Deuteronomy 7:6-11

The reasons for the previous commands to destroy the peoples of the land, and to abstain from traffic with them, leading as this would to participation in their worship of other gods. Israel are for Jehovah alone: to this end He loved, chose, and redeemed them. This is one of the many cases in Deut. in which the principles or ideas offered for certain practices or acts of conduct commanded to Israel are of a far higher standard than these practices themselves, and therefore have endured as the essentials of religion when the practices are either no longer prescribed or actually forbidden (as in Christianity). The passage, which might appear to be founded on Exodus 19:5 f., is not certainly so; for Exodus 19:5 f. (on which see the note) has probably been expanded. The address changes to the Pl. in Deuteronomy 7:7, which are probably a later insertion: see below.