Meddle not with
[the Edomites]; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a
foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession (Deut.
2:5).
... Distress not
the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of
their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot
for a possession (Deut. 2:9).
... [D]istress
[not the children of Ammon], 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 (Deut. 2:19).
COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:
Q. “Deuteronomy
chapter 2 is appealed to in support of a ‘marvelous love [of God] for ungodly
[reprobate] nations.’ In verses 5, 9,
and 19, God names Edom, Moab and Ammon, who are viewed as the ungodly
reprobate, and He tells His people not to distress or meddle with these
nations. Why? Because the very land that each of them stand upon was given
specifically to them ‘as their possession’ … ‘If God,’ so the argument goes,
‘has nothing but hatred and wrath towards the reprobate ungodly, why would He
do this seemingly kind act in giving them land as their possession? and even
preserving them from being invaded?’ … Does this text really teach that God has
a concern, compassion or pity towards ungodly [reprobate] nations? ‘Meddle not with
them,’ He says, ‘because I have given them [that land] for a possession’ …”
(I)
Prof. David J. Engelsma
In response to the question about Deuteronomy 2 and God’s stipulations concerning certain of the heathen nations in Israel’s proximity as Israel journeyed towards Canaan, the following.
I notice first that the questioner manages to overlook God’s hatred of the heathen nation of Heshbon and destruction of it in verses 30ff. A common grace toward that nation was conspicuously absent in God’s command to Israel to destroy that nation, old and young alike. Why God should have had grace to the other heathen nations when He did not have it toward Sihon and his nation is a problem for the advocates of common grace to determine.
Also, the chapter doesn’t say one word of a grace toward the heathen nations God spared that was the motive of God’s commanding Israel to bypass those nations. What God’s attitude towards those nations was is evident later when Israel destroyed those nations. Later history must address the issue of God’s attitude towards those heathen nations.
Deuteronomy 2 is not the only passage that speaks to the issue raised by the questioner. For example, Malachi 1 addresses the question whether God had any love for Esau or Edom. And what did Israel do to Moab later on?
The sparing of some of the heathen nations at this particular time is explained by God’s providence. He determines the existence of nations, where and how long, as pleases Him for His own purposes with nations. For one thing, God had not given Israel the land of Ammon, but the land of Canaan (v. 19). The sparing of various nations is to be explained by God’s sovereign rule of nations, not by His grace towards some heathen nations in distinction from others. One thing is sure in light of the rest of the Bible: God is not gracious toward idolatrous nations and peoples, but wrathful. He was gracious to Israel. “He hath not dealt so with any nation” (Psalm 147:20).
(DJE, 31/01/2022)
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(II)
More to come! (DV)
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