Biblical Concept:
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny = “historical expansionist doctrine” “the
19th-century doctrine according to which the United States was believed to have
the God-given right to expand into and possess the whole of the North American
continent” (Encarta)
Biblical Examples:
NAS
Genesis 15:16 "Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for
the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." (God to Abraham regarding a
return to Canaan by
NAS Genesis 28:13-14 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it
and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of
Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your
descendants. 14 "Your
descendants shall also be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread out
to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and
in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
NAS Exodus 34:24 "For I
will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall
covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD
your God. (God’s
manifest destiny for
Leviticus
18:24-30 24 'Do not
defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I
am casting out before you have become defiled.
25 'For the land has become defiled, therefore I have
visited its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its
inhabitants. 26 'But as
for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not do any of
these abominations, neither the native,
nor the alien who sojourns among you 27 (for the
men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and
the land has become defiled); 28 so that
the land may not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the
nation which has been before you. 29 'For
whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. 30 'Thus you are to keep My charge, that
you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced
before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am the LORD your
God.'"
Leviticus 20:22-24 22 'You are
therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that
the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out. 23 'Moreover, you shall not follow the
customs of the nation which I shall drive out before you, for they did all
these things, and therefore I have abhorred them. 24 'Hence I have said to you, "You
are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a
land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has
separated you from the peoples.
Leviticus 26:1-13 1 'You shall not make
for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land
to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.
2 'You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My
sanctuary; I am the LORD. 3 'If you walk in My
statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, 4 then I shall give you rains in their season, so
that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their
fruit. 5 'Indeed, your
threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will
last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live
securely in your land. 6 'I shall also grant
peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the
land, and no sword will pass through your land.
7 'But you will chase your enemies, and they will fall before you by the
sword; 8 five of you will chase
a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will
fall before you by the sword. 9 'So I will turn toward
you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with
you. 10 'And you will eat the old supply and clear out the
old because of the new. 11 'Moreover, I will make
My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. 12 'I will also walk among you and be your God, and
you shall be My people. 13 'I am the LORD your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you should not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your
yoke and made you walk erect.
NAS Deuteronomy 4:38 driving out
from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an
inheritance, as it is today.
(God’s manifest
destiny for
NAS Deuteronomy 7:1 "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. (God’s
manifest destiny for
NAS Deuteronomy 9:1 "Hear,
O
NAS Deuteronomy 12:29 "When
the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to
dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 beware that you
are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that
you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ' How do these nations serve their
gods, that I also may do likewise? ' 31 "You shall not behave thus toward
the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done
for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to
their gods. 32 "Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you
shall not add to nor take away from it. (God’s
manifest destiny for
NAS Deuteronomy 15:6 "For
the LORD your God shall bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to
many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but
they will not rule over you.
(God’s manifest
destiny for
NAS Deuteronomy 18:9 "When
you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to
imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 "There shall not be
found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire,
one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets
omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 "For
whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these
detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. 13
"You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 "For those
nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft
and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so. (God’s manifest destiny for
NAS Deuteronomy 19:1 "When
the LORD your God cuts off the nations, whose land the LORD your God gives you,
and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, (God’s manifest destiny for Israel)
Deuteronomy 20:16-18 16 "Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving
you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 "But you shall
utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you, 18 in order that they may
not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have
done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 31:1-7 1 So Moses went and spoke
these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to
them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old today; I am no longer able to
come and go, and the LORD has said to me, 'You shall not cross this
Jordan.' 3 "It is the
LORD your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before
you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you,
just as the LORD has spoken. 4 "And the
LORD will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He
destroyed them. 5 "And the
LORD will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all
the commandments which I have commanded you.
6 "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or
tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will
not fail you or forsake you." 7 Then Moses
called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong
and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD
has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an
inheritance.
NAS Joshua 2:9 and said to the men, "I know that the
LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and
that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. (Rahab to the Hebrew spies before the destruction of
Joshua Chapter 24 1 Then Joshua
gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and
called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their
officers; and they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all
the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'From ancient times
your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. 3 'Then I took your
father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of
Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. 4 'And to Isaac I gave
Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir, to
possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 'Then I sent Moses and
Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought
you out. 6 'And I brought
your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your
fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 'But when they cried
out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the
sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And
you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 'Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who
lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your
hand, and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before
you. 9 'Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of
Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam the son
of Beor to curse you.
10 'But I was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to
bless you, and I delivered you from his hand.
11 'And you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the
citizens of Jericho fought against you, and the Amorite and the Perizzite
and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite,
the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Thus I gave them into your hand. 12 'Then I sent the
hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before
you, but not by your sword or
your bow. 13 'And I gave you
a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and
you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you
did not plant.' 14 "Now,
therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the
gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the
LORD. 15 "And if it
is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today
whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were
beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but
as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." 16 And the people answered
and said, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve
other gods; 17 for the LORD our
God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the
house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us
through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose
midst we passed. 18 "And the
LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in
the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God." 19 Then Joshua said to the
people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He
is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. 20 "If you forsake
the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume
you after He has done good to you."
21 And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will
serve the LORD." 22 And Joshua said
to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen
for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are
witnesses." 23 "Now
therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your
hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."
24 And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the
LORD our God and we will obey His voice."
25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and
made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these
words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up
there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said to all
the people, "Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it
has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us; thus it shall be for
a witness against you, lest you deny your God." 28 Then Joshua dismissed
the people, each to his inheritance. 29 And it came
about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD,
died, being one hundred and ten years old.
30 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance
in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of
Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash. 31 And Israel served the
LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua,
and had known all the deeds of the LORD which He had done for Israel. 32 Now they buried the
bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from
the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem
for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph's
sons. 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah of Phinehas his son, which
was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
NAS Psalm 105:44 44 He gave them
also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples' labor,
NAS Daniel 2:21 "And it is He who changes the times
and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise
men, And knowledge to men of understanding. (Human history is a revolving door
of regime change.)
NAS Jeremiah 18:6 "Can I not, O house of
Conclusion: Manifest Destiny is a
macro-national-technique, utilized by God to judge group evil in the Angelic Conflict. Compare Biblical Concept: Divine Regime Change.