When Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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. You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
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When Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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. You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son. For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods. So Yahweh’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, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire. For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. Yahweh 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 Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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 today, to do them. It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and 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 will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you. 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover Yahweh 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 Yahweh your God is among you, a great and awesome God. Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
Parallel Translations
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When Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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.
You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
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When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
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.
Show all 3 translations
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When the LORD 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;
and when the LORD 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;
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.
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Cross-references (58)
- 1 Kings 11:2 (v3) of the nations concerning which Yahweh said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for…
- Joshua 23:12-13 (v3) “But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with…
- Exodus 34:15-16 (v3) “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and…
- 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 (v3) Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with…
- Deuteronomy 31:3 (v1) Yahweh your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will…
Show all 58 cross-references
- Judges 3:6-7 (v3) They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. The children of Israel did…
- Nehemiah 13:23-27 (v3) In those days I also saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; and their children spoke half in the speech of…
- Genesis 6:2-3 (v3) God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. Yahweh said, “My Spirit…
- Exodus 23:32-33 (v2) You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you…
- Judges 2:2 (v2) You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice.…
- Ezra 9:1-2 (v3) Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not…
- Acts 13:19 (v1) When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance for about four hundred fifty years.
- Deuteronomy 4:38 (v1) to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is…
- Genesis 15:18-21 (v1) In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great…
- Exodus 33:2 (v1) I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the…
- Deuteronomy 9:1 (v1) Hear, Israel! You are to pass over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and…
- Deuteronomy 20:1 (v1) When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of…
- Psalms 44:2-3 (v1) You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad. For they didn’t get…
- Deuteronomy 4:1-3 (v1) Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land…
- Deuteronomy 9:4 (v1) Don’t say in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, “For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to…
- Deuteronomy 20:16-17 (v2) But of the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; but you…
- Exodus 6:8 (v1) I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am…
- Exodus 15:7 (v1) In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.
- Leviticus 27:28-29 (v2) “ ‘Notwithstanding, no devoted thing that a man devotes to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his…
- Numbers 14:31 (v1) But I will bring your little ones that you said should be captured or killed in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
- Deuteronomy 6:1 (v1) Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in…
- Deuteronomy 6:10 (v1) It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you,…
- Deuteronomy 6:19 (v1) to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as Yahweh has spoken.
- Deuteronomy 6:23 (v1) and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers.
- Deuteronomy 11:29 (v1) It shall happen, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you go to possess, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim,…
- Deuteronomy 23:14 (v2) for Yahweh your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be…
- Deuteronomy 31:20 (v1) For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled…
- Joshua 2:14 (v2) The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land,…
- Joshua 10:30 (v2) Yahweh delivered it also, with its king, into the hand of Israel. He struck it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls who were in…
- Joshua 11:11-12 (v2) They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned…
- Psalms 78:55 (v1) He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
- Genesis 14:20 (v2) Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.
- Exodus 23:28 (v1) I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you.
- Exodus 34:12-16 (v2) Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you; but you shall…
- Numbers 33:52 (v2) then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images,…
- Deuteronomy 3:3 (v2) So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We struck him until no one was left to him…
- Deuteronomy 7:23-24 (v2) But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed. He will…
- Deuteronomy 13:8 (v2) you shall not consent to him nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him;
- Deuteronomy 20:10-11 (v2) When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. It shall be, if it gives you answer of peace and opens to you,…
- Joshua 6:17-25 (v2) The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in…
- Joshua 8:24 (v2) When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all…
- Joshua 9:18-21 (v2) The children of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. All the…
- Joshua 9:24 (v2) They answered Joshua, and said, “Because your servants were certainly told how Yahweh your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all…
- Joshua 10:24-25 (v2) When they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who went…
- Joshua 10:28 (v2) Joshua took Makkedah on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, with its king. He utterly destroyed it and all the souls who…
- Joshua 10:32 (v2) Yahweh delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel. He took it on the second day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, with all the…
- Joshua 10:40 (v2) So Joshua struck all the land, the hill country, the South, the lowland, the slopes, and all their kings. He left no one remaining, but he…
- Joshua 10:42 (v2) Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
- Joshua 21:44 (v2) Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Yahweh…
- Judges 1:4 (v2) Judah went up, and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck ten thousand men in Bezek.
- Judges 1:24 (v2) The watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with…
- 2 Samuel 21:2 (v2) The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the…
- Exodus 22:20 (v2) “He who sacrifices to any god, except to Yahweh only, shall be utterly destroyed.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (25 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v2 Into thy power.
Into thy power.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Deu 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring…
Deu 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Ver. 1. And hast cast out many nations.] God did all: "He cast out the heathen before them, and divided them an inheritance by line," &c. {Psa 78:55} Hence Josephus calls the commonwealth of Israel Yεοκρατειαν. Sic, Regnum Angliae, Regnum Dei. {a}
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{a} Polydor. Virgil.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–2 There were ten in Gen 15:19-21; but this being…
There were ten in Gen 15:19-21; but this being some hundreds of years after that, it is not strange if three of them were either destroyed by foreign or domestic wars, or by cohabitation and marriage united with and swallowed up in some of the rest.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. A very strict caution against all…
Here is, I. A very strict caution against all friendship and fellowship with idols and idolaters. Those that are taken into communion with God must have no communication with the unfruitful works of darkness. These things they are charged about for the preventing of this snare now before them.
1. They must show them no mercy, Deu 7:1, Deu 7:2. Bloody work is here appointed them, and yet it is God's work, and good work, and in its time and place needful, acceptable, and honourable.
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(1.) God here engages to do his part. It is spoken of as a thing taken for granted that God would bring them into the land of promise, that he would cast out the nations before them, who were the present occupants of that land; no room was left to doubt of that. His power is irresistible, and therefore he can do it; his promise is inviolable, and therefore he will do it. Now, [1.] These devoted nations are here named and numbered (Deu 7:1), seven in all, and seven to one are great odds. They are specified, that Israel might know the bounds and limits of their commission: hitherto their severity must come, but no further; nor must they, under colour of this commission, kill all that came in their way; no, here must its waves be stayed. The confining of this commission to the nations here mentioned plainly intimates that after-ages were not to draw this into a precedent; this will not serve to justify those barbarous laws which give no quarter. How agreeable soever this method might be, when God himself prescribed it, to that dispensation under which such multitudes of beasts were killed and burned in sacrifice, now that all sacrifices of atonement are perfected in, and superseded by, the great propitiation made by the blood of Christ, human blood has become perhaps more precious than it was, and those that have most power yet must not be prodigal of it. [2.] They are here owned to be greater and mightier than Israel. They had been long rooted in this land, to which Israel came strangers; they were more numerous, had men much more bulky and more expert in war than Israel had; yet all this shall not prevent their being cast out before Israel. The strength of Israel's enemies magnifies the power of Israel's God, who will certainly be too hard for them.
(2.) He engages them to do their part. Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them, Deu 7:2. If God cast them out, Israel must not take them in, no, not as tenants, nor tributaries, nor servants. Not covenant of any kind must be made with them, no mercy must be shown them. This severity was appointed, [1.] By way of punishment for the wickedness they and their fathers had been guilty of. The iniquity of the Amorites was now full, and the longer it had been in the filling the sorer was the vengeance when it came at last. [2.] In order to prevent the mischiefs they would do to God's Israel if they were left alive. The people of these abominations must not be mingled with the holy seed, lest they corrupt them. Better that all these lives should be lost from the earth than that religion and the true worship of God should be lost in Israel. Thus we must deal with our lusts that was against our souls; God has delivered them into our hands by that promise, Sin shall not have dominion over you, unless it be your own faults; let not us them make covenants with them, nor show them any mercy, but mortify and crucify them, and utterly destroy them.
2. They must make no marriages with those of them that escaped the sword, Deu 7:3, Deu 7:4. The families of the Canaanites were ancient, and it is probable that some of them were called honourable, which might be a temptation to the Israelites, especially those of them that were of least note in their tribes, to court an alliance with them, to ennoble their blood; and the rather because their acquaintance with the country might be serviceable to them in the improvement of it: but religion, and the fear of God, must overrule all these considerations. To intermarry with them was therefore unlawful, because it was dangerous; this very thing had proved of fatal consequence to the old world (Gen 6:2), and thousands in the world that now is have been undone by irreligious ungodly marriages; for there is more ground of fear in mixed marriages that the good will be perverted than of hope that the bad will be converted. The event proved the reasonableness of this warning: They will turn away thy son from following me. Solomon paid dearly for his folly herein. We find a national repentance for this sin of marrying strange wives, and care taken to reform (Ezr 9:1-15, 10; and Neh. 13), and a New Testament caution not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, Co2 6:14. Those that in choosing yokefellows keep not at least within the bounds of a justifiable profession of religion cannot promise themselves helps meet for them. One of the Chaldee paraphrases adds here, as a reason of this command (Deu 7:3), For he that marries with idolaters does in effect marry with their idols.
3. They must destroy all the relics of their idolatry, Deu 7:5. Their altars and pillars, their groves and graven images, all must be destroyed, both in a holy indignation against idolatry and to prevent infection. This command was given before, Exo 23:24; Exo 34:13. A great deal of good work of this kind was done by the people, in their pious zeal (Ch2 31:1), and by good Josiah (Ch2 34:3, Ch2 34:7), and with this may be compared the burning of the conjuring books, Act 19:19.
II. Here are very good reasons to enforce this caution.
1. The choice which God had made of this people for his own, Deu 7:6. There was such a covenant and communion established between God and Israel as was not between him and any other people in the world. Shall they by their idolatries dishonour him who had thus honoured them? Shall they slight him who had thus testified his kindness for them? Shall they put themselves upon the level with other people, when God had thus dignified and advanced them above all people? Had God taken them to be a special people to him, and no other but them, and will not they take God to be a special God to them, and no other but him?
2. The freeness of that grace which made this choice. (1.) There was nothing in them to recommend or entitle them to this favour. In multitude of the people is the king's honour, Pro 14:28. But their number was inconsiderable; they were only seventy souls when they went down into Egypt, and, though greatly increased there, yet there were many other nations more numerous: You were the fewest of all people, Deu 7:7. The author of the Jerusalem Targum passes too great a compliment upon his nation in his reading this, You were humble in spirit, and meek above all people; quite contrary: they were rather stiff-necked and ill-natured above all people. (2.) God fetched the reason of it purely from himself, Deu 7:8. [1.] He loved you because he would love you. Even so, Father, because it seemed good in thy eyes. All that God loves he loves freely, Hos 14:4. Those that perish perish by their own merits, but all that are saved are saved by prerogative. [2.] He has done his work because he would keep his word. "He has brought you out of Egypt in pursuance of the oath sworn to your fathers." Nothing in them, or done by them, did or could make God a debtor to them; but he had made himself a debtor to his own promise, which he would perform notwithstanding their unworthiness.
3. The tenour of the covenant into which they were taken; it was in short this, That as they were to God so God would be to them. They should certainly find him, (1.) Kind to his friends, Deu 7:9. "The Lord thy God is not like the gods of the nations, the creatures of fancy, subjects fit enough for loose poetry, but no proper objects of serious devotion; no, he is God, God indeed, God alone, the faithful God, able and ready not only to fulfil his own promises, but to answer all the just expectations of his worshippers, and he will certainly keep covenant and mercy," that is, "show mercy according to covenant, to those that love him and keep his commandments" (and in vain do we pretend to love him if we do not make conscience of his commandments); "and this" (as is here added for the explication of the promise in the second commandment) "not only to thousands of persons, but to thousands of generations - so inexhaustible is the fountain, so constant are the streams!" (2.) Just to his enemies: He repays those that hate him, Deu 7:10. Note, [1.] Wilful sinners are haters of God; for the carnal mind is enmity against him. Idolaters are so in a special manner, for they are in league with his rivals. [2.] Those that hate God cannot hurt him, but certainly ruin themselves. He will repay them to their face, in defiance of them and all their impotent malice. His arrows are said to be made ready against the face of them, Psa 21:12. Or, He will bring those judgments upon them which shall appear to themselves to be the just punishment of their idolatry. Compare Job 21:19, He rewardeth him, and he shall know it. Though vengeance seem to be slow, yet it is not slack. The wicked and sinner shall be recompensed in the earth, Pro 11:31. I cannot pass the gloss of the Jerusalem Targum upon this place, because it speaks the faith of the Jewish church concerning a future state: He recompenses to those that hate him the reward of their good works in this world, that he may destroy them in the world to come.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into…
When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it,.... The land of Canaan they were just now going into to take possession of; their introduction into which is here, as in many other places, ascribed not to themselves, or their leaders, but to the Lord as their covenant God:
and hath cast out many nations before thee; even all that were in it, the seven following:
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the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites; the Canaanites were a particular nation in the land of Canaan, which had their name from Canaan himself; the rest were called from different sons of his; see Gen 10:15, the country of the Gergesenes, the same with the Girgashites, continued its name unto the times of Christ, Mat 8:28,
seven nations greater and mightier than thou; more in number, and more robust in body, some being of a gigantic stature; there were ten of these nations in Abraham's time, three of them were since sunk or swallowed up among the rest, the Kenites, and Kenizires, and the Rephaim; for instead of the Kadmonites the Hivites are here put, which seem to be the same.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v1 A command to destroy the Canaanites, with all pertaining…
A command to destroy the Canaanites, with all pertaining to their idols, ver. 1-5. And to obey God, considering their relation to him, ver. 6-11. Promises to the obedient, ver. 12-15. A repetition of the command, utterly to destroy the Canaanites, with all the monuments of their idolatry, ver. 16-26.
Seven nations - There were ten in Gen. xv, 19-21. But this being some hundreds of years after, it is not strange if three of them were either destroyed by foreign or domestick wars, or by cohabitation and marriage united with, and swallowed up in the rest.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 With the seven nations that God shall cast out,…
CHAPTER VII
With the seven nations that God shall cast out, 1,
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they shall make no covenant, 2,
nor form any matrimonial alliances, 3;
lest they should be enticed into idolatry, 4.
All monuments of idolatry to be destroyed, 5.
The Israelites are to consider themselves a holy people, 6;
and that the Lord had made them such, not for their merits, but
for his own mercies, 7, 8.
They shall therefore love him, and keep his commandments, 9-11.
The great privileges of the obedient, 12-24.
All idolatry to be avoided, 25, 26.
NOTES ON CHAP. VII
Verse 1. Seven nations greater and mightier than thou] In several places of the Hebrew text, each of these seven nations is not enumerated, some one or other being left out, which the Septuagint in general supply. How these nations were distributed over the land of Canaan previously to the entering in of the Israelites, the reader may see in the note on "Jos 3:10".
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Deu 7:1. Seven nations — Ten are mentioned, Gen…
Deu 7:1. Seven nations — Ten are mentioned, Gen 15:19; but this being some hundreds of years after, it is not strange if three of them were either destroyed by foreign or domestic wars, or by cohabitation and marriage united with and swallowed up in the rest.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 See Deu 6:10 note.
See Deu 6:10 note.
Deu 7:5
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Their groves - Render, their idols of wood: the reference is to the wooden trunk used as a representation of Ashtaroth; see Deu 7:13 and Exo 34:13 note.
Deu 7:7
The fewest of all people - God chose for Himself Israel, when as yet but a single family, or rather a single person, Abraham; though there were already numerous nations and powerful kingdoms in the earth. Increase Deu 1:10; Deu 10:22 had taken place because of the very blessing of God spoken of in Deu 7:8.
Deu 7:10
Repayeth them that hate him to their face - i. e., punishes His enemies in their own proper persons.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Destroyed. So the Vulgate often expresses the Hebrew term,…
Destroyed. So the Vulgate often expresses the Hebrew term, which signifies, "to cast out." --- Seven. Ten are mentioned, Genesis xv. 9; but some of the less powerful nations were either mixed with the others, or were exterminated. The Hevites are omitted in the passage of Genesis, and sometimes no notice is taken of the Gergezite or the Pherezite. The latter had been already conquered by Moses, as well as the Raphaim and Amorrhites, over whom Og and Sehon ruled, chap. iii. 5. (Calmet) --- It seems, however, that some of the same nations, on the other side of the Jordan, remained to be subdued, and that any one of them was naturally too strong for the Hebrews, ver. 7. Hence the latter might be convinced, that their victories were to be attributed to God.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 1When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into…
Deu_7:1-26
1When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations [heathen] before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater [more numerous] and mightier than thou; 2And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, [and] thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them,1 thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy Song of Solomon 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may [and they shall] serve other gods: so [and] will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, [their (image) statues] and cut 6down their groves,2 and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above [out from] all people that are upon the face [surface] of the earth. 7The 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: 8But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep [hold, preserve] the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bond-men, from 9the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know [So consider, judge] therefore that [for] the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand [the thousandth] generations: 10And repayeth them that hate him to 3 their face, to destroy them; he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 11Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, [commandment] and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. 12Wherefore it shall come to pass [And it shall be for a reward],4 if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: 13And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will [and will] also bless the fruit of thy womb [body] and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks [and the increase of thy flocks]5 of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 14Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15And the Lord will take away [hold far off] from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee: [and] but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. 16And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver 6 thee; thine eyes shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be [is] a snare unto thee. 17If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations [heathen] are more than I, how can I dispossess them? 18Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; 19The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, [the hand, the strong] and the stretched-out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of [before] 20whom thou art afraid.7 Moreover [And also] the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves [and those hidden] from thee,8 be destroyed. 21Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. 22And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once [quickly], lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. 23But the Lord thy God shall deliver them 9 unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be [shall be] destroyed. 24 And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man 25be able to stand before thee, until thouhave [hast] destroyed them. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them [wherewith they are covered] nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. 26Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest [and] thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest10 it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.
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EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Deu_7:1-11. The seventh chap. continues the exposition of the first command in relation to the idolaters and idolatry in Canaan, while chap. 6 considers it only in its application to Israel. Deu_7:1 parallel to Deu_6:10. There the secularization and apostacy in consequence of the possession is in view, here the same also in the occupation with reference to its previous possessors. Many, indeed, more numerous than thou, because, as the number itself shows, seven against one. The number seven (Act_13:19) is certainly designed, since elsewhere 11, 10, 6, 5, are all given. Over against the people of the covenant number (7), the one covenant people, the seven heathen nations of Canaan are set as its caricature. 1) The Hittites, who are at times referred to as the Canaanites generally, dwelling upon the mountains of Ephraim and Judah unto Hebron. 2) The Girgashites living in the west Jordan country; nothing more definitely is known. 3) The Amorites. Comp. upon Deu_1:4; Deu_1:7; Deu_1:19 sq. 4). The Canaanites, in the narrower sense, as those in the lowlands westerly upon the great sea, easterly in the Arabah. 5) The Perizzites (appellatively, Deu_3:5) in distinction from the mercantile tribes dwelling in the lowlands, the husbandmen and herdsmen of the elevated plains. 6) The Hivites in the region from Sichem, Gibeon, to Hermon. 7) The Jebusites in Jerusalem (Jebus) and its environs. Mightier (comp. Deu_4:38) in the same sense as more numerous, viz., when taken together. Deu_7:2; Deu_1:8; Deu_2:33-34; Deu_3:3. כָּרַת with לְ is to make a covenant for the good of any one. Deu_7:3. This would involve alliances, and lead to acts of favor (Exo_23:32 sq.; Deu_34:12 sq.; 16; Gen_24:3). Deu_7:4. It is not therefore national hatred, but the danger to Israel with respect to the first command. As the me is clear, since Moses speaks in the name of Jehovah, it is evident that so he will refers to the heathen father-in-law of the specified nations. Comp. further Deu_6:15; Deu_4:26. Deu_7:5. (Exo_23:24; Exo_34:13). Images, i.e., statues, pillars of Baal, as the highest male deity (the sun) as the fructifying power of nature. Groves of Astarte (אֲשֵׁרָח the weaker form) the goddess of love and fruitfulness (Venus), the moon. As the מַצֵּבוֹת were stone pillars, so the אֲשֵׁרִים were neither green trees nor oaks, but wooden pillars, which appear to have been erected beneath them. The reasons for this conduct follow. Deu_7:6. 1) From the national character of Israel: קָדוֹשׁ לַיהוָֹה set apart to Jehovah, and thus holy, but the idea here is not of freedom from sin, as also in Exo_19:6. According to this priestly title it has the task of the banning, or curse, but also the duty not to pollute itself religiously, or to fall under the curse (Deu_7:26), Lev_11:44. 2) From the choice of Israel (Deu_4:47). 3) From the destination of Israel to be above all people in which the choice reaches its end. סְגֻלָּה is a property viewed as a sure possession (as נַחֲלָה4:20, an inheritance) from סָגָל to acquire or gain (1Pe_2:9, εἰς περιποίησιν). Deu_7:7. Such a preeminence has its ground not in anything external, as in the numerical importance and greatness of a people, in which case to be above all would imply that they were more numerous, if not than all taken together, still than any one of the all. That Israel was as the stars (Deu_1:10; Deu_10:22) was merely the fulfilment of the promise of God to the fathers, a promise according to grace, not implying any merit or pre-eminence on the part of the people. For ye were, sq., is not to be pressed, as if each of the other nations surpassed Israel in numbers and natural strength (Deu_7:1), but that while in the promise of grace the sands of the sea-shore (Gen_22:13) are not sufficient to correspond with the greatness, of Israel, it appears in nature as a drop in the ocean, as set over against the nations generally, or even against those directly in view here (Luk_12:32). חַשַׁק inclination, delight, pleasure in any one (Gen_34:8; Isa_38:17). [Bib. Com.: “He chose to himself Israel, when as yet but a single family, or rather a single person—Abraham.” So also Wordsworth.—A. G.]. Deu_7:8. מֵאַהֲבַת, comp. Deu_1:27. As in Deu_4:37, with reference to the fathers, the choice rests upon love, so here Deu_7:7 in direct reference to Israel itself, but here also Deu_7:8, the realization of this choice in leading them from Egypt; the reference to the fathers is introduced through the faithfulness and truth of Jehovah. (Luk_1:73; 1Jn_4:8; 1Jn_4:16). Comp. Deu_3:24; Deu_4:34. Deu_7:9; Deu_4:35. Jehovah the true and faithful God; the latter in a twofold respect: 1) keeping covenant and mercy through which alone the establishment of the covenant (comp. upon Deu_4:13. Doct. and Eth. 13), was confirmed, Deu_5:10; Exo_20:6; Exo_20:2) Deu_7:10 : And repayeth, sq., by which Deu_5:9; Exo_20:5, are illustrated. To his face individually, each one of them, like the expression upon his own head. [Bib. Com.: “Punishes His enemies in their own proper persons. The phrase variously interpreted. ‘Openly,’ Grotius; ‘instantly,’ Vulgate, Vater; ‘while still alive,’ Rosenmuller.”—A. G.]. The repetition guards what is said against the doubt, that God in opposition to His faithfulness, delays to punish, because the punishing brings no gain, pays nothing. If He thus delays, it is upon other grounds entirely, 2Pe_3:9; Rom_2:4. Deu_7:11; Deu_6:17; Deu_5:1.
2. Deu_7:12-16. While in Deu_4:31 a relation was foreseen for a warning in which Israel falls into disobedience, and Jehovah alone keeps the covenant, here Deu_7:12 for their encouragement a better case, the only right case, is selected, in which the people hear and obey, since it does these judgments (comp. upon Deu_4:1) i.e., whatever is right, in all relations, according to this commandment, and the statutes (Deu_7:11). In this case they should receive as a reward (עֵקֶבIsa_5:23), with the most emphatic prominence, whatever in Deu_7:9 is presented, barely as the truth of Jehovah corresponding to the love of Israel. Others render merely therefore, because, (Deu_8:20; Num_14:24) or, And this is the result, if ye will, sq., so Jehovah will keep, sq. Deu_7:13. Inwardly love, outwardly enlargement, the medium of the blessing. עַשְׁתְרֹת (Deu_28:4; Deu_28:18; Deu_28:51) Veneres Astarte, appellative as Ceres of the grain, Lucina of the birth. (Knobel). In connection with שְגַר, used perhaps purposely with contempt. Deu_7:14. The wish becomes now a formal promise. Deu_7:15. Connects with the solemnity of the promise, the averting of all that is opposed to the blessing of life. The generally expressed All sicknesses is now specialized by the recollection of Egyptian diseases (Deu_28:27; Deu_28:60). The transitive thought to the special Egyptian diseases in this connection, if it is not to be viewed as a mere supposition, must be, in the memory of Israel, the historical plagues.(Exo_15:16). For the peculiarities as to the diseases of Egypt, comp. Hengstenberg. The Books of Moses, p. 225 sq. [Pliny, as quoted in the Bible Com., calls Egypt the mother of most diseases. Wagner, Nat. Hist, of Man, a focus of contagious sickness of all history. “It is not without significance that Egypt, which represents in Scripture the world as contrasted with the Church, should thus lie under the power of disease and death.”—A. G.]. Thus the plague scarcely ever ceasing in Alexandria; eye diseases are very frequent in Egypt; more recently the cholera came from thence. The plagues hold the chief place among the evil diseases be falling the Egyptians in reference to Israel, so they should be put upon all those hating thee, and thus the people of God are literally placed parallel with their God (comp. Deu_7:10; Deu_5:9)—they hate thee because they hated Me. Hence all that Deu_7:16, taking up the thread from the beginning of the chapter, inculcates anew upon Israel, becomes a divine judgment: Comp. Num_24:8; Num_14:9. (Deu_31:17). “The affections or inclinations of the heart are attributed to the eyes of those in whom they appear or may be seen” (Berl. Bib.). Comp. Deu_13:8; Deu_19:13, etc. Snare. The image of the hunt, draught-net, snare, not used so much with reference to the ensnaring in sin, as rather to the imprisonment in the like judgments with these which Israel should execute, partly as divine judgments, partly as the natural nemesis, (the self-destructive power of evil), Hupfeld upon Psa_9:16. Comp. Exo_10:7. הוּא elsewhere specially the serving other gods (Deu_7:4), but since this is only the result of sparing the people, it is generally the failure to carry out the divine command to consume them.
3. Deu_7:17-26. In the statement, Deu_7:7, humbling all self-righteous thoughts, according to which faith alone could be spoken of in opposition to presumption and fleshly boldness, there might be also in opposition to faith, cowardice, the prudence of, fear, which would prevent obedience (Deu_1:28). Hence Deu_7:17 sq., in thy heart, because the heart is desponding as it is over-confident, (Jer_17:9). Deu_7:18 (Deu_1:21), Deu_1:30; Deu_4:34; Deu_6:22. Deu_7:19.—הַ of which I have so many times already spoken reminding thee. Deu_7:20. Moreover also the hornet (הַצִרְעָח [Keil] with the article collective as a species or kind), i.e., before thou consumest, destroyest them (Deu_7:16) and thus evidently to be understood as, Deu_2:25, of the terrors of God, which should go before Israel (Knobel) with which also Jos_24:12, Psa_44:2) fully agree. For in distinction from Israel’s sword and bow, there is something truly wrought by God, and this is then emblematized under the more simple and sometimes insignificant form, the more mighty the work is. In the plagues in Egypt the small animals served as the hosts of God. The so-called large wasps are feared by man and beast from the painfulness of their sting. Armies have been seriously molested or destroyed by hornets. Ælian XI. 28. But even in Exo_23:28 (to which there is a reference here), the hornets are not mentioned “as peculiarly fitted to excite alarm,” as Schultz thinks, but—and this may serve to explain the article—as symbolizing the terrors there described in Deut 7:27. Thus the terrors of God should so clear the way among the nations, that Israel should have merely to glean; they would already, and indeed utterly, perish before the terrors of the coming events.—Before thee shows that Israel should be active as the instrument which God uses. Deu_7:21; Deu_1:29; Deu_1:42 (Deu_31:17). Deu_7:22. (Deu_7:1), as Exo_23:29 sq. (2Ki_17:25 sq.). Thus Moses indeed strikes another tone, Jos_23:13; comp. Jdg_2:3; Jdg_3:1. Deu_7:23; Deu_2:33; Deu_2:15. מְהוּמָה, destruction effected inwardly through fear (Deu_7:20), outwardly through sicknesses, the sword, and the like. Deu_7:24; Deu_2:30; Deu_3:3. The utter destruction of the Canaanites which is described, Deu_7:23, by the instruments, the way and manner generally, is here presented by the objects which are more especially concerned, their kings (Jos_10:22 sq.), and the nations (names), (Deu_25:19). After such a destruction of the persons, it only remains to speak of their affairs or possessions, Deu_7:25. A pure separation. Thou shalt not desire (Deu_5:18), much less take or bring into thy house, in order to preserve (Deu_7:26). Coverings, ornaments, and the like are intended. Comp. upon Deu_7:16. Israel must share the opposition of God to idols; otherwise it will be betrayed into that which has been used in the service of idols, and be involved in the judgment of God upon it. Deu_7:26. Faithfulness in little things proves their love to Jehovah; the sacred zeal for Him should never grow cold, and degenerate into indifference toward anything connected with the Canaanitish idolatrous service. What is abomination to Jehovah is a curse for Israel. The want of an inward consecration to God in thought leads necessarily to an outward consecration to God, through destruction. כָּמֹהוּ, the masculine, refers to כּסף וזהב (Deu_7:25) as הוא also. שִׁקֵץ, Levitical impurities, Leviticus 11.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. For the Bann (Cherem) comp. upon Deu_1:6 to Deu_4:40. Doct. and Eth. 3 and 9.
[2. As to the rigorous destruction of the Canaanites here commanded, two things are to be observed. 1. That it was a judicial act on the part of God. The iniquity of the Amorites, which was not yet full, Gen_15:16, was now full. God had patiently endured their inquities, He had given them space for repentance, He had sent among them the patriarchs, whose worship was a constant testimony to the true God, had warned by the solemn judgments upon the cities of the plain, and they had resisted all. The times of retribution for these nations had come, as it came to the world before the flood, as it came to Sodom and Gomorrah. He who used the forces and elements of the natural world in carrying out His judgments in other cases, now uses as His instruments the Israelites. But 2. It is clear here that the Israelites acted by an express and definite divine command. They were not actuated by desire of conquest or gain, or by worldly ambition. This was expressly and carefully guarded against in the very grant of the land made to them and in the fact that they were strictly enjoined to come to all other nations than the dwellers in Canaan with offers of peace. They were farther warned, and that repeatedly, and in the most impressive way, that a like sin on their part would involve a like destruction. There were also great moral ends to be secured with respect to Israel to guard it from the contamination of heathenism, and with respect to all men to set forth, as in a rehearsal, the retributive process which is going forward now in the history of nations, and which shall reach its final act and consummation when Christ shall judge all whose iniquities are full. See Hengstenberg, Auth. II. 471–507; Graves on the Pentateuch; Kalisch 370.—A. G.]
3. Since the Canaanites, Deu_6:19 (elsewhere also), are called the enemies of Israel, chap. 7 inculcates with sacred earnestness from its beginning to its close their entire and thorough eradication (Deu_7:6), states it as a principle of theocratic hostility, whose realization for the people of God comes out in the so-called imprecatory psalms. In connection with the moral aversion and horror which Israel truly in this following after God should feel towards the idolatrous heathenism, with a practical energy passing down into the individual life, there is a hatred for the sake of Jehovah in the interests of His honor, which a true love for God gives. The former corresponds to the nature of God and true piety, as well as the latter. If we can say in a social way: “The friend of my friend is himself my friend,” how much more upon the theocratic ground must the enemy of God be Israel’s enemy! The distinction between private hatred, and hatred for the sake of God, is hardly sufficient here, since piety can never be a pure abstraction from its subject; but the more vital it is, the more subjective it will be; the interests of God are ever my interests. As the reproaches of Christ over the cities, in which the most of His mighty works were done, because they had not repented; as His repeated woe over the Pharisees; as the curse of Peter on Simon Magus; as the well-known utterance of Paul in regard to the coppersmith Alexander, are New Testament instances, so the Heid. Cat. Q. 52, in reference to the coming of Christ, comforts itself with this: “that He will cast all His and my enemies (i.e. those who are at the same time mine) into eternal perdition” But any misunderstanding between the hatred flowing out of love to God, and the hatred springing from selfishness, is prevented by the distinction between after the Spirit and after the flesh. Christ utters the fundamental theocratic position after the Spirit, Mat_5:43 : “Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy; But His “I say unto you,” sq. (Deut 7:44) goes through the whole sermon on the mount, and bears especially against the carnal interpretation and use of the fundamental position understood alone after the Spirit, as it was generally known in the tradition of the Scribes and Pharisees, and almost alone received as valid (Act_10:28). They understood the theoretical fundamentalposition given out of love to Jehovah, as applying over and beyond the historical letter; the hatred against the Canaanites. against their idolatrous service, as a required national hate generally. That was spirit indeed, but the spirit of the flesh (political egoism). Then they applied it in the private life from the stand-point of the letter, and thence much more still to other ends than those intended, than to the heathen. This was the letter of the flesh (Dogmatic Egoism). As, however, Christ, Mat_5:44, turns Himself against this unloosing on the one hand, and this ossifying on the other, of this fundamental, theocratic position, so also His but I against that “which has been said,” is unmistakable also after the Spirit. The spirit of the New Covenant differs therein from the sprit of the Old Covenant, that according to Luk_9:56, “the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (comp. 5:54, 55), [i.e. against the spirit of the Old Covenant, as it was understood and carried out by the Jews, or even as the disciples, in the case quoted, conceived of that Spirit. There is no real distinction in spirit between the Old and the New.—A. G.] The special grace for Israel has become general, and grace prevails over judgment. Thus the love of God is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given unto us, and love bears all, believes all, and hopes all things.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Deu_7:1 sq. Luther: “After he has made the heart right, which then becomes a spring of works, then he directs the hand with the other members, that they should destroy, sq. Our sword is the word of God, with which the spiritual people fight and kill, i.e. convert the heathen from their error, in which they have lived.” Calvin: “Therefore it is better for us to sunder connections, than by intimacy with the enemies of God to be drawn by their allurements away from Him; for they will ever strive by all possible arts to make division between us and God. While we live among unbelievers we cannot escape the common corruption; but when we seek close communion with them, we throw open the door to Satan.” Berl. Bib.: “Thus also the New Testament forbids intimacies with vicious men, who are living as the heathen,” 1Co_5:9; 2Co_6:14. Deu_7:3. Tub. Bib.: “Marriage with an unbeliever, or an infidel is most dangerous, and to be counselled against.” Deu_7:4. Berl. Bib.: “Think not that thou wilt convert them, through thy intimacy; rather they will lead thee astray. Gradually one accommodates himself to their works, and does the same.” The holiness of God’s people, not a natural quality (nature rather inclines to the Canaanites, hence Deu_5:1 sq.), but their destination in the choice of God. Deu_7:7. Luther: That they might not fulfil in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit, and be puffed up with their works after they had destroyed the idols and the godless, as the flesh is wont to be, He comes and takes away all glory and confidence in their works, as if he had said: God uses not your sword, because your strength is necessary to Him; but the glory of the work is this, that He overthrows so great a number with you who are so few. If He wished to overcome them with a great multitude, He would not have chosen you, but another nation greater than you.” Deu_7:8. Luther:” And this is the simple and perfect understanding of the first command, that we have nothing through our own merits, but have and hold all things through His mercy and love alone, and so are enabled to live for His glory.” Starke: “Dear friend, if the Jews and their fathers could not earn from God the promised land which was so small, belonging to earth and time, how can we hope to earn as a debt heaven and eternal life?” The design of the choice; separation from the world (Deu_7:6), the humbling of the selfish ego (Deu_7:7), the praise of the Lord’s grace and faithfulness (Deu_7:8). Deu_7:10. Schultz: “The judgments of God are often delayed, but sure.” Retribution even in the present time is clear from numerous cases, is taught under the Old Covenant, and wins clearer light in the New.” Deu_7:12. Luther: “It is preventient mercy, through which we are chosen, called and justified, without any works of ours; it is following grace when we, through our works, become sure of our part in that preventient grace, and so enjoy it.” Deu_7:13. Love, blessing, increase, the three-fold tone of divine grace. Deu_7:14. Cramer: “The divine blessing profitable to all things, sq., 1Ti_4:8. Thus God allures us to obedience through kindness.” Deu_7:16. Snare is it to thee: a word in season for every undecided, every half-way heart, every self-confident one. Consolation in times of sadness (Deu_7:17). from what God has done (Deu_7:18), from what we ourselves have experienced (Deu_7:19), from the word and promise of God which go beyond our experience (Deu_7:19 sq.). Deu_7:20. Luther: “The hornets signify, that the godless should be driven away through the terrors of the law, and cannot conceal themselves, etc. It was not in the power of the Israelites to send the hornets before them, neither is it in ours to terrify any godless one; but God troubles and terrifies the heart, Act_9:6; Act_2:37.” Deu_7:21. He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world (1Jn_4:4); therefore fear not; He is rather to be feared. Deu_7:22. Luther: After the god-lessness of the heart is overcome, the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit remains (Romans 7; Galatians 5), that we should not be proud or lifted up. The Jebusites, Canaanites and Philistines are left within the flesh to tempt us, and to call us to the exercise of spiritual weapons. Usually they are cruel and raging passions, carnal security, vain glory, pride and idleness.” Luther: “The house of the conscience should be kept pure, for there is nothing more tender or sensitive.” Little children, keep yourselves from idols, 1Jn_5:21.—Berl. Bib.: “Is everything under the curse an abomination, so also all who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, 1Co_16:22.”
Footnotes:
1 [Deu_7:2. Lit. destroying thou shalt destroy—banning thou shalt ban—treat them as accursed, i.e., devoted to destruction.—A. G.].
2 [Deu_7:5. Lit., their asherah’s, images of Ashera—pillars of wood. They are always said to be cut down.—A. G.]
3 [Deu_7:10. The nouns are singular—his face.—A. G.]
4 [Deu_7:12. More exactly, And it shall be, because ye shall, etc.—A. G.]
5 [Deu_7:13. The וְעַשְׁתְּרֹת, Astartes of the flocks. Either the fruitfulness, increase, as Schröder, or the ewes of thy flocks.—A. G.]
6 [Deu_7:16. Is giving.—A. G.]
7 [Deu_7:19. Lit., art fearing from their faces.—A. G.]
8 [Deu_7:20. From thy face.—A. G]
9 [Deu_7:23. Margin, literally, before (from) thy face.—A. G.]
10 Deu_7:26. Loathing thou shalt loathe it. The strongest form in which it could be expressed.—A. G.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v2 thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou…
thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them--This relentless doom of extermination which God denounced against those tribes of Canaan cannot be reconciled with the attributes of the divine character, except on the assumption that their gross idolatry and enormous wickedness left no reasonable hope of their repentance and amendment. If they were to be swept away like the antediluvians or the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, as incorrigible sinners who had filled up the measure of their iniquities, it mattered not to them in what way the judgment was inflicted; and God, as the Sovereign Disposer, had a right to employ any instruments that pleased Him for executing His judgments. Some think that they were to be exterminated as unprincipled usurpers of a country which God had assigned to the posterity of Eber and which had been occupied ages before by wandering shepherds of that race, till, on the migration of Jacob's family into Egypt through the pressure of famine, the Canaanites overspread the whole land, though they had no legitimate claim to it, and endeavored to retain possession of it by force. In this view their expulsion was just and proper. The strict prohibition against contracting any alliances with such infamous idolaters was a prudential rule, founded on the experience that "evil communications corrupt good manners" [Co1 15:33], and its importance or necessity was attested by the unhappy examples of Solomon and others in the subsequent history of Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. The Hittites — These are sometimes mentioned as…
THE COMMAND TO UTTERLY DESTROY THE SEVEN NATIONS THAT WERE THEN IN POSSESSION OF THE LAND OF PROMISE, AND WARNING AGAINST ANY INTERCOURSE WITH THEM.
1. The Hittites — These are sometimes mentioned as though they were especially the Canaanites. They were a powerful nation, according to the testimony of monuments and inscriptions. The Girgashites inhabited a portion of the land west of the Jordan. Nothing very definite is known of them.
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The Amorites — See Deu_1:4.
The Canaanites — The term is sometimes applied as a general name for all the nations of the Promised Land who were not Israelites. Here it is the name of that tribe that dwelt on the lowlands or plains. “The Canaanite dwells by the sea and by the side of Jordan.” Num_13:29. The Perizzites were the husbandmen and the herdsmen who occupied the elevated plains. The word means the villagers.
Hivites — According to Gen_34:2, this tribe possessed Shechem. At the time of the conquest they held Gibeon, but the main body were in the northern part of western Palestine.
The Jebusites — The first notice of this people is in the report of the spies. Num_13:29. They were a mountain tribe, and Jebus was evidently their chief town.
Seven nations — See Jos_3:10; Jos_24:11.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. shall bring thee into, etc.] See on Deu_6:10.
1. shall bring thee into, etc.] See on Deu_6:10.
shall cast out, etc.] strip, or clear, off; Deu_7:22, 2Ki_16:6 : the only applications of this verb to the extirpation of human beings; in Deu_19:5 intrans. of the slipping of an axe-head from the heft, Deu_28:40 the dropping of olives. J E of drawing off sandals, Exo_3:5; Jos_5:15.
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The list of seven nations which follows is of a kind frequent in JE, D (Deu_20:17) and deuteronomic passages in other books; ‘in many cases probably—Jos_24:11 is one that is very clear—introduced by the compiler’ (Dri.), but always with a rhetorical purpose. The order and even the contents of these lists vary; for details see Driver on this verse, and on Exo_3:8.
Hittite] Egyptian and Assyrian monuments record a Ḥittite power in N. Syria with a centre at Ḳadesh on the Orontes. Jdg_1:26; Jdg_3:23, Jos_11:3 (in these last two read Ḥittite for Ḥivite) bring the name as far as the S. end of Mt Hermon. P mentions people of the same or a similar name in S. Palestine as owning the land about Ḥebron (Gen_23:3; Gen_23:10), and gives Esau wives of the daughters of Ḥeth (Gen_26:4; Gen_27:46). Ezekiel (Eze_16:3, cp. Eze_16:45) calls the mother of Jerusalem a Ḥittite. On these grounds (and others) the existence of at least Ḥittite colonies or suzerainties in S. Palestine has been maintained. But in P Ḥittite may be used in the same general sense as Amorite in E and D and Canaanite in J; cp. Jos_1:4 (deuteronomic) all the land of the Ḥ. = all Syria, which the Assyrians also mean by ‘the land of the Khatti’; and P’s Ḥittites at Hebron are called Amorites by E, Jos_10:5; while Ezekiel, too, may have no ethnological distinction in mind, but may mean only to emphasise the inborn heathenism of Jerusalem. The question is still uncertain and of no importance for the understanding of a rhetorical list like this. For details see the writer’s Jerus. II. 16–18.
Girgashite] in but a few of the lists; here, Jos_3:10; Jos_24:11; Gen_15:21. Gen_10:16 (J) puts them under the political supremacy of Canaan (begotten by C.) or Phoenicia. Their territory is unknown. The name seems onomatopoetic like Zamzummim (Deu_2:20); cp. Arab, ‘garas,’ to make a low sound or speak softly.
Amorite … Canaanite] See on Deu_1:7.
Perizzite] in all but two or three of the lists. J mentions this people, along with the Canaanite, as Israel’s predecessors (Gen_13:7; Gen_34:30; Jdg_1:4-5), and their land as in the centre of the range of W. Palestine (Jos_17:15). The name has been derived, but not certainly, from perazah, ‘open region’ or ‘region of unwalled towns,’ perazi, ‘the inhabitant of such’ (Deu_3:5).
Hivite] in all the lists. In J they are subject to Phoenicia (Canaan, Gen_10:17) and the Gibeonites are called Ḥivites (Jos_9:7; cp. the deuteronomic Deu_11:19). In 2Sa_24:7 their cities are coupled with those of the Canaanites as now Israel’s. The Heb. Ḥiwwi seems connected with ḥawwah, tent-village.
Jebusite] in all the lists save one; according to J and other sources the inhabitants of Jerusalem and its land till their conquest by David (Jos_15:63; Jdg_1:21; Jdg_19:11; 2Sa_5:6; 2Sa_5:8); cf. P’s the shoulder of the Jebusite, that is Jerusalem, Jos_18:16; Jos_18:28. See the writer’s Jerus. i. 226 f., ii. 18, 28.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–2 (1) When the Lord thy God shall bring thee…
VII.
(1) When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land. . . .—The former chapter applies the Decalogue to the love of Jehovah and of His word, and to faith in Him as the God of Israel; and thus it may be regarded as an expansion of the first commandment. The exhortation in this chapter concerns the treatment of idolaters in the conquest of Canaan, and the avoidance of all such intercourse or union with them as might tend to turn Israel from Jehovah. Obviously, this may be connected both with the first and with the second commandment.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Deuteronomy 7
Deuteronomy 7
When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee,... seven nations greater and mightier than thou. And when the Lord thy God shall delivered them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them"
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In reading the record of God’s dealings with the nations, in connection with His people Israel, we are reminded of the opening words of Psalm 101 "I will sing of mercy and of judgement." We see the display of mercy to His people, in pursuance of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and we see also the execution of judgement upon the nations, in consequence of their evil ways. In the former, we see divine sovereignty; in the latter, divine justice; in both, divine glory shines out. All the ways of God, whether in mercy or in judgement, speak His praise, and shall call forth the homage of His people for ever. "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of nations.* Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for Thy judgements are made manifest." (Rev. 15: 3, 4.)
{*"Nations" is read by most editors. Christ is not called the "king of saints."}
This is the true spirit in which to contemplate the ways of God in government. Some persons, allowing themselves to be influenced by a morbid feeling and false sentimentality, rather than by an enlightened judgement, find difficulty in the directions given to Israel in reference to the Canaanites, in the opening of our chapter. It seems to them inconsistent with a benevolent Being to command His People to smite their fellow-creatures, and to show them no mercy. They cannot understand how a merciful God could commission His people to slay women and children with the edge of the sword.
It is very plain that such persons could not adopt the language of Revelation 15: 3, 4. They are not prepared to say, "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of nations." They cannot justify God in all His ways; nay, they are actually sitting in judgement upon Him. They presume to measure the actings of divine government by the standard of their own shallow thoughts - to scan the infinite by the finite. In short, they measure God by themselves.
This is a fatal mistake. We are not competent to form a judgement upon the ways of God, and hence it is the very height of presumption for poor, ignorant, short-sighted mortals to attempt to do so. We read in the seventh chapter of Luke, that "Wisdom is justified of all her children." Let us remember this, and hush all our sinful reasonings. "Let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."
Is the reader, at all, troubled with difficulties on this subject? If so, we should much like to quote a very fine passage which may help him. "O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.... To him that smote Egypt in their first-born; for his mercy endureth for ever; and brought out Israel from among them; for his mercy endureth for ever; with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm; for his mercy endureth for ever. To him which divided the Red Sea into parts; for his mercy endureth for ever. And made Israel to pass through the midst of it; for his mercy endureth for; but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; for his mercy endureth for ever. To him which smote great kings; for his mercy endureth for ever; and slew famous kings; for his mercy endureth for ever; Sihon, king of the Amorites; for his mercy endureth ever; and Og, the king of Bashan; for his mercy for ever. And gave their land for an heritage; for his mercy endureth for ever; even an unto Israel his servant; for his mercy for ever." (Ps. 136.)
Here we see that the smiting of Egypt’s first-born, and the deliverance of Israel; the passage through the Red Sea and the utter destruction of Pharaoh’s host; the slaughter of the Canaanites and giving their lands to Israel - all alike illustrated the everlasting mercy of Jehovah.* Thus it was; thus it is; and thus it shall be. All must redound to the glory of God. Let us remember this, and fling to the winds all our silly reasonings and ignorant arguments. It is our privilege to justify God in all His ways, to bow our heads, in holy worship, in view of His unsearchable judgements, and rest in the calm assurance that all God’s ways are right. We do not understand them all; this would be impossible. The finite cannot grasp the infinite. This is where so many go wrong. They reason upon the actings of God’s government, not considering that those actings lie as far beyond the range of human reason as the Creator is beyond the creature. What human mind can unravel the profound mysteries of divine providence? Can we account for the fact of a city full of human beings, men, women, and children, in one hour, plunged beneath a tide of burning lava? Utterly impossible; and yet this is but one fact of thousands that stand recorded on the page of human history, all lying far beyond the grasp of the most gigantic intellect. Go through the lanes, alleys, wynds, closes and courtyards of our cities and towns; see the thousands of human beings that throng these places, living in squalid misery, poverty, wretchedness and moral degradation. Can we account for all this? Can we tell why God permits it? Are we called upon to do so? Is it not perfectly plain to the reader that it is no part of our business to discuss such questions? And if we, in our ignorance and stupid folly, set about reasoning and speculating upon the inscrutable mysteries of the divine government, what can we expect but utter bewilderment, if not positive infidelity?
{*Very many Christians find considerable difficulty in interpreting and applying the language of a large number of the Psalms which call for judgement upon the wicked. Such language would, of course, be quite unsuitable for Christians now, inasmuch as we are taught to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate us, and to pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us.
But we must remember that what would be wholly out of place for the church of God, a heavenly people, under grace, was, and will yet be perfectly consistent for Israel, an earthly people, under government. No intelligent Christian could think for a moment of calling down vengeance upon his enemies or upon the wicked. It would be grossly inconsistent. We are called to be the living exponents of the grace of God to the world - to walk in the footsteps of the meek and lowly Jesus - to suffer for righteousness - not to resist evil. God is now dealing in long-suffering mercy with the world. "He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." This is to be our model. We are in this, to be "perfect, even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect." For a Christian to deal with the world on the principle of righteous judgement, would be to misrepresent his heavenly Father and falsify his profession.
But, by-and-by, when the church shall have left the scene, God will deal with the world in righteousness; He will judge the nations for their treatment of His people Israel.
We do not attempt to quote passages, but merely call the reader’s attention to the principle, in order to enable him to understand the just application of the prophetic Psalms.}
The foregoing line of thought will enable the reader to understand the opening lines of our chapter. The Canaanites were to receive no mercy at the hands of Israel. Their iniquities had reached the culminating point, and nothing remained but the stern execution of divine judgement. "Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; 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. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods, so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire."
Such were the instructions given by Jehovah to His people. They were clear and explicit. No mercy for the Canaanites, no covenant with them, no union, no fellowship of any kind; unsparing judgement, intense separation.
We know, alas! how soon, and how completely Israel failed to carry out these instructions. Hardly had they planted their foot upon the land of Canaan ere they made a covenant with the Gibeonites. Even Joshua himself fell into the snare. The tattered garments and mouldy bread of those wily people beguiled the princes of the congregation, and caused them to act in direct opposition to the plain commandment of God. Had they been governed by the authority of the word, they would have been preserved from the grave error of making a league with people who ought to have been utterly destroyed. But they judged by the sight of their eyes, and had to reap the consequences.*
{*It is, at once, instructive and admonitory to see that the garments, the mouldy bread, and the plausible words of the Gibeonites did what the walls of Jericho could not do. Satan’s wiles are more to be dreaded than his power. "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." The more deeply we ponder the various parts of the whole armour of God, the more clearly we shall see that they are ranged under these two heads, obedience and dependence. The soul that is really governed by the authority of the word, and wholly dependent upon the power of the it, is fully equipped for the conflict. It was thus the Man Christ Jesus vanquished the enemy. The devil could do nothing with a man who was perfectly obedient and perfectly dependent. May we study, in this, as in all beside, our great Exemplar!.}
Implicit obedience is the grand moral safeguard against the wiles of the enemy. No doubt the story of the Gibeonites was very plausible, and their whole Appearance gave a show of truth to their statements; but none of these things should have had the slightest moral weight with Joshua and the princes; nor would they, if they had but remembered the word of the Lord. But they failed in this. They reasoned on what they saw, instead of obeying what they had heard. Reason is no guide for the people of God; we must be, absolutely and completely, guided and governed by the word of God.
This is a privilege of the very highest order, and it lies within the reach of the simplest and most Unlettered child of God. The Father’s word, the Father’s voice, the Father’s eye, can guide the youngest, feeblest child in His family. All we need is the lowly and obedient heart. It does not demand great intellectual power or cleverness; if it did, what would become of the vast majority of Christians? If it were only the educated, the deep-thinking and the far-seeing that were capable of meeting the wiles of the adversary, then verily most of us might give up in despair.
But, thanks be to God, it is not so; indeed, on the contrary, we find, in looking through the history of the people of God, in all ages, that human wisdom, human learning, human cleverness, if not kept in their right place, have proved a positive snare, and rendered their possessors only the more efficient tools in the enemy’s hand. By whom have most, if not all of the heresies been introduced which have disturbed the church of God, from age to age? Not by the simple, and the unlearned, but by the educated and the intellectual. And, in the passage to which we have just referred, in the book of Joshua, who was it that made a covenant with the Gibeonites? The common people Nay, but the princes of the congregation. No doubt, all were involved in the mischief; but it was the Princes that led the way. the heads and leaders of the assembly fell into the snare of the devil through neglect of the plain word of God.
"Thou shalt make no covenant with them." Could ought be plainer than this a Could tattered garments, old shoes and mouldy bread alter the meaning of the divine command, or do away with the urgent necessity for strict obedience on the part of the congregation? Assuredly not. Nothing can ever afford a warrant for lowering, the breadth of a hair, the standard of obedience to the word of God If there are difficulties in the way, if perplexing circumstances come before us, if things crop up for which we are not prepared, and as to which we are unable to form a judgement, what are we to do? Reason? Jump to conclusions? Act on our own, or on any human judgement? Most certainly not. What then? Wait on God; wait patiently, humbly, believingly; and He will assuredly counsel and guide. "The meek will he guide in judgement; and the meek will he teach his way. Had Joshua and the princes acted thus, they never would have made a league with the Gibeonites; and if the reader acts thus, he will be delivered from every evil work and preserved unto the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In verse 6 of our chapter Moses sets before the people the moral ground of the line of action which they were to adopt in reference to the Canaanites - the rigid separation and the unsparing judgement. "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth."
The principle here laid down is of the very weightiest character. Why were the people to maintain the most marked separation from the Canaanites? Why were they to refuse, with firm decision, to make any covenant, or form any matrimonial alliance with them? Why were they to demolish their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves? Simply because they were a holy people. And who had constituted them a holy people? Jehovah. He had chosen them and set His love upon them; He had redeemed them, and separated them to Himself; and hence it was His province and prerogative to prescribe what they were to be, and how they were to act. "Be ye holy, for I am holy.
It was not, by any means, on the principle of "Stand by thyself, I am holier than thou." This is manifest, from what follows. "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, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Vs. 7, 8.)
Seasonable words these for Israel! Most healthful and needful! They were to remember that they owed all their dignity, all their privileges, all their blessings, not to ought in themselves, their own goodness or their own greatness, but simply to the fact of Jehovah’s having identified Himself with them, in His infinite goodness and sovereign grace, and in virtue of His covenant with their fathers - "a covenant ordered in all things and sure." This, while it furnished a divine antidote against self-complacency and self-confidence, formed the solid basis of their happiness and their moral security. All rested upon the eternal stability of the grace of God, and therefore human boasting was excluded. "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad."
It is the settled purpose of God that "no flesh shall glory in his presence." All human pretension must be set aside. He will hide pride from man. Israel had to be taught to remember their origin, and their true condition - "bondmen in Egypt" - "fewest of all people" - no room for pride or boasting. They were, in no wise, better than the nations around them; and therefore, if called to account for their high elevation and moral greatness, they had simply to trace it all up to the free love of God, and His faithfulness to His oath. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake." (Ps. 115: 1.)
"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations; 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." (Vers. 9, 10.)
We have two weighty facts set before us here; one, full of rich consolation and comfort to every true lover of God; the other fraught with deep solemnity every hater of God. All who really love God and His commandments may count on His infallible faithfulness and tender mercy, at all times and under circumstances. "All things work together for good them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." If, through infinite grace, we have the love of God in our hearts, and His fear before our eyes, we may move on with good courage and joyful confidence, assured that all shall be well-must be well. "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."
This is a grand eternal truth - a truth for Israel, a truth for the church. Dispensations make no difference as to this. Whether we study Deuteronomy 7, or 1 John 3, we learn the same great practical truth, that God delights in those who fear Him and love Him, and keep His commandments.
Is there ought of the legal element in this? Not a tinge. Love and legality have nothing in common; they are as far removed as the poles. "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous." The spirit and genius, the ground and character of our obedience all go to prove it the very reverse of legality. It is our deep and settled Conviction that those persons, who are ever ready to cry out, "Legal! Legal!" whenever obedience is pressed upon them, are sadly and grossly mistaken. If indeed it were taught that we must earn by our obedience the high position and relationship of children of God, then verily the solemn charge of legality might justly be urged. But to bestow such an epithet on Christian obedience, is, we repeat, a serious moral mistake. Obedience could never precede sonship; but sonship should ever be followed by obedience.
And while we are on this subject, we must call the attention of the reader to a passage or two of New Testament scripture as to which there is a want of clearness in many minds. In Matthew 5, we read, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour; and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the sons (huioi) of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.... Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Vers. 43-48.)
This passage might, in the judgement of some, seem to teach that the relationship of children can be attained by a certain line of action; but it is not so. It is a question of moral conformity or suitability to the character and ways of our Father. We sometimes hear, in every-day life, the saying, "You would not be your father’s son if you were to act in such a way." It is as though our Lord had said, "If you want to be the sons of your heavenly Father, you must act in grace to all; for that is what He is doing."
Again, in 2 Corinthians 6. we read, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you; and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Here, it is not a question of the secret relationship of children, formed by a divine operation, but the public acknowledgment of the position of sons (huious) as the result of our separation from evil.*
{*Speaking in a general way, the word teknon, Child is a term of endearment; huios, Son of moral dignity, pais, is either a child or a servant; nepios, a babe.}
It will be well for the reader to seize this important distinction. It is of great practical value. We do not become children by separation from the world, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.:" "As many as received him, to them gave he power [or authority, exousia] to become children (tekna) of God, to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (Gal. 3: 26; John 1: 12, 13.) "Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth." (James 1: 18.) We become children by new birth which, thanks be to God, is a divine operation, from first to last. What had we to do with our natural birth? And what have we to do with our spiritual birth? Clearly nothing.
But then we must remember that God can only identify Himself with, and publicly acknowledge those who, through grace, seek to walk in a way worthy Of Him - a way befitting the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. If our ways are unlike Him, if we are mixed up with all sorts of wrong things, if we are unequally yoked together with unbelievers, how- can we expect God to own us as His sons? We read, in Hebrews 11 of those who "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth," and who "declared plainly that they sought a country;" and of them we are told that "God was not ashamed to be called their God." He could publicly identify Himself with them, and acknowledge them. He could own them as His.
Reader, let us seriously apply our hearts to the consideration of this great practical question. Let us look, seriously and honestly, to our ways. Let us, in truthfulness and uprightness of heart, inquire whether we are "unequally yoked together with unbelievers," on any ground, or for any object whatever. If so, let us give earnest heed to the words, " Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing." It may be that the carrying out of this holy commandment will expose us to the charge of bigotry, narrowness and intolerance; it may mean the aspect of pharisaic pride and self-complacency. We may be told, we are not to judge, or set ourselves up to be holier or better than other people.
To all this line of argument, we have the one simple, conclusive answer, namely, God’s plain command. He tells us to be separate, to come out, to touch not the unclean; and all this in order to His receiving us, and acknowledging us as His sons and daughters. This ought to be quite sufficient for us. Let people think or say what they will of us, let them call us what they please; God will settle the matter with them, sooner or later; our duty is to separate ourselves from unbelievers, if we would be received and owned of God. If believers are mixed up with unbelievers, how are they to be known or distinguished as the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty?
But we may perhaps be asked, "How are we to know who are unbelievers? All profess to be Christians; all take the ground of belonging to Christ; we are not surrounded by ignorant heathen or unbelieving Jews; how then are we to judge? It was plain enough in the early days of Christianity, when the apostle wrote his epistle to the assembly at Corinth; then the line of demarcation was as clear as a sunbeam; there were the three distinct classes, ’The Jew, the Gentile, and the church of God; but now all is changed; we live in a Christian land, under a Christian government, we are surrounded, on all hands, by Christians, and therefore 2 Cor 6 cannot apply to us; it was all very well when the church was in its infancy, having just emerged from Judaism, on the one hand, and heathenism, on the other; but to think of applying such a principle, at this advanced stage of the church’s history, is wholly out of the question.
To all who take this ground, we would put a very plain question: Is it true that the church has reached a stage of her history in which the New Testament is no longer her guide and authority? Have we got beyond the range of holy scripture? If so, what are we to do? Whither are we to turn for guidance? If we admit, for a moment, that 2 Corinthians 6 does not apply to Christians now, what warrant have we for appropriating to ourselves any portion of the New Testament?
The fact is, scripture is designed for the church of God, as a whole, and for each member of that church, in particular; and hence, as long as the church is on earth, so long will the scripture apply. To question this is to offer a flat contradiction to the words of the inspired apostle when he tells us that the holy scriptures are able to make us "wise unto salvation," that is "wise" right onward to the day of glory, for such is the blessed force of the word "salvation," in 2 Timothy 3: 15.
We want no new light, no fresh revelation; we have "all truth," within the covers of our precious Bible. Thank God for it! We do not want science or philosophy to make us wise. All true science and all sound philosophy will leave untouched the testimony of holy scripture; they cannot add to it; but they will not contradict it. When infidels talk to us about "progress," "development," "the light of science," we fall back, in holy confidence and tranquility, upon those precious words, "all truth," "wise unto salvation." It is blessedly impossible to get beyond these. What can be added to "all truth"? What more do we or can we want than to be made wise right onward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?
And further, let as remember that there is no change whatever in the relative position of the church and the world. It is as true today, as it was eighteen hundred and fifty years ago, when our Lord uttered the words, that His people are not of the world, even as He Himself is not of the world. (John 17.) The world is the world still. It may, in some places, have changed its dress, but not its true character, spirit and principles. Hence therefore it is as wrong, today for Christians to be "unequally yoked together with unbelievers" as it was when Paul penned his epistle to the church at Corinth. We cannot get over this. We cannot set aside our responsibility in this matter. It will not, by any means, meet the case to say, "We must not judge." We are bound to judge. If we refuse to judge, we refuse to obey, and what is this but positive rebellion? God says, "Come out from among them and be separate; If we reply, we cannot judge," where are we? The fact is we are absolutely commanded to judge. Do ye not judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth." (1 Cor. 5: 12, 13.)
But we shall not pursue this line of argument any further. We trust the reader is one who fully owns the direct application to himself of the passage which we have just quoted. It is as plain as it is pointed; it calls upon all God’s people to come out and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing. This is what God requires of His people, in order to His owning them as His; and surely it ought to be the deep and earnest desire of our hearts to respond to His gracious will in this matter, utterly regardless of the world’s thoughts respecting us. Some of us are as much afraid of being thought narrow and bigoted; but oh! how little it imports to a truly devoted heart what men think of us! Human thoughts perish in an hour. When we are manifested before the judgement-seat of Christ, when we stand in the full blaze of the Glory, what will it matter to us whether men considered us narrow or broad, bigoted or liberal? and what should it matter to us now? Not the weight of a feather. Our one grand object should be so to act, so to carry ourselves as to be "acceptable" to Him who has made us "accepted." May it be so with the writer and the reader, and with every member of the body of Christ!
Let us now turn, for a moment, to the weighty and very solemn truth presented to us in verse 10 of our chapter. "He will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face." If the lovers of God are comforted, in verse 9 and most blessedly encouraged to keep His commandments; the haters of God are called to hearken to a warning note in verse 10.
There is a time coming when God will deal personally - face to face, with His enemies. How awful the thought that any one should be a hater of God - a hater of that One who is said to be and who is "Light" and "Love;" the very fountain of goodness, the Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Father of lights; the One whose liberal hand supplies the need of every living thing, who hears the cry of the young raven, and quenches the thirst of the wild ass; the infinitely good, the only wise, the perfectly holy God, the Lord of all power and might the creator of the ends of the earth, and the One who has power to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Only think, reader, of any one being a hater of such a One as God; and we know that all who are not lovers must be haters. People may not see this; very few would be disposed to own themselves to be absolute haters of God; but there is no neutral ground in this great question; we must either be for or against; and, in point of fact, people are not slow in showing their colours. It often happens that the heart’s deep seated enmity to God comes out in hatred to His people, to His word, His worship, His service. How frequently do we hear such expressions as, "I hate religious people" - "I hate all cant" - "I hate preachers." The truth is, it is God Himself that is hated. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; and this enmity comes out in reference to every one and everything connected with God, There lies deep down in every unconverted heart the most positive enmity to God. Every man, in his natural state, hates God.
Now, God declares, in Deuteronomy 7: 10, that "He will not be slack to him that hateth him; he will repay him to his face." This is a most solemn truth, and one which ought to be more pressed upon the attention of all whom it may concern. Men do not like to hear it; many affect and profess not to believe it. They would fain persuade themselves and persuade others also that God is too good, too kind, too merciful, too benevolent to deal in stern judgement with His creatures. They forget that God’s ways in government are as perfect as His ways in grace. They imagine that the government of God will pass over or deal lightly with evil and evil doers.
This is a most miserable and fatal mistake, and men will find it to be so to their heavy and eternal cost. True it is, blessed be God, He can, in His rich sovereign grace and mercy, forgive us our sins, blot out our transgressions, cancel our guilt, justify us perfectly, and fill our hearts with the spirit of adoption. But this is another thing altogether. This is grace reigning, through righteousness, unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It is God, in His wondrous love, providing righteousness for the poor, guilty, hell-deserving sinner who knows and feels and owns that he has no righteousness of his own, and never could have it. God, in the marvellous love of His heart, has provided a means whereby He can be just and the justifier of every poor broken-hearted bankrupt sinner that simply believes in Jesus.
But how, we may ask, was all this done? was it by passing over sin, as though it were nothing? Was it by relaxing the claims of the divine government, lowering the standard of divine holiness, or touching in the most remote way, the dignity, stringency and majesty of the Law? No; thanks and praise to redeeming love, it was the very reverse. Never was there or could there be a more terrible expression of God’s eternal hatred of sin, or of His unflinching purpose to condemn it utterly and punish it eternally; never was there or could there be a more glorious vindication of the divine government, a more perfect maintenance of the standard of divine holiness, truth and righteousness; never was the law more gloriously vindicated or more thoroughly established, than by that most glorious scheme of redemption planned, executed and revealed by the Eternal Three in One planned by the Father, executed by the Son, and revealed by the Holy Ghost.
If we would have a just sense of the awful reality of the government of God, His wrath against sin and the true character of His holiness, we must gaze at the cross; we must hearken to that bitter cry that issued from the heart of the Son of God and broke through the dark shadows of Calvary, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Never had such a question been asked before; never has such a question been asked since; and never shall - never can such a question be asked again. Whether we consider the One who asked it, the One of whom it was asked, or the answer, we must see that the question stands absolutely alone in the annals of eternity. The cross is the measure of God’s hatred of sin, as it is the measure of His love to the sinner. It is the imperishable foundation of the throne of grace, the divinely righteous ground on which God can pardon our sins, and constitute us perfectly righteous in a risen and glorified Christ.
But then if men despise all this, and persist in their hatred of God, and yet talk of His being too good and too kind to punish evil doers, how will it be with them? "He that obeyeth not (apeithon) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him." (John 3: 36).* Can it be possible - can we believe, for a moment, that a just God should execute judgement upon His only-begotten Son, His well-beloved, His eternal delight, because He was bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, and yet allow impenitent sinners to escape? Had Jesus, the spotless, holy, perfect Man - the only perfect man that ever trod this earth - had He to suffer for sins, the just for the unjust, and shall evil doers, unbelievers and haters of God be saved and blessed and taken to heaven? And all this forsooth because God is too kind and too good to punish sinners in hell for ever! Did it cost God the giving up, the forsaking and the bruising of His beloved Son in order to save His people from their sins, and shall ungodly sinners, despisers and rebels, be saved in their sins? Did the Lord Jesus Christ die for nothing? Did Jehovah put Him to grief and hide His face from Him when there was no necessity? Why the awful horrors of Calvary? why the three hours’ darkness? why that bitter cry, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Why all this, if sinners can get to heaven without it? Why all this inconceivable sorrow and suffering for our blessed Lord, if God is too kind, and too gracious, and too tender to send sinners to hell?
{*John 3: 36 is a passage of immense weight and importance. It not only sets forth the great truth that all who believe in the Son of God are the privileged possessors of eternal life, but it also cuts up by the roots two leading heresies of the day, namely, universalism and annihilationism. The universalist professes to believe that, ultimately, all shall be restored and blessed. Not so, says our passage; for those who obey not the Son, "shall not see life."
The annihilationist professes to believe that all who are out of Christ shall perish like the beasts. Not so, for "the wrath of God abideth" upon the disobedient. Abiding wrath and annihilation are wholly incompatible. It is utterly impossible to reconcile them.
It is interesting and instructive to notice the difference between the Greek words ho pisteuon - "he that believeth" - and - ho apeithon - "he that obeyeth not." They give us the two sides of the subject of faith.}
What egregious folly! What will not men believe, provided it be not the truth of God? The poor dark human mind will affect to believe the most monstrous absurdity in order to get a plea for rejecting the plain teaching of holy scripture. The very thing which men would never think of attributing to a good human government they do not hesitate to attribute to the government of the only wise, the only true, the only just God. What should we think of a government that could not or would not punish evil doers? Would we like to live under it? What should we think of the government of England if, because her Majesty is so kind, so gracious, so tender hearted, she could not allow criminals to be punished as the law directs? Who would care to live in England?
Reader, do you not see how that one verse, which is now before us, demolishes completely all the theories and arguments which men in their folly and ignorance have advanced on the subject of the divine government? "The Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God which ....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."
Oh! that men would hearken to the word of God! That they would be warned by its dear, emphatic and solemn statements as to coming wrath, judgement and eternal punishment! That, instead of seeking to persuade themselves and others that there is no hell, no deathless worm and unquenchable fire, no eternal torment, they would listen to the warning voice and, ere it be too late, flee for refuge to the hope set before them in the gospel. Truly this would be their wisdom. God declares that He will repay those that hate Him. How awful the thought of this repayment! Who can meet it? The government of God is perfect; and because it is so, it is utterly impossible that it can allow evil to pass unjudged. Nothing can be plainer than this. All scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, sets it forth in terms so clear and forcible as to render it the very height of folly for men to argue against it. How much better and wiser and safer to flee from the wrath to come than to deny that it is coming, and that when it does come it will be eternal in its duration. It is utterly vain for any one to attempt to reason in opposition to the truth of God. Every word of God shall stand for ever. We see the actings of His government in reference to His people Israel, and in reference to Christians now. Did He pass over evil in His people of old? Nay; on the contrary, He visited them continually with His chastening rod, and this, too, just because they were His people, as He said to them by His prophet Amos, "Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. (Amos 3: 1, 2.)
We have the same weighty principle set forth in the first Epistle of Peter, in its application to Christians now. "For the time is come that judgement must begin, at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (Chap. 4: 17, 18.)
God chastens His own, just because they are His own, and that they may not be condemned with the world. (1 Cor. 11) The children of this world are allowed to go on their way: but their day is coming - a dark and heavy day - a day of judgement and unmitigated wrath. Men may question and argue and reason, but scripture is distinct and emphatic. "God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained." The great day of reckoning is at hand when God will repay every man to his face.
It is truly edifying to mark the way in which Moses, that beloved and honoured servant of God, led assuredly by the Spirit of God, pressed the grand and solemn realities of the divine government upon the conscience of the congregation. Hear how he pleads and exhorts. "Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgements, which I command thee this day, to do them. Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgements, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers. And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all people; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them; neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee." (Vers. 11-16.)
What a powerful appeal! How affecting! Mark the two groups of words. Israel was to "hearken," "keep" and "do." Jehovah was to "love," "bless," and "multiply." Alas! alas! Israel failed, sadly, shamefully failed, under law and under government; and hence, instead of the love and the blessing and the multiplying, there has been judgement, curse, barrenness, dispersion, desolation.
But, blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, if Israel has failed under law and government, He has not failed in His rich and precious sovereign grace and mercy. He will keep the covenant and the mercy He sware unto their fathers. Not one jot or tittle of His covenant promise shall ever fail. He make all good by-and-by. He will fulfil to the very letter all His gracious promises. Though He cannot do this on the ground of Israel’s obedience, He can and will do it through the blood of the ever-lasting covenant, the precious blood of Jesus, His eternal Son - all homage to His peerless Name!
Yes reader, the God of Israel cannot suffer one of His precious Promises to fall to the ground. What would become of us if He could? What security, what rest, what peace could we have, if Jehovah’s covenant with Abraham were to fail in any single point? True it is that Israel has forfeited all claim. If it be a question of fleshly descent, Ishmael and Esau have a prior claim. If it be a question of legal obedience, the golden calf and the broken tables tell their melancholy tale. If it be a question of government on the ground of the Moab covenant, they have not a single plea to urge.
But God will be God, spite of Israel’s lamentable unfaithfulness. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance" and hence "All Israel shall be saved." God will most assuredly make good His oath to Abraham, spite of all the wreck and ruin of Abraham’s seed. We must steadfastly hold to this, in the face of every opposing thought, feeling or opinion. Israel shall be restored, and blessed, and multiplied in their own beloved and holy land. They shall take down their harps from the willows and, beneath the peaceful shade of their own vines and fig-trees, chant the high praises of their loving Saviour and God throughout that bright millennial Sabbath which lies before them. Such is the unvarying testimony of scripture, from beginning to end, which must be maintained in its integrity, and made good in every particular, to the glory of God, and on the ground of His everlasting covenant.
But we must return to our chapter, the closing verses of which demand our special attention. It is very touching and beautiful to mark the way in which Moses seeks to encourage the heart of the people in reference to the dreaded nations of Canaan. He enters into, and anticipates their very inmost thoughts and feelings.
"If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them". Thou shalt not be afraid of them; but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover, the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. And the Lord thy God will put 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. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire, thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it; but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing." (Vers. 17-26.)
The grand remedy for all unbelieving fears is simply to fix the eye upon the living God: thus the heart is raised above the difficulties whatever they may be. It is of no possible use to deny that there are difficulties and opposing influences of all sorts. This will not minister comfort and encouragement to the sinking heart. Some people affect a certain style of speaking of trials and difficulties which just goes to prove, not their practical knowledge of God, but their profound ignorance of the stern realities of life. They would fain persuade as that we ought not to feel the trials, sorrows and difficulties of the way. They might as well tell us that we ought not to have a head on our shoulders or a heart in our bosom. Such persons know not how to comfort those that are cast down. They are mere visionary theorists, wholly unfit to deal with souls passing through conflict or grappling with the actual facts of our daily history.
How did Moses seek to encourage the hearts of his brethren?" "Be not affrighted," he says; but why? Was it that there were no enemies, no difficulties, no dangers? No, but "the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. Here is the true comfort and encouragement; the enemies were there but God is the sure resource. Thus it was that Jehoshaphat, in his time of trial and pressure, sought to encourage himself and his brethren. "O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee."
Here lies the precious secret. The eyes are upon God. His power is brought in, and this settles everything;. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Moses meets, by his precious ministry, the rising fears in the heart of Israel, "These nations are more than I." Yes, but they are not more than the "mighty and terrible God." What nations could stand before Him? He had a solemn controversy with those nations because of their terrible sins; their iniquity was full; the reckoning time had come, and the God of Israel was going to drive them out before His people.
Hence, therefore, Israel had no need to fear the power of the enemy. Jehovah would see to that. But there was something far more to be dreaded than the enemy’s power, and that was the ensnaring influence of their idolatry. "The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire." "What!" the heart might say, "are we to destroy the gold and silver that adorn these images? Might not that be turned to some good account? Is it not a pity to destroy what is so very valuable in itself? It is all right to burn the images, but why not spare the gold and silver?"
Ah! it is just thus the poor heart is prone to reason. Thus, oft-times we deceive ourselves when called to judge and abandon what is evil. We persuade ourselves of the rightness of making some reserve; we imagine we can pick and choose and make some distinction. We are prepared to give up some of the evil, but not all. We are ready to burn the wood of the idol, but spare the gold and silver.
Fatal delusion! "Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God" All must be given up, all destroyed. To retain an atom of the accursed thing is to fall into the snare of the devil, and link ourselves with that which, however highly esteemed among men, is an abomination in the sight of God.
And let us mark and ponder the closing verses of our chapter. To bring an abomination into the house is to become like it! How very solemn! Do we fully understand it? The man who brought an abomination into his house became a cursed thing like it!
Reader, may the Lord keep our hearts separated from all evil, and true and loyal to Himself!
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Vers. 1-4. The Israelites were about to enter on…
ENTIRE SEPARATION FROM IDOLATROUS NATIONS ENJOINED.
Vers. 1-4. The Israelites were about to enter on a country occupied by idolaters, and they are commanded not to spare them or to allow them to continue in their proximity, or to have any friendly relations with them. (cf. Lev_27:28) The Lord would cast out these nations, and deliver them, though greater and mightier than they, into their hands; and they were to smite them and place them under the ban; they were to make no covenant with them nor form any alliances with them, (cf. Exo_23:32 Exo_34:12-16) lest they should thus be drawn into idolatry, and so the anger of the Lord be kindled against them, and his vengeance brought upon them. (cf. Gen_15:19-21)
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Of the ten nations named by God in his promise to Abraham, only six are mentioned here, those omitted being the Kenites, the Kennizites, the Kadmonites, and the Rephaim. The Rephaim were by this time extinct as a tribe, Og, "the last of the Rephaim," having been conquered, and he and his people destroyed by the Israelites. The three other tribes lay probably beyond the confines of Canaan, in that region promised to Abraham, but which was not included in the territory conquered by the people under Joshua. This may account for their not being mentioned here. One nation, the Hivites, appears here which is not in the enumeration in Genesis. This name seems to have been borne by more tribes than one, or by a tribe existing in divisions widely scattered, for we find the Hivite in the center of Palestine, (Gen_34:2) in the Shephelah, (Jos_9:7 Jos_11:19) in the laud of Mizpeh under Hermon, (Jos_11:3) "in Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entering in of Hamath", (Jud_1:3:3) and among tribes in the north of Canaan. (Gen_10:17; 1Ch_1:15) Their principal settlement was probably in that part of the country where the Antilibanus range terminates in Mount Hermon.
Vers. 1-11. A holy people"s policy of self-preservation.
We have in this paragraph a glance onward to the time when Israel"s march through the wilderness would be completed, and when the people to whom God had given the land should be confronted with those who had it previously in possession. In our Homily on it let us observe
I WE HAVE HERE POINTED OUT THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH ISRAEL WOULD TAKE POSSESSION OF THE LAND.
1. There was a great covenant promise which had been handed down to them from preceding generations, and which involved results which would be far-reaching both as to time and place, touching every family of man, through every age of time. In a word, it was nothing less than the Divine covenant of human redemption, in the fulfilling of which a Great Mediator should come, while in Israel the purity of the line of his descent was to be guarded, and by and for it there was to be held in possession a tract of land on which the great work of the Mediator should have its earthly basis and historic ground.
2. With this far outlook in view, Israel was to be a people "unto the Lord their God." It was to hold a place among the nations which was unique. One of the smallest as to territory and numbers, it was to strike the deepest as to its worth and power!
3. Hence Israel was to be a holy people (ver. 6). It was to bear a specific character religiously, as it was to take a peculiar place historically. Hence its moral and spiritual elevation is the first thing to be secured. The revelation of God which the people possessed had no mean uplifting power. The eternal God was Israel"s refuge, and underneath were the everlasting arms. The institutions of mediation, priesthood, sacrifice, were deep and solemn lessons in the evil of sin and the righteousness of God. And the moral law which Israel possessed was so pure, so complete, even in the infancy of the people, that to this day not the wisest men of the world can find a defect therein, nor can they suggest aught to supplement it.
4. Israel would, nevertheless, be in great danger (ver. 4). The land of Canaan, though beautiful, fruitful, and gay, was a nest of impurity. The foulest pollutions were debasing the people, and, apart from some special guard, they were far more likely to infect Israel with the virus of their idolatry than Israel was to cleanse them by the strength of counteracting virtue. And when we come to think of what vast importance to the world was the choice of one people who should serve as leverage for the rest, we discern the reason for the imperative injunctions which follow as to the policy which Israel was to pursue with reference to the peoples of Canaan.
II HERE IS a THREEFOLD LINE OF POLICY ENJOINED.
1. A policy of separation (ver. 3, "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them"). Thus does the Most High, in the early training of a people for himself, let them see how completely they are to be the Lord"s; and that marriage, which from the worldling"s point of view is so apt to sink into a mere union of bodies, is, from the point of view of one who would be holy to the Lord, to be at once regulated by God and elevated for him. Who cannot see the impossibility of married life being as blessed as it may be if husband and wife are dissevered on the very matter on which joint sympathies should be fondest and strongest? The principle here enjoined is carried over into the New Testament, in such words as these: "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." In this stern interdiction of mixed marriages under the Law, our God would teach us for all time that life"s dearest bond is to be formed only in subjection to his will whose we are, and whom we should serve.
2. A policy of religious intolerance (ver. 5). As Israel was to possess the land for God, so it was to suffer his worship alone to be observed. Whatever was contrary thereto was to be taken out of the way. An external religion is virtually destroyed when its external observance is made impossible.
3. A policy of extermination in war. The Canaanites had had their day of. (Gen_15:16) And now, lest they continue to pollute the land, they are to be swept away with the besom of destruction". (see Homily on Deu_1:1-8) If Israel had no Divine command to this effect, no one would pretend to justify this part of their policy. If they had, it needed no justification. God may sentence a people to ruin in any way he pleases. And when a nation has given way to such nameless and shameless wickedness that its land groans beneath the burden of its crimes, it is mercy to the world when the evil is stamped out." And though such exterminative policy on the part of any nation can be justified only on the ground of a Divine warrant, yet the warrant having been given in this case, that policy does but illustrate a truth which the Most High has again and again declared, that no nation has any absolute right in itself or its land. It holds its existence subject to God"s will, and to that will alone; and if it is good for the world that it should give place to others, he will cause it to pass away, and will bring another people on the soil.
III ISRAEL"S POSITION AND POLICY, SO REGARDED, FURNISH US WITH PRINCIPLES OF ETERNAL AND UNIVERSAL APPLICATION. They are these:
1. The actual value of any nation or people in the worm depends on the degree to which they subserve God"s purpose, and not on the extent to which they fulfill their own. Nations have but a passing loan of power from the Great Supreme, held in trust for his honor and the world"s good; and when they lose sight of that, they are grievously forgetting the things which belong unto their peace.
2. If a nation is to preserve itself for God, corrupting influences are to be put away. We have seen (Homily on Deu_2:24) how much importance is attached by God to the training of the family. We see in this paragraph how much importance is also attached to those influences which go beforehand to make the family. How does the Most High set himself against all those corruptions that poison the social fabric and break up the sacredness of the home! And hew jealously does he guard his own worship from the defiling additions and commandments of men!
3. When a nation is loyal to its God, by putting away sin and nurturing righteousness, it will ensure the Divine blessing and its own permanence (ver. 9). God reserves the entry through the gates of honor to "the righteous nation which keepeth the truth.
4. The elevation ensured and given to nations which promote righteousness is the one which, if we see as God sees, we shall value most. Godless men may covet an ascendency backed by guns and swords, armies and fleets. The believer in God covets only an uplifting that comes of the Divine blessing on a wise and understanding people.
5. If loyalty to God and truth is wanting, a nation ensures its own downfall. (ver. 10; see Eze 17:27:3 Eze_28:2-10; Amo_2:9; Oba_1:3, Oba_1:4)
6. What Israel was designed to be among the nations, regenerated men are in their own nation holy people unto the Lord their God." They are "the light of the world," "the salt of the earth." The earth is full of corruption, and is and must be rapidly decomposing unless some salt be thrown into it to check the decomposition. Christians are the "salt" of the earth. Their value is in their savor," not in their name. And if they let the savor" die out, no name of discipleship will be of any use to them. (On savorless salt, see Thomson"s "Land and the Book," p. 882.) Christians may not separate their Christianity from their citizenship. They are to be Christian citizens; and do we not learn by abundant teachings in the Old and New Testament that God spares many a guilty city for the sake of the righteous that are therein? (See the history of Abraham"s intercession for Sodom.) And can we forget the teaching of the prophet Ezekiel, that nations may become so corrupt that even the righteous element therein avails not to stay the ruin? (Eze_14:12-21)
7. Hence the principles involved in this paragraph should convey, and should be made the basis of, an earnest warning and appeal to men to remember that the day of grace for the nation, as well as for themselves, has its limit. God is long-suffering. He bears long, but he will not bear always. (cf. Isa_5:3-7 Isa_1:5-24; Luk_19:41-44 Luk_13:6-9; Mat_21:38-44; Rev_2:21-28) Oh, how earnestly should men turn to God while yet there is hope! For their own sakes, that they may be saved, and for the sake of others too, that they may become cooperators with God in purifying and saving men!
HOMILIES BY D. DAVIES.
Vers. 1-11. Israel"s iconoclastic mission.
Material idolatry is the great peril of humanity. To what corruption and misery such idolatry leads, we in Christianized England can scarcely conceive. What the history of our world would have been if that hotbed of Canaanite corruption had continued, it would be difficult to imagine. Many methods were open to God by which he might arrest that plague of vice; out of them all, his wisdom selected this, viz. to employ the Hebrews as his ministers of destruction.
I CONSIDER MEN AS ELECTED BY GOD TO OFFICE AND TO SERVICE. We may safely suppose that every nation fulfils some propose foreseen by God perhaps appointed thereto by him. Possibly every man, though he may not rise to the realization of God"s highest ideal, yet may fulfill some inferior purpose of God. The Hebrews had a very special honor conferred on them. They were chosen unto holiness, chosen to be the ministers of God"s righteousness. The glory was eminent, and the Jews failed to reach it. The Most High God condescended to enter into closest alliance with Israel, deigned to be called their God, and took their interests into his care. So long as they kept his commandments, lie kept his covenant. His faithfulness was an infinite quantity, but it was conditioned by Israel"s obedience. No evidence was lacking to Israel touching the friendly protection and help of Jehovah. Their loyalty as subjects was met cordially by his favor as Sovereign. Their admitted weakness was met by the Divine strength, Their poor, shallow love was met and recompensed by his rich affection.
II THE GROUNDS OF GOD"S CHOICE.
1. This is declared negatively. It was not on the ground of their numbers or their strength. That strength and magnitude of the nation were the effect of God"s choice, not its cause. They were not chosen because of superior holiness, but with a view to make them holy, some reason there is for God"s choice, but that reason is not often revealed. Possibly it is too recondite for man"s understanding, or the further pursuit of the inquiry might divert him from practical obedience.
2. It is stated positively that this choice was the outcome of love. There must have been the potency, perhaps the promise, of good in the Hebrews, in order to attract the love of God. If there was no positive wickedness, God would delight in them as the product of his own skill. His gracious dealings hitherto had been in respect of the oath made to their fathers. God"s great love to Abraham had perpetuated itself in his seed. Who can measure what a life of blessing each one of us may communicate to generations yet unborn? Divine grace in us is not terminal.
III THE DESIGN OF GOD"S CHOICE GENERAL AND SPECIAL. The general design was Holy character. Choice to office and to honor depended on attainment of character. Holiness is the highest perfection of man, therefore the highest design of God. Holiness is a far higher acquisition than wisdom or strength. The seven nations of Canaan were greater and mightier than Israel, yet those nations fell before the holy people. Purity shall eventually displace power. Right is genuine might. Holiness has, by Divine appointment, an everlasting tenure. The design of Gods choice of Israel was also special, viz. to overturn idolatry. The general vocation included the special. To be holy would necessitate conflict with sin. Light must contend with darkness. Opposite principles must contend for the mastery. The holier we become, the more resolute will be our battle with idolatry. We shall feel towards it, and act towards it, as God does. For us to live (if we be God"s consecrated sons), and for us to oppose idolatry, is identical. "No peace with sin" is our loyal motto.
IV THE REALIZED RESULTS OF THE DIVINE CHOICE. Already the Hebrews had obtained a signal triumph over the Egyptians, as the proof of God"s gracious intentions towards them. That triumph was singular, surprising, and complete, he, who could secure such a triumph for Israel, could give them easy conquest over any adversary. They knew how to touch the secret springs of success. The pathway to renown was open. There was scarcely room for a doubtful issue, for from a greater foe God had already delivered them.
V THE HONOR CONVEYED IN THIS CHOICE, VIZ. TO BE COWORKERS WITH GOD. God would cast out the seven nations of Canaanites, therefore the Hebrews must smite them. God would deliver them up, therefore Israel was to destroy them. In every step they were to be coadjutors with God. We are not to suppose that the Canaanites were passively slaughtered. In every case they provoked severity of treatment. So completely had the idolaters identified themselves with idolatry, that, to destroy the latter, Israel had to destroy the former. When God, the Great Proprietor of all, imposes a command upon us, however repulsive to our own feeling, it would be flagrant disloyalty on our part, yea, gross sin, to disobey. Punishment by the sword cannot be a more unrighteous act than punishment by cholera or by plague; and if men admit the justice of the one, they should also of the other. Human pity must sometimes be kept in abeyance.
VI GOD"S DESIGNS, IF NOT FOLLOWED, VISIT MEN WITH DESTRUCTION. The alternative of not executing God"s high commission was appalling. If any false sentiments of pity diverted them from the plain path of duty, the Hebrews would have become partakers of idolaters" sins. Any concession or compromise with the Canaanites would be (and in fact was) fatal to themselves. Can one touch pitch and not be defiled? The slightest connivance with the abomination would be a moral poison. They too would be accursed. For God will not endure to be trifled with. To his friends he is infinitely gracious, and blesses, for their sakes, their posterity; but his foes he repayeth to their face. We have to make our choice between complete devotement to God"s cause and complete destruction. D.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR Vers. 1-6. Judgment without mercy.
This decree is to be viewed
I AS A JUST JUDGMENT ON PEOPLES WHOSE INIQUITIES CRIED FOR VENGEANCE. The doomed nations had been long borne. (Gen_15:16) Their iniquities were of a kind and degree of enormity which imperatively called for a Divine interposition (Lev_18:27, Lev_18:28; Deu_9:4) This was the true ground of God"s dealings with them, and furnishes a sufficient answer to all cavils. The destruction of the comparatively innocent with the guilty may be explained in part by the existence in the offspring of the hereditary evil of their race. How often, under the Divine government, do we see illustrations of the same principle the temporal consequences of transgression overflowing on those related to the transgressor! The lesson taught is God"s inflexible determination to punish evil. There can be no ultimate toleration of sin in God"s universe. It must be judged, rooted out, and the sinner who identifies himself with it destroyed.
II AS A CLEARING FROM IDOLATRY OF THE LAND OF GOD"S ABODE. Not only could the practice of idolatry not be endured, but even its unhallowed monuments must not be permitted to remain, polluting with their presence the land of God"s habitation the peculiar seat of his majesty, the place of his holiness. Every trace of these impure worships must be swept away (ver. 5). The lesson taught is God"s hatred of idolatry. It is a secondary matter that the gods are of wood and stone, and the worship one of altars, groves, and pillars. There is the formal idolatry of heathenism, and there is the less-avowed, but not less real, idolatry of hearts which have set up rival objects to God in their secret places-which have substituted the creature, in some form of it, for the Creator. The forms are as numerous as ever were the idols of heathen temples. A man may be an idolater of reason; he may worship art; he may bow at the shrine of mammon (Mat_6:24; Eph_5:5) his god may be the praise of men; he may fling himself to be crushed before the worse than Juggernaut car of fashion; he may be a votary of lewdness. The worship may be avowed, or hidden away in secret desires and imaginings. It may be rendered in the most diverse places in the laboratory, at the desk, in the art studio, in home circles, on the broad stage of public affairs, in the saloons of gay society. The real point of importance is that it is of the nature of idolatry, and that God abhors it and declares it to be incompatible with his residence in the heart. "The idols he shall utterly abolish". (Isa_2:18)
III AS A PROTECTION TO THE ISRAELITES THEMSELVES. The tolerated presence of idolatry in Canaan would have been to the Israelites an irresistible temptation (ver. 4). We are taught:
1. To seek our friendships and alliances elsewhere than among the ungodly.
2. That it is our duty, not only to avoid occasions of sin, and to keep as far out of harm"s way as possible, but to labor for the entire removal from our midst of what experience shows to be a deadly snare. (Isa_57:14)
Finally, severe as these commands are, we see reflected in them the three principles which, under widely different forms of manifestation, are to this hour to regulate the relation of God"s servants to the evil of the world.
1. No toleration of it. (Mat_5:29, Mat_5:30)
2. No communion with it. (2Co_6:14-18)
3. Unceasing war against it. J.O. (2Co_10:4; (Col_3:5)
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 1-5. Extermination with a moral purpose.
When the Israelites were to cross into Canaan, they were directed to exterminate the seven nations they would find there. This is their commission. The invasion is to be conducted upon this principle. And here let us notice
I NATIONS, LIKE INDIVIDUALS, MAY BECOME INCORRIGIBLE. There can be no doubt that sin tends to a final and incorrigible condition if the Divine mercy is not accepted and allowed to exercise its undermining power. These nations of Canaan were manifestly in this hopeless, utterly ruined state. God regarded them as beyond redemption, and their continuance would only prove pestilential. It is well for individuals, as well as nations, to realize this sad possibility.
II GOD HAS EVERY RIGHT TO REMOVE INCORRIGIBLES FROM THE EARTH, AS Creator, he has given them every advantage and chance. But the deceitful heart has spurned admonition and mercy. The result is that there is nothing left for them but to be cut off righteously, and that without remedy.
But the propriety of extermination should be determined by the Lord himself (cf. Dr. Mozley"s " Old Testament Lectures," No. IV, on "Exterminating Wars").
III THE ISRAELITES WERE SENT INTO CANAAN TO ESTABLISH THE TRUE WORSHIP OF GOD. They were not to be ashamed of their religion, but to establish it, and to allow nothing to interfere with it. As Abraham had entered Canaan centuries before as the promulgator of a new religion, so his descendants were to enter into the Promised Land with the view of establishing the religion of Abraham in spite of all possible opposition. They were not ordinary but religious emigrants.
IV THE SPARING OF THE CANAANITES WOULD ONLY ENDANGER THEIR RELIGIOUS FAITH. Some people think they may associate with irreligious people, and even marry them, in the hope of bringing them to a better way of thinking. The plea is generally one got up in the interests of self-pleasing instead of duty. But such hopes are generally disappointed; and the Apostle Paul warns us distinctly against the temptation. (2Co_6:14) Now, the Israelites were warned against making any covenant with the Canaanites or showing any mercy towards them. Association would only lead to apostasy on the part of Israel. It would be allowing the pestilence to propagate itself. The alternative for Israel was "Exterminate these incorrigible sinners, or by their seductions they will lead you on to your destruction at the hands of a just God" (ver. 4).
V EXTERMINATION MAY CONSEQUENTLY, IN SOME OASES, BE THE ONLY COURSE CONSISTENT WITH THE DIVINE HONOR AND THE INTERESTS OF HIS KINGDOM. If people have a right to preserve themselves from a physical pestilence, have they not an equal right in the case of moral pollutions? Besides, the clear direction of God vindicates the whole procedure as right as well as wise (cf. Jellett"s "Moral Difficulties of the Old Testament," p. 38; also Dr. Arnold"s "Sermons on Interpretation of Scripture," p. 31). R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Deuteronomy 7
THE BAN
Deuteronomy 7
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As in the previous chapter we have had the Mosaic and Deuteronomic statement of the internal and spiritual means of defending the Israelite character and faith from the temptations which the conquest in Canaan would bring with it, in this we have strenuous provision made against the same evil by external means. The mind first was to be fortified against the temptation to fall away: then the external pressure from the example of the peoples they were to conquer was to be minimized by the practice of the ban.
The first five verses {Deu_7:1-5}, and the last two {Deu_7:25-26} deal emphatically with that, as also does Deu_7:16, and what lies between is a statement of the grounds upon which a strict execution of this dreadful measure was demanded. These, as is usual in Deuteronomy, are dealt with somewhat discursively; but the command as to the ban, coming as it does at the beginning, middle, and end, gives this chapter unity, and suggests that it should be treated under this head as a whole. There are besides other passages which can most conveniently be discussed in connection with chapter 7. These are the historic statements as to the ban having been laid upon the cities of Sihon {Deu_2:34} and Og; {Deu_3:6} the provision for the extirpation of idolatrous persons and communities; {Deu_13:15} and lastly, that portion of the law of war which treats of the variations in the execution of the ban which circumstances might demand. {Deu_20:13-18} These passages, taken together, give an almost exhaustive statement in regard to the nature and limitations of the Cherem, or ban, in ancient Israel, a statement much more complete than is elsewhere to be found; and they consequently suggest, if they do not demand, a complete investigation of the whole matter.
It is quite clear that the Cherem, or ban, by which a person or thing, or even a whole people and their property, were devoted to a god, was not a specially Mosaic ordinance, for it is a custom known to many half-civilised and some highly civilized nations. In Livys account of early Rome we read that Tarquinius, after defeating the Sabines, burned the spoils of the enemy in a huge heap, in accordance with a vow to Vulcan, made before advancing into the Sabine country. The same custom is alluded to in Vergil, Aen. 8:562, and Caesar, B.C. 6:17, tells us a similar thing of the Gauls. The Mexican custom of sacrificing all prisoners of war to the god of war was of the same kind. But the most complete example of the ban in the Hebrew sense, occurring among a foreign people, is to be found in the Moabite stone which Mesha, king of Moab, erected in the ninth century B.C., i.e., in the days of Ahab. Of course Moab and Israel were related peoples, and it might in itself be possible that Moab during its subjection to Israel had adopted the ban from Israel. But that is highly improbable, considering how widespread this custom is, and how deeply its roots are fixed in human nature. Rather we should take the Moabite ban as an example of its usual form among the Semitic peoples. "And Chemosh said to me, Go, take Nebo against Israel. And I went by night and fought against it from the break of morn until noon, and took it and killed them all, seven thousand men and boys, and women and girls and maid-servants, for I had devoted it to Ashtor-Chemosh; and I took thence the vessels" (so Renan) "of Yahweh, and I dragged them before Chemosh." The ordinary Semitic word for the ban is Cherem. It denotes a thing separated from or prohibited to common use, and no doubt it indicated originally merely that which was given over to the gods, separated for their exclusive use forever. In this way it was distinguished from that which was "sanctified" to Yahweh for that could be redeemed; devoted things could not.
In the ancient laws repeated in Lev_27:28-29, two classes of devoted things seem to be referred to. First of all, we have the things which an individual may devote to God, "whether of man or beast, or of the field of his possession." The provision made in regard to them is that they shall not be sold or redeemed, but shall become in the highest degree sacred to Yahweh. Men so devoted, therefore, became perpetual slaves at the holy places, and other kinds of property fell to the priests. In the next verse, Lev_27:29, we read, "None devoted which shall be devoted of" (i.e., from among) "men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death," but that must refer to some other class of men devoted to Yahweh. It is inconceivable that in Israel individuals could at their own will devote slaves or children to death. Moreover, if every man devoted must be killed, the provision of Num_18:14, according to which everything devoted in Israel is to be Aarons, could not be carried out. Further, there is a difference in expression in the two verses: in Lev_27:28 we have things "devoted to Yahweh," in Lev_27:29 we have simply men "devoted." There can be little doubt, therefore, that we have in Lev_27:29 the case of men condemned for some act for which the punishment prescribed by the law was the ban (as in Exo_22:20, "He that sacrificeth unto any god save unto Yahweh only shall be put to the ban"), or which some legal tribunal considered worthy of that punishment. In such cases, the object of the ban being something offensive, something which called out the Divine wrath and abhorrence, this "devotion" to God meant utter destruction. Just as anathema, a thing set up in a temple as a votive offering, became anathema, an accursed thing, and as sacer, originally meaning sacred, came to mean devoted to destruction, so Cherem, among the Semites, came to have the meaning of a thing devoted to destruction by the wrath of the national gods. From ancient days it had been in use, and in Israel it continued to be practiced, but with a new moral and religious purpose which antiquity could know nothing of. No more conspicuous instance of that transformation of ancient customs of a doubtful or even evil kind by the spirit of the religion of Yahweh, which is one of the most remarkable characteristics of the history of Israel, can be conceived than this use of the ban for higher ends.
As the fundamental idea of the Cherem was the devoting of objects to a god, it is manifest that the whole inner significance of the institution would vary with the conception of the Deity. Among the worshippers of cruel and sanguinary gods, such as the gods of the heathen Semites were, the ends which this practice was used to promote would naturally be cruel and sanguinary. Moreover, where it was thought that the gods could be bought over by acceptable sacrifices, where they were conceived of as non-moral beings, whose reasons for favor or anger were equally capricious and unfathomable, it was inevitable that the Cherem should be mainly used to bribe these gods to favor and help their peoples. Where victory seemed easy and within the power of the nation, the spoil and the inhabitants of a conquered city or country would be taken by the conquerors for their own use. Where, on the other hand, victory was difficult and doubtful, an effort would be made to win the favor of the god, and wring success from him by promising him all the spoil. The slaughter of the captives would be considered the highest gratification such sanguinary gods could receive, while their pride would be held to be gratified by the utter destruction of the seat of the worship of other gods. Obviously it was in this way that the Gauls and Germans worked this institution; and the probability is that the heathen Semites would view the whole matter from an even lower standpoint. But to true worshippers of Yahweh such thoughts must have grown abhorrent. From the moment when their God became the center and the norm of moral life to Israel, acts which had no scope but the gratification of a thirst for blood, or of a petty jealous pride, could not be thought acceptable to Him. Every institution and custom, therefore, which had no moral element in it, had either to be swept away, or moralized in the spirit of the purer faith. Now the ban was not abolished in Israel; but it was moralized, and turned into a potent and terrible weapon for the preservation and advancement of true religion.
By the Divine appointment the national life of Israel was bound up with the foundation and progress of true religion. It was in this people that the seeds of the highest religion were to be planted, and it was by means of it that all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. But as the chief means to this end was to be the higher ethical and religious character of the nation as such, the preservation of that from depravation and decay became the main anxiety of the prophets and priests and lawgivers of Israel. Just as in modern days the preservation and defense of the State is reckoned in every country the supreme law which overrides every other consideration, so in Israel the preservation of the higher life was regarded. Rude and half-civilized as Israel was at the beginning of its career, the Divinely revealed religion had made men conscious of that which gave this people its unique: value both to God and men. They recognized that its glory and strength lay in its thought of God, and in the character which this impressed upon the corporate life, as well as on the life of each individual. As we have seen, this bred in them a consciousness of a higher calling, of a higher obligation resting on them than upon others. They consequently felt the necessity of guarding their special character, and used the ban as their great weapon to ward off the contagion of evil, and to give this character room to develop itself. Its tremendous, even cruel, power was directed in Israel to this end; it was from this point of view alone that it had value in the eyes of the fully enlightened man of Israel. Stade in his history (vol. 1., p. 490) holds that this distinction did not exist, that the Israelite view differed in little, if anything, from that of their heathen kinsmen, and that the ban resulted from a vow intended to gratify Yahweh and win His favor by giving Him the booty. But it is undeniable that in the earliest statement in regard to it {Exodus 20} there is a distinct legislative provision that the ban should be proclaimed and executed irrespective of any vow; and in the later, but still early, notices of it in Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel the command to execute it comes in every case from Yahweh. In Deuteronomy, again, the ethical purpose of the ban is always insisted upon, most emphatically perhaps in Deu_20:17 ff., where the Cherem is laid down as a regular practice in war against the heathen inhabitants of Canaan: "But thou shalt utterly destroy them…that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against Yahweh your God." Whatever hints or appearances there may be in the Scripture narratives that the lower view still clung to some minds are not to be taken as indicating the normal and recognized view. They were, like much else of a similar kind, mere survivals, becoming more and more shadowy as the history advances, and at last entirely vanishing away. The new and higher thought which Moses planted was the rising and prevailing element in the Israelite consciousness. The lower thought was a decaying reminiscence of the state of things which the Mosaic revelation had wounded to the death, but which was slow in dying.
In Israel, therefore, the ban was, on the principles of the higher religion, legitimate only where tile object was to preserve that religion when gravely endangered. If any object could justify a measure so cruel and sweeping as the ban, this could, and this is the only ground upon which the Scriptures defend it.. That the danger was grave and imminent, when Israel entered Canaan, cannot be doubted. As we have seen, the Israelite tribes were far from being of one blood or of one faith. There was a huge mixed multitude along with them; and even among those who had unquestioned title to be reckoned among Israelites, many were gross, carnal, and slavish in their conceptions of things. They had not learned thoroughly nor assimilated the lessons they had been taught. Only the elect among them had done that; and the danger from contact with races, superior in culture, and religiously not so far below the position occupied by the multitude of Israel, was extreme. The nation was born in a day, but it had been educated only for a generation; it was raw and ignorant in all that concerned the Yahwistic faith. In fact it was precisely in the condition in which spiritual disease could be most easily contracted and would be most deadly. The new religion had not been securely organized; the customs and habits of the people still needed to be molded by it, and could not, consequently, act as the stay and support of religion as they did at later times. Further, the people were at the critical moment when they were passing from one stage of social life to another. At such moments there is immense danger to the health and character of a nation, for there is no unity of ideal present to every mind. That which they are moving away from has not ceased to exert its influence, and that to which they are moving has not asserted itself with all its power. At such crises in the career of peoples emerging from barbarism, even physical disease is apt to be deadlier and more prevalent than it is among either civilized or entirely savage men. The old Semitic heathenism had not been entirely overcome, and the new and higher religion had not succeeded in establishing full dominion. Contact with the Canaanites in almost any shape would under such circumstances be like the introduction of a contagious disease, and at almost any price it had to be avoided. The customs of the world at that time, and of the Semitic nations in particular, offered this terribly effective weapon of the "ban" and for this higher purpose it was accepted; and it was enforced with a stringency which nothing would justify short of the fact that life or death to the great hope of mankind was involved in it.
But it may be and should be asked, Would any circumstances justify Christian men, or a Christian nation, in entering upon a war of extermination now? and if not, how can a war of extermination against the Canaanites have been sanctioned by God? In answer to the first question, it must be said that, while circumstances can be conceived under which the extermination of a race would certainly be carried out by nations called Christian, it is hardly possible to imagine Christian men taking part in such a massacre. Even the supposed command of God could not induce them to do so. It would be so contrary to all that they have learned of Gods will, both as regards themselves and others, that they would hesitate. Almost certainly they would decide that they were bound to be faithful to what God had revealed of Himself; they would feel that He could not wish to blunt their moral sense and undo what He had done for them, and they would put aside the command as a temptation. But the case with the Israelites was altogether different. The question is not, how could God destroy a whole people? Were it only that, there would be little difficulty. Everywhere in His action through nature God is ruthless enough against sin. Vice and sin are every day bringing men and women and innocent children to death, and to suffering worse than death. For that every believer in God holds the Divine law responsible. And when the Divine command was laid upon the Israelites to do, more speedily, and in a more awe-inspiring way, what Canaanite vices were already doing, there can be no difficulty except in so far as the effect upon the Israelites is concerned. It is by death, inflicted as the punishment of vice, and sparing neither woman nor child, that nations have, as a rule, been blotted out; and, except to the confused thinker, so far as the Divine action is concerned there is no difference between such cases and this of the Canaanites. The real question is, Can a living, personal God deliberately set to men a task which can only lower them in the scale of humanity-brutalize them, in fact? No, is of course the only possible answer; therefore a supposed Divine command coming to us to do such things would rightly be suspected. We could not, we feel sure, be called upon by God to slay the innocent with the guilty, to overwhelm in one common punishment individual beings who have each of them an inalienable claim to justice at our hands. But the Israelites had not and could not have the feeling we have on the subject. The feeling for the individual did not exist in early times. The clan, the tribe, the nation was everything, and the individual, nothing. Consequently there was not existent in the world that keen feeling in regard to individual rights, which dominates us so completely that we can with difficulty conceive any other view. In this world the early Israelite scarcely perceived the individual man, and beyond this world he knew of no certain career for him. He consequently dealt with him only as part of his clan or tribe. His tribe suffered for him and he for his tribe, and in early penal law the two could hardly be separated. Indeed it may almost be said that, when the individual suffered for his own sin, the satisfaction felt by the wronged was rather due to the tribe having suffered so much loss in the individuals death than to the retribution which fell upon him. Moreover war was the constant employment of all, and death by violence the most common of all forms of death. Manners and feelings were both rude, and the pains as well as the pleasures of civilized and Christian men lay largely beyond their horizon. There was consequently no danger of doing violence to nobler feelings or of leaving a sting in the conscience by calling such men to such work. The stage of moral development they had reached did not forbid it, and the work therefore might be given them of God.
But the grounds for the action were immeasurably raised. Instead of being left on the heathen level, "the usage was utilized so as to harmonize with the principles of their religion, and to satisfy its needs. It became a mode of secluding and rendering harmless anything which peculiarly imperiled the religious life of either an individual or the community, such objects being withdrawn from society at large, and presented to the sanctuary, which had power, if needful, to authorize their destruction." The Deuteronomic command is not given shamefacedly. The interests at stake are too great for that. Israel is utterly to smite the Canaanite nations, to put them to the ban, to make no covenant with them nor to intermarry with them. "Thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their obelisks, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire." There is a fierce, curt energy about the words which impresses the reader with the vigor needed to defend the true religion. The danger was seen to be great, and this tremendous weapon of the ban was to be wielded with unsparing rigor, if Israel was to be true to its highest call. "For," Deu_7:6 goes on to say, "thou art a holy people unto Yahweh thy God; Yahweh thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth." They were the elect of God; they were a holy people, a people separated unto their God, and the Divine blessing was to come upon all nations through them if they remained true. Their separateness must therefore be maintained. As a people marked out by the love of God, they could not share in the common life of the world as it then was. They could not lift the Canaanites to their level by mingling with them. So they would only obscure, nay, in so far as this rigorous command was not carried out, they did all but fatally obscure, the higher elements of national and personal life which they had received. They were too recently converted to be the people of Yahweh, too weak in their own faith, to be able to do anything but stand in this austere and repellent attitude towards the world. Centuries passed before they could relax without danger. It may even be said that until the coming of our Lord they dared not take up any other than this separatist position, though as the ages passed and the prophetic influence grew, the yearning after a gathering in of the Gentiles, and the promise of it in the Messianic day, became more markedly prominent. Only when men could look forward to being made perfect in Jesus Christ did they receive the command to go unreservedly out into the world, for only then had they an anchor which no storm in the world could drag.
But we must be careful not to exaggerate the separation called for here. It does not authorize anything like the fierce, intolerant thirst for conquest and domination which was the very keynote of Islam. In Deu_2:5-6; Deu_2:19; the lands of Edom, Moab, and Ammon are said to be Yahwehs gift to these peoples in the same way as Canaan was to Israel. Nor did the law ever authorize the bitter and contemptuous feeling with which Pharisaic Israelites often regarded all men beyond the pale of.Judaism. There was no general prohibition against friendly intercourse with other peoples. It was against those only, whose presence in Canaan would have frustrated the establishment of the theocracy, and whose influence would have been destructive of it when established, that the "ban" was decreed. When war arose between Israel and cities farther off than those of Canaan, they were not to be put to the "ban." Though they were to be hardly treated according to our ideas, they were to suffer only the fate of cities stormed in those days, for the danger of corruption was proportionately diminished {Deu_20:17} by their distance. The right of other peoples to their lands was to be respected, and friendly intercourse might be entered on with them. But the right of Israel to the free and unhindered development to which it had been called by Yahweh was the supreme law. The suspicion of danger to that was to make things otherwise harmless, or even useful, to be abhorred. If men are to live nearer to God than others, they must sacrifice much to the higher call.
To press home this, to induce Israel to respond to this demand, to convince them anew of their obligation to go any length to keep their position as a people holy to Yahweh, our chapter urges a variety of reasons. The first (Deu_7:7-11) is that the history and grounds of their election exhibit the character of Yahweh in such a way as to heighten their sense of their privileges and the danger of losing them. He had chosen them, only because of His own love to them; and having chosen them and sworn to their fathers, He is true to His covenant. He brought them out of the house of bondage, and has led them until now. In Yahweh they had a spiritual ideal, whose characteristics were love and faithfulness. But though He loves He can be wrathful, and though He has made a covenant with Israel, it must be fulfilled in accordance with righteousness. In dealing with such a God they must beware of thinking that their election is irrespective of moral conditions, or that His love is mere good nature. He can and does smite the enemies of good, for anger is always possible where love is. It is only with good nature that anger is not compatible, just as warm and self-sacrificing affection also is. Those who turn away from Him, therefore, He requites immediately to their face, as surely as "He keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments." All the blessed and intimate relations which He has opened up with them, and in which their safety and their glory lie, can be dissolved by sin. They are, therefore, to strike fiercely at temptation, to regard neither their own lives nor the lives of others when that has to be put out of the way, to smite and spare not, for the very love of God.
A second reason why they should obey the Divine commands, as in other matters, so in this terrible thing, is this. If they be willing and obedient, then God will bless them in temporal ways as well as with spiritual blessings. Even for their earthly prosperity a loyal attitude to Yahweh would prove decisive. "Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And Yahweh will take away from thee all sickness, and He will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee." The same promises are renewed in more detail and with greater emphasis in the speech contained in chapters 28 and 29. There the significance of such a view, and the difficulties involved in it for us, will be fully discussed. Here it will be sufficient to note that the profit of obedience is brought in to induce Israel to enforce the "ban" most rigorously.
The last verses of our chapter, Deu_7:17-26, set before Israel a third incitement and encouragement. Yahweh, who had proved His might and His favor for them by His mighty deeds in Egypt, would be among them, to make them stronger than their mightiest foes (Deu_7:21): "Thou shalt not be affrighted at them, for Yahweh thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and a terrible." The previous inducements to obey Yahweh their Goal and be true to Him were founded on His character and on His acts. He was merciful; but He could be terrible, and He would reward the faithful with prosperity. Now His people are encouraged to go forward because His presence will go with them. In the conflicts which obedience to Him would provoke, He would be with them to sustain them, whatever stress might come upon them. Step by step they would drive out those very peoples whom they had dreaded so when the spies brought back their report of the land. The terror of their God would fall upon all these nations. A great God and a terrible He would prove Himself to be, and with Him in their midst they might go forth boldly to execute the ban upon the Canaanites. The sins and vices of these peoples had brought this upon them; their horrible worship left an indelible stain wherever its shadow fell. Israel, led and directed by Yahweh Himself, was to fall upon them as the scourge of God.
Notwithstanding the Divine urgency, the command to destroy the Canaanites and their idols was not carried out. After a victory or two the enemy began to submit. Glad to be rid of the toils of war, Israel settled down among the people of the land. All central control would seem to have disappeared. The Canaanite worship and the Canaanite customs attracted and fascinated the people, and enemy after enemy broke in upon them and triumphed over them. The half-idolatrous masses were led away into depraved forms of worship, and for a time it looked as if the work of Moses would be utterly undone. Had the purer faith he taught them not been revived, Israel would probably not have survived the period of the Judges. As it was they just survived; but by their lapse the leavening of the whole of the nation with the pure principles of Yahweh-worship had been stopped. Instead of being cured, the idolatrous inclinations they had brought with them from the pre-Mosaic time had been revived and strengthened. Multitudes, while calling Yahweh their God, had sunk almost to the Canaanite level in their worship and during the whole period of their existence as a nation Israel as a whole never again rose clear of half-heathen conceptions of their God. Prophets taught and threatened them in vain, until at last ruin fell upon them and the Divine threats of punishment were fulfilled.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.—Israel is forwarded against the idolatry of the…
CRITICAL NOTES.—Israel is forwarded against the idolatry of the people whose country they were about to enter (cf. Deu_6:14). The nations were more powerful than Israel, but God would deliver them.
Deu_7:2. They must be destroyed, devoted to destruction as accursed, put under the ban. Lev_27:28. No covenant must be made, nor alliances formed with them lest their children should be seduced.
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Deu_7:4. From following, lit. from behind me (Jehovah) i.e., entice to other gods.
Deu_7:5. Deal. All appendages of idolatry to be destroyed. Exo_34:13; Exo_23:24. Groves, enclosures of trees. Ashtoreth. a wooden pillar, very high and firmly fixed in the ground (cf. Jdg_6:25-27; Deu_16:21), a female god (Ashtarte) companion of Baal.
Deu_7:6. Holy consecrated to God and not to be lost through idolatry. Special, lit. a people of property to God, 1Ch_29:3; Ecc_2:8; Tit_2:14. Above, out of all people.
Deu_7:7. This selection, not through numerical strength; but
Deu_7:8. Through the covenant of love (Deu_4:37). This led to deliverance from Egypt.
Deu_7:9-12. By this Israel were to know that God was faithful in showing mercy to those that love Him and repaying, i.e., punishing enemies to their face, i.e., whilst still living; in their presence, in their own sight; or perhaps in their proper persons, Exo_33:14.
Deu_7:11. This display of God’s faithfulness should teach them to keep His statutes.
Deu_7:12. As a consequence of observance God’s favour would be seen in blessing the fruit of the womb, Increase of flocks and herds, cf. Exo_23:25.
Deu_7:15. In preservation from virulent sickness of all kinds (Exo_15:26) and especially all the evil diseases of Egpyt.
Deu_7:16. Consume, lit., devour as food, snare, i.e., Incentive to idolatry, Psa_106:36.
Deu_7:17-18. If they felt unable to meet with these powerful nations, they must remember Egypt, with its temptations, signs, and wonders (cf. Deu_4:34; Deu_6:22). God would do the same to the Canaanites, and
Deu_7:20. Send hornets against them; for God was mighty and terrible to do this.
Deu_7:21-22. Gradually would they be put out (plucked off), lest beasts should increase if dead bodies were left on the ground (cf. Exo_23:29-30).
Deu_7:24, To stand, lit., to put oneself in the face of a person, to withstand, Lev_14:43.
Deu_7:25-26. Idols to be destroyed, gold and silver which overlaid them, to be burned. Snared, cf. Jdg_8:27, lest (they should fall under the curse, to which all idolatrous objects were devoted (Joshua 7).
FORBIDDEN INTERCOURSE.—Deu_7:1-5
Israel were about to possess Canaan, to go into danger and temptation. Moses forewarns them against toleration of idolatry. They must have no intercourse with these nations, be entirely separated from them, and by God’s help utterly exterminate them.
I. No toleration of them. “Nor show mercy unto them.” What we tolerate we begin to pity and love. Evils most repulsive at first become attractive after-wards. Hence we must avoid the very appearance of evil. In obedience to God, rid ourselves of every danger, though dear as a right hand or a right eye.
II. Entire separation from them. The command is stringent and oft repeated.
1. In social intercourse. “Thou shalt make no covenant with them,” (Deu_7:2). Treaties were forbidden with Canaanites so gross in idolatry and infamous in custom and lust. Marriages were forbidden. “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them.” If a covenant was made with the people they would participate in idolatrous feasts, intermarry, join in worship, and be seduced into idolatry. The examples of Solomon and others in subsequent history prove the necessity and importance of this policy. “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” Life’s dearest ties are to be regulated by God’s will. We are to marry in the Lord. In character, custom and life, be “not conformed to this world.”
2. In religious worship. They were not to bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works (Exo_23:24; Exo_34:13). At first Israel were commanded to “quite break down their images; “then after they had displayed idolatrous leanings they were to destroy “altars and groves,” which would lead to the worship of the gods if retained. The entire apparatus of idol worship must be destroyed and forgotten (Deu_7:5).
III. Complete extermination of them. “Thou shall smite them and utterly destroy them.” Nations, like individuals may become incorrigible and hopeless in their moral condition. Iniquities often call for Divine interposition. The Canaanites defiled the land with their abominations (Lev_18:6; Lev_18:23), and God as Sovereign Disposer employed what agency He pleased to dispossess them. Let us take warning, remove everything that offends God and perpetuates idolatry. “Pull down the nests, and the rooks will disappear” was the maxim of Knox, this is the wisest policy, the only security from God’s anger. Drive from the heart, uproot and destroy in the world, every sinful custom; that the worship of God may be established and every abomination stamped out, “lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.”
DESIGN OF ISRAEL’S EXALTATION.—Deu_7:4-6
They were to destroy the nations, because their existence, character and position were concerned. They were selected by God to be a holy and special people. This great honour and high privilege they were to keep and not cast away. Hence they were chosen and blessed with inheritance.
I. To preserve religious worship. “For they will turn away thy son from following Me.” To preserve their national existence all corrupting influences must be put away; for “sin is a reproach (disgrace) to any people” (Pro_14:34.) To keep their national faith, idolatry with all its monuments must be utterly exterminated. The land must be purged, every trace of impurity swept away, and the place consecrated to God and pure worship. Christians are called out of the world, to maintain conflict with its evils, to win and keep it for the habitation of God and His Spirit.
II. To maintain a special character. Israel was chosen to take a special place, to be “a peculiar people,” historically and spiritually, among the nations of the earth. It was needful therefore to elevate and preserve them by moral law, wonderful providence, and special policy.
1. As a holy people. “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God.” Holy by special covenant, and should be holy in personal character and conduct, separation from the world involves watchful care and constant dedication to God. Israelites were to be near to God as priests of other nations thought themselves to be. Christians are entitled to draw nigh and offer to God their gifts and allegiance. “Ye shall be unto Me a Kingdom of priests and a Holy nation (Exo_19:6.)
2. As special witnesses for God. “A special people unto himself, for His glory, truth, and use.” Their value was not in themselves, hut in their position, virtues, and design. A nation is not to be estimated according to its wealth and ascendancy, but according to its moral worth and righteous deeds. What Israel was designed to be, Christians are now. “Ye are My witnesses saith the Lord,” to testify to His existence, mercy, and purpose. “This people have I formed for Myself; they show forth My praise” (virtues) Isa_43:21; “the praises (virtues) of Him that hath so called you” (1Pe_2:9).
THE CHOSEN PEOPLE.—Deu_7:6-8
Moses is here referring to the ground or motive from which the election of Israel was originally made. Though it might have seemed suitable that the God of the universe should choose to Himself the mightiest nation of any, yet God had not so acted. He chose to Himself Israel, when as yet but a single family, or rather a single person, Abraham; though there were already numerous nations and powerful kingdoms in the earth.—Sp. Com.
I. The reason for the choice. God has always reasons, though not always assigned for what He does. They are given here negatively and positively.
1. Not numerical strength. “For ye were the fewest of all people.” They were but a handful of people till after the death of Joseph. Nations of the East were great, and populations enormous; but God’s choice depends not on size or appearance.
2. Not moral worth. They were no better than other people though they prided themselves in virtue and calling., and were taught by rabbis that they were holy above all nations, they often pursued perverse and unworthy conduct. God derived no advantage from them. They were “a stiff-necked and rebellious people.” Christians are not chosen on the ground of merit, foreseen repentance and faith, but “because it hath pleased the Lord to make them his people.”
3. But from free grace. (a) Pure love. He loved them because He would love them. A simple, foolish reason in the opinion of men. We love when there is something loveable in the person loved. Our love depends upon excitement without. God’s love is free, sovereign, and in spite of everything unworthy. (b) Divine faithfulness. “He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers.” God was a debtor to them on account of His promise, not through their conduct—a promise which He would perform, notwithstanding their sinfulness. “To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham.”
II. The manifestation of the choice. The purpose was formed, the choice made, but had to be carried out and manifest in Israel’s history.
1. In their wonderful deliverance. “From the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt.” “Let my people go” was the demand. They could not serve God in Egyptian bondage. Only when they were free was it seen that they were God’s inheritance and choice.
2. In their holy character. If holy, they were to evince it by holy life and make their calling and election sure by separation from idolatry and consecration to God.
3. By hearty co-operation with God. “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord” (Deu_7:6), therefore work with Him in destroying His enemies and fulfilling His purpose. God’s purpose does not interfere with our responsibility, duty, and use of means.
III. The design of the choice. The motives which led to the election and redemption of Israel were beneficial to themselves and illustrative of God’s wisdom and glory. They were chosen to be holy and could only fulfil their mission by obedience to God. External separation must lead to spiritual devotion. They were made the depositories of God’s will. In their sacred rites and institutions, in their selection and history, God displayed His grace and prepared the world for His truth. “Neither the Egyptians, with all their wisdom,” says Tholuck, “nor the imaginative Indians, nor the vain and speculative Greeks, nor the haughty Romans could have received a revelation, or have been employed in this work without marring it.” “The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.”
LESSONS FROM THE PAST.—Deu_7:8-11
Israel were constantly reminded of the wonders of God in the past deeds to which they owed their national existence, and which were fitted as distinct manifestations of love to impress their minds and incite to obedience. Solemn are the lessons taught by their history. We may live in the past and not only discern the mind of the philosopher, historian, and politician, but the mind of God.
I. The Grace of God to distinguish men. Israel were distinguished and blessed above others by divine love. Privileges and personal gifts, honours and distinctions are to be traced to soverign grace and not human merit. “For who maketh thee to differ (distinguisheth thee) (1Co_4:7) “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
II. The Power of God to deliver men. “Redeemed you out of the house of bondmen.” Israel were set free, guided and settled in the land, by a strong hand. This hand is not shortened, but delivers in sickness, dangers and trouble. No enemy, bondage, or chains, can retain God’s people. “Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver; in whom we trust that He will yet deliver.”
III. The faithfulness of God to encourage men. “Because he would keep the oath which he had sworn.” God will never disregard or forget His word. The promise may be set at naught, fulfilment long delayed, and His people severely tried; but the oath is taken and will be verified. He is the God of Amen, and we may ever trust Him. His veracity is written in miracle, tender forbearance, and covenant mercy. “God is not a man that He should lie; neither the Son of Man that He should repent” (Num_23:19; 1Sa_15:29; 2Ti_2:13.)
IV. The providence of God to warn men. Providence is the school of life in which we discern God and His purpose. Its relations to men are personal, and its lessons various. We have—
1. A lesson of mercy. “He keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him.” God’s mercy infinitely transcends His righteous anger, and is shown to “a thousand generations.” To enjoy this mercy we must love God and “keep his commandments.”
2. A lesson of justice. “Repayeth them that hate Him.” There is repayment or retribution in the government of God. The sinner cannot escape justice and sin go unpunished. This repayment is (a) personal “to his face.” The sinner himself will see and feel that he is smitten of God (Job_34:11). “I am visited of God,” cried a dying man. (b) Open “to his face,” may mean openly, manifestly, discerned by others to warn them. (c) Sudden. “He will not be slack.” Delay is not forgetfulness or winking at sin, but given to induce repentance. (d) Severe “to destroy.” God’s patience may be provoked, the day of grace may be lost, and vengeance may fail upon men suddenly, and that without remedy.
3. A lesson of instruction. “Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments.” If God thus deals with men, rewards them according to their works, take heed, be warned against rebellion and apostacy, and keep “His statutes.” “Behold the goodness and severity of God; on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”
“For human weal, heaven husbands all events.”—Young.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_7:1-2. Gaining the inheritance.
1. By Divine guidance. “The Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land.” All inheritance, honour and position through God’s blessing.
2. By earnest co-operation with God. Israel must follow, “thou goest;” must fight, “cast out.” Then God would deliver them, and “they would utterly destroy them.” We must work with God to enter any position and succeed in any pursuit.
Deu_7:2-5. Israel ministers of destruction.
1. The people destroyed; an act which can only be reconciled with the Divine character, except on the assumption, that the gross idolatry and enormous wickedness of the Canaanites left no hope of repentance and amendment.
2. The monuments of idolatry destroyed. The Gods were deemed to be vanquished with the people whom they could no longer defend. There must be no rival with God in the human heart, in the Christian church, or in the world. All must be consecrated to Him.
Deu_7:4-6. Divine reasons for severity.
1. Human wickedness. Canaanites had filled up the measure of their iniquity.
2. The good of His people. Preserving their existence, by keeping them from danger; maintaining their holy character and position by removing snares to evil.
Deu_7:6-8. A special people.
1. In the impress of their character. “Thou art an holy people.”
2. In the privileges which they possessed. To whom pertaineth the adoption,” etc. (Rom_9:4).
3. In the prodigies by which they were defended. What safeguards and helps from God?
Deu_7:9. The faithful God. The God of Amen (Psa_31:6). “The Amen, the faithful and true witness” (Rev_3:14) that “will not suffer His faithfulness to fail, nor alter the thing that is gone out of His lips” (Psa_89:33), all His precepts, predictions, promises, menaces, being the issue of a most faithful and righteous will, void of the least insincerity or falsehood (1Ki_8:24). Neither could any day or age produce one instance to the contrary.—Trapp.
Deu_7:7-11. Important truths. Election (Deu_7:7). Redemption (Deu_7:8). Grace (Deu_7:9). Justice (Deu_7:11). Law (Deu_7:11). God revealed indeeds. Deeds of wonder (Deu_7:8). Deeds of love (Deu_7:7). Deeds of faithfulness and mercy (Deu_7:9), and deeds of righteousness (Deu_7:10).
THE BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE.—Deu_7:12-16
As there was retribution for disobedience, so there would be rewards for obedience. Israel was God’s servant, and must render to their Ruler His just rights. “If ye hearken to these judgments.” If they would observe and keep them, great would be their prosperity, temporally and spiritually.
I. The source of these blessings. “He will love thee and bless thee.” Love is first, and love is last. God begins in love to us, and we should return love and obedience to Him (1Jn_4:10; Joh_14:21.). In mercy “He sware unto thy fathers,” and in mercy he kept the oath. Change is impossible with Him, and fail He never can. History testifies to God’s love. His purpose to bless in Christ, like a thread of gold, runs through all ages.
II. The extent of these blessings. Prosperity would abound in all departments of personal, domestic, and religious life.
1. Temporal prosperity would be abundant. This is an object of legitimate desire, and held out as the promise of loyal obedience. (a) Freedom from personal sickness. “The Lord will take away from thee all sickness” (Deu_7:15). Sickness often results from sin, and might be overcome or prevented by a sober, godly life. Plagues and pestilence are Divine scourges for neglect of natural and spiritual laws. If Israel would walk in God’s ways, He would miraculously preserve them. The special “diseases of Egypt,” which, notwithstanding its even temperature and mildness, are indigenous and malignant, would not touch them. Let us thank God for healthy climate, but remember that only regard for physical and moral law will give health and happiness. (b) Increase of womb. “He will also bless the fruit of thy womb” (Deu_7:13). God would remember His promise to multiply them as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea. (c) Increase of cattle (Deu_7:13). Nothing should be barren among them (Deu_7:14). Abortions, untimely births and barrenness in excess were considered signs of God’s anger, and special sacrifices were offered to prevent them. (d) Increase of fruit. Land would yield its increase. Corn and wine would be plentiful (cf. Lev_26:3-5; Lev_26:9-10; Exo_23:25-26; Psa_107:38).
2. Spiritual prosperity would be great. “Thou shalt be blessed above all people” (Deu_7:14). The mercy of Deu_7:12 means special favour. Whatever results from natural laws is bestowed by the Lawgiver. The blessings of bodily health, family increase, fruitful lands, and productive flocks, are modes of displaying God’s goodness, and should prompt to faithful service. “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.
III. The conditions on which these blessings are given. “If ye hearken to these judgments” (Deu_7:12). What a frail, feeble, and uncertain condition 1 some would say. But such are the terms of an all-wise God. He is faithful—can we be? Not of ourselves, only by his grace and good spirit. If Canaan had depended on the merit and valour of Israel, they could not have entered it. They obeyed God and gained the land. We cannot secure heaven and Divine favour, only by faith in Christ and obedience to His word. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in as, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
ENCOURAGEMENT IN DUTY.—Deu_7:16-21
With the thought that Israel would be strong and vigorous, by obedience to God, “Moses reverts with emphasis to the command to root out the Canaanites without reserve, and not to serve their gods, because they would be a snare to them (cf. Exo_10:7); and then in Deu_7:17-26 he carries out still further the promise in Exo_23:27-30, of the successful subjugation of the people through the assistance of the Lord, and sweeps away all the objections that a weak faith might raise to the execution of the divine command.”—Keil.
I. The enforcement of duty. “Thou shalt consume all the people,” Deu_7:16. They were utterly to extirpate them from the land, without the least pity for their persons or regard to their religion. We are not to consult our feelings but our duty; not to wait for more knowledge but to act on what we have. “To wait for God’s performance,” says Bishop Hall, “and do nothing, is to abuse that Divine Providence which will always so work as not to allow us to remain in activity.”
II. Fear in undertaking duty. “Thou shalt not be afraid of them (Deu_7:18). When God commands we hesitate, excuse or delay. “Sloth in conclusion proves laborious,” says Bacon. Fear springs.—
1. From overpowering numbers. “These nations are more than I.” Seven nations to supplant. “How can I dispossess them?” When we look at self and forget God we magnify dangers. “The soldier wastes his strength who fights with shadows.” “Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”
2. From weakness of heart. “If thou say in thine heart.” If the heart gives way, all strength is gone physically and spiritually. Weapons and numbers avail not without heart. If we forget God we shall lose courage and be afraid. “I will send a faintness into their hearts, and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them” (Lev_26:27-36.)
3. From lack of faith in God. God will help and maintain the right; why fear?” Trust in Him, and His strength becomes yours. “All things are possible to him that believes.”
“Our doubts are traitors;
And make us lose the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt it.”—Shakespeare.
III. Reasons for encouragement in the performance of duty. The Bible seeks to impress the minds of God’s people most strongly with a sense of boldness, faith and courage. God prepares them for meeting and overcoming anticipated evils. Many are the motives to drive away fear.
1. The exploits of God in the past. Remember, and “well remember, what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh” (Deu_7:18). The sublime deeds of Jehovah, the grandeurs of history must never, whatever else may be forgotten. What God has done he can do again. He can never change. Omnipotence is never exhausted. It is no strange thing for God to do wonders. He has always done them, hence ground for confidence. “So shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.”
2. The help of God in the present. “The Lord thy God is among you.” Faith can discover an invisible helper more than a match for all against us. “How many do you count me to be?” said an ancient general to his soldiers, despondingly asking, “How many are coming against us?” “A mighty God and terrible.”
3. The providence of God in their favour. Napoleon said providence was with the strongest battalion, but “God and one man are in the majority” very often. Israel were the fewest, yet had to destroy the strongest peoples. (a.) God would be for Israel, but against their foes (Deu_7:15). Not one could stand their onslaught. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.” (b) The hornet was their ally. “Thy God will send the hornet among them” (Deu_7:20), God musters many forces for his work. Locusts, flies, and hornets, are no insignificant helpers in the ranks of Jehovah. Insects have swarmed and swept mighty armies before them. Thus does God encourage. Wonders in the past and promises for the present; creatures great and little prove divine power to conquer. This energy the Gospel contains to-day. Banish guilty fears, sloth and forgetfulness of God. “Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you.”
THE ALMIGHTY HELPER.—Deu_7:21
This description of God is a terror to sinners, but an encouragement to Christians. His mighty presence is—
1. Unmerited. The aid we get from earthly friends is often a reciprocity of kindness—a discharge of obligation. But our goodness extends not to God. We have done nothing to deserve help.
2. Unexpected. In most extreme danger and when most unlikely, comes deliverance. “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” The place of fear and sorrow, becomes one of joy and triumph.
3. Singular. God’s methods are peculiar to himself. Events which appear to combine to work our ruin, bring our salvation. In the deliverance from Egypt and the conquest of Canaan God was terrible to his enemies.
4. Timely. We think He has forgotten or forsaken us if He appears not when we wish. But He knows better than we do when it is time for Him to work. “Too late,” can never be said of His mercy “A very present help in trouble.”
5. All-sufficient. Earthly friends fail. God is always among us, “a mighty God and terrible.” He conquers most formidable foes, rescues from the greatest dangers.” “The Lord your God is a God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and terrible.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_7:12.
1. The command. Judgments possessed, heard, and kept. The word must be known and practised. “If a scholar have his rules laid before him, and he forget them as fast as he read them, he will never learn,” says T. Watson.
2. The promise. “If” we do our part God will do His. Blessings seem to be suspended on our obedience. “Prove me herewith.”
Deu_7:13. Triple blessings. “Love thee, bless thee, and multiply thee.”
Deu_7:13-14. Religion and Material Prosperity.
1. An indication of its nature (Mat_6:33; 1Ti_4:8.)
2. An argument for its reception (Deu_28:5-8.)
3. A proof of wisdom and goodness in its author.
Deu_7:16. Extirpation.
1. Commanded and can be done.
2. Needful and must be done, to secure their own safety, religion, and the favour of God.
3. If left undone, “that will be a snare to thee.”
Deu_7:17-19. Anticipated fears.
1. Natural. How apt to meet troubles before they come! What shall I do?” “How can I get through?” and “what will become of me?” are common questions.
2. Weakening. Nothing more disheartens than looking within ourselves, and measuring God by ourselves. “Wonderful is the case of boldness in civil business. What first? boldness. What second and third? boldness” (Bacon).
3. Groundless. “God sometimes seems to say to us,” says Cecil, “if within and without, you have ever so much cause for despondency, yet do not limit Me.” “With us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles.”
Deu_7:18-19. Remember. A good memory is very helpful and useful.
1. It is a great means of knowledge, for what signifies your reading or hearing, if you remember nothing.
2. It is a means of faith (1Co_15:2.)
3. It is a means of comfort. If a poor Christian in distress could remember God’s promises they would inspire him with new life; but when they are forgotten, his spirits sink.
4. It is a means of thankfulness.
5. It is a means of hope; for “experience worketh hope” (Rom_5:4), and the memory is the storehouse of experience.
6. It is a means of repentance; for how can we repent or mourn for what we have forgotten?
7. It is a means of usefulness When one spark of grace is truly kindled in the heart, it will quickly endeavour to heat others also.—R. Steele.
Deu_7:21. Thy God. Jehovah, maker of worlds, but the God only of His people. Thy God by purpose, covenant, promise, and performance. Among you the centre of all knowledge, trust, devotion and help. He sees and sustains, defends and comforts. Let us extol his power by which He works deliverance! “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.” God’s presence and power,
1. A source of hope in fear.
2. Of help in weakness.
3. Of guidance in perplexity.
4. Of triumph in conflict.
THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN.—Deu_7:16-24
The land was to be taken and the kings utterly destroyed. But the specific aid and the specific method are described—
I. The conquest was most difficult. So difficult that Israel thought they could not accomplish it. They were few, their enemies many; they were strangers to the country; the Canaanites knew every field of it; they were unskilled in the art and without much experience in the practice of war. “These nations are mightier than I; how can I dispossess them?” We cannot, but God never sends us on warfare at our own charge. To be valourous soldiers we must banish distrust.
II. The conquest was supernaturally gained. God had helped them in every case and thus far brought them safely. He could yet display all mighty power and work “signs and wonders.” His presence and providence are with us, if we only obey and work with Him.” Thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction (Deu_7:23).
III. The conquest was gradual. “Little by little; thou mayest not consume them at once.”
1. This was an evidence of kindness to Israel. Wild animals might increase too much if the land was suddenly depopulated and become a source of danger and trouble to Israel “lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.”
2. This is a law of Divine grace. “Little by little” do we conquer sin and self, the world and its temptations. Little by little do we gain men for Christ and succeed in Christian effort.
3. This is a law of God’s providence. Great undertakings demand patient thought; are frequently interrupted and only succeed by gradual progress and successive order. Thus does God teach “line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.
GOD’S PEOPLE INVINCIBLE.—Deu_7:23-24
God had shown that Israel had no need to be afraid. He would help by His presence, power, and providence, until all left and hidden would be destroyed. To inspire them with courage, the promise is repeated and success is pledged. If they will only obey they will conquer. God’s people are invincible.
I. On account of the warfare in which they are engaged. Israel’s mission seemed cruel, but it was the cause of God and for the welfare of humanity. “A good cause gives a stout heart.” Christian warfare is a Divine cause. “Fight the good fight of faith.”
“Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.”—Shakespeare.
II. On account of the enthusiasm which inspires them. “There shall no man be able to stand before thee.” Cromwell’s Ironsides fought for liberty, truth, and God. God would inspire His people with wonderful courage, so that they would not only pursue but overcome. A handful would be more than a match for a regiment. Five of you shall chase an hundred,” etc. (Lev_27:7-8.)
III. On account of the leader who commands them. Great generals make good soldiers. Cӕsar often restored his rebellious army to obedience, made them attached to his person and devoted to his cause. Christ, “the Captain of our salvation” is merciful, mighty and victorious, never lost, and never will lose a battle. “If God be for us who can be against us” (Rom_8:31; Rom_8:37; Isa_41:11).
THE CURSED THING.—Deu_7:25-26
The idols of Canaan were devoted to destruction, under the curse of God and if preserved they might entice to sins, therefore Israel were to destroy them by fire with their ornaments and supports.
I. Idolatry is a cursed thing. The worship of gods and the worship of gold; all superstitions and sins are abominable things which the Lord hates.
II. This cursed thing may become a snare. “Lest thou be snared therein.”
1. By gratifying covetousness. “Thou shalt not desire the silver or the gold that is on them.” God may be served from motives of gain. Gold and silver may tempt and covetous lusts may endanger the soul.
2. By transforming character like itself. Man becomes like the object he loves. The love of the world will make us worldly; the love of money will make us avaricious. Sin in its gilded and attractive forms must be utterly detested, for loving begets likeness.
3. By bringing under the curse of God. Achan “took of the accursed thing; and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel” (Jos_7:1-21; Jos_6:17-18; Jdg_8:27.) We cannot use for our good what God has put under anathema.
III. This snare it is our duty to remove. “Thou shalt utterly abhor it.” We are to hate what God hates and forsake what he forbids.
1. We are not to desire but to detest it.
2. Not to bring it into the house but burn it in the fire. Thus are we not only to oppose, but detest and destroy all idolatry and wickedness. The worship of man or reason, of art or mammon must find no place in our hearts and homes. We must avoid the very appearance of evil. Our service must be disinterested and holy. “There shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_7:23-24. Great reverses predicted. Delivered. Destroyed with a mighty destruction. Kings destroyed. Destruction severe and universal. Name destroyed. “Thou mayest choose,” says Bishop Pilkington, “whether thou wilt be remembered to thy praise or to thy shame.” “The name of the wicked shall rot” (Pro_10:7).
Deu_7:25. Snared. As the fowler catcheth birds, and the hunter wild beasts in their snares and traps, so shall these Canaanites catch you by their familiarity and commerce, and draw you to participate in their sins and plagues.—Trapp.
Deu_7:25-26. Images burned, and nothing kept.
1. To satisfy curiosity.
2. To excite pity.
3. To gratify lust.
4. To lead astray.
Idol gods. Made (images graven), adorned (gold and silver on them), upheld (in the house), cursed and uprooted. Feeling towards them. Utterly detest—utterly abhor—destroy and burn. Learn—
1. That God will not accept divided worship.
2. That in mixing with the world we are in danger of being estranged from God.
3. That when estranged from God, and brought under his curse, the punishment will be severe.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
Deu_7:1-5. No covenant with them. Court not the society of worldly persons, but “come out from among them and be separate.” If duty calls us there, be with them as physicians, not companions; as monitors, not friends; walk as among snares, and as Cecil advises, “transact business with them like a person in a shower of rain, staying no longer than is indispensably necessary.”
Deu_7:6-8. Chosen thee. That separation from other nations in which the holiness of the Jewish nation chiefly consisted (Exo_19:5-6; Num_23:9; Deu_26:18-19) was not spiritual, resulting from rectitude of heart and a correspondent deportment, but merely external, derived from certain sacred rites and ceremonies, different from or opposite to those from other nations. The glory of the Divine wisdom, no less than of Divine goodness and grace, was manifested in the choice of the Israelites for the important purposes contemplated by their separation. (Jamieson). Judaism was amonst the idolatrous nations of antiquity like a oasis in a desert, clearly defined and isolated; separated and enclosed by a rigid moral and ceremonial law.—Schaff.
Deu_7:8-11. Covenant and mercy. The Jewish scheme proceeded on exactly the same principles as the general system of Divine government over the world, with this difference; that the Supreme Jehovah, the Immediate Sovereign as well as tutelary God of the Hebrew nation, undertook to dispense this as well as every other species of reward and punishment, by an immediate and extraordinary provision, in which justice should be tempered with abundant mercy, confining the providential and temporal punishment for the parent’s crimes (as in the captivity) to the third and fourth generation; while it encouraged virtue and piety, by the assurance of a reward, similar in kind, but infinitely superior in degree, and which under the common course of events could not be hoped for; promising to extend the blessings of parental faith and obedience (as in the case of Abraham), to the thousandth generation of those who loved God.—Graves on Pent).
Deu_7:12-16. Bless thee. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the new (Bacon). In the day of good be thou in good. When God gives thee prosperity, do thou enjoy it with a cheerful and thankful heart (Bp. Reynolds). God’s blessing upon our hearts, families and churches.
“My stock lies dead, and no increase
Doth my dull husbandry improve;
O let thy graces without cease
Drop from above.”
From Spurgeon.
Deu_7:17-22. Afraid. Ills that never happened have mostly made men wetched, (Tupper.)
1. Most of our difficulties arise from discussing what belongs to God.
2. God does not reason with us, but replies to our suspicions reasoning by displaying anew the love of His heart and the power of His arm, (Bonar).
Deu_7:21. With thee. When the Crusaders encamped before Jerusalem, a terrible struggle ensued. The Saracens possessed the city, bore down upon them in countless numbers, and it seem as if the Christian army would lose the battle. All at once, we are told that a joyful cry rang through the ranks of the crusaders. “St. James is with us! He fights on our side.” “In the excitement of the conflict, some of them fancied they saw the apostle in the clouds advancing to help them. It gave them new courage. They rushed forward with energy which could not be withstood and the battle was won.
Deu_7:22. Little and little. Birds build nests straw by straw. “Euripides the Greek tragedian, was very slow in composing his excellent dramas. One day a poetaster met him and began to rally him on his tardiness, adding that he himself had written 100 verses in three days, while Euripides had only written three. “Ah (said Euripides) but there is this difference, your 300 verses perish in three days, while my three will survive 300 years.” (Brewer.)
Deu_7:23-24. No man able to stand before thee. Luther’s song of confidence “God is our refuge and strength.” Let God be thy love and thy fear, and He will be also thy refuge. “The firmest thing in this lower world is a believing soul.” (Leighton). When Luther was going into the presence of Cardinal Cajetan, to answer for his heretical opinions, one of the Cardinal’s underlings, insultingly asked him where he would find a shelter, if his patron, the Elector of Saxony, should desert him? “Under the shield of heaven,” was the bold reply.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. The complaint has been made often that the…
Deu 7:21
I. The complaint has been made often that the qualities which Christians are especially encouraged to cultivate are not manliness and courage; that, so far as the Christian ideal is set continually and steadily before the mind of a nation or a man, that mind is likely to become submissive, not energetic. I believe that the courage, which is only another way of expressing the heart, of a nation is liable to a continual weakening and decay; that left to itself it will certainly wither; that some religions may hasten its death; but that by doing so such religion will prove that it does not come from God, that it is not His religion, not His instrument for reforming and regenerating the world.
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II. A return to the old faith that courage and humanity are not enemies, but inseparable companions, has certainly commenced among us. The misfortune is that Christianity is supposed to be not identical with humanity, but a substitution for it. And this opinion is closely connected with another: that courage is a heathen, or perhaps the heathen, virtue, and that we have cherished it by giving our children a semi-heathen education. Consider this opinion under different aspects.
III. By a heathen we mean one who is not a Jew. That is the simplest, most accurate use of the name. Taking it in this sense, our text is decisive that a high estimate of courage was not confined to heathens; that if to form such an estimate is ungodly, the chosen people were as ungodly as any. The Bible tells us that idolatry is the great destroyer of courage, reverence for the true God and an abiding sense of His presence and protection the upholder of it.
Now is this doctrine compatible with the fact that the most illustrious of the heathen nations were singularly brave nations, and that our forefathers sought to kindle English courage at their fires?
It is incompatible if we regard a heathen merely as an idolater. It is perfectly compatible if we trace through the history of the great nations that worshipped idols a continual witness against it. Their belief in courage, as a quality which raised them above the animals, was the greatest of all the protests which the conscience of heathens was bearing against idolatry, against the worship of visible things, which is directly connected with our animal instincts, which is always lowering the human being to the level of that which he should rule.
IV. The courage of the Hebrew was derived from his trust in the Being who had chosen him to do his work in the world, who would accomplish that work, let what powers would unite to defeat it. Christianity is not a denial of Judaism or a denial of heathenism, a tertium quid which excludes all that is strongest and most vital in both, but the harmony and concentration cf both, the discovery of Him in whom the meaning of both is realised and raised to its highest power; but out of the union and reconciliation of apparent opposites in the faith of a Father and a Son, of a Spirit proceeding from both, to quicken men and make them the voluntary, cheerful servants, because the sons, of God, there must come forth a courage Diviner than the Hebrew, more human than the Greek, more pledged to a continual battle with disorder than the Roman.
F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 145.
Deu 7:22-26
I. There can be no doubt that these passages represent the Jewish nation as bound to a perpetual conflict with idolatry. The resistance was primarily an internal one. The members of the nation were never to bow down to natural or human symbols. But they were not merely to be tenacious of the true worship and watchful against the false; they were to go forth against the idolatrous people of Canaan, to break in pieces their gods, to destroy their altars and high places. And not only the idol or the idol temple was to be destroyed; the inhabitants of the idolatrous country, their wives, their children, their sheep, and their oxen, were to be put to death.
In explaining these facts, we must remember that the Jews were the one nation that might not go out to win prizes for themselves; they were simply the instruments of the righteous Lord against those who were polluting His earth and rendering it unfit for habitation.
II. We have surely not learned from the Sermon on the Mount that there is not a righteous Being, One whose will is to all good, One to whom injustice and wrong are opposed. Neither did our Lord say that men were not to be the instruments in doing God’s work, in carrying out His purposes. The Gospel must be quite as assertive and intrusive as Judaism. Idolatry was more directly assaulted in its high places, received more deadly wounds, in the three centuries during which the Gospel of the Son of God was opposed by all the swords of the Roman empire, and when it had no earthly sword of its own, than by all the battles of the Israelites. The punishment of the idolater is not now the most effectual means of extinguishing idolatry. Our Lord shows us that the proclamation of Himself is a more perfect one.
III. These distinctions are deep and radical; they must affect all the relations between the magistrate and the herald of the Gospel, between the nation and the Church.
If we have learned to believe that the spirit of love is a consuming fire, which must destroy the idols and high places that we ourselves have set up and then all those which are withdrawing men anywhere from the living and true God, we shall find that the command to drive out the debased people of Canaan is an utterance of the same gracious will which bade the disciples go into all lands and preach the Gospel to every creature.
F. D. Maurice, The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 256.
Reference: Deu 7:22-26.—Parker, vol. iv., p. 152.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Practical Exhortations (continued)
Practical Exhortations (continued)
In this chapter the people are warned against temptations to idolatry and enjoined to avoid contact with their idolatrous neighbours: see on Exo_23:32-33; Num_25:16-18.
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1. On the tribes inhabiting Canaan see on Num_13:21.
5. Images] RV 'pillars,' or obelisks. Groves] RV 'Asherim': see on Exo_34:13.
6. Special people] RV 'peculiar people': see on Exo_19:5.
13. On the promise of material prosperity as the reward of obedience, see on Exo_20:12.
19. Temptations] 'provings' or trials, the afflictions that test and reveal character: see Deu_8:2, and cp. Jam_1:2, Jam_1:12.
20. The hornet] see on Exo_23:28.
25. Nor take it unto thee] Achan did so and brought trouble upon himself and Israel: see Joshua 7.
26. Abomination] i.e. an idol, as in Deu_16:22. A cursed thing] RV 'a devoted thing,' a thing laid under the ban of extermination. The verb from the same root is rendered utterly destroy in Deu_7:2 : see on Lev_27:28.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 3. The Possession of the Land and Their Separation
3. The Possession of the Land and Their Separation
CHAPTER 7
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1. The command to destroy the Canaanites (Deu 7:1-4)
2. The command to destroy their idolatry (Deu 7:5-11)
3. The promise of blessing and help (Deu 7:12-26)
Seven nations are mentioned as occupying the land, which God gave to Israel. These nations were steeped in the most awful licentiousness and practised the vilest abominations. There are different reasons to believe that Satan possessed them in a peculiar manner. God had tolerated these nations for many centuries. He waited in His mercy before the sword of justice was unsheathed. The measure of their wickedness was now full, the time for judgment had come. The Lord called Israel to be the executioner of that awful judgment. And whenever they carried out the divine judgment, not sparing any one, they had an object lesson of the holiness and righteousness of God. Their sons and daughters were not to marry any members of these doomed nations. That would result in apostasy from Him and in idolatry. All their altars, their images and their groves they were to destroy. They were a holy people. But the Lord did not choose them because they were more in number than other nations. Jehovah loved them. Solemnly they are once more told that the Jehovah who hath set His love on them is a faithful, a covenant keeping God. He keeps His covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments. But He also repays them that hate Him. Promises of blessings follow. If they are obedient, if they hear, keep and do (verse 12) the Lord would bless them. It is refreshing to read all these gracious promises. May they encourage us to trust in Him and walk in obedience. In Christ even greater blessings than these are put on our side. We know from subsequent history, how completely Israel failed to carry out all these instructions. They practised the vile abominations of the nations they were commanded to destroy. God had to deal with them in judgment. Instead of the blessings enumerated in verses 12-24, the curse was visited upon them. God’s gifts and calling are without repentance; in a future day the remnant of Israel will inherit these things through the grace of God.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Eradication of Idolatry Commanded
The Eradication of Idolatry Commanded
v. 1. When the Lord, thy God, shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, an event certain to materialize in the near future, and hath cast out many nations before thee, great in numbers, in resources, and in valor, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
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v. 2. and when the Lord, thy God, shall deliver them before thee, give them into the hands of the children of Israel, so that they would be witnesses of His power, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them, it was to be a war of extermination, Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them, give them no quarter, reject all offers of submission. The measure of sins of these heathen nations was full, and therefore the Lord wanted them to he removed entirely.
v. 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thus becoming allied to them by ties of relationship; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, to the son of any member of these nations, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son, for the giving in marriage is the prerogative of parents to this day.
v. 4. For they will turn away thy son from following Me, the danger being particularly great when the unbelieving wife sets out to lead her husband astray, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly, for that was the punishment which the Lord had placed upon idolatry, Deu 4:26. There are so many dangers to the faith connected with mixed marriages, when a Christian marries an unbeliever, or one belonging to a sectarian church, that the warning must be sounded again and again.
v. 5. But thus shall ye deal with them: Ye shall destroy their altars, which were dedicated to the abominations of idolatry, and break down their images, the pillars or statues of stone which represented their idols, and cut down their groves, wooden pillars erected to Astarte, the goddess of love and fruitfulness, and burn their graven images with fire, completely destroy even the last vestige of them. All idolatry is an abomination before the Lord, and He wanted Israel to turn away from every evidence of it with the utmost loathing, just as He expects Christians to shun intimacy with unbelievers, lest they lose the precious jewel of their faith.
v. 6. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord, thy God, consecrated to Him, set apart for His service; the Lord, thy God, hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, a peculiar people, a people of His property, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. They were God’s possession, which He set apart for Himself.
v. 7. The Lord did not set His love upon you, turn to you, cling to you in love, nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people, more numerous and more powerful than other nations; for ye were the fewest of all people, Abraham, their forefather, being a single person over against great and powerful nations when the Lord called him;
v. 8. but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, Exo 13:3-14, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the position of shameful serfdom, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Israel was never to forget that it was pure love and mercy on God’s part which prompted Him to make them His people, and no merit on their part.
v. 9. Know, therefore, that the Lord, thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations, for He is most eager to show mercy and love, it is His greatest delight to reward those that love Him;
v. 10. and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them, in this they get their just dues. He will not be slack to him that hateth Him; He will repay him to his face. God is not like a weak, indulgent father, who will overlook the transgressions of his children, often in maudlin sentimentality.
v. 11. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command thee this day, to do them, because Jehovah, the faithful covenant God, is equally energetic in mercy and in holiness. We Christians should also never forget that God has chosen us out of the world of unbelievers, not because we are in any way better than others, but out of pure goodness and mercy. Therefore we should thank God for this unmerited mercy, serve and obey Him, and keep His covenant with all faithfulness.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–2 General Information:
General Information:
Moses continues to tell the people of Israel Yahweh's words as if the Israelites are one person. (See: Forms of You)
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translationWords
Yahweh
God
possess
cast out
nation
Hittite
Girgashites
Amorite
Canaan
Perizzite
Hivite
Jebus
might
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 7:1-26 Before Israel could occupy the land of promise…
7:1-26 Before Israel could occupy the land of promise (cp. Gen 13:14-17; 15:18-21), the nations already living there had to be removed. The land was the Lord’s, and only he could determine who the inhabitants should be.
7:1 The Hittites were native to Anatolia (now north-central Turkey). They established colonies in far-flung areas such as Syria and were also linked to Canaan in the list of ancient nations (see Gen 10:15; 23:3-20). The Hittite empire came to a sudden end around 1200 BC, but people known as Hittites continued to live in Israel (e.g., Uriah the Hittite, 2 Sam 11:3; 23:39). It is impossible to prove that the Hittites of Anatolia were the same as those mentioned in the OT, but some commonality is probable. • Girgashites were an otherwise unknown Canaanite people (Gen 10:16-17). • Amorites: See study note on Deut 1:4. • The Canaanites were the native people of Canaan; their habitation there can be traced back to 3000 BC. They descended from Noah’s son Ham (see Gen 9:18-27). • The Perizzites are not listed in the Table of Nations (Gen 10:16-17), so they might not have been related to the Canaanites. • Many scholars identify the Hivites as the Horites (or Hurrians; see study note on Deut 2:1), a non-Semitic people found throughout the ancient Near East. • The Jebusites were associated with Jerusalem (Judg 1:21; 2 Sam 5:6-8). David bought a piece of land from Araunah the Jebusite to build an altar (2 Sam 24:15-25); this property later became the site of the Temple (2 Chr 3:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.