Deeper Commentary
Deu 7:1 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-
God and Moses had stated that the Canaanite tribes would only
be cast out if Israel were obedient, but here Moses enthuses that those
tribes would indeed be cast out- so positive was he about Israel’s
obedience (see too Dt. 6:18,19). And yet on the other hand he realistically
was aware of their future failures. He said those positive words
genuinely, because he simply loved Israel, and had the hope for them which
love carries with it. Throughout his speech in Deuteronomy, Moses is
constantly thinking of Israel in the land; he keeps on telling them how to
behave when they are there, encouraging them to be strong so that they
will go into the land. Roughly 25% of the verses in Moses' speech speak
about this. Israel's future inheritance of the Kingdom absolutely filled
Moses' mind as he faced up to his own death. And remember that his speech
was the outpouring of 40 years meditation. Their salvation, them in the
Kingdom, totally filled his heart; just as like Paul we should enthuse
about others’ salvation, not simply our own. And likewise with the Lord
Jesus. Psalms 22 and 69 show how His thoughts on the cross, especially as
he approached the point of death, were centred around our salvation.
Seven nations were to be destroyed (Dt. 7:1), but Josh. 12:8 lists six as having been defeated. The Girgashites are omitted from the list there. So it seems that only the Girgashites were completely destroyed as was potentially possible. The remaining six were defeated by Joshua, but remained in the land, to be thorns in the flesh for Israel.
Passages like Dt. 7:1 confidently proclaim that "When the Lord your God shall bring you into the land... and shall pluck off / cast out many nations...". Yet this casting out was dependent upon Israel doing this work; if they did it, God was eager to work mightily with them. But the reality is that they didn't drive out all the nations. This doesn't falsify Scripture; rather does it indicate the positive hope of God that His people will work with Him to make His potentially true prophecies turn into reality. Even the promises to Abraham were to some extent conditional- Israel would no longer be "as the stars of heaven for multitude; because you would not obey the voice of the Lord" (Dt. 28:62). Hence the fulfillment of those promises was dependent to some extent upon the obedience of the promised seed.
Deu 7:2 and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you and you
defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. You must make no covenant
with them nor show mercy to them-
Heb. 11:31 comments that "By faith Rahab the harlot did not
perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the
spies in peace". Rahab's faith was faith in God's grace. For Rahab was an
Amoritess and according to the law of Moses there was to be no pity or
covenant with them- only death (cp. Dt. 7:2).Rahab had the spiritual
ambition to ask that they make a covenant with her- she requests hesed,
the common term for covenant relationship ("deal kindly with me", Josh.
2:12 cp. 1 Sam. 20:8). And the spies made a covenant with her. Grace, like
love, finds a way.
Rahab was aware of what Israel had done to their enemies on their way to Jericho- and she appears to allude to Moses' commands to destroy utterly and not make covenant with the peoples of the land (Dt. 2:32-37; 7:1-5; 20:16-18). When she says that she was aware that God had "given you the land" (Josh. 2:9), she uses the same two Hebrew words used repeatedly in Deuteronomy regarding God's promise to give Israel the land of the Canaanites. "Your terror is fallen upon us" is likewise an allusion to Ex. 15:16; 23:27 [the same Hebrew word for "terror" is used by Rahab]. Rahab speaks of how her people are "fainting" in fear- quoting Ex. 15:15 about how the inhabitants of Canaan would "faint" (AV "melt away") because of Israel. Knowing all this, she has the ambition to request the impossible- that she would be the exception, that with her a covenant would be made. When she says that "we have heard" about the Exodus (Josh. 2:10), she may be referring to the prophecy of Ex. 15:14: "The people shall hear and be afraid". In this case, her emphasis would have been upon the word "have"- 'yes, we have heard indeed, as Moses sung, and yes, we are afraid'. Seeking God's face is actually to strive for the unachievable in this life; but it's what we are to do. Spiritual ambition of the type Rahab had lifts us far above the mire of mediocrity which there is in all human life under the sun.
God stressed to the later children of Abraham that since they had a
covenant with Him, they were not to make covenants with the people who
lived around them in the land- time and again God references His covenant
with His people, and in that context tells them not to make covenants with
the peoples of the land (Ex. 34:10-12,15,27; Dt. 7:2; Jud. 2:1,2,20). Yet
Abraham made covenants with those very people (Gen. 14:13; 21:27,32)-
perhaps indicating his lack of appreciation of his covenant relationship
with Yahweh?.
Deu 7:3 neither shall you arrange marriages with them; your daughter you
shall not give to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son-
Israel were in covenant with God, therefore they were not to
make covenants with the other nations, and marriage is mentioned as an
example of this (Ex. 34:10,12). In his repetition of this part of the law
in Deuteronomy, Moses gave even more repeated emphasis to the fact that
our covenant with God precludes any covenant relationship with anyone else
(Dt. 7:2-11). The wonder of our relationship with Yahweh is stated time
and again. To marry back into Egypt, the house of bondmen from which we
have been redeemed, is to despise the covenant, to reverse the redemptive
work which God has wrought with us. In this context of marriage out of the
Faith, we read that God will destroy "him that hates Him" (Dt. 7:2-11),
and repay him to his face. On the other hand, not marrying Gentiles was
part of loving God (Josh. 23:12,13).
Deu 7:4 For he will turn away your son from following me to serve other
gods; so the anger of Yahweh would be kindled against you and He would
destroy you quickly-
The pronouns often change (in Deuteronomy especially), showing
a confusion between the voice of God and that of Moses. Dt. 7:4 is an
example: “They will turn away thy son from following me (this is Moses
speaking for God)... so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against
you”. Thus Moses’ comments on God’s words are mixed up with the words of
God Himself. There are other examples of this in Dt. 7:11; 29:1,10,14,15
(“I” cp. “us”). Consider especially Dt. 11:13,14: “If ye shall diligently
hearken unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the
Lord... that I will give you the rain of your land... I will send grass in
thy fields”. The “I” here switches at ease between God and Moses. The
Moses/God pronouns are also mixed in Rom. 10:19.
Many passages make the connection between marriage out of the covenant, and adopting idolatry: Ex. 34:12-16; Dt. 7:2-9; Jud. 3:6,7; 1 Kings 11:2,3; Mal. 2:11; 2 Cor. 6:14. Dt. 7:4 RV dogmatically predicts that a Gentile man will definitely turn away the heart of his Hebrew son-in-law… So certain is it that marriage to Gentiles leads to accepting their idols that Ezra 9:1,2 reasons that Israel hadn't separated from idols because they had married Gentiles. Time and again, those who marry out of the covenant claim that they feel strong enough to cope with it, that marriage is only a human thing, and that their spiritual relationship with God is between them and God, and unaffected by their worldly partner. Yet this is exactly the opposite of what God's word says. It's not true that you can marry into the world and be unaffected in your own spirituality. Solomon thought he could handle it; and apparently, he did- for the first 20 years or so. But his Gentile wives were his spiritual ruin at the end.
If God's wrath burns hot against people, it means death for them (s.w. Ex. 22:24; Num. 11:1,33; 22:22; 25:3; Dt. 6:15; 31:17). But Moses averted this at the time of Ex. 32:10 by his intercession. He does so because God's wrath had burned hot against him personally (Ex. 4:14 s.w.), but he had been saved from death by grace. And so he reflects this in appealing for he salvation of others, against whom God's wrath burned hot (Ex. 32:10.11). But Moses at the end of his life warns them not to make God's wrath burn hot against them again- because he will not be around to intercede for them (Dt. 6:15; 7:4; 11:17).
Deu 7:5 But you must deal with them like this: break down their altars and
dash their pillars in pieces and cut down their Asherim poles and burn
their engraved images with fire-
Israel were told to "throw down", "break in pieces"
and "utterly destroy" the idols and altars of Canaan. There were times
during their history when they obeyed this command by purging themselves
from their apostasy in this. The Hebrew words used scarcely occur
elsewhere, except very frequently in the context of how God "broke down",
"threw down" and "destroyed" Israel at the hands of their Babylonian and
Assyrian invaders as a result of their not 'breaking down' (etc.) the
idols. "Throw down" in Ex. 34:13; Dt. 7:5; 12:3; 2 Chron. 31:1 is the same
word in 2 Chron. 36:19; Jer. 4:26; 31:28; 33:4; 39:8; 52:14; Ez. 16:39;
Nah. 1:6. "Cut down" in Dt. 7:5; 12:3; 2 Chron. 31:1 later occurs in Is.
10:33; Jer. 48;25; Lam. 2:3. So Israel faced the choice: either cut down
your idols, or you will be cut down in the day of God's judgment. Those
who worshipped idols were like unto them. The stone will either fall on us
and destroy us, or we must fall on it and become broken men and women (Mt.
21:44). For the man untouched by the concept of living for God's glory,
it's a hard choice. God will conquer sin, ultimately. When a man dies, it
isn't just a biological, clockwork process. It is God's victory over sin
in that individual. Either we must be slain by God; or with His gracious
help, we must put sin to death in our members through association with the
only One who really did this- and thereby rise to life eternal.
Deu 7:6 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-
We are to live out in practice what we have been made in
status by our gracious Father. The very fact He counts us as in Christ, as
the spotless bride of His Son, must be both felt and lived up to by us.
The way He counts us like this is a wonderful motivation to rise up to it
all. Consider how God told Israel that if they kept His commandments,
then they would be His “peculiar treasure” (Ex. 19:5). This
conditional promise is then referred to by Moses as having been fulfilled-
Israel became His “peculiar treasure” by status even though they did
not keep His commandments (Dt. 7:6; 14:2 s.w.; Ps. 135:4). Moses
concludes by saying that “the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his
peculiar people [s.w.]… that thou shouldest keep all his
commandments” (Dt. 26:18). See what’s happening here. God said that if
they were obedient, then they would be His special people. Yet He
counted them as His special people even though they were not obedient. And
He did this so that they would be so touched by this grace that they
would be obedient.
Deu 7:7 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-
The Hebrew word translated as "thousand" can mean a
family, or some other administrative division. Many of the 'number
problems' in the Hebrew Bible are only really resoluble using this
approach. And that may be in view in the census of Israel taken in Num. 1,
and in the statement that six hundred 'thousands' of footmen left Egypt
(Ex. 12:37). The census of Num. 1 gives figures such as those in Num. 1:21
for Reuben, which could be rendered: "forty six families ['thousands'] and
five hundred (men)". Although a "hundred" might also refer to an
administrative division. The total in Num. 1 would then be 598 families
with a total of 5550 men. The sum given in the second census in Num. 26
comes out as roughly the same, with 596 families amounting to 5730 men. On
this basis, the total population (including women and children) would be
anything between 20,000 to 40,000. This would enable us to make better
sense of the statements that Israel were the smallest numerically of all
the surrounding peoples (Dt. 7:1,7; 11:23; 20:1). If we insist upon taking
"thousand" literally in Ex. 12:37, then 600,000 male foot soldiers would
imply a total population of between two and six million. The population
density would have been intense, and far greater than that of many modern
nations. Estimates of global population at the time suggest it was only
about 40 million, and the population of Egypt was a maximum of three
million (probably far less). If the Israelites were smaller than the other
nations, and they numbered say 5 million, then the total population of the
seven peoples of Canaan would have been at least 40 million. The territory
of Canaan could not have supported such numbers. Only 70 Israelites came
into Egypt with Jacob. Expansion over 430 years to several million is not
realistic. This approach helps us better understand how all the men of war
marched around Jericho (Josh. 6:3). If there were literally 600,000 men
then the city would have had to be many kilometers in circumference for
them all to march around it seven times in one day. Archaeological
evidence from Jericho simply doesn't support the idea of such a vast city.
If Israel numbered say 5 million people, and recall there was also a
"mixed multitude" with them, then if they marched 10 abreast this would
require a column stretching around 1000 kilometers. Their promises to Edom
and the Amorites to march only along a highway and not spill over it (Num.
20:17; 21:22) is unrealistic if they had such huge numbers. A figure of
600 family units leaving Egypt is more realistic; otherwise we start to
wonder how ever all the Israelites, millions of them, came to be in one
place at one time on Passover night.
Deu 7:8 but because Yahweh loves you and because He would keep the oath
which He swore to your fathers, therefore has Yahweh brought you out with
a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage from the hand
of Pharaoh king of Egypt-
Israel were not to marry people from the surrounding world
because God had chosen them to be His special people, "and because he
would keep the oath that he had sworn unto your fathers" (Dt. 7:2,8).
Those "fathers" were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. By baptism, we enter into
the same covenant as they did; the promises to Abraham are made to us
(Gal. 3:27-29). We enter that same Abrahamic covenant which in prospect
extended to Israel (although it was only ratified or enabled by the death
of Christ). The everlasting, Abrahamic covenant extended to all
generations of Abraham's seed (Gen. 17:7-9). The fact Israel were
forbidden to marry Gentiles was not only a
type of how the new Israel should
not marry unbelievers; we are in essence in their position. We are
the Israel of God, not just their antitype. We too have been chosen, we
too share the same fathers, and the covenant made to them.
Deu 7:9 Know therefore that Yahweh your God, He is God, the faithful God,
who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love Him and keep His
commandments to a thousand generations-
“If you love me you
will keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15,21,23; 15:10) reflects a major
identical theme in Dt. 5:10; 7:9; 11:1,22; 13:3,4; 19:9; 30:16.
Moses at the end of his life, when he spoke Deuteronomy, was very much the
image of the future Lord Jesus.
Deu 7:10 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-
This implies a face to face meeting between God and the sinner in
judgment. But this will only happen finally at the last day, when the
responsible dead are raised to judgment. For as the Bible often notes, in
this life the wicked apparently prosper. Judgment day will be a personal,
face to face encounter with God, in the face of Jesus Christ.
Deu 7:11 You must therefore keep the commandment, the statutes and the
ordinances which I command you this day, to do them-
The Hebrew mishpat, "ordinances", has a
wide range of meaning. The idea is of judgment, as if God and His Angels
gave these laws as their considered judgment after considering the human
condition, and Israel were to abide by them. But the word also the idea of
a right or privilege; and that is how we should see God's laws. They are
only felt as a burden because of human hardness of neck towards God's
ways. His laws are not of themselves burdensome, but rather a privilege
and blessing. The law was indeed "holy, just and good" (Rom. 7:12),
designed to inculcate a holy, just and good life (Tit. 1:8), a way in
which a man should "walk" in daily life (Lev. 18:4), a culture of kindness
and grace to others which reflected God's grace to man. If we dwell upon
the idea of "rights" carried within the word mishpat, we note
that the law begins in Ex. 21:1,2 (also Dt. 15:12-18) with the rights of a
slave- those considered to have no rights in the society of that day. The
"rights" to be afforded by us to others are the essence of God's rightness
/ justice.
Deu 7:12 If you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, Yahweh
your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which He
swore to your fathers-
On one hand, the promises to Abraham
and the fathers depended for their realization upon human obedience; even
though on the other hand, the covenant of Gen. 15 appears to be a
unilateral expression of God’s grace and assurance to His people. “If you
listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, Yahweh your God will keep
with you the covenant and the loving kindness which He swore to your
fathers” (Dt. 7:12). That covenant was initially given in terms which
omitted direct reference to any conditions for fulfilment. But it would be
‘kept’ by God if His people ‘kept’ His ways. The promises that God would
multiply the seed of Abraham were conditional also; if Israel
separated themselves from the peoples of the land, then He would
“multiply you, as He has sworn unto your fathers” (Dt. 13:17). The
strength of God’s grace also makes some of His promises ‘conditional’ in a
different sense; thus He had promised Reuben and Manasseh that they could
return to their possessions only when the others had possessed the land
(Dt. 3:20). This condition never happened- yet they were allowed to
return. And our very salvation from death and the consequences of sin is
in a sense another example of this kind of thing.
Deu 7:13 He will love you and 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-
Analyzing usage of the word "love" in the Pentateuch reveals
that "love" was a great theme of Moses at the end of his life (Moses uses
it 16 times in Deuteronomy, and only four times in Exodus, Leviticus and
Numbers). Love is indeed the proof of spiritual maturity (Col. 3:14).
Reflection upon the nature of God's covenant
relationship reveals His grace. There are no lack of Bible passages which
speak of His love and blessing in the covenant as being conditional- if
the people were obedient, then God would keep His covenant "and he will
love you and bless you and multiply you". Yet the record of the history of
Israel shows that Israel were not obedient; and yet God still kept His
covenant, loved them and multiplied them. It's rather like a parent
setting conditions for a child, and yet not abiding by the deal, so great
is the love felt for the child. God's covenant is in a sense conditional;
and yet in another sense it isn't, because His love has the characteristic
of unconditionality about it, simply because we are His children. The
whole history of Israel is encouragement in this.
Deu 7:14 You will be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or
female barren among you or among your livestock-
The Law could not give life, but it offered temporal
blessings, within the context of the Middle East in the two millennia BC,
as a recognition of the principle that God rewards obedience. Thus they
were promised long life, fruitful land and wombs (i.e. many children) if
they were righteous (Dt. 7:13). But now, long life and fruitful land
aren't seen by us as blessings. They were blessings relevant to the
context in which they were given; and likewise fertility is to be seen in
the same light. And this must be given due weight when we consider issues
of fertility, choices to have or not have children, and infertility.
Deu 7:15 Yahweh will
take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt
which you know, will He put on you, but will lay them on all those who
hate you-
This is not to be read as meaning that Israel would be free from all
sickness; for mortality involves sickness, and that is part of the human
condition. And sickness came upon righteous men, we think of Hezekiah, and
how the Lord Jesus "bore our sicknesses" as predicted in Is. 53. Israel
were smitten with sickness, but the Lord Jesus bore the result of their
sins. The sickness here is parallel with the "evil diseases of Egypt", the
specific judgments which came upon Egypt at the time of Israel's
deliverance from them. This is made specific in Ex. 15:26; Dt. 28:27.
Deu 7:16 You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall
deliver up unto you; your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve
their gods, for that will be a snare to you-
Moses warns them not to " take pity" on false teachers, but to
purge them from the community (Dt. 7:16; 13:8; 19:13,21; 25:12). Not once
in the earlier Law does this warning occur. Moses had come to know Israel
so well that he could see how they were tempted to fail, and so he warned
them forcibly against it. The way the Lord Jesus knows our thought
processes, the mechanism of our temptations, is wondrously prefigured
here. There are so many other examples of Moses showing his recognition of
exactly how Israel were likely to be tempted (Dt. 6:11-13; 8:11-20; 9:4; 11:16; 12:13,19,23,30; 13:1-4; 14:27; 15:9,18; 17:11,12 ("will"),14,16,17; 21:18; 22:1-4,18; 23:21; 25:8).
Twice in 1 Timothy, Paul speaks about a snare; the snare of the devil
(1 Tim. 3:7), and the snare of wanting wealth (1 Tim. 6:9). The desire for wealth
in whatever form is the very epitome of the devil, our inherent sin which
we must struggle against. The idea of a snare is that it results in a
sudden and unexpected destruction. The unexpectedness of the
destruction should set us thinking: surely the implication is that those
who are materialistic don't realize that in fact this is their besetting
sin, and therefore their rejection in the end because of it will be so
tragically unexpected. It's rather like pride; if you're proud and you
don't know it, then you really are proud. And if we're materialistic and
don't know it, we likewise really have a problem. The idea of riches being
a snare connects with copious OT references to idols as Israel's perpetual
snare (Ex. 23:33; Dt. 7:16; Jud. 2:3; 8:27; Ps. 106:36; Hos. 5:1). Paul's
point is surely that the desire of wealth is the equivalent of OT
idolatry.
Despite such great love for Israel, Moses knew them
so well that he fully appreciated that they were extremely prone to
weakness. This is one of the major themes of Moses in Deuteronomy. He did
not turn a blind eye to their sins; Deuteronomy is punctuated with
reminders of how grievously they had sinned during their journey, and yet
at the same time Moses is so positive about them- setting a wonderful
pattern for us in how to deal with others. Time and again he comments on
how easily they will be tempted to disobey commandments. "Take heed" runs
like a refrain throughout Moses' speech. He warns them here not to "take
pity" on false teachers, but to purge them from the community (7:16; 13:8;
19:13,21; 25:12). Not once in the earlier giving of the Law does this
warning occur. Moses had come to know Israel so well that he could see how
they were tempted to fail, and so he warned them forcibly against it. The
way Jesus knows our thought processes, the mechanism of our temptations,
is wondrously prefigured here.
Deu 7:17 If you say in your heart, These nations are more than I, how can I dispossess them?-
Time and again, Moses speaks of the state of their heart. He warns them against allowing a bad state of heart to develop, he speaks often of how apostasy starts in the heart. Moses makes a total of 49 references to the heart / mind of Israel in Deuteronomy, compared to only 13 in the whole of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. This indicates the paramount importance which our Lord attaches to the state of our mind. This was perhaps his greatest wish as He faced death; that we should develop a spiritual mind and thereby manifest the Father and come to salvation. Moses likewise saw the state of our mind as the key to spiritual success. But do we share this perspective? Do we guard our minds against the media and influence of a mind-corrupting world? It's been observed that the phrase "The God of [somebody]", or similar, occurs 614 times in the Old Testament, of which 306 are in Deuteronomy. Our very personal relationship with God was therefore something else which Moses came to grasp in his spiritual maturity. Statistical analysis of the word "love" in the Pentateuch likewise reveals that "love" was a great theme of Moses at the end of his life (Moses uses it 16 times in Deuteronomy, and only four times in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers).
Deu 7:18 you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt-
Like Paul in his time of dying, Moses in Deuteronomy saw the importance of obedience, the harder side of God; yet he also saw in real depth the surpassing love of God, and the grace that was to come, beyond Law. This appreciation reflected Moses' mature grasp of the Name / characteristics of God. He uses the name "Yahweh" in Deuteronomy over 530 times, often with some possessive adjective, e.g. "Yahweh thy God" [AV- i.e. you singular- very often in Dt. 7], or "Yahweh our God". He saw the personal relationship between a man and his God. Jacob reached a like realization at his peak.
“Let not your heart be troubled… neither let it be afraid” (Jn. 14:1,27) repeats Moses’ final encouragement to Israel “fear not, neither be dismayed” (Dt. 31:8; 1:21,29; 7:18).
Deu 7:19 the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand and the stretched out arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out; so shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid-
God addresses those who had not been present at the Red Sea and who hadn't seen the plagues on Egypt as if they had personally been there. He speaks of these things "which your eyes saw". The people were to so feel themselves into God's word, into Biblical history, into their membership in the people of God, that it was as if they had seen these things with their own eyes. And in the context, God uses this as the basis to appeal for their trust that He will likewise give them the victory over the Egyptians and crises in their lives.
The great works of Yahweh which He showed at the time of their exodus from Egypt (cp. the world) and baptism at the Red Sea were in essence repeated throughout their wilderness journey (Dt. 7:19). Therefore whenever they faced discouragement and an apparent blockage to their way, they were to remember how God had redeemed them at their baptism, and to realize that in fact His work was still ongoing with them (Dt. 20:1). He told them in the desert that He was "Yahweh that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt" (Lev. 11:45). Therefore the overcoming of Edom, Moab and the Canaanite tribes is described in language lifted from the Red Sea record (e.g. Ex. 15:15-17). Throughout their history, Israel were reminded that what God had done for them in their Red Sea deliverance He was continuing to do, and therefore all their enemies would likewise perish if they remained God's people (e.g. Is. 43:16).
Moses was to stretch forth his hand to cause the waters of the Red Sea to part and return, not his rod; because he was manifesting the hand of Yahweh which was to deliver Israel (s.w. Ex. 7:5). The repeated references to the stretched our arm or hand of Yahweh to save His people invite us to recall this incident, and to perceive that Yahweh's hand had been manifest through the hand of Moses (Dt. 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8). That stretched out, saving arm and hand of Yahweh was and is stretched out still, to save His people (1 Kings 8:42; Ez. 20:34; Dan. 9:15 "as at this day") and bring about a new creation in human lives (Is. 45:12). For the deliverance through the Red Sea is intended to be experienced by all God's people, and is now seen through His saving grace at baptism (1 Cor. 10:1,2). What happened there was but the beginning of the work of God's outstretched arm (Dt. 3:24). Yet the stretched out arm / hand of God is also a figure for His judgment (1 Chron. 21:16; Is. 9:12; 10:4). His hand is at work in our lives- either to our condemnation or our salvation. And it is for us therefore to humble ourselves beneath that mighty hand (1 Pet. 5:6).
Deu 7:20 Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left and hide themselves perish from before you-
The fear amongst the Canaanites prior to Israel's approach and the weakness of those nations was due to "the hornet" being sent before Israel (Dt. 7:20; Josh. 24:12); it would seem that this is a reference to the Angels softening up the Canaanite tribes, perhaps through inciting the Egyptians to raid them and ruin the economy. And specifically, the two kings of the Amorites attacking the other Canaanites (Josh. 24:12). "The hornet" could also refer to the Phoenician raiders, who had hornets as totems; they too weakened Canaan before the Israelites arrived, and would have been manipulated to do so by an Angel. In Ex. 23:27 God says He will "send My fear before you, and will destroy all the people to whom you shall come". Jacob likens his guardian Angel to "the God before whom my fathers walked" (Gen. 48:16), who is called "the fear of Isaac" (Gen. 31:42,53) when Jacob describes the personal presence of God in his life. So the "fear of God" is associated with an Angel; God sent His fear, an Angel, before Israel into Canaan, as promised explicitly in Ex. 23. "The hornet" could have referred to literal hornets, used by God to destroy the nations of Canaan. For they were indeed a problem in the land; "Zorah" in Judah means "place of hornets". But I prefer the idea that the Angel manipulated Gentile nations to soften up the Canaanites before Israel's arrival. The same figure is found in Is. 7:18, where God whistled for the "fly that is in Egypt and the bee that is in Assyria". We note that this was all built in to God's wider plan; for had Israel entered Canaan 40 years before they did, they would've found the Canaanites that much stronger than they were after "the hornet" had weakened them for 40 years. It's as if God recalculated the program according to the great weakness of Israel. They didn't enter when they could have done, and so He used the period of their wilderness wanderings to make their entrance to the land that much easier than it would otherwise have been.
Deu 7:21 You shall
not be scared of them, for Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a great
and awesome God-
They were not to repeat the failure of Israel when they first
approached Canaan. They allowed their fear of the local tribes to displace
their faith in God, and His repeated word of salvation and promise of
possession of His Kingdom. Fear is always the antithesis of faith. God is
often called an "awesome God" (Dt. 7:21 etc.). The Hebrew word for
"awesome" is that for 'fear' (s.w. Gen. 3:10; 15:1; 18;15 etc.). The idea
is that God's people are to be in such fear / awe of Him that they fear /
are in awe of nothing else. Hence Dt. 7:21 says that Israel should "not be
scared of" their enemies, because their God is "awesome", He is the one to
be feared.
Deu 7:22 Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you by little
and little; you may not consume them at once-
Perhaps God's ideal intention for Israel wasn't fulfilled, and therefore
according to some later plan of action, He gave Israel the land "at one
time" (Josh. 10:42).
Lest the animals of the
field increase on you-
Time and again Israel's surrounding, neighbouring enemies are
likened to "wild beasts". The list of references is impressive: Hos.
2:12; Ez. 5:17; 14:15; Ps. 80:13; Jer. 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7;
Dt. 7:22. Job's Sabean (i.e. Arab) invaders are called "the beasts of the
earth... the beasts of the field" (Job 5:22,23). It is possible that
"beasts" in these passages can be read as an intensive plural - i.e. 'the
great beast', which symbolizes all of Israel's various enemies. This
equivalence of the multitude of these enemies with a singular beast is
seen in Ez.. 34:28, which parallels "the heathen" (enemies of Israel) with
"the beast of the land" (singular). Rev. 17 similarly exhibits
the (singular) beast as comprising a number of nations (heads /
horns).
Deu 7:23 But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you and will
confuse them with a great confusion until they are destroyed-
There are no conditions attached to this
prediction in the record, and yet we must clearly understand it as meaning
‘This is what is potentially possible for you, I have enabled it in my
plan, but it depends upon your faith’. And tragically, Israel would not.
Deu 7:24 He will deliver their kings into your hand and you shall make
their name perish from under the sky; no man shall be able to stand before
you, until you have destroyed them-
Just as all the animals and everything in the
eretz promised to Abraham was 'delivered into the hands' of Noah
(s.w. Gen. 9:2), so the nations of that eretz were delivered into
the hands of Israel (s.w. Ex. 6:8; 23:31; Dt. 2:24; 3:2,3; 7:24; 21:10;
Josh. 2:24; Jud. 1:2). Tragically, like Adam in Eden [perhaps the same
eretz promised to Abraham] and Noah in the new, cleansed eretz,
Israel didn't realize this potential. What was delivered into the hand of
Joshua (Josh. 2:24) actually wasn't delivered into their hand, because
they disbelieved (Jud. 2:23); and this looks ahead to the disbelief of so
many in the work of the Lord Jesus, who has indeed conquered the Kingdom
for us. They considered the promise of the nations being delivered into
their hand as somehow open to question, and only a possibility and not at
all certain (Jud. 8:7; Num. 21:2 cp. Num. 21:34). Some like Jephthah (s.w.
Jud. 11:32; 12:3), Ehud (Jud. 3:10,28), Deborah (Jud. 4:14), Gideon (Jud.
7:15) did, for a brief historical moment; but as individuals, and their
victories were not followed up on. Instead they were dominated by the
territory. And so instead, they were delivered into the hands of their
enemies within the eretz (s.w. Lev. 26:25; Jud. 13:1).
Deu 7:25 You must burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You
must not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for
yourself, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh
your God-
Materialism is perhaps the direct equivalent of idol worship under
the old covenant. They were to not even desire “the silver and gold that
is on them… for it is an abomination to the Lord your God… you shall
utterly detest it; and you
[like God] shall utterly abhor it” (Dt. 7:25,26). God despises idolatry;
and we also must go a step beyond merely avoiding materialism; we must
despise it.
Deu 7:26 You must not bring an abomination into your house and become a
devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly
abhor it, for it is a devoted thing-
Those who make and worship idols are "like unto them" (Ps. 115:8;
135:18). We become like that which we worship. If we worship Yahweh, then
we become devoted to Him; and all else becomes detestable to us. As Israel
were to "detest" idols and idolatry as "abomination" (Dt. 7:26), so they
were to "abhor" and treat as "abomination" unclean animals (Lev.
11:11,13,43), lest they "make yourselves abominable [s.w. "detestable"]
with any creeping thing" (Lev. 20:25). I suggest this is the reason why
God designated some animals as 'abominable'; because of their association
with idol worship. The idols of Egypt were often in the form of animals,
and sex with animals was part of the rites. Just as in primitive societies
today. There is nothing unclean of itself (Rom. 14:14); no animal is
morally more or less clean than another. The commandments about unclean
animals were clearly intended just for Israel living within a culture of
idolatry / abomination involving those kinds of animals.
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