S -
1. (verse 2) Seven nations (cf. Josh 3:10; 24:11). In such lists elsewhere the number varies from three to ten. The "seven" specified here possibly is a figure for completeness. 2. The Hebrew root ḥrm, translated utterly destroy in the major English versions, means primarily devote and hence "ban" and "extirpate." The ḥērem principle comes to full and final manifestation in the judgments of hell.
Some people take offense at God's command to Israel to exterminate the Canaanites, as though it represented sub-Christian ethics. Actually, they are taking offense at the theology and religion of the Bible as a whole. The New Testament, as well as the Old, warns men concerning the realm of the everlasting ban, where the reprobates, devoted to wrath, must magnify the justice of the God whom they have hated. Since the OT theocracy in Canaan was a divinely appointed symbol of the consummate kingdom of God, there is found in connection with it an intrusive anticipation of the ethical pattern that will obtain at the final judgment and beyond.
Moreover, the extermination of the Canaanites and their cultic installations (destroy their altars... burn their... images; v. 5) was necessary if Israel's calling to positive consecration to God in living service was to be fulfilled. For, because of Israel's frailty, the proximity of the Canaanites would lead to the dissolution of Israel's spiritual distinctiveness (v. 3), to foreign and idolatrous allegiances (v. 4 a), and hence to Israel's own destruction (4b). The program of conquest (ch. 7) is thus a consistent application of the principle of consecration (ch. 6; esp. 6:12-15).
6-16. The purposes of Israel's election which were to be protected by the elimination of the Canaanites are here elaborated. 6. Chosen... to be a special people. This recalls Ex 19:5, 6, the classic formulation of the unique theocratic status for which Israel was chosen. High calling is attended by temptation to boasting (cf. Moses' concern with this problem in chs. 8-10). Therefore, Israel was reminded to glory only in the name of God. 8. Because the Lord loved you. In his sovereign love and faithfulness alone was to be found the explanation of Israel's election (4:37), certainly not in the nation's size. For God chose their father Abraham, being only one, and the family of Jacob, which descended into Egypt as only some seventy souls (7:7; cf. 10:22). It followed from the sovereignty of God's grace that Israel had no claims upon him that might encourage carelessness with respect to his covenant demands and sanctions. 9. Keepeth covenant... to a thousand generations. Alluding to the sanction formulae which are affixed to the second commandment, Moses declared that though unmerited grace would be continued to the thousandth generation (5:10), apostate despisers of grace and holiness would discover that the covenant curses were not idle threats (7:9-11). 12. The Lord... shall keep... covenant. The faithful might be confident that the covenant blessings were not empty promises (vv. 12-15; cf. Gen 12:2, 3; Ex 23:22-31). The God of Israel, the Creator, not Baal, was the bestower of fertility in field, flock, and family (Deut 7:13, 14). 15. The Lord will take away... all sickness. It was the Lord who had subjected man to nature's curse for his sin, and he could therefore deliver the Israelites from Egypt's notorious diseases (e.g., elephantiasis, dysentery, and ophthalmia) just as he had rescued them from Egypt's infamous Pharaoh (v. 15; cf. v. 8; Ex 15:26). Verse 16 summarizes, repeating the command and its purpose. 17-26. Though in respect to the privileges of election the Israelites were tempted to vanity, in the face of the responsibility of their commission they would be tempted to timidity (v. 17; cf. Num 13:31 ff.).
—Wycliffe Bible Commentary, The
1 "When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you,2 and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.3 "Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons .4 "For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.5 "But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim , and burn their graven images with fire.6 "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth .7 "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery , from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.9 "Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;10 but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them ; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.11 "Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.
Promises of God
12 "Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers.13 "He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you.
Deut 7:1-13 (NASB)
O - The content and context of this word being spoken to the Israelites as they prepare to take the promised land is important to understand. God understands who his people are; their strengths and weaknesses. They spent years in slavery, their confidence in themselves was low, and they needed to have a growing confidence in Him and of His promises. So as He prepares them to go overtake the people in the promised land for the second time (the first time they saw them as giants and not defeat-able, and therefore spent 40 more years in the desert preparing to enter). God also knew that in order to completely sanctify His people in the promised land he needed to rid them of all outside influence, temptation to worship other God, but create for them an environment of pure and true fellowship and followership with their God. Even the slightest contamination would prevent them from being a Holy nation, a light on the hill. In a sense that is what happened to the children of Abraham causing them to be driven from the promised land into slavery in Egypt (on an even more basic level what happened to Adam and Eve that caused them to be driven from the Garden of Eden.
Humbleness and dependence on God is another key trait God is trying to ensure here; that He did not choose them because they were a mighty people, he chose them because of His promise to Abraham, and He loved His people, and would always be faithful and true to them under any circumstance they might face. The only exception He explains through the scripture is those who turn away from Him, are directly disobedient to His commmandments and direction (i.e. provision and guardianship come from a relationship with God in which we agree to allow Him to lead and provide for us).
The promise comes with this : If you will follow me and my commandments, you will be blessed in the promised land, your families will flourish, your crops will be abundant, all needs for a fruitful lifre and proper reverance of God will be made available to you.
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1. (verse 2) Seven nations (cf. Josh 3:10; 24:11). In such lists elsewhere the number varies from three to ten. The "seven" specified here possibly is a figure for completeness. 2. The Hebrew root ḥrm, translated utterly destroy in the major English versions, means primarily devote and hence "ban" and "extirpate." The ḥērem principle comes to full and final manifestation in the judgments of hell.
Some people take offense at God's command to Israel to exterminate the Canaanites, as though it represented sub-Christian ethics. Actually, they are taking offense at the theology and religion of the Bible as a whole. The New Testament, as well as the Old, warns men concerning the realm of the everlasting ban, where the reprobates, devoted to wrath, must magnify the justice of the God whom they have hated. Since the OT theocracy in Canaan was a divinely appointed symbol of the consummate kingdom of God, there is found in connection with it an intrusive anticipation of the ethical pattern that will obtain at the final judgment and beyond.
Moreover, the extermination of the Canaanites and their cultic installations (destroy their altars... burn their... images; v. 5) was necessary if Israel's calling to positive consecration to God in living service was to be fulfilled. For, because of Israel's frailty, the proximity of the Canaanites would lead to the dissolution of Israel's spiritual distinctiveness (v. 3), to foreign and idolatrous allegiances (v. 4 a), and hence to Israel's own destruction (4b). The program of conquest (ch. 7) is thus a consistent application of the principle of consecration (ch. 6; esp. 6:12-15).
6-16. The purposes of Israel's election which were to be protected by the elimination of the Canaanites are here elaborated. 6. Chosen... to be a special people. This recalls Ex 19:5, 6, the classic formulation of the unique theocratic status for which Israel was chosen. High calling is attended by temptation to boasting (cf. Moses' concern with this problem in chs. 8-10). Therefore, Israel was reminded to glory only in the name of God. 8. Because the Lord loved you. In his sovereign love and faithfulness alone was to be found the explanation of Israel's election (4:37), certainly not in the nation's size. For God chose their father Abraham, being only one, and the family of Jacob, which descended into Egypt as only some seventy souls (7:7; cf. 10:22). It followed from the sovereignty of God's grace that Israel had no claims upon him that might encourage carelessness with respect to his covenant demands and sanctions. 9. Keepeth covenant... to a thousand generations. Alluding to the sanction formulae which are affixed to the second commandment, Moses declared that though unmerited grace would be continued to the thousandth generation (5:10), apostate despisers of grace and holiness would discover that the covenant curses were not idle threats (7:9-11). 12. The Lord... shall keep... covenant. The faithful might be confident that the covenant blessings were not empty promises (vv. 12-15; cf. Gen 12:2, 3; Ex 23:22-31). The God of Israel, the Creator, not Baal, was the bestower of fertility in field, flock, and family (Deut 7:13, 14). 15. The Lord will take away... all sickness. It was the Lord who had subjected man to nature's curse for his sin, and he could therefore deliver the Israelites from Egypt's notorious diseases (e.g., elephantiasis, dysentery, and ophthalmia) just as he had rescued them from Egypt's infamous Pharaoh (v. 15; cf. v. 8; Ex 15:26). Verse 16 summarizes, repeating the command and its purpose. 17-26. Though in respect to the privileges of election the Israelites were tempted to vanity, in the face of the responsibility of their commission they would be tempted to timidity (v. 17; cf. Num 13:31 ff.).
—Wycliffe Bible Commentary, The
A - The application for me, my family, and my ministry is to recognize I am in a season of entering the promised land. Just recognizing that causes me to be greatly excited and even a little nervous about the uncertainty of the what that means. But I need to apply the biblical principles here that God is showing His promised people:
1. Humility - God is about to take this whole thing to the next level and fullfill promises for my life that can only come from Him. The challenge I must stand up to is to as victory after victory is encountered I must be sure to give God all the glory. Enemies much bigger than my capacity will be overcome and the ability for pride to sneek in and take away God's glory is there, and in those cases in which I don't show proper humility I can guarentee God will eventually humble me.
2. Dependence - Because I will be facing giants bigger than my self, I must be sure not to back away from challenges God has commanded me to take on. His strength is sufficient, and the lesson for me is one of dependence on Him.
3. Sanctification/Consecration - As we move into this next phase of our life, I know God is saying to me to be sure to keep my family and my ministry sanctified. I must remember some of what God is doing is for the next generation of our family, and to keep Ashlyn and Chloe sanctified and consecrated, so that God may use them for His purposes is something I cannot lose sight of.
P - Lord, thank you for this deep and meaningful lesson, on what it means to be entering the promised land. I pray for guidance step by step, courage to be obedient to you call, and pure of heart and mind in my pursuit of your will in this abundant period. I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.
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