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.

Command to Destroy and Separate

When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you;

and when the LORD your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them;

neither shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.

For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So the LORD’s anger would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

But you shall deal with them like this. You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire.

Israel Chosen by God's Love

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

The LORD didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:

but because the LORD loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Know therefore that the LORD your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,

and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face.

You shall therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them.

Blessings for Covenant Obedience

It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers.

He will love you, bless you, multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.

You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock.

The LORD will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, will he put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you.

You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you.

Confidence in Conquest

If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?”

you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt;

the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you.

You shall not be scared of them; for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.

The LORD your God will cast out those nations before you little by little. You may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you.

But the LORD your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed.

He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the sky. No one will be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.

You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

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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Deuteronomy7

Command to Destroy and Separate

Israel Chosen by God's Love

Blessings for Covenant Obedience

Confidence in Conquest

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