But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 20:16-18
As Moses neared the end of his days, his primary task was to get the new generation of Israelites prepared to take the land of Canaan, a task the previous generation refused to do when confronted with the news of giants in the land (Numbers 13-14). Upon entering the land, their instructions were clear. They were to leave no human inhabitant of the land alive in the lands they were to inherit from the Lord (Exodus 23:20-33; Numbers 33:50-56; Deuteronomy 7:1-5; 20:16-18). Despite the modern skeptics’ claims, God was not a genocidal, ethnic cleanser bent on destroying an innocent people. A closer look at the depravity of the Canaanites (Genesis 15:16; Deuteronomy 12:29-32; Jeremiah 7:30-34), and an understanding of the purpose in giving Israel the land (Genesis 12:1-3; 18:17-19; 22:17-18; Cf. Galatians 3:16) clears this misconception up thoroughly.
If the nation of Israel did not demonstrate the wisdom of God in the presence of the nations (Deuteronomy 4:5-8), the supremely important work of the Messiah could not be successful (Isaiah 11:10; 49:5-6; Romans 15:12; Galatians 4:4). Thus, it was essential that they drive out the Canaanites completely. The warnings of their failure to do so were so painfully clear, it is hard to fathom how they failed to do so (Exodus 23:33; Deuteronomy 7:4, 16; Joshua 23:12-13; Judges 2:1-5). By allowing the roots of these rebellious nations to remain in the land, Israel fell prey to all the sins and snares of those nations, just as God had warned them would happen. The result was a tumultuous history of subjugation, deliverance, revival, comfort, and relapse continuing until the nation was eventually led into complete captivity (2 Kings 25). The simple reason was, they failed to drive them out completely.
Though we are not tasked with conquering any foreign nations, we are tasked with conquering sinful tendencies (1 Peter 2:1-12). Only the gospel can free us from the slavery to sin in which we find ourselves (John 8:31-36; Romans 6:1-7, 15-18). This is the ultimate end God had in view in choosing Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the nation that flowed from them. This is how He blessed all the families and nations of the world in Abraham, by redeeming the faithful from the curse of the law (Genesis 12:3; 22:17-18; Galatians 3:10-4:7).
In Romans 6:1, having laid bare the glorious grace of God as demonstrated in Christ, Paul anticipated a possible question that might arise in view of the surpassing power of said grace. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” His answer was an emphatic no. Such is completely incongruous with the intent of God’s deliverance. Living in sin while declaring ourselves free from sin is as nonsensical as the children of Israel declaring themselves the owners of the land of Canaan while having the pagan natives dwelling in their midst. As they had to drive out the Canaanites completely to succeed, so we must give our all to drive out our sinful tendencies to succeed in faithfulness to our Lord. This is our mission, should we choose to accept it.