Deuteronomy7

The LORD commands Israel to utterly destroy the seven nations in Canaan, their altars, and images, and to make no covenants or marriages with them, lest they be led to idolatry. This is because Israel is a holy people, chosen by God's love and faithfulness, not their own merit. Obedience to these commands will bring blessings and divine assistance in conquering the land, while disobedience will incur wrath.
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Command to Destroy and Separate

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When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— ​
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and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. ​
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Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, ​
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because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.
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Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire. ​

Israel Chosen by God's Love

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For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth. ​
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The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ​
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But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ​
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Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. ​
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But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.
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So keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances that I am giving you to follow this day.

Blessings for Covenant Obedience

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If you listen to these ordinances and keep them carefully, then the LORD your God will keep His covenant and the loving devotion that He swore to your fathers. ​
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He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.
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You will be blessed above all peoples; among you there will be no barren man or woman or livestock.
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And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you. ​
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You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Confidence in Conquest

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You may say in your heart, “These nations are greater than we are; how can we drive them out?” ​
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But do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt: ​
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the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, and the mighty hand and outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.
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Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until even the survivors hiding from you have perished. ​
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Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.
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The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you. ​
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But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.
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He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them. ​
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You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God. ​
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And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction. ​

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 7

Verse 1

This verse lists the 'Seven Nations,' the traditional inhabitants of Canaan. Their greater number emphasizes that the victory will be divine, not merely military, reinforcing Israel’s reliance on Yahweh.

Verse 2

The command to 'utterly destroy them' (Hebrew: *herem*) signifies the dedication of the enemy and their possessions to God, prohibiting assimilation, treaty, or mercy to ensure Israel's ritual purity.

Verse 3

Intermarriage is highlighted as the primary danger, as it guarantees religious syncretism and the subsequent abandonment of Yahweh worship, leading to covenant violation.

Verse 5

This mandate emphasizes the destruction of religious artifacts (altars, images, groves) as the ultimate preventative measure, targeting the source of pagan influence rather than just the people.

Verse 6

The concept of Israel as a 'special people' (*segullah*) underscores their unique and exclusive relationship with Yahweh, demanding absolute loyalty and ritual holiness.

Verse 7

This verse powerfully counters any notion of Israelite superiority, stressing that election is based purely on God's sovereign and unmerited grace, a foundational principle of Deuteronomic theology.

Verse 8

God’s love and faithfulness to the ancestral oath (sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) are the twin motivations for the Exodus and the subsequent conquest of Canaan.

Verse 9

Yahweh is described as the 'faithful God,' emphasizing his reliability in both keeping promises (mercy to the obedient) and executing judgment (repayment to the disobedient).

Verse 12

This introduces the conditional nature of the covenant relationship: obedience triggers divine blessing, reinforcing the Deuteronomic framework of reward and consequence.

Verse 15

Deliverance from 'diseases of Egypt' refers to the plagues and sicknesses associated with the land of bondage, symbolizing comprehensive physical protection offered under the covenant.

Verse 17

Moses anticipates the people's natural fear when facing numerically or technologically superior enemies, establishing that the required response is faith based on past divine acts.

Verse 18

Memory of the Exodus events—God’s powerful intervention against Pharaoh—serves as the foundation for Israel's faith, proving God’s ability to overcome any obstacle in Canaan.

Verse 20

The 'hornet' (Hebrew *tzirah*) is a metaphor for divine panic or perhaps a literal agent used by God to weaken the enemy and clear the land before Israel's direct military engagement.

Verse 22

God promises gradual conquest, a pragmatic strategy intended to prevent the land from becoming desolate and subsequently overrun by wild animals, revealing divine providence in military timing.

Verse 24

To destroy the enemy’s 'name from under heaven' is a powerful ancient Near Eastern idiom signifying total eradication and ensuring no memory or claim to the land remains.

Verse 25

This prohibition against desiring the silver or gold from idols is crucial because the spoils are considered *herem* (accursed). Taking them would introduce the forbidden curse into the community (cf. the narrative of Achan in Joshua 7).

Verse 26

The warning against bringing an 'abomination' (*to'evah*) into the house extends the concept of holiness from the national level to the personal level, demanding absolute separation from pagan items.

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