Numbers 33:52,You shall drive out. Obviously, it’s impossible for the saints of the Most High to walk out this command today, since they have neither a country nor the legal authority to deal with the wicked in this manner. However, the righteous aren’t left without options on how to deal in a righteous manner with the unrighteous wicked around them. In the Testimony of Yeshua we are given instructions in this regard (Matt 10:16, 23; 18:15–17; John 16:2; Rom 16:17; 1 Cor 5:9–11; 2 Cor 6:14–17; Tit 3:10; 2 Thess 3:6; 2 Tim 3:5; Rev 18:4).

Numbers 33:55, If you do not drive out. In his instructions to his children, YHVH is serious: he doesn’t want his saints to countenance the ungodly heathens that were around them in any way. One has only to read in the pages of the Scriptures the long and sad history of Israel’s numerous involvements with the societies around them resulting in their fall into apostasy again and again. The reason for this tendency toward spiritual declension is simple. The answer is found in 1 Corinthians 15:33. What does YHVH require his people to do in the face of evil? (See Ps 94:16.) The problem is that when an unsuspecting saint begins to toy with sin and sinners, slowly and imperceptibly the slide down the proverbial spiritual slippery slope begins. This is what happened to Lot when he left Abraham and moved toward Sodom (review Gen 13:10–12 cp. 19:1–26). Next, we see that Lot is married with children, has a home in Sodom and is a leader there. Even though the Scriptures consider Lot to be a righteous man, it was nevertheless difficult for him to leave that wicked city. Though Lot’s wife left Sodom physically, she couldn’t leave it emotionally. (Remember Yeshua’s warning to us in Luke 17:32 as pertaining to the last days. Let us also not forget Yeshua’s warning to the church of Laodicea in (see Rev 3:14–22).