Judges 3:5-6 "And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: (6) And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods."
The people of Israel had allowed those nations to remain even after God had
told them to drive them out. It would have been nice if the influence of Israel
had been greater than the influence of those nations, but it didn't happen. It
did not take long for Israel to start allowing their sons to marry the
daughters of the Canaanites and their daughters to marry the sons of the
Hittites. Taking their gods was the next digression from marrying those who
were of the world. Then we read, "And the children of Israel did evil in
the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the
groves." (Judges 3:7)
Jesus told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees because a
little leaven, leavens the whole lump. It is a fact that we tend to take on the
character of the individual, or individuals, with whom we keep company. We are
easily influenced. When He was being tempted, Jesus said, "Get thee hence,
Satan." We use the word, if, quite a bit, BUT, we might not be in
such a mess if Eve had told Satan to leave her alone. That being said, I
can't blame Eve for my transgressions. The same principle works for me today.
James wrote it in this manner, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. RESIST
the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you..." (James 4:7=8) If we live like the world, our
conversation will be indistinguishable from the world. We soon will be looking
and acting like that which God has told us to avoid. We must take care in
seeking to become more like Jesus each day.