Deuteronomy · Chapter 7

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. V. 1. Seven nations-There were ten in Genesis 15:19-21. 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.

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 “Joshua 3:10”.

Verse 1. Seven nations — Ten are mentioned, Genesis 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.

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. The Amorites — See Deuteronomy 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.” Numbers 13:29. The Perizzites were the husbandmen and the herdsmen who occupied the elevated plains. The word means the villagers. Hivites — According to Genesis 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. Numbers 13:29. They were a mountain tribe, and Jebus was evidently their chief town. Seven nations — See Joshua 3:10; 24:11.

Verse 2. Thou shalt smite them, &c.] These idolatrous nations were to be utterly destroyed, and all the others also which were contiguous to the boundaries of the promised land, provided they did not renounce their idolatry and receive the true faith: for if they did not, then no covenant was to be made with them on any secular or political consideration whatever; no mercy was to be shown to them, because the cup of their iniquity also was now full; and they must either embrace, heartily embrace, the true religion, or be cut off.

Verse 2. Thou shalt smite and utterly destroy them — That is, in case they continued obstinate in their idolatry, they were to be destroyed, as nations, or bodies politic. But if they forsook their idolatry, and became sincere proselytes to the true religion, they would then be proper objects of forgiveness, as being true penitents. For, says God himself, by Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 7:8,) At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation to destroy it, if that nation turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them — See Exodus 23:32, and 24:12. To make a covenant with and to spare such incurable idolaters, would have been cruelty to themselves and their posterity.

2. Smite them, and utterly destroy them — Thou shalt treat them as accursed — as devoted to utter destruction. These nations had filled up the measure of their iniquity before Jehovah. They and all the forms of their debasing idolatry were to be obliterated from the land.

Verse 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages, &c.] The heart being naturally inclined to evil, there is more likelihood that the idolatrous wife should draw aside the believing husband, than that the believing husband should be able to bring over his idolatrous wife to the true faith.

Verse 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them — From this prohibition it has been justly inferred that the Canaanites, as individuals, might be spared upon their repentance and reformation from idolatry. For on the supposition that nothing that breathed was to be saved alive, but that all were to be utterly destroyed, there could be no occasion for this injunction. What end could it answer to forbid all intermarriages with a people supposed not to exist?

Verse 3. Neither—make marriages with them. See note on Ezra 10:2.

3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them — There was always peril to the Israelites in their having close relations with the heathen nations. Their history thus far since they left Egypt has shown how prone they were to idolatry.

V. 4. To serve other Gods-That is, there is manifest danger of apostacy and idolatry from such matches. Which reason doth both limit the law to such of these as are unconverted (otherwise Salmon married Rahab, Matthew 1:5) and enlarge it to other idolatrous nations, as appears from 1 Kings 11:2 Ezra 9:2 Nehemiah 13:23.

Verse 4. To serve other gods — That is, there is manifest danger of apostacy and idolatry from such matches. Which reason doth both limit the prohibition to such of these as were unconverted, (otherwise Salmon married Rachab, Matthew 1:5,) and also enlarges it to other idolatrous nations, as appears from 1 Kings 11:2; Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 13:23.

V. 5. Their graves-Which idolaters planted about the temples and altars of their Gods. Hereby God designed to take away whatsoever might bring their idolatry to remembrance, or occasion the reviving of it.

Verse 5. Their groves — Which idolaters planted about the temples and altars of their gods. Hereby God designed to take away whatsoever might bring their idolatry to remembrance, or occasion the reviving of it.

Ver. 5. And cut down their groves. The patriarchal devotion being performed at first on hills, and in places destitute of shelter, woods and groves were most desirable retreats for the divine service. Hence Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba. Genesis 21:33. But houses of retirement and wickedness were built by the Israelites in the times of apostasy. The Egyptians and the Greeks were the first, after the Babylonians, who built temples to false divinities. The Israelites, having now but one altar, would the more readily accede to the injunction to destroy the groves of Baal.

5. Cut down their groves — So most of the versions render this. It should be translated cut down their images of Asherah. Asherah was the name of a Phoenician goddess, by some thought to be the same as Astarte. The images of Asherah were upright wooden columns or trunks of trees stripped of their branches. Comp. 2 Kings 23:6: “And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord.” Here the word translated groves should be rendered Asherah. The worship consisted in part of libidinous orgies.

Verse 6. Thou art a holy people] And therefore should have no connection with the workers of iniquity.

A special people] hlgs segullah,-Septuagint, laon periousion,-a peculiar people, a private property. The words as they stand in the Septuagint are quoted by the apostle, 1 Peter 2:9.

V. 7. The fewest-To wit, at that time when God first declared his choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, namely, Isaac, and that was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, it was a long time before they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them ‘till after Joseph’s death.

Verses 7, 8. The fewest — To wit, at that time, when God first declared his choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, namely, Isaac, and that was not till he was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, yet it was a long time before they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them until after Joseph’s death. The Lord loved you — It was his free choice, without any cause or motive on your part.

7. Ye were the fewest of all people — Jehovah did not choose you for his people because you were a mighty nation like the Egyptian. Moses looks back to the call of Abraham, and the going down to Egypt of Jacob and his family.

V. 8. The Lord loved you-It was his free choice without any cause or motive on your part.

Verse 8. But because the Lord loved you] It was no good in them that induced God to choose them at this time to be his peculiar people: he had his reasons, but these sprang from his infinite goodness. He intended to make a full discovery of his goodness to the world, and this must have a commencement in some particular place, and among some people. He chose that time, and he chose the Jewish people; but not because of their goodness or holiness.

Verses 7, 8. The fewest — To wit, at that time, when God first declared his choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, namely, Isaac, and that was not till he was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, yet it was a long time before they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them until after Joseph’s death. The Lord loved you — It was his free choice, without any cause or motive on your part.

8. He would keep the oath — Not for any merit on their part did Jehovah deliver them from the oppressions of Egypt. Moses seeks to impress upon them that it was God’s good pleasure to select them for a peculiar people.

9. The Lord thy God — Mark the emphasis which is constantly placed upon the expression Jehovah thy God — the God.

V. 10. Them that hate him-Not only those who hate him directly and properly, (for so did few or none of the Israelites to whom he here speaks,) but those who hate him by construction and consequence; those who hate and oppose his people, and word, those who wilfully persist in the breach of God’s commandments. To their face-That is, openly, and so as they shall see it, and not be able to avoid it. Slack-So as to delay it beyond the fit time or season for vengeance, yet withal he is long-suffering, and slow to anger.

Verse 10. Them that hate him — Not only those who hate him directly and properly, (for so did few or none of the Israelites to whom he here speaks,) but those who hate him by implication and consequence; those who hate and oppose his people and word; those who wilfully persist in the breach of his commandments. To their face — That is, openly, and so as they shall see it, and not be able to avoid it. Slack — So as to delay it beyond the fit time or season for vengeance, yet withal he is long-suffering, and slow to anger.

10. Repayeth them that hate him — This passage is variously interpreted. It probably means he punishes each one that hates him, so that each may feel he is smitten of God: and Moses adds, to make it more impressive, “He delays not in respect to his hater; he will repay him to his face.”

V. 12. The covenant and the mercy-That is, the covenant of mercy, which he out of his own mere grace made with them.

Verse 12. The Lord-shall keep unto thee the covenant] So we find their continuance in the state of favour was to depend on their faithfulness to the grace of God. If they should rebel, though God had chosen them through his love, yet he would cast them off in his justice. The elect, we see, may become unfaithful, and so become reprobates. So it happened to 24,000 of them, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness because they had sinned; yet these were of the elect that came out of Egypt. Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.

Verses 12, 13. The covenant and the mercy — That is, the covenant of mercy, which he, out of his own mere grace, made with them. He will love thee — He will continue to love thee, and to manifest his love to thee.

12-15. Here is the promise of great blessings if the people will keep the commandments of Jehovah. The flocks of thy sheep — The Hebrew expression only occurs again in Deuteronomy 28:4, 18, 51. It probably means the ewes of thy flock. Evil diseases of Egypt — Comp. Exodus 15:26, and Deuteronomy 28:27. Pliny, in his Natural History, calls Egypt the mother of contagious pestilences. Wagner calls it “a great focus of the diseases of all history.” — Natural History of Man, vol. ii, p. 270.

V. 13. He will love thee-He will continue to love thee, and to manifest his love to thee.

Verses 12, 13. The covenant and the mercy — That is, the covenant of mercy, which he, out of his own mere grace, made with them. He will love thee — He will continue to love thee, and to manifest his love to thee.

12-15. Here is the promise of great blessings if the people will keep the commandments of Jehovah. The flocks of thy sheep — The Hebrew expression only occurs again in Deuteronomy 28:4, 18, 51. It probably means the ewes of thy flock. Evil diseases of Egypt — Comp. Exodus 15:26, and Deuteronomy 28:27. Pliny, in his Natural History, calls Egypt the mother of contagious pestilences. Wagner calls it “a great focus of the diseases of all history.” — Natural History of Man, vol. ii, p. 270.

12-15. Here is the promise of great blessings if the people will keep the commandments of Jehovah. The flocks of thy sheep — The Hebrew expression only occurs again in Deuteronomy 28:4, 18, 51. It probably means the ewes of thy flock. Evil diseases of Egypt — Comp. Exodus 15:26, and Deuteronomy 28:27. Pliny, in his Natural History, calls Egypt the mother of contagious pestilences. Wagner calls it “a great focus of the diseases of all history.” — Natural History of Man, vol. ii, p. 270.

V. 15. The diseases of Egypt-Such as the Egyptians were infected with, either commonly, or miraculously. It seems to refer not only to the plagues of Egypt, but to some other epidemic disease, which they remembered to have prevailed among the Egyptians, and by which God had chastised them for their national sins. Diseases are God’s servants, which go where he sends them, and do what he bids them.

Verse 15. The diseases of Egypt — Such as the Egyptians were infected with, either commonly, or miraculously. It seems to refer not only to the plagues of Egypt, but to some other epidemic diseases, which they remembered to have prevailed among the Egyptians, and by which God had chastised them for their national sins. The leprosy, and other cutaneous distempers, were frequent in Egypt. The Scriptures also mention the botch of Egypt, as a disease common in that country, Deuteronomy 28:27. Diseases are God’s servants, which go where he sends them, and do what he bids them.

Ver. 15. The evil diseases of Egypt. The boils and blains, as in Exodus 9. The whole of this chapter enumerates blessings, rather than precepts.

12-15. Here is the promise of great blessings if the people will keep the commandments of Jehovah. The flocks of thy sheep — The Hebrew expression only occurs again in Deuteronomy 28:4, 18, 51. It probably means the ewes of thy flock. Evil diseases of Egypt — Comp. Exodus 15:26, and Deuteronomy 28:27. Pliny, in his Natural History, calls Egypt the mother of contagious pestilences. Wagner calls it “a great focus of the diseases of all history.” — Natural History of Man, vol. ii, p. 270.

17. How can I dispossess them — The people might again become faint-hearted as they had been years before on the return of the spies. They might ask, How is it possible for us to overcome the seven nations of the land? To encourage them they are once more reminded of what Jehovah did for them in their deliverance from Egypt. The same mighty power would aid them in dispossessing and destroying the nations with whom they are soon to wage war.

Verses 18, 19. Thou shalt remember what the Lord thy God did — Frequently and considerately, for thy encouragement; for people are said to forget those things which they do not remember to good purpose. The great temptations — The trials and exercises of thy faith, and obedience to my commands.

V. 19. The temptations-The trials and exercises of thy faith and obedience to my commands.

Verses 18, 19. Thou shalt remember what the Lord thy God did — Frequently and considerately, for thy encouragement; for people are said to forget those things which they do not remember to good purpose. The great temptations — The trials and exercises of thy faith, and obedience to my commands.

Ver. 20. The hornet. These driven from a hive, can prove a severe scourge to man, when divinely multiplied and commissioned. They are darker in colour and larger than the wasp.

20. Thy God will send the hornet — The different views taken of the meaning of the Hebrew word which our version renders hornet are mainly the following: (1.) That the word is used literally. (2.) That the Amorites are meant. (3.) That it is used in the sense of dread. “A figurative expression for uncontrolled terror.” Comp. Exodus 23:28, and Joshua 24:12, where the same Hebrew word is employed. This last view seems correct. The dread of them would so affect the nations that the conquest of them would not be difficult.

Verse 22. Put out those nations-by little and little] The Israelites were not as yet sufficiently numerous to fill the whole land occupied by the seven nations mentioned Deuteronomy 7:1. And as wild and ferocious animals might be expected to multiply where either there are no inhabitants, or the place is but thinly peopled, therefore God tells them that, though at present, by force of arms, they might be able to expel them, it would be impolitic so to do, lest the beasts of the field should multiply upon them.

Verse 22. Thou mayest not consume them at once — Thou shalt not be able; I will not assist thee with my omnipotence, to crush them at one run of success and victory; for you are not yet numerous enough to people the whole country at once. But I will bless thee in the use of ordinary means, and thou shalt destroy them by degrees, in several battles, that thou mayest learn by experience to put thy trust in me.

V. 24. No man shall stand-This promise is made upon condition of their performance of their duty, which they neglecting, justly lose the benefit of it.

Verse 24. No man shall stand before thee — This promise was conditional; they were to be obedient and perform their duty, and then it would be fulfilled; but if they neglected to do this, they would justly lose the benefit of it.

V. 25. The silver or gold-Wherewith the idols are covered or adorned, nor consequently any other of their ornaments. This he commands to shew his utter detestation of idolatry, and to cut off all occasions of it.

Verse 25. Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them] Some of the ancient idols were plated over with gold, and God saw that the value of the metal and the excellence of the workmanship might be an inducement for the Israelites to preserve them; and this might lead, remotely at least, to idolatry. As the idols were accursed, all those who had them, or any thing appertaining to them, were accursed also, Deuteronomy 7:26.

DEUTERONOMY

Verse 25. The silver or the gold — Wherewith the idols were covered or adorned, nor consequently any other of their ornaments. This God commanded, to show his utter detestation of idolatry, and to cut off all occasions of it.

25. Lest thou be snared — The Israelites were to utterly destroy the idols of the conquered nations, to obliterate all trace of heathen worship. In the subsequent history we see how easily the people were snared — how readily they went after other gods. See Judges 8:27: “And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.”

Verse 26. Lest thou be a cursed thing — Hebrew, µrj, cherem, devoted to utter destruction, as that and every thing was that had been employed to an idolatrous use.

Ver. 26. It is a cursed thing: µrj chairem, a devoted thing; such was every idol, devoted to execration; but good things were devoted to holy purposes. Leviticus 27:28. The same word being used in both cases, the connection determines the sense.

26. A cursed thing — All objects connected with idolatrous worship were to be destroyed. Comp. Joshua 7:1-21, where the case of Achan is narrated. It was held by the strict observers of the law in later times that if a man broke an idolatrous image, and melted the fragments and sold the gold or silver, he violated the commandment.