How were the Israelites supposed to relate to the pagan Gentiles around them?
The Israelites were to be a separated people, not co-mingling or intermarrying with the pagan Gentiles around them. They were to have nothing to do with those Gentiles and were never told to evangelize them. God emphasized this separation, and it continued until He turned to the Gentiles.
Les teaches that God kept emphasizing that these covenant people, the Jews, the Israelites, were not to co-mingle with the Gentiles. They were to be a separated people, not to intermarry, and to have nothing to do with the pagan Gentiles around them. They were never told to go and evangelize them. This division carries all the way into the New Testament. Even in Acts chapter 10, Peter told Cornelius that it was an unlawful thing for him, a Jew, to keep company with a Gentile of another nation. But God had something else in store: He was now going to turn to the Gentiles, whereas up until that time it was predominantly only His covenant people.