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Deuteronomy 7

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Command to Destroy and Separate 1–5

1
When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; ​
2
and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; ​
3
neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. ​
4
For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.
5
But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. ​

Israel Chosen by God's Love 6–11

6
For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. ​
7
Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: ​
8
but because Jehovah loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ​
9
Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, ​
10
and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
11
Thou shalt therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this day, to do them.

Blessings for Covenant Obedience 12–16

12
And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah thy God will keep with thee the covenant and the lovingkindness which he sware unto thy fathers: ​
13
and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; he will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground, thy grain and thy new wine and thine oil, the increase of thy cattle and the young of thy flock, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
14
Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
15
And Jehovah will take away from thee all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, will he put upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. ​
16
And thou shalt consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God shall deliver unto thee; thine eye shall not pity them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.

Confidence in Conquest 17–26

17
If thou shalt say in thy heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? ​
18
thou shalt not be afraid of them: thou shalt well remember what Jehovah thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; ​
19
the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby Jehovah thy God brought thee out: so shall Jehovah thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid.
20
Moreover Jehovah thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves, perish from before thee. ​
21
Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and a terrible.
22
And Jehovah thy God will cast out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. ​
23
But Jehovah thy God will deliver them up before thee, and will discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed.
24
And he will deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt make their name to perish from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. ​
25
The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God. ​
26
And thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, and become a devoted thing like unto it: thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 7

Verse 1

seven nations greater and mightier than thou — The seven are the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, and Acts 13:19 speaks of the LORD destroying 'seven nations in the land of Chanaan'. Their strength is stated plainly (cf. 4:38; 9:1), and 9:3 answers it: 'the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee'.

Verse 2

utterly destroy them — Charam, to devote to destruction, is doubled here for emphasis. The reason is given in 20:18, 'that they teach you not to do after all their abominations'. The ban on a covenant is that of Ex 23:32–33: 'lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.'

Verse 3

make marriages — Chathan, to join by marriage. The ban runs both ways, daughter given and daughter taken, and v.4 states the cause: 'they will turn away thy son from following me'. Solomon is the example: 'his wives turned away his heart after other gods', though the LORD had said 'Ye shall not go in to them' (1 Kings 11:2–4).

Verse 5

their groves — 'Groves' translates asherah, a wooden pole set beside an altar; Gideon is told to 'throw down the altar of Baal… and cut down the grove that is by it' (Judg 6:25). The 'images' are matstsebah, standing stones, called 'pillars' in 12:3. Ex 34:13 gives the same command.

Verse 6

a special people — Segullah, a treasure kept as one's own. Ex 19:5 renders it 'a peculiar treasure', and Peter applies the title to the church, 'a peculiar people' (1 Pet 2:9). Deut 14:2 repeats this verse almost word for word. 'Holy' (qadosh) means set apart to the LORD, and the choice is 'above all people'.

Verse 7

did not set his love upon you — Chashaq, to cling to, to be attached; the verb recurs in 10:15, 'the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them'. Israel was 'the fewest': the fathers 'went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons' (10:22). Paul draws the same line, 'not of works, but of him that calleth' (Rom 9:11).

Verse 8

because the LORD loved you — Love and the oath sworn 'unto your fathers' (cf. Ex 32:13) are given together as the cause of the exodus. 'Redeemed' is padah, to ransom, and 'the house of bondmen' is the 'house of bondage' of 5:6. Both hands are named: the LORD's 'mighty hand' and 'the hand of Pharaoh'.

Verse 9

the faithful God — Aman, to be firm and trustworthy. He 'keepeth covenant and mercy' (chesed, covenant love) 'to a thousand generations', as Ps 105:8 says of the covenant, 'the word which he commanded to a thousand generations'. The reply asked of man is named, 'them that love him and keep his commandments' (as in 5:10), and Heb 10:23 says 'he is faithful that promised'.

Verse 12

keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy — 'Keep' is shamar, to guard, the verb of vv.8–9: the LORD keeps the oath he swore, and the people keep the judgments. The 'if' is eqeb, from the word for a heel, so 'as a result'; the blessings that follow in vv.13–15 come in the train of hearkening.

Verse 15

the evil diseases of Egypt — Madveh and choli are sickness and disease. Ex 15:26 holds the same promise: 'I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.' Deut 28:60 reverses it: 'all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of'.

Verse 17

These nations are more than I — The thought is the spies' (Num 13:32; Deut 1:28), 'The people is greater and taller than we'. 'Dispossess' is yarash, the verb behind 'possess' in v.1. The question is spoken 'in thine heart', and v.18 answers: 'Thou shalt not be afraid of them'.

Verse 18

well remember — The Hebrew doubles the verb (zakar), an infinitive with the verb itself: remembering, thou shalt remember. The object is what the LORD 'did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt', set out in v.19. Psalm 77:11 uses it as a vow, 'I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.'

Verse 20

the hornet — Tsirah is found only three times: Ex 23:28, here, and Josh 24:12, 'I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out… even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.' It reaches those 'that are left, and hide themselves from thee'.

Verse 22

by little and little — Ex 23:29–30 gives the same reason, 'lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee'. Judg 2:23 records the nations left 'without driving them out hastily', and 2:22 adds another purpose, 'that through them I may prove Israel'.

Verse 24

destroy their name from under heaven — The LORD says to Joshua, 'there shall not a man of them stand before thee' (Josh 10:8), and the list of Josh 12 ends 'all the kings thirty and one' (12:24). The same phrase, 'name from under heaven', is the LORD's word about Israel itself after the calf, answered by Moses' prayer (9:14).

Verse 25

thou shalt not desire — Chamad, the verb of the tenth commandment (5:21). Achan shows the snare: 'I coveted them, and took them' (Josh 7:21). The images are burned, as Moses burned the calf (Ex 32:20), because they are an 'abomination' (to'evah) to the LORD, and the silver and gold on them are not to be taken.

Verse 26

a cursed thing — Cherem, the noun of the verb 'utterly destroy' in v.2. The one who brings it home becomes it: 'lest thou be a cursed thing like it'. Joshua warned Israel at Jericho, 'lest ye make yourselves accursed' (Josh 6:18), and after Achan the LORD said 'neither will I be with you any more' (Josh 7:12).