All communion with the nations is forbidden, 4 for fear of idolatry, 6 for the holiness of the people, 9 for the nature of God in his mercy and justice, 17 for the assuredness of victory which God will give over them.
A Chosen People
Deu 7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—
Seven nations. The Hittites are mentioned many times in the Scriptures (see on Gen. 10:15). Girgashites. A Canaanite tribe of western Palestine (see Gen. 10:16; Joshua 24:11).
Amorites. See on Gen. 10:16. This numerous and widespread people is often mentioned in Scripture (Gen. 14:7, 13; 15:16, 21; 48:22; etc.)
Their name appear in 18 books of the OT. The Perizzites. A people of the central portion of western Palestine (see on Gen. 13:7). Hivites. See on Gen. 10:17. Little is known of them. Jebusites. See on Gen. 10:16. This people held the hill-fort Jebus, also called Jerusalem, or Salem (Joshua 15:63; 18:28; Judges 1:21; 2 Sam. 5:6, 8).
The name Jerusalem is attested in Egyptian records of the 19th century B.C.
Deu 7:2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.
Treaty. See Ex. 23:32; 34:12. It was not God’s purpose that Israel should forever remain isolated from other nations. But until they had learned to trust and serve Him with a perfect heart, association with idolaters was fraught with danger.
God intended the Hebrew people to be a light to the world, but so long as they were prone to absorb the darkness of others it was best for them to remain apart. With this danger past, Israel would be in a position to bear witness of the true God to the 0heathen nations about them (see Ex. 24:12; Num. 33:52).
Deu 7:3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
Intermarry. Intimate association with idolaters as in the home would affect not only the individual but the nation (see Ex. 34:15, 16). Solomon violated this principle, with untold personal and national loss as a result (1 Kings 11:1).
There is no happiness or safety in making alliances with those who neither love nor serve God (1 Cor. 6:14–17). The tragic experiences of Esau (Gen. 26:34, 35), Samson (Judges 14:1), and others are eloquent in their witness favoring the admonition to remain separate.
Deu 7:4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.
Turn away.
A man’s love for his wife, an idolater, would usually if not always turn his heart from God. This was a distinct danger against which Joshua warned (Joshua 23:11–13).
Deu 7:5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire.
Cut down their Asherah. These ’asherim were probably carved wooden pillars, consecrated to Asherah, a Canaanite goddess (see Deut. 16:21; Judges 6:25–30). Burn. For a similar command see Num. 33:52. See also the zeal of David in respect to the images of the Philistines (1 Chron. 14:12).
Deu 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
Holy people. See Lev. 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7, 26. Holiness to God was to be the very constitution and norm of 9conduct of the people. The primary meaning of the word translated “holy” is that of physical separateness. It then developed the idea of “consecration” or “dedication.”
A “holy” people was a “separate” people, separate, that is, from the customs of the nations about them and dedicated exclusively to the service of God (see 1 Peter 2:9). A special people. Literally, “a people of special possession.” The word translated “special” is from a root meaning “to acquire property.” The noun form here used means “private property,” “a possession.”
Deu 7:7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
Numerous in number. Compare the promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3; 15:1, 2). Even 200 years after the promise was given there were but 70 males in the chosen branch of his family (Gen. 46:26, 27).
Deu 7:8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
The Lord loved you. Literally, “Yahweh is the lover of you.” God’s love may be compared to that of a parent for his children.
A mighty hand. The “mighty hand” of the Lord is the hand of divine power, used to deliver His people and to strengthen them to fulfill their true destiny. This is seen in the development of Abraham’s seed into a mighty nation. God’s people went down into Egypt a family of 70, yet in due time the Lord made them “as the stars of heaven for multitude” (Deut. 10:22).
Deu 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
The faithful God.
The word translated “faithful” is a participial form of the verb ’aman, from which, through the Greek, comes our word “amen.” The Hebrew verb means “to stay,” “to support,” “to be firm,” so stressing the idea of utter dependability.
Thousand generations.
Equivalent in meaning to the expression “forever.” Reference is to the multitudes throughout history who enter the covenant relationship.
Deu 7:10 But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.
Repay. Not in spite but as the One who rewards every man according to his just deserts (Eccl. 11:9; Rom. 2:6–11; Rev. 22:12). God is supremely just and patient, but His mercy (see on v. 9) toward any individual is limited by the welfare of all. Sin has wages, and he who has earned may expect to receive payment in full. Those who obstinately spurn His mercy (v. 9) will eventually and inevitably experience His wrath.
Deu 7:11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.
Follow the commandments. Literally, “keep the command,” perhaps in reference to the Decalogue as a whole, or to any one of its precepts applicable under the circumstances.
Deu 7:12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors.
The word translated “if” is actually a noun meaning “consequence.” It is usually used as an adverb meaning “as a consequence of,” “because of.” Accordingly, the translation here would be, not “if,” but, “as a consequence of,” pointing to the rewards for heeding the precepts of the Lord.
Deu 7:13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.
Bless you. These rich promises are a reiteration of those made to their forefathers (Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 28:14; Lev. 26:4, 5; Jer. 31:12).
Deu 7:14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.
childless.
Fertility was considered the greatest of earthly blessings, as barrenness was the greatest curse.
Deu 7:15 The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.
Evert disease. In the Scriptures the most loathsome diseases are spoken of as being identified with Egypt (Ex. 15:26; Deut. 28:27, 35). Had Israel cooperated with the principles of healthful living given them by God, “feebleness and disease would have been unknown among them” (PP 378). They would have become models of health and physical stamina, and of increased mental and moral strength.
Deu 7:16 You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
A snare. Literally, “a bait,” from the verb root, “to lay a bait.” In Amos 3:5 the word translated “snare” is entirely different from the one used here, and the word there translated “gin” is the one here rendered “snare.”
Deu 7:18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt
Not be afraid. The new generation was to avoid the spirit of fear exhibited by their fathers, as the result of which they perished in the wilderness (Num. 14:35). Fear, the opposite of faith, is unable to cooperate with God. This accounts for the fact that God could not lead the former generation into the land it might otherwise have been their privilege to enjoy (Heb. 3:12, 19).
Deu 7:19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.
Trials. Reference here is to the evidences of divine power by which God sought to lead Pharaoh to release His people. By these God presented the king with convincing evidence that He was God, thus confronting him with a test that required him to choose between cooperation with God’s will or opposition to it.
Deu 7:20 Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished.
The hornet. Probably used in a figurative sense (see on Ex. 23:28; see also Joshua 24:12). 21. God is among you. Compare the question of Moses before the rock in Horeb (Ex. 17:6, 7). 22. Little and little. That is, as they were prepared to occupy it (Ex. 23:29). If the land were permitted to revert to a wilderness, the difficulty facing the people of Israel would thereby be greatly increased.
Deu 7:23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.
Deliver them. Compare the variant expression of the same thought in Ex. 23:27. 24. Deliver their kings. Joshua lists 31 kings subdued during the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 12:7–24). 25. Silver or gold. Metals used to overlay wooden idols and ornaments adorning them (see Isa. 30:22). These would only become a snare to Israel (Joshua 7:21, 22), and were not of permanent value anyway.
Deu 7:26 Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.
26. A cursed thing. That is, devoted to destruction. To touch or harbor that which was destined for destruction was to suffer the same fate. Compare God’s message to Ahab (1 Kings 20:42).