The Fifth Book of Moses, called Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 7
Chapter VII · Vol. I, pp. 491–492
1 All communion with the seven nations of Canaan is forbidden 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. 25 Images must be wholly destroyed.
1 WHEN the aLORD 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;1
a Nu. 15.2. ch. 31.2; 9.1-3; 11.23-25. Ge. 15.18-21. Ex. 23.27-31; 34.11,24. Ac. 13.7. Ps. 44.3; 78.55; 136.18-22; 135.11,12; 105.44. ver. 20-24.
1 Ten nations are enumerated in Ge. 15. 18-21; and it is not surprising if, in the course of about 400 years, some of them should have changed their names by absorption into greater tribes, or changed their dwellings by expulsion or emigration. Such events are constantly taking place in the history of nations.—C.
2 And when the LORD thy God bshall deliver them before thee, and thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them:
3 Neither cshalt thou make marriages2 with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
c Ju. 3.6,7; 14.2,3. Ezr. 9.1,2. Ne. 13.23,25. 2 Co. 6.14. Ge. 6.2.
2 Unless they became proselytes to the worship of Jehovah.—C.
4 For they dwill turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: eso will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
d Ex. 34.15,16. Ne. 13.26. 1 Ki. 11.2,4,9.
e Ex. 20.5. Ju. 2.11-20; 3.7,8; 10.6,7. ch. 32.15-27; 6.15; 4.24-26; 8.19; 30.17,18; 29.18-27; 31.16-18.
5 But thus shall ye deal with them; fye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images,3 and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
f ch. 12.2,3. Ex. 34.13; 23.24. 2 Ki. 18.4; 23.6,14. Nu. 33.52. ver. 25.
A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451.
3 Heb. statues or pillars.
6 Forg 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.
g ch. 14.2; 26.19; 28.9; 4.7; 32.9. Ps. 135.4. Ex. 19.5,6. Je. 2.3. 1 Pe. 2.9. Am. 3.2. Tit. 2.14. 1 Co. 6.19,20.
7 The LORD hdid 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;)4
h Ro. 9.11-15,18,21; 11.6. 1 Jn. 3.1; 4.10. Ps. 115.1.
4 Abram was called alone; and when God confirmed his covenant, Ge. 12. 1-3; 15. 1, 2, he had no children, and in 200 years after his posterity, according to the promise, amount but to 70 persons, Ge. 46. 27.—C.
8 But ibecause the LORD loved you, and because he would kkeep 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 the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
i ch. 4.37; 9.4,5; 10.15. 1 Sa. 12.22. 2 Sa. 22.20. Ps. 44.3. Zep. 3.17. Mat. 11.26.
k Ex. 32.13. He. 6.17,18. Ps. 105.9,42. Ge. 17.7,8; 22.17; 26.4; 28.13-15.
9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the lfaithful God, which keepeth covenant mand mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations;
l Is. 49.7. 1 Co. 1.9; 10.13. 2 Co. 1.18. 1 Th. 5.24. 2 Th. 3.3. 2 Ti. 2.13. He. 11.11; 10.23. 1 Jn. 1.9. Tit. 1.2.
m Ne. 1.5. Da. 9.4. ch. 5.10. Ex. 20.6. Ge. 17.7. Ps. 105.8,10.
10 And nrepayeth 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.
11 Thou shalt therefore okeep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
o ch. 4.1,9; 6.1; 5.32,33; 8.1; 10.12,13; 11.32; 12.32. Tit. 3.8. Mat. 28.29. 1 Sa. 15.22. 1 Co. 15.58.
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, 5if pye 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:
5 Heb. because.
p Le. 26.3-13. ch. 28.1-14; ver. 8,9. Ps. 105.8,9. Mi. 71.20?. Lu. 1.72,73. 1 Ti. 4.8. 1 Co. 15.58.
13 And he qwill 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.
14 Thou rshalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
r ch. 28.1-14. Le. 26.3-13. Ex. 23.25,26. Ps. 144.12-15.
15 And the LORD swill take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest,6 upon thee; but twill lay them upon all them that hate thee.
s Ex. 9.14; 15.26. Ps. 105.37. ch. 28.27,60.
6 All diseases, as the progressive forms of death, are the 'wages of sin.' And whilst man's observation traces them, and traces them justly, to what are termed second causes, such as climate, food, clothing, mental and bodily habits, &c., yet beyond all these lies that righteous judgment of God, of which these circumstances are but the outlets or instruments. Egypt was, and still is, notorious for some diseases, such as the plague, ophthalmia, &c., and these, though mediately produced by climate, habit, or infection, are yet as immediately the judgments of an invisible providence, as the ten plagues were the immediate followers of the visible outstretching of the rod of Moses.—C.
t Ge. 12.3. Ps. 37.12-16.
16 And thou shalt uconsume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have7 no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.8
u ver. 2. Ex. 23.33; 34.12-16. Nu. 33.55. Jos. 23.12,13,16. Ju. 2.3,12; 3.6. Ps. 106.34-39.
7 See note on ver. 2.—C.
8 There is an express divine command given here, and a reason assigned for it. To any one who will reflect that God is the ruler of the world; that he rules by wise and just laws; that he employed the Israelites as his executioners, just as he employs lightning, tempest, and earthquake; and that the Canaanites had rebelled against him, had degraded humanity, had spread, and were continuing to spread moral corruption over the earth; any one who will reflect on these things must admit that the command here given was righteous, and that the reason assigned for it was sufficient.—P.
17 If thou xshalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
x ch. 8.17. Nu. 13.32. Jos. 17.16. Mat. 15.31.
18 Thou yshalt not be afraid of them; but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt:
y Is. 41.10,14-16. Mar. 5.36. He. 13.6. Ro. 8.31. Ps. 78.11,42-51. ch. 4.34. Ex. vii.-xiv.
19 Thez 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 God9 do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.
z Ge. 15.14. Ex. 3.8; 6.1,5-7; vii.-xiv. ch. 11.2-4; 10.21. Jos. 24.5-7. 1 Sa. 12.8. Ne. 9.10,11. Ps. 78.11,42-51; 105.27-38. Je. 32.20,21. Eze. 20.6,9.
9 See note on ch. 4. 34.—C.
20 Moreover,a the LORD thy God will send the hornet1 among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.
1 A species of wasp, about an inch in length, strong and voracious. Instances of whole nations being driven out by insects are fully attested by ancient writers, and in particular Aelian makes mention of the Phaselians, a people descended from the Canaanites, being driven out of their country by wasps.—Bochart, Hieroz. lib. ii. c. 13.—C.
21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, ba mighty God and terrible.
22 And the LORD thy God will cput 2out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.3
c Ex. 23.29,30. Jos. 15.63. Ju. 2.21-23; 3.1.
2 Heb. pluck off.
3 The population of Syria and Palestine at the present time is about two millions, i.e. about equal to the number of the Israelites at the exodus; and now more than three-fourths of the country lies desolate. Many parts of it are infested with wild beasts, which commit great ravages upon the crops, the flocks, and even sometimes upon the people. Were it not for the rifle some districts would be almost uninhabitable. It was a wise and merciful arrangement, therefore, that the ancient inhabitants were expelled by little and little; for had they been driven out at once, at a period when wild beasts were far more abundant than now, and when the rifle was unknown, the occupation of the country would have been almost an impossibility.—P.
23 But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto4 thee, and shall ddestroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.
4 Heb. before the face.
d ch. 2.15; 8.20. Ex. 14.24. Jos. 10.24; 12.7,9-24; 1.5. ver. 16.
24 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.
25 Thee 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.
e ch. 12.3. Nu. 33.52. Ex. 23.24; 32.28; 34.13. Jos. 7.1,21. 1 Ch. 14.12. Is. 30.22. ver. 5.
26 Neither fshalt 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.
f Jos. 6.17,19,24; 7.1. ch. 13.17. Le. 27.28,29.
Notes
[Ver. 1. The Hittites were descended from Heth, the second son of Canaan; they were located in the time of Abraham in and around Hebron, Ge. 10. 15; 23. 3, sq. The Girgashites were also descended from a son of Canaan, and appear to have settled near the Sea of Galilee, Mat. 8. 28. The Amorites appear also to have been Canaanites, and were the most numerous and powerful tribe in the country. They spread widely, were a warlike race, and occupied large districts of the mountain ranges both east and west of the Jordan. Canaanite is sometimes used as a generic name for the whole descendants of Canaan; sometimes as the special name of the Phœnicians. In the latter sense it is employed here. The Perizzites were not of the same race as the others. They were an aboriginal tribe like the Rephaim, and occupied strongholds among the mountains of Judah and Ephraim. The Hivites, descendants of Canaan, founded Shechem, Gibeon, Beeroth, and a little principality under Mount Hermon, Ge. 34. 2; Jos. 9. 3, &c. The Jebusites had their stronghold on Zion; and they held it and the surrounding territory down to the time of David. P.]
Ver. 2. [Nor show mercy. Was not this prohibition of mercy cruel? No. It is a prohibition enforced upon every judge who tries and condemns a criminal. The judge who shows mercy to the murderer is himself a guilty copartner in the next murder the culprit perpetrates. See Le. xviii. for the fearful counts of the indictment upon which these nations were most righteously condemned; and let infidels dare to tell what milder sentence they would have passed. C.]
Ver. 6. [Holy people. A special or peculiar people, as quoted from the Septuagint, 1 Pe. 2. 9: the original import of the word is that of a private property fenced around for protection. This protection lies in God's special providence which watches over and guards his people, and in the promises and provisions of the 'everlasting promise, ordered in all things and sure,' 2 Sa. 23. 5. C.]
Ver. 10. [Hate. Thoughtless sinners often imagine or pronounce it impossible to hate God. But did not Ahab hate Michaiah because he told him the truth of God; and did not the Jews hate Christ even to death, because he preached mercy to the chief of sinners, while he discovered and rebuked the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and denounced the immorality of an adulterous generation? To hate God, is not merely to hate him personally—which thoughtless sinners think impossible—but it is to hate the restraint of his commandments, or the holiness of his injunctions, which the feelings and the conduct of sinners do constantly exemplify. C.]
Reflections.—God in love rules mankind, even with respect to their life or death; they may submit whatever they have into the hands of his justice. It is dangerous to contract marriage or cultivate intimacy with wicked persons, particularly such as are of a false religion; and absurd is the expectation, that by such means we shall convert them, when God hath warned us that they will corrupt and seduce us. The faith of God's free love and mercy in keeping and redeeming us most graciously constrains to holy obedience; and what profit and pleasure is there in the faithful service of God! the most difficult duties are easily performed when we attempt them in the faith of God's promised presence and assistance. Why should we fear our strongest enemies, though greater and mightier than we are! If God be for us, who or what can be against us! Though our conquest be gradual, it shall be complete at last: and in all our strugglings let us beware of covetousness; for to enrich ourselves, even with the spoils of a false religion, may issue in our ruin; and it is therefore very important to remove and avoid every temptation to sin.