Deuteronomy 7:1-16

LESSON SEVEN Deuteronomy 7:1-26

6. DEFENDING THE FAITH: NECESSITY OF THE HOLY WAR (Deuteronomy 7:1-26)

a. THE REASONS FOR THE HOLY WAR (Deuteronomy 7:1-15)

When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, 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 thou; 2 and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; 3 neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy Song of Song of Solomon 4 For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

6For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. 7 Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: 8 but because Jehovah loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, 10 and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this day, to do them.

12 And it shall come to pass, because ye harken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah thy God will keep with thee the covenant and the lovingkindness which he sware unto thy fathers: 13 and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; he will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground, thy grain and thy new wine and thine oil, the increase of thy cattle and the young of thy flock, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 14 Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15 And Jehovah will take away from thee all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, will he put upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. 16 And thou shalt consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God shall deliver unto thee; thine eye shall not pity them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 7:1-16

152.

Please refer to the map for a location of these various nations, memorize their locations.

153.

In what sense were these seven nations greater than Israel? In what sense mightier?

154.

Are we to understand the expression ... God shall deliver them up before thee, that God directed the military strategy of the enemy in such a manner as to insure their defeat?

155.

List three things the Israelites were not to do with the enemy and three things they were to do with the enemy.

156.

What is the meaning of holy as used in verse six? Surely this word is not to be equaled with our usual meaning of the term.

157.

Please notice the areas of life into which the worship of Jehovah enters: marriage, vows, name two other areas.

158.

Why not educate these people out of idolatry? Why all this cruelty and bloodshed?

160.

Why did Jehovah love Israel? Read Deuteronomy 7:7-8.

161.

What is meant by the expression keepeth covenant?

162.

Discuss the meaning of the phrase to their face and to his face in Deuteronomy 7:10.

163.

List the promises God made to Israel. (1) Keep with thee the covenant; (2) love thee. Name two or three more. Read Deuteronomy 7:12 through Deuteronomy 7:16.

164.

Does God control man's health and the growth of grain? Read Deuteronomy 7:13.

165.

There is a startling statement and promise in Deuteronomy 7:15read it! How much sickness would be eliminated if we loved God with all our hearts? Give a percentage.

166.

If God is a just and merciful heavenly Father, and we know He is, what are we to conclude from the command in Deuteronomy 7:16 not to show pity?

AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 7:1-16

When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, and has plucked away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
2 And when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you smite them; then you must utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, or show mercy to them.
3 You shall not make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
4 For they will turn away your sons from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and He will destroy you quickly.
5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.
6 For you are a holy and set apart people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people to Himself, out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

7 The Lord did not set His love upon you and choose you, because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the fewest of all people;
8 But because the Lord love you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a might hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Know, recognize and understand therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps covenant and steadfast love and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations;

10 And repays those who hate Him to their face, by destroying them; He will not be slack to him who hates Him, but will requite him to his face.
11 You shall therefore keep and do the instruction, laws, and precepts which I command you this day.
12 And if you hearken to those precepts and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love which He swore to your fathers;
13 And He will love you, bless you, and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.
14 You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will He put upon you, but will lay them upon all who hate you.
16 And you shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will give over to you; your eye shall not pity them; neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

COMMENT 7:1-16

Note that in these verses we have:

(1)

The danger of corruption for Israel (Deuteronomy 7:1-5; Deuteronomy 7:12-26)

(2)

The wickedness of the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 7:5)

(3)

Israel must be a separate and holy people (Deuteronomy 7:6-11)

SEVEN NATIONS GREATER AND MIGHTIER THAN THOU (Deuteronomy 7:1)greater in number and stronger than thou (Rotherham). And they also had greater fortifications and equipmentDeuteronomy 1:28, etc. The word nation (goi) indicates a people, a confluence of men. The root idea of this word is given as body, corpus. Baumgartner has swarm, people. nation. the whole population of a territory. Thus the more formal sense we now attach to nation does not necessarily hold, though it often does. It is sometimes in this book rendered peoples and sometimes nations. In Deuteronomy 4:6-8, for example, we have this Hebrew word occurring four timestwice translated peoples and twice nation.

SEVEN NATIONS (Deuteronomy 7:1)See Acts 13:16-20.

THOU SHALT UTTERLY DESTROY THEM (Deuteronomy 7:2)Israel was to be the sole occupant of the land. They were not only to utterly destroy the seven ite tribes, but also to make no covenants or intermarriages. The temptation, of course, would be for Israel to become lax, soft, and careless about carrying out this command. So the statement, nor show mercy unto them. Israel started to fulfill this command in good fashion, but, for the most part, treated it with indifference once the twelve tribes were settled in their respective territories. The seven nations were destroyed but not utterly.

Note that we have both a negative and positive command in these verses. They were to make no covenant, show no mercy, and make no marriages. But they were to do something, too!

1.

Smite them, utterly destroy them (Deuteronomy 7:2)

2.

Break down their altars (Deuteronomy 7:5)

3.

Dash in pieces their obelisks or pillars (Deuteronomy 7:5)

4.

Hew down their Asherim (Deuteronomy 7:5)

5.

Burn their graven images (Deuteronomy 7:5)

all of which meant they were to rip out idolatry from the land. They were to be first-class iconoclasts! See Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:12-17.

In Deuteronomy 7:3-4 intermarriage is forbidden on the basis that the Israelite would be the loser, and turned away to serve other gods. It was probably argued then (as it so often is now) by the young people: But we will make Israelites out of these girls! We will never serve their gods! But God knew better. His warning still stands to every young person in the Israel of God, the church. His exhortation remains: Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. See 2 Corinthians 6:14 to 2 Corinthians 7:1.

ALTARS. PILLARS. ASHERIM. GRAVEN IMAGES (Deuteronomy 7:5)all were to be destroyed. The pillars or obelisks were idolatrous monuments in Canaanitish and other heathen countries. See Deuteronomy 16:22, Leviticus 26:1. These were of different shapessome being little more than a slab of rock turned upright, others being carefully squared stone pillars with a larger base and tapering toward a pointed top. It is apparently this latter form (obelisk) that is especially meant here. They were usually shrines to Baal.

The Asherim were probably the wooden symbols or shrines of the goddess Asherahthe goddess of fertility. (Not the same as Ashtoreth, the female counterpart of Baal). See Deuteronomy 12:3, Deuteronomy 16:21. Her worship was widely spread throughout Canaan and Syria. In Babylon her worship and that of Ashtoreth (Istar) seemed to have merged. In the West, however, Asherah and Astoreth came to be distinguished from one another, Asherah being exclusively the goddess of fertility, whereas Ashtoreth passeth into a moon-goddess. The existence of numerous symbols in each of which the goddess was believed to be immanent led to the creation of numerous forms of the goddess herself, which, after the analogy of the Ashtaroth, were described collectively as the Asherim. (I.S.B.E.) See further under Deuteronomy 16:21.

FOR YE WERE THE FEWEST OF ALL PEOPLES (Deuteronomy 7:7)In Genesis 46:27 we are told, all the souls of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were threescore and ten. And yet, through this handful of people, God began to show his great power, Had a large nation accomplished that Israel did, human power might be credited. But God's love for Israel plus his eternal design in bringing the Messiah into the world, enabled Israel to accomplish great things. Great numbers are often not necessary for God to accomplish his purposes!

THOU SHALT BE BLESSED ABOVE ALL PEOPLES (Deuteronomy 7:14)Contrast Deuteronomy 7:7 ye were the fewest of all peoples. This promise was contingent upon their obedience. Note the sweeping, all-inclusive promises that follow, Deuteronomy 7:14-16.

Such a pre-eminence has its ground not in anything external, as in the numerical importance and greatness of a people, in which case to be above all would imply that they were more numerous, if not than all taken together, still than any one of the all. That Israel was as the stars (Deuteronomy 1:10; Deuteronomy 10:22) was merely the fulfillment of the promise of God to the fathers, a promise according to grace, not implying any merit or pre-eminence on the part of the people.Lange

NEITHER SHALT THOU SERVE THEIR GODS; FOR THAT WILL BE A SNARE UNTO THEE (Deuteronomy 7:16)The Hebrew word for snare (moquesh) Baumgartner's Lexicon defines as bait, lure (of fowler), bird-trap. The snares were set in a favorable location and grain scattered to attract the attention of feathered creatures. They accepted the bribe of good feeding and walked into the snare, not suspecting danger. For this reason the snare became particularly applicable in describing a tempting bribe offered by men to lead their fellows into trouble. (I.S.B.E.)