Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Deuteronomy 7:1-6
Chapter 7 They Must Remove The Canaanites From The Land, Having No Truck With Them And Must Go Forward With Confidence In The Deliverer From Egypt, For He Has Set His Love On Them And Will Do Them Good.
Having emphasised the need to love Yahweh wholly, and to respond to Him totally in Deuteronomy 6, this chapter begins and ends with the instruction that they must have nothing to do with the corrupt Canaanites, whom He will drive out before them, but must destroy their graven images and their gods. And this is because He Himself has set His love on them, and will prosper them in their ways, but will deal harshly with those who ‘hate' Him, that is, who rebel against Him.
The chapter includes a testimony of His sovereign love for them for their fathers' sakes, the promise of future blessing in the land and the assurance of victory over all their enemies through Yahweh's help. But the corollary is that they must remove all trace of idolatry from the land. No rival to Him must be allowed to remain. Thus they must diligently rid the land of them so that nothing is left in their land to rival Yahweh, or to turn them from His ways.
This emphasis on the destruction of the Canaanites and their gods and religious paraphernalia appears at the beginning of the chapter (Deuteronomy 7:1), in the middle (Deuteronomy 7:16) and then at the end (Deuteronomy 7:25). It is seen as important that they are removed for they are an insult to His name and an abomination and if not removed could sadly be rivals for their hand, acting as a snare to them.
But this emphasis is overridden by the glowing description of Yahweh's election and love of His people, and of the great blessings that can be theirs through obedience, and the certainty of His powerful activity on Israel's behalf. It is very emphatic. For this was one reason why His people had been chosen, in order to purge the land of false gods, so that truth may triumph there. This was one reason why He had set His love on them. So that they might punish the wickedness of the land, and establish there His righteous rule. Until idolatry was dealt with His sole rule could not begin.
It must therefore be recognised that here they were entering on a genuine holy war, one that had been determined by God to rid the land of Canaan of its corruption, in order to establish a righteous kingdom. It was unique in history. Such a holy war is impossible today because the unique conditions of a promised land holy to God, and a deeply corrupt people possessing it who need to be expelled, can no longer apply. Today all are being offered His mercy. Those who still look to a land to fight for are living in a backwater and misunderstanding the Old Testament. The kingly rule of God is now spiritual and entered by those who come to Him through Jesus Christ, looking for their hope in Heaven. The fact is that the only holy war now is with Satan.
The chapter varies between ‘thou' and ‘ye', with ‘thou' preponderating. Some verses include both, see Deuteronomy 7:4; Deuteronomy 7:12; Deuteronomy 7:14; Deuteronomy 7:25. Where the ‘ye' use is not indicated read ‘thou'. Often there is a subtle difference in nuance when the change takes place.
The Command To Rid The Land Of The Canaanites Along With Their Way of Life Because They Are A Holy People (Deuteronomy 7:1).
Of parallel importance with the keeping of Yahweh's statutes and ordinances was the destruction of all that went against it. While fairly sophisticated culturally the Canaanites were particularly depraved in their manner of life and religion as the discoveries at Ugarit have confirmed. It was these things that God was determined to root out, both because of the effect that they could have on His people, and because of the abomination that they were to Him.
Analysis in the words of Moses:
a When Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land to which you are going to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, --- seven nations greater and mightier than you, and when Yahweh your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall smite them, then you shall utterly destroy them (Deuteronomy 7:1 a).
b You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them, nor shall you make marriages with them. Your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall you take to your son (Deuteronomy 7:2).
c For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods (Deuteronomy 7:4 a).
c So will the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you all, and He will destroy you as a nation quickly (Deuteronomy 7:4 b).
b But thus shall you (all of you) deal with them. You (all of you) shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire (Deuteronomy 7:5).
a For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own treasured possession, above all peoples that are on the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 7:6).
Note that in ‘a' Yahweh will bring them into the land and deliver up the enemy, and they must then smite them and utterly destroy them, and in the parallel this is because they themselves are a holy people, His treasured possession. In ‘b' they are neither to make covenant with them or engage in intermarriage, and in the parallel are rather to deal with them by destroying all that pertains to their religion. In ‘c' the reason for ‘a' and ‘b' is because the Canaanites will turn their sons from following Yahweh, and in the parallel will thus bring Yahweh's anger down on them so that they will destroy them all.
‘ When Yahweh your (thy) God shall bring you into the land to which you are going to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you, and when Yahweh your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall smite them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them.'
Moses speaks with confident assurance. He has no doubt that they will be able to possess the land, and that Yahweh will cast out many nations before them. And the important thing is what they should do when they had done so.
He lists seven of those nations. Seven is the number of divine perfection and here is basically indicating ‘all the nations in the land' and the divine completeness of the intended destruction of them. ‘The Canaanites' and ‘the Amorites' were often terms for the general population of the country, so that the terms were often interchangeable. Each could be used for the inhabitants of the whole country. However there was sometimes some distinction, as here, in that often ‘the Canaanites' was the term for those occupying the coastlands and the Jordan valley while ‘the Amorites' could be seen as dwelling in the hill country east and west of Jordan.
The Hittites (hatti) may have been settlers who had come from the Hittite Empire further north and had settled in Canaan, although many had been there a long time (Genesis 23:3; Genesis 23:5), but they might equally have been an ancient people who had been in Palestine almost from the beginning (Genesis 10:15). With regard to the Girgashites, persons with the names grgs and ben-grgs are known from the Ugaritic records. Some have connected them with the Karkisa in the Hittite literature and the krks in Egyptian records, but this must be considered doubtful. They were probably just another of the small groups of peoples who had long inhabited Canaan and Lebanon. They are mentioned in Genesis 15:21 but not in the four similar lists in Exodus (Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3:13; Exodus 13:5; Exodus 23:23), thus they were not prominent. The Perizzites were hill dwellers (Joshua 11:3; Judges 1:4 on) and possibly country peasantry, their name being taken from ‘peraza' = hamlet. This status is supported by the fact that they were not named as Canaan's sons in Genesis 10:15 on. They are, however, mentioned in Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3:13; Exodus 23:23. The Hivites may have been the equivalent of the Horites (see on Genesis 36). Their principal location was in the Lebanese hills (Judges 3:3) and the Hermon range (Joshua 11:3; 2 Samuel 24:7), but there were some in Edom in the time of Esau (Genesis 36) and in Shechem (Genesis 34). The Jebusites were the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the hills round about (Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:3; Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16). Thus the population was very mixed and open to invasion and infiltration.
“Seven nations greater and mightier than you” probably means greater and mightier as a whole, as ‘the seven nations'. Some on their own need not have been so. But the point is being made that Israel will need Yahweh's help in order to overcome them.
“And when Yahweh your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall smite them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them.” These peoples were to be smitten and utterly destroyed. No treaty was to be made with them, and no mercy shown to them. This harsh requirement arose firstly because of their evil and irreversible ways, which God had passed judgment on and had determined to punish (contrast Genesis 15:16), secondly because the holy land needed to be purged of the sins that they had committed there, and to be made a pure place for God's people, and thirdly because they could prove a snare to His people who were a holy people to Him and His treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6). The sin of the Canaanites was so deep that it could only be purged by the shedding of their blood, and He knew (as proved to be the case once Israel disobeyed Him) that their presence there would make it certain that His people would fail to maintain the covenant.
It should, however, be noted that if they truly responded to Yahweh mercy was still available for the Canaanites. Consider for example Rahab and her family as in Joshua 6:25; see also Judges 1:25.
‘ Nor shall you (thou) make marriages with them. Your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall you take to your son. For he will turn away your (thy) son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you (ye all), and he will destroy you (thee, as a nation) quickly.'
They were not to intermarry with them, neither by giving their daughters as wives to Canaanites or taking Canaanite wives for their sons. Thus all were to be slain or driven out, and none spared as captives or used for marriage purposes.
The possibility of such a situation would partly arise because the process of conquest would not reach its final climax immediately (Deuteronomy 7:22). Until that had happened there would be Canaanites in the land. But there was to be no fraternisation with them. They must be as if in quarantine. Intermarrying was a symbol of friendly relationships. Such intermarrying could often be the basis of a treaty (compare Genesis 34). It must not be considered with Canaanites.
It should be noted that this is not a forbidding of interracial marriage. Moses married interracially, and there would be many interracial marriages among the Israelites who included the ‘mixed multitude' among them. It was inter-religious marriage that was in mind, for such could draw a person away from the true God (compare Numbers 25:1 for the dangers). Marriage with someone who is not in covenant with God is always frowned on in Scripture. In the same way a Christian must not marry an unbeliever, any more than light can wed darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14).
‘ But thus shall you (all of ye) deal with them. You (all of ye) shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.'
They were to destroy all the religious paraphernalia of the Canaanites. They must break down their altars, dash in pieces their pillars, hew down their Asherim and burn their graven images with fire. The pillars were stones set up to represent gods for worship purposes. These were not for the same purpose as Jacob had in mind when he set up a pillar in honour of Yahweh as a memorial (Genesis 28:18; Genesis 28:22), or like the memorial pillar mentioned by Isaiah 19:19, which was a symbol of belonging to Yahweh. They were seen as distinctly ‘divine', the equivalent of graven images. The Asherim were either wooden poles or wooden images to represent the goddess Asherah. All were to be destroyed, removing all temptation to make use of them.
It should be noted here that there is no mention of Baal. The total lack of mention of Baal in the Pentateuch, apart from in the names of places, is quite remarkable. The only acceptable explanation of the total non-mention is that its books were written before contact with the land had brought home the predominance of Baal. Molech is mentioned in Leviticus 18:20 but not Baal. It appears to us very unlikely that later writers, had they had a hand in influencing the Pentateuch, would not have invoked Baalism when inveighing against the religion of the land. But it is quite understandable why for Moses and Israel at this time it had not become the major issue that it became once Israel were settled in the land in the book of Judges. Where they were at that time Molech was more predominant.
(The mention of Molech demonstrates that the name Baal is not excluded simply for theological reasons. If it had been surely Molech would have been excluded as well. ‘Baal' (lord) and ‘Molech' (king) could be equally confusing).
‘ For you (thou) are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own treasured possession, above all peoples that are on the face of the earth.'
And the reason why they must not fraternise with the Canaanites, but must destroy them or drive them out, was because they themselves were a holy people, a people set apart to Yahweh, a chosen people, chosen by God to be a people for His own treasured possession, in His eyes a people above all peoples which are on the face of the earth, a people on whom He had set His love (compare Exodus 19:5; Psalms 135:4.) It was for this purpose that Yahweh had delivered them.
Here we have the first specific mention in the book of the fact that they were a ‘chosen' people, elect as a people at the hand of God for the fulfilment of His purposes (compare Deuteronomy 4:37; Deuteronomy 14:2; Genesis 12:1; Psalms 33:12; Psalms 105:43; Psalms 135:4; Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 43:10; Ezekiel 20:5). It was for this reason that He would endure with them to the end until He had formed a greater Israel through the message of His Son. But their being chosen originally began not with them, but with God choosing Abraham.
“His own treasured possession.” Segulla means ‘prized highly'. See its use in 1 Chronicles 29:3; Ecclesiastes 2:8. Its Akkadian equivalent sikiltu was used in treaty seals to describe kings as special possessions of their gods. Compare here Exodus 19:5. Israel were His own special possession set apart for His own special purpose to be priests to the nations. They were to teach the nations wisdom by their manner of life in the land, and one day by taking His word to the nations (Isaiah 2:3).
So this special regard for His people partly resulted from His purpose for them. Their preservation in holiness was essential for His future purposes for the world. It was this that justified the violent action against the Canaanites. His people must be preserved pure at any cost, and only a totally righteous land could act as a witness beacon to the world.