The Seven Enemies of the Flesh—Part 2—The Spiritual Application of the Seven Enemies

 

Joshua leading God's people in conquest.
James Tissot
Brooklyn Museum 

Introduction and Review

In Part 1 of this study, the three main venues of the flesh as described by the Bible were extensively examined. This installment will examine how the enemies of Israel can represent our spiritual enemies and our flesh as we seek to conquer the territory of our lives for God.

The Battle Begins

Now that we understand the role and dominion of the flesh in the territory of our lives, specifically who rules and reigns over it, we can continue with the subject of this lesson, beginning with a passage from the book of Joshua. This scene occurs at the end of the 40-year wilderness wanderings of God's children. God had delivered his children from the Egyptians and promised them a permanent land of their own, where God would be their king, ever-present with them, and would satisfy all their needs. But this possession would not come without a fight.

And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites. 

— Joshua 3:10

Seven enemies needed to be conquered before the children of Israel could take possession of the land God had promised them. 

The meanings of their names offer interesting insights into the spiritual enemies of our flesh that we face as we enter and take possession of the promised land of an eternal relationship with God and the life He intended for us.

In this portion of Scripture, Joshua leads his people into a land flowing with everything they ever wanted or needed. Joshua represents Jesus.

In the Scripture verse above, Joshua tells the Israelites that God will drive out these seven enemies before them. One might conclude that the children of Israel would step across the Jordan and, "poof," find new land and new life, with the enemies gone and no participation on their part. We know from the Scriptures that follow that this wasn't how it happened. Participation is always required, and our participation invites God to do His part. There is no such thing as dual citizenship in the Kingdom of God. We either serve Him or another, and whoever we serve has legal jurisdiction over us.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. 

— 1 Corinthians 10:21

This concept conflicts with modern Churchianity, which preaches the Gospel of "don't change a thing; just come to Jesus and hang out with church people, and you will just "poof" change." We must take steps toward Him to conquer the territory of our lives through repentance and submission to Him. "Repentance" is the first word of the Gospel, and although God does the work in us, it is our job to turn toward Him rather than toward sin, the flesh, or any of the wares the devil would try to peddle to us. Paul exhorts us with the following words.

... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 

— Philippians 2:12-13

So it is with us. Sometimes, as we walk with God into the eternal life He intended for us, we are surprised to learn of these enemies and equally astonished to realize we play a role in defeating them. Rather than evicting these enemies, we often make friends with them and let them hang out with us to our own demise. This work is ongoing and will continue into eternity, but we must head in the right direction. Jesus has gone before us and defeated our foes.

And the hostile princes and rulers He shook off from Himself, and boldly displayed them as His conquests, when by the Cross He triumphed over them. 

— Colossians 2:15 (Weymouth)

We have a good fight of faith to fight, seeing this victory come to completion in us and living in that reality. Just as the children of Israel had to stand, challenge, and resist their physical enemies, God invites us to engage in this battle to remove the fleshly occupants that don't belong in our relationship with Him. 

... those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

— Galatians 5:24

The enemies in this chapter represent the fleshly occupants of the territories of our souls. We must conquer these enemies through faith in Jesus' completed work on the cross so that God can take possession of the land of our lives.

These enemies' names reveal a progressive downward spiral in which we allow these fleshly enemies, invited and empowered by our sin and rebellion, to dwell in the land of our lives. Let's take a brief look at each one, and then we will see how they operate in us so that we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11) 

The Canaanites

The first enemies mentioned in the list were the Canaanites. The lessons from this enemy will lay the foundation for understanding legal transactions that vie for dominion rights and will be valuable in interpreting the other occupants, many of whom were sons of Canaan. 

Canaan carries a couple of meanings and attributes that are both applicable and relevant. The first attribute this clan is most noted for is its trading or trafficking. It comes from a root that means lowland and includes the idea of being brought under and into subjection. 

Trafficking accurately describes a portion of Scripture in Ezekiel that illustrates this through the earthly king of Tyre. This depiction brings to life what occurred in the spirit realm with the "evil one." It points to where it all originated. Because of Satan's trading, God cast him out of His mountain. Ezekiel describes him as a covering cherub who loses his position and territory. 

By the abundance of your trading
You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned;
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing
Out of the mountain of God;
And I destroyed you,
O covering cherub,
From the midst of the fiery stones.

— Ezekiel 28:16

Isn't this what took place in the garden with Adam and Eve? A transaction with the devil occurred in the form of a trade. The truth was exchanged for a lie, and they were cast out of the garden.

Then the Lord God said to the woman,
"What is this that you have done?”
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

— Genesis 3:13

According to both Strong's Concordance and Gesenius Lexicon, the Hebrew word for "deceived" in the verse above carries the idea of purchasing on credit, as in a buy-now-pay-later transaction. The definitions also include the burdensome consequences of oppression, taxation, and being seized by a debt to a creditor that cannot be paid. Isn't that what the devil does? Like a crafty snake-oil salesman, he offers something that is nothing, takes all you have, leaves you with a debt you cannot pay, and, in turn, demands your servitude.

... the borrower is servant to the lender 

— Proverbs 22:7

Who you buy from is who you owe.

"The world does not object to your being a Christian for a time if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage, and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair" 

— Charles Spurgeon

Compare this with God's proposal.

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.

— Isaiah 55:1

God's invitation is upfront and free, yet not without cost. Two chapters before Isaiah 55, the prophet describes the suffering servant who paid the ransom for our release from the kingdom of darkness. 

The second meaning given to Canaan is "humiliated," and it relates to the lowland definition introduced with this enemy. Could we say this enemy of the flesh speaks of living the low life that inevitably leads to humiliation? 

Babelkan

Hittites: Terror

The second enemy was the Hittites. The Hebrew root word for Hittite, "Hitti," derives from a term meaning terror and suggests being shattered, broken, and confused. When we sell out to the snake oil salesman and make trades that lead us into a low life, brokenness follows. This enemy of the flesh is about the fear and anxiety that creep into one's life.

In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence. 

— Proverbs 14:26

Many times, anxiety can be self-consuming and yet self-focused, and I would also venture to guess that the fear of man and the opinions of man rank pretty high on the list of terrors. 

The fear of man brings a snare,
But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.

— Proverbs 29:25

This enemy wants us to want to look good in man's eyes and to become so self-focused that we become distracted and fragmented, so we won't care what God thinks. 

Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. 

— Isaiah 51:7

The Hittites' part of our story might also be about the fears of this life. Again, dependence on God, not on ourselves, is the key.

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 

"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. 

— Matthew 6:21-34

Tent dwellers. The unsettled life. 

Hivites: A Restless Unsettled Life

The third enemy was the Hivites, who were "nomadic tent dwellers," representing a restless, unsettled life. This illustrates aimless wandering and living without purpose or vision. According to Gesenius, one Arabic description of this word is to roll oneself in a circle. Could we say an unfocused, unpurposed life is a futile one, running in circles and accomplishing nothing, like a dog chasing its tail?

Where there is no vision from God, the people run wild. 

— Proverbs 29:18 (The Voice) 

God calls us to know our calling and to be full of vision and productivity.

... be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. 

— Colossians 1:9-11

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls. — Proverbs 25:28

Perizzites: An Undisciplined Life Without Boundaries

The fourth enemies were the Perizzites. They were known as inhabitants of the open country, characterized by unprotected villages and unwalled cities. Unwalled cities illustrate for us an undisciplined life without boundaries.

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit 

Is like a city broken down, without walls. 

— Proverbs 25:28

The Hebrew understanding of a relationship with God revolved around the walls and canopy of a covenant described in Isaiah.

Violence shall no longer be heard in your land,
Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders;
But you shall call your walls Salvation,
And your gates Praise.

— Isaiah 60:18

We step outside God's protection when we walk beyond those boundaries by disobedience to God's will and ways, catering to the whims of the flesh. This enemy wants us to believe we can have our cake and eat it too, but in reality, it leads us into a vulnerable place where we can be trodden down and plundered.

Our flesh pulls us off track and into the mud, pulling us away from the path of righteousness. 

Girgashites: Clay Soil

The fifth enemies were the Girgashites. According to Gesenius, Gergashi means "clayey soil" and illustrates how our flesh pulls us off track and into the mud by leaving the path of righteousness, as described in Proverbs.

... those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perversity of the wicked; Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their paths (ruts, cycles, and courses) 

— Proverbs 2:10-15 (NET Bible)

This enemy wants us to remain on familiar paths and return to our old ways. 

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb:
“A dog returns to his own vomit, a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.

— 2 Peter 2:22

God has delivered us from the miry clay. Let us not return there. The Lord frees us from the mud and establishes our goings.

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 

— Psalm 40:2

Icons of worldly fame and fortune

Amorites: Popularity

The Sixth enemy was the Amorites. The Hebrew word Amori relates to the need for publicity. If it isn't already apparent, pride plays a significant role in this enemy of our flesh and is characterized by boasting. Our flesh wants to be popular and well-liked and tends to do wicked things to obtain this kind of affirmation. 

... the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire;
He blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord.

— Psalm 10:3

Self and God cannot both sit on the throne. 

... the workers of iniquity boast in themselves. 

— Psalm 94:4 

The following verse is a temptation buster. 

... let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord.

— Jeremiah 9:24

This spiritual enemy treads down God's holy, sacred places. 
Francesco Hayez

Jebusites: Trodden Down

The Seventh enemy was the Jebusites, whose name means "to tread down with the feet." This phrase refers to a holy place and concerns its polluting and profaning. 

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 

— 1 Corinthians 3:16

This fleshly quality treats God's grace as common or cheap.

Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 

— Hebrews 10:29

This fleshly attribute could very well sum up what all carnal characteristics do when we voluntarily and habitually live in them. God warned the Israelites and us that living in fellowship with these characteristics leads to our own demise.  

... they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

— Joshua 23:13

We can see what happens when sin, operating through our flesh, rules our souls. The destructive forces cause a progressive downward spiral.  

Putting It All Together

The Canaanites illustrate the humiliation and shame that come when we lower God's standards for right living to satisfy our flesh. It is mainly about living the low life. 

... make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

— Romans 13:14

Jesus invites us to come up higher.

... as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways.

— Isaiah 55

The Hittites reveal that when satisfying the self and flesh becomes the focus of our lives, it ultimately leads to fear that drives us to make bad decisions, moving us away from God's comfort and confidence. Lack of focus and anxiety, in turn, progress to an aimless, unproductive existence of careless living and a casting off of restraint. This concept is shown in the definition of the Hivites. In leaving the path of righteousness, our lives become like cities without walls, boundaries, or a standard of living, represented by the Perizzites. We get stuck in ruts and cycles of sin and defeat, as imaged by the Girgashites. They also convince us to minimize both sin and consequence. The Amorites reveal how pride attempts to mask and hide all of the above and to deny that living under these dictates truly tramples the blood of Christ shed to deliver us from these things, as exhibited by the Jebusites.

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

A Demonstration From Cain and Abel

The Cain and Abel narrative is another example of how faith in our flesh or trust in God's sacrifice works. Abel offered a blood sacrifice, acknowledging a fundamental understanding of his condition. Cain offered the fruit of his work that denied his need for atonement. Cain became upset because he thought that God liked Abel better. The real difference was that Abel understood and humbled himself, admitting the actual price of His sin. Wherein lies another huge universal lie: "Our sin isn't that bad." 

Cain refused to acknowledge the gravity of his sin. God even came to him and explained that he would also experience God's favor if he did well. His pride-tainted reasoning had twisted his thinking into believing it was his brother's fault that he felt so small and insignificant, rather than his own disobedience. 

This deceptive thinking led him to believe eliminating his brother would solve his problem instead of facing the truth about himself. Blame is a clear sign of pride in action. As this story shows, anger and defensiveness also show pride.

God's Battle Strategy

The first step to defeating these fleshly enemies is acknowledging their existence and the problems they are causing. Admitting that we have made a god of ourselves, others, or things matters. We must examine how we take life into our own hands without considering what God might do for us. When God is not on the throne of our hearts, our flesh is.

The next phase after discovery is to forgive and experience forgiveness. Jesus bore and suffered both our sins and the sins committed against us, hanging on a cross and bearing it all in His body. His blood covered it all.

Next, we must repent and turn away from our old ways, attitudes, behaviors, and fleshly reactions as we discover each unconquered territory of our soul.

We need to put our faith in God for every insecurity and need, and consciously choose not to worship ourselves by doing what we want, nor worship others by doing what we think they want us to be and do.

These patterns of living in the flesh become strongholds and are the fortresses that keep us in bondage.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds ... 

— 2 Corinthians 10:4

We can live in the awful patterns of sin and addiction or maybe the patterns of relationship troubles and issues for the rest of our lives, which the cycles these enemies create show us. The Israelites circled the mountain for 40 years because their flesh always seemed to overrule their faith, or we can break out of their grips through submission to God in repentance, forgiveness, and trust in our Mighty Conqueror by the following.

... casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

— 2 Corinthians 10:5

Walking in the flesh is always about rebellion, no matter how cleverly disguised. The excuses we devise to maintain our flesh and its desires are infinite. Therefore, I also want to look at the fine line between freedom and rebellion, since we often give in to our flesh with misleading ideas of freedom. 

Webster's Dictionary, interestingly, defines freedom as a state of exemption from another's power or control, or exemption from slavery, servitude, or confinement. 

Rebellion is defined as open renunciation of authority and resistance to lawful authority. From the definitions above, these sound quite alike, except for freedom. Freedom is a state of being through submission to authority. Rebellion, however, is choosing to resist and openly defy authority. The latter eventually leads to law and restriction. It is a choice. Freedom through submission to God and His ways comes with a protective fence. Rebellion through fleshly desires is a city without walls. Isaiah offers us this warning.

Woe to those going down to Egypt (picture of the flesh) expecting help — relying on horses; trusting in chariots, because they have many, and in the strength of their cavalrymen (looking to self, people, programs, procedures, and powers governmental or otherwise) — but not looking to the Holy One of Israel, not consulting Adonai 

— Isaiah 31:1 (Complete Jewish Bible)

Concluding Thoughts 

Often, we mistake God's fence of protection (boundaries) for confinement, when it was never meant to keep us in, but to keep the enemy out. 

Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

— 1 Peter 5:5-11

Whenever the children of Israel succumbed to their fleshly natures in following the gods and practices of the other nations, they were overcome by these same enemies and eventually oppressed by a foreign enemy. 

We would do well to wage a spiritual battle against the enemies of our flesh, as Joshua and the children of Israel did, by eradicating the sin and unforgiveness in our lives that invite and empower them, so that we may live in the plans of peace and wholeness God intended.

For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 

— Jeremiah 28:11 

Therefore, we are to do the following.

... put to death the earthly parts of your nature...and...put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator. 

— Colossians 3:5,10

© 2010 Tamarajo 

The Seven Enemies of the Flesh—Part 1—An Explanation of the Flesh

The Seven Enemies of the Flesh—Part 2—The Spiritual Application of the Seven Enemies