But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them. (Numbers 33:55-56)

Irritants In Your Eyes

Purity has always been a hallmark of the people of God. When Israel was given the land of Canaan, God gave them authority to drive out all the inhabitants of the land. Many generations before, the Lord promised the land to Abraham but told him he could not have the land because the iniquity of the people was not full. God would not punish the inhabitants until there was justification for their destruction. The mercy of the Lord always allows men to find salvation, and when the final hour comes of the rebellion of man, God will punish. When Abraham walked through the land of Canaan, the sins of the people did not justify their destruction. The Hebrews had been rescued from Egypt and given the land of Canaan because the time had come for their destruction.

God told the Israelites to utterly destroy the people of Canaan. The Lord did not intend for any remnant of evil to be left in the land. When Joshua led the people against the city of Jericho, they completely destroyed everything in it with their swords. They killed men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys. This was the plan for all of Canaan. God warned Israel if they refused to annihilate the people, they would be as irritants in their eyes and thorns in their sides. The expulsion of the Canaanites and the destruction of their monuments of idolatry was demanded by the Lord. God did not want a repeat offense of the people when they committed harlotry with the women of Moab. The people sacrificed to the gods, eating and bowing down to the gods of Moab and joining to Baal of Peor. Twenty-four thousand Hebrews died that day.

Purity requires the removal of those things that will irritate and bring pain to the hearts of God’s people. Jesus said a man cannot serve God and mammon. The problem with the human heart is the desire to serve the Lord and the temptation to partake of the forbidden fruit at the same time. Purity demands the removal of those things that bring harm. Sinful practices are splinters in the eye and thorns in the side, causing agony. They must be removed. Israel was told to remove those things that would tempt them. They refused and were destroyed. When the child of God seeks to worship the Lord shackled to the desires of the flesh and mind, God is not well pleased. Paul reminded the Corinthians they should not be yoked together with the attractions of the world. Righteousness has no fellowship with unrighteousness. There is no communion of light and darkness. If Christ has no accord with Belial (Satan – all that is evil), what harmony is there for the Christian to engage in works of the flesh?

Israel was warned if they did not remove the inhabitants of the land and their idols, those things would become their tormentors. Like the continual pricking in the eye, sin will harass the soul and torment the heart trying to find God. It has been said, “That which we are willing should tempt us, we shall find will vex us.” A Christian has enough to fight against the wiles of the devil when stone sober. How much more difficult when allowances of worldliness are allowed to trouble the spirit leading to destruction? What will it profit a man if he gains all the world’s pleasures and loses his soul? Are the irritants going to be worth it? Eternal life is all there is that will bring joy. Remove the irritants. Have a clear vision. See God in purity.