth, “fear, terror.” The Israelites were not to coexist with fear or terror, but were to manifest faith and love.

Girgashite means “dweller in clay soil.” Clay represents the first Adam, because God acted as a “Potter” even as we are the clay (Is. 45:9). Fleshly Israel, too, was clay in the hand of the Potter (Jer. 18:6). To overcomers, the Girgashites has New Covenant significance in that we are to put to death the old man and rise as the New Creation Man through the Last Adam.

Amorite comes from the root word amar, “to say or speak in the sense of publicity or prominence.” It has the connotation of boasting. Our salvation is “not of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:9). As long as we have something to boast of, we have not yet driven the Amorites out of the “land” that is our body.

Canaanite is a merchant, trader, or banker. Canaan specifically was under the curse of Noah (Gen. 9:25-27) for usurping Noah's garments, given to him by God in Gen. 3:21. When Noah was drunk, Canaan stripped him of that garment and thus caused his father to become naked. He therefore represents one who usurps authority, assuming the mantle of the “chosen people.” That usurping spirit must also be eradicated from our bodies as well as from the nation and the world. That spirit is rooted in selfish greed, for it makes merchandise of the Birthright.

Perizzite is a villager, or country dweller, living in unwalled towns. Walled cities were not part of the permanent inheritance of the tribes, but could be bought and sold (Lev. 25:29). Hence, those who dwelt in unwalled villages were inheritors of the land. However, the Perizzites represent carnal people inheriting the land until such time that the overcomers receive their inheritance.

Hivite comes from chavah, “life,” implying being a life-giver, or perhaps just “a place to live.” Their name makes the statement that they are the source of life (immortality), rather than God. The idea that man can achieve immortality by his own fleshly effort must be eradicated from our minds.

Jebusite is a man from Jebus, “threshing floor,” and is the old name for Jerusalem. Recall that David purchased the threshing floor from Ornan (or Araunah), which later became the site of Solomon's temple (2 Sam. 24:24; 1 Chron. 21:18). Melchizedek had been the original founder and king of Jerusalem (Gen. 14:18), but later, while the Israelites were in Egypt, his successors either usurped the throne or simply degenerated into rebellion against God. So when the Israelites returned to Canaan under Joshua, we find Adonizedek ruling Jerusalem (Joshua 10:1).

Adonizedek means “Lord of Righteousness,” even as Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness.” These titles are synonymous in historical references. Adonizedek, then represents a usurper of the City of Peace (Salem), one who disagrees with the divine plan and is not willing to submit to Joshua (Yeshua, Jesus).

In that context, Jebus is the old Jerusalem, ruled by the flesh, and fighting against Jesus Christ. When David finally conquered Jebus (2 Sam. 5:7), he renamed it Jerusalem, “City of Peace,” making it a type of the New Jerusalem. Of course, in later years, Jerusalem became “the bloody city” (Ez. 24:6). When rebellious kings usurped Christ's authority over the city, they played the role of the earlier Adonizedek who had resisted the rule of Joshua. This caused God's presence to leave the old Jerusalem (Ez. 11:23), even as it had forever departed from Shiloh (Jer. 7:11-14).

Knowing these things, we see that God's injunction against the Jebusites instructs us to make no place for the old Jerusalem that is full of blood and violence, carnal thinking, and is in open revolt against King Jesus. We are to look to the New Jerusalem, for that is the city where He has now chosen to place His name. The true city, of course, is not houses and walls and streets, but PEOPLE, for He has put His name upon our foreheads (Rev. 22:4). We are God's dwelling place, a temple made of living stones and “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22). The name of that city is placed upon the foreheads of the overcomers (Rev. 3:12), identifying them as the city itself.

Overcoming by the New Covenant

The command to eradicate the seven nations under the Old Covenant finds a very different application under the New Covenant. Because the Old Covenant is no longer in force, on account of Israel's violation of its terms (Heb. 8:8-13), it is no longer acceptable behavior to engage in literal genocide of other nations. The command no longer applies in that way, for the inheritance we seek is not Palestine as a country, but the “better country” (Heb. 11:16) that Abraham sought.

The command to kill all the inhabitants of Canaan under the Old Covenant is now fulfilled in the Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them” (Matt. 28:19). Baptism is a form of death and resurrection (Rom. 6:4) as the old man is killed, buried, and then the New Man is raised up in “newness of life.” Just because Jews have rejected Jesus as the Christ and have decided to remain under the Old Covenant does not give them a license to kill Palestinians. God does not condone Old Covenant methods for anyone, for that covenant was broken and ceased to be in force, as Hebrews 8 tells us.

America’s Old Covenant Methods

Neither did the Old Covenant method of taking Canaan apply when the Europeans came to America. These “Christian” people ought to have understood this. Some did, but many did not. As a result, they regularly broke treaties (covenants) and often engaged in wars of extermination. They should have manifested the life of Christ to them and should have come to fulfill the Great Commission.

Unfortunately, the Church in America repeated the pattern of King Saul, who unlawfully persecuted the Gibeonites after Joshua had made a treaty with them. (2 Sam. 21). In that case, God brought a three-year famine to Israel as judgment upon the nation for Saul's zealous but unlawful actions. Today, this is being fulfilled by the famine of hearing the word (Amos 8:11), and we are suffering from a lack of biblical understanding.

Divine Judgment

The “Christians” conquered the New World by immigration; so when God stopped the ears of the people, the situation was reversed according to the principle of “eye for eye” (Ex. 21:24). Hence, America was conquered a century ago by Jewish immigrants, among whom were banking agents who took over the reins of government through the banking system. Then, in order to dilute the Christian culture, they induced the political establishment to allow other non-Christians to flow freely into the country from around the world.

This was the de-christianization of America. The idea was to multiply the non-Christian vote and then turn the nation into a secular democracy, making it virtually impossible to retain our status as a Christian nation.

Likewise, when we as individuals make compromises with the flesh in our character, we find it more and more difficult to call ourselves Christians.

Our time of judgment, however, is virtually completed now, so I believe that we are at the crisis point of the previous age. We await the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will change everything.