Deuteronomy 7:11

Moses speaks these words on the plains of Moab, in the second of his great addresses, as Israel waits to cross into the land God promised them. The verses just before this passage command Israel to destroy the nations of Canaan, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, and forbid any covenant or marriage with them (Deuteronomy 7:1–5). Verse 6 gives the reason in its first word: “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God.” Israel must keep apart from those nations and their gods because Israel already belongs to the LORD.

The word for holy, qâdôwsh, means set apart, consecrated, sacred. It describes what is given over to God for his use, distinct from what is common. Israel’s holiness here is a standing that God gives by choosing them and binding them to himself in covenant, and the standing carries a calling: to worship him alone, to keep his laws, and to stay clear of the idolatry and corruption of the peoples around them.

The second half of the verse tells how this came about: “the LORD thy God hath chosen thee.” The verb bâchar means to select or choose, and here it is a deliberate choice that begins with God and rests on his purpose. The phrase “the LORD thy God” stands twice in this verse, which keeps our eyes on the one who acts and on the personal bond between him and his people.

Israel is chosen “to be a special people unto himself”. Special translates çᵉgullâh, a valued possession, a peculiar treasure, private property of the kind a king keeps in his own treasury. The same word stands in God’s words at Sinai, where he tells Israel that they shall be “a peculiar treasure unto me above all people” and “an holy nation” (Exodus 19:4–6). “Unto himself” says whose treasure this is. Israel belongs to the LORD, for his purposes and his glory, and the word tells how dear they are to him.

“Above all people that are upon the face of the earth” marks how far this choice sets Israel apart, and the rest of Scripture shows what it was for. Israel was to bear witness among the nations to the one true God, and Isaiah speaks of the LORD’s servant as a light to the Gentiles, bringing his salvation to the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). Isaiah also calls Israel the people God formed for himself (Isaiah 43:20–21), and through Amos the LORD says to them, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2).

The New Testament gives the church these same titles. Peter writes to believers, “ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9–10). Paul writes to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:2), and says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy before him (Ephesians 1:4). Israel was made holy by God’s choice and then called to live as a holy people. In the same way believers are made holy in Christ and called to live out that holiness in purity and devotion, as salt and light in the world (Matthew 5:13–16).

God chose Israel because he loved them and because he would keep the oath he swore to their fathers. Moses answers the question before anyone can ask it, and he begins by setting aside the answer Israel might have given for itself: “The LORD 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 people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers”. So the whole reason for the choice lies in God, in his love and in his faithfulness to his word.

Among the nations, a people’s strength, standing and favour with its gods were commonly measured by its numbers, its armies and the grandeur of its gods. By that measure Israel, a people only lately freed from slavery, counted for little beside the established nations they were about to face. Moses tells them the truth about their choosing now, before they grow numerous and prosperous in the land and are tempted to credit their blessings to themselves. It keeps them humble and puts all the glory where it belongs.

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God”. The verb yâdaʻ means to know by experience and to acknowledge. Israel has seen what the LORD did in Egypt, and from it they are to recognise who he is. “He is God” claims the whole title for the LORD alone, as Moses said earlier: “the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him” (Deuteronomy 4:35). This verse follows the Ten Commandments, given again in Deuteronomy 5, and the call to love the one LORD with all the heart (Deuteronomy 6:4–9), and it is the ground of the warnings against idolatry that fill Deuteronomy 7. The God who asks for Israel’s whole allegiance is himself completely reliable.

He is “the faithful God”. The root behind “faithful”, ʼâman, in its simple form means to support or nourish, as a nurse or foster-parent does, and in the form used here it means firm, established, sure. God is dependable and true to every promise he has made, and his character holds steady. The word “Amen” comes from the same root, the word by which God’s people say “it is true”. Jesus calls himself “the Amen, the faithful and true witness” (Revelation 3:14), and Paul writes, “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son” (1 Corinthians 1:9). The psalmist sings of the mercies of the LORD and makes known his faithfulness to all generations (Psalm 89:1–2).

He “keepeth covenant and mercy”. To keep, shâmar, is to guard, watch over and preserve. A covenant, bᵉrîyth, is a binding agreement, an alliance or treaty. People made covenants with solemn oaths, as Abraham and Abimelech did at Beersheba, and God’s covenant with Israel began with him and has his own character as its guarantee. “Mercy” translates cheçed, a rich word for steadfast love, loyal love, lovingkindness. It is God’s active commitment to his promises and his people, which holds even when they falter and gives far above what they deserve. Joined, the two words describe one thing, a covenant kept in loyal love. When the LORD proclaimed his name to Moses, he called himself merciful and gracious, abundant in goodness and truth, “keeping mercy for thousands” (Exodus 34:6–7).

“With them that love him and keep his commandments” names those who receive it. Love for God shows itself in keeping what he commands, as Moses says again in Deuteronomy 11:13.

Right after the promise of mercy comes the warning: “And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them”. The verb shâlam has to do with being whole and sound, and here it means to pay back, to make good, to settle accounts. God’s repayment is a just recompense that brings a matter to its right end. “Hate” translates sânêʼ, active hostility and opposition. In covenant terms, to hate God is to set oneself against his authority, his covenant and his commands. In Canaan that hatred took the form of idolatry and abominations that included child sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:29–31). “To destroy them” uses ʼâbad, to destroy, the verb Moses uses for the end of the nations of Canaan.

“To their face” is built on pânîym, face. The word is plural in form and always used as a singular, and it also means front, surface and presence. God’s repayment comes to the person himself, openly and directly, in a way that makes plain where it comes from and whom it is for. In Israel judgment was given openly by the elders in the gate, and the phrase carries that public and undeniable kind of reckoning. Moses says it at the beginning of the verse and again at its close: “he will repay him to his face.”

Between the two stands “he will not be slack to him that hateth him”. The verb, ʼâchar, means to delay or linger. God deals with those who hate him in his own time and with complete resolve.

So verses 9 and 10 together show the whole of God’s character, steadfast in mercy to those who love him and righteous in judgment on those who hate him. The rest of Scripture says the same. Psalm 7 praises God as the righteous judge, Paul writes that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness (Romans 1:18), and Hebrews quotes the Lord, “Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense”, and adds, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:30–31).

“Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.” The “therefore” ties this command to everything before it. God loved Israel, chose them, redeemed them and showed himself faithful, and obedience is the fitting answer to grace already given. Israel had promised as much at Sinai: “All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7).

Israel is to keep God’s commandments with the same verb, shâmar, that describes God keeping his covenant in verse 9. At its root the word means to hedge about, as with thorns, and so to guard, attend to and observe with care.

The three words for God’s law together take in the whole of it. “Commandments” is mitsvâh. “Statutes” is chôq, something prescribed, such as a law, decree, custom or set limit, from a root meaning to engrave or enact. “Judgments” is mishpâṭ, properly a verdict given in judgment, a formal ruling or decree. The three are often distinguished, with commandments as God’s direct charges, statutes as prescribed ordinances, many of them concerning worship, whose reasons may be left unstated, and judgments as rulings for justice in the life of the community. The call to keep all of them matches the call to love the LORD with all the heart, soul and might (Deuteronomy 6:5). God’s word reaches into every part of life.

“Which I command thee this day” is Moses speaking for God. Forty years after the Exodus, the generation that stood at Sinai has largely died, and Moses, near the end of his own life, sets the covenant before their children. “This day” uses yôwm, day, and brings the command into the present for a people standing at the edge of the land.

“To do them” closes the verse with ʻâsâh, to do or make, the broadest word for doing. Hearing God’s law leads to doing it, as Moses says elsewhere: “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it” (Deuteronomy 6:3). The blessings that follow obedience and the warnings against idolatry come next, in Deuteronomy 7:12–26.

The New Testament joins love and obedience in the same way. Jesus says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). John writes, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments” (1 John 5:3), and James says that “faith, if it hath not works, is dead” (James 2:17). Obedience is how love for God is shown, and it answers favour already received.

This passage reaches its fullness in Jesus Christ. God’s love for Israel, given to a people with nothing to commend them, is the same love with which God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16). God, rich in mercy, loved us with a great love (Ephesians 2:4), and by grace we are saved through faith, as the gift of God, apart from works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8–9).

The redemption from Egypt points to a greater one. Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13–14). He entered the holy place by his own blood and obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). The oath God kept to the fathers finds its yes in him, for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). He is the mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises (Hebrews 8:6), and in him God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3–14).

Jesus is the truly holy one, wholly set apart for God’s purposes, and he lived the holiness to which Israel was called and which Israel failed to reach. Israel’s calling to be a light to the nations is fulfilled in him, the light of the world (John 8:12), and his church carries that witness to the ends of the earth. He came to fulfil the law (Matthew 5:17), and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). His righteousness is given to all who believe (Romans 3:21–26), which lifts from us the impossible burden of earning righteousness by keeping the law. The Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised (John 14:26) writes God’s law on our hearts, as the LORD promised through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:33), so that we keep his commandments out of love, gratitude and new life.

Verse 10’s justice also meets us in Christ. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and he redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13), bearing on the cross the judgment that sin deserved. For those who persist in rejecting him, he is the one ordained of God to be judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42), and Revelation shows the dead judged before the great white throne (Revelation 20:11–15). God’s justice is fully upheld, in Christ’s sacrifice for those who believe and in judgment on those who refuse his grace.

The reason God chose Israel lies in him, in his love and in his oath, and that is why the choice held firm while they were few and weak. The same is true of everyone God has chosen in Christ. His love came first, it rests on his own heart, and his faithfulness reaches to a thousand generations. These verses also show us who God is in full, steadfast in mercy toward those who love him and just toward those who hate him. They put obedience in its proper place, as the answer of a people already loved, chosen and set free. Moses’ “therefore” rests on everything God had already done, and the command of verse 11 comes to people the LORD had already brought out of the house of bondmen.