Deuteronomy 7:1-26

Deuteronomy: God’s Law of Love

Love and Obey the *LORD your God

Deuteronomy

Philip Smith

Chapter 7

v1 ‘The *LORD your God will bring you into the country that you will possess. He will force out 7 nations that are larger and more powerful than you. Those nations are called the Hittites, the Girgashites, the *Amorites, the *Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. v2 The *LORD your God will hand over those nations to you. You will defeat them and you must *destroy them completely. Do not make an agreement with them. Do not show them any *mercy. v3 Do not marry them. Do not let your daughters marry their sons. Do not let your sons marry their daughters. v4 If you do, they will persuade your sons to leave the *LORD. Then your sons will serve false gods. The *LORD will be angry with you and he will quickly *destroy you. v5 This is what you must do. Ruin their *altars and break their *holy stones. Cut down the columns of their female false god called Asherah. Burn their *idols.’

Moses told the *Israelites what to do when they entered the country. The nations in the list did not obey God. They lived in the country that God was now giving to the *Israelites. They gave honour to false gods. Those nations were more powerful than the *Israelites, but they were not more powerful than God. God ordered the *Israelites to *destroy their enemies. Then their enemies could not tempt them to *worship *idols. This was a war that would bring punishment on the enemies of God. The *Israelites must not make agreements with those nations or marry them. When the *Israelites did not obey, they did not follow God. We can learn from the lives of Achan, (Joshua chapter 7) and Saul (1 Samuel chapter 15). We can see the results when the *Israelites did not *destroy their enemies. The Asherah was a female false god. Her husband was the false god called *Baal. People who joined this religion behaved very badly. This bad behaviour, especially in the ways that they had sex, had a physical effect on them. But the *Israelites were God’s special people. They had to be *holy because God was *holy.

Paul told Christians to avoid greed (strong desire for possessions or for too much food). He also told them to avoid lust (wrong desire for sex). They must not do wrong acts of sex. Paul also said that Christians must not have anger and bad language. They must not lie. (See Colossians 3:5-9.) They must not mix with people who do not believe God. (See 2 Corinthians 6:14.) God does not tell us to fight a war against people. But he tells us to fight against wrong things. That includes wrong things that are in our lives and in society.

v6 ‘You are *holy people who belong to the *LORD your God. The *LORD your God has chosen you from everyone on earth to be his special nation. v7 The *LORD loved you and chose you. He did not do that because you were bigger than other nations. In fact, you were the smallest nation on the earth. v8 But the *LORD loved you. He did what he had promised to your *ancestors. He brought you out from Egypt with his great power. He rescued you when you were *slaves of the king of Egypt. v9 Remember that the *LORD your God is the only God. He is the *faithful God. He will *keep his *covenant of constant love. He will *keep it with a 1000 *generations of people. Those people love and obey him. v10 But he will *destroy those people who hate him. He will not hesitate to punish the people who hate him. v11 Therefore *keep the *commandments, the rules and the laws that I have ordered you today.’

God does not give any reason why he chose the *Israelites as his special nation. They were not a large nation. God loved them just because he loved them! In Hosea 14:4, God says this. ‘I will love them freely.’ He rescued them from Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And that showed that he loved them. So, the *Israelites should obey God’s *commandments. That would show that they were grateful to him.

God chose Christians also. That was because of his *grace. He did not choose people because they were great or important people. He did not choose them because they had done great deeds. God chose people because he wanted them to be *holy. He rescued them from *sin. (See Ephesians 1:4-8.)

v12 ‘Listen to these *commandments and *keep them carefully. Then the *LORD your God will *keep his *covenant with you. He will show his constant love to you. He promised that to your *ancestors. v13 He will love you and he will *bless you. He will increase your numbers so that you will have many children. He will *bless your fields so that you will have corn, wine and oil from *olives. You will have many *cattle and sheep. He promised to your *ancestors that he would give this country to you. v14 God will *bless you more than God will *bless any other nation. All of you will have children. All of your *cattle will have young animals. v15 The *LORD will protect you from all illness. He will not cause you to have any of the illnesses that you knew in Egypt. He will cause them to happen to all who hate you. v16 You must *destroy all the nations that the *LORD your God hands over to you. Do not show them any *mercy. Do not serve their false gods because that will cause you to *sin.’

If the *Israelites obeyed God, they would enjoy his *blessings on them and on their country. They must kill all the nations that were living in their country. Perhaps the *Israelites would not do that. Instead, perhaps they would serve the false gods in those nations. If they did that, then they would have problems.

God does not tell Christians to kill their enemies. But Christians must separate themselves from everything that makes their body or their *spirit not *clean. (See 2 Corinthians 6:14-7.) Christians must not imitate the standards of people who do not believe God. Christians must let God change their thoughts. (See Romans 12:1-2.) Christians must improve the culture of their nation. They must not let that culture make them worse.

v17 ‘You might say this. “These nations are stronger than we are. We cannot force them out.” v18 Do not be afraid of them. Remember what the *LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. v19 You yourselves saw the great tests, the *signs and the *wonders. You saw the power and strength that the *LORD your God freed you with. The *LORD your God will do the same to all the nations that you are afraid of now. v20 Also, the *LORD your God will send the insect called a hornet among those nations. The people will run away and they will try to hide. But God will even *destroy them. v21 Do not be afraid of those people. The *LORD your God is with you. He is a great God and people should *fear him. v22 The *LORD your God will force out those nations slowly as you advance. He will not allow you to *destroy them all at once. If you did, the wild animals would increase in the country round you. v23 But the *LORD your God will hand over your enemies to you. He will confuse them until you *destroy them all. v24 He will hand over their kings to you. You will kill them and people will forget them. Nobody will be able to stop you. You will *destroy them. v25 You must burn their *idols. Do not desire the silver or gold that is on the *idols. Do not take it to own it. If you do, it might cause you to *sin. The *LORD your God hates *idols. v26 Do not bring any of those *idols into your house. If you do, God will *destroy you. God has *cursed those *idols completely. So you must hate them. And you must think that they are terrible.’

There is a remedy for fear. You should remember what God did in the past. Again, Moses reminded the *Israelites how God brought them out from Egypt. Moses told them how God defeated the *Egyptians. God will do the same to their enemies now. We are not sure what the word ‘hornet’ means. A hornet is an insect with a powerful sting. It could mean this. Those insects will attack and sting the enemies of the *Israelites. But the word ‘hornet’ could be a way to describe an army from another nation. This army might attack the enemies of the *Israelites when the *Israelites enter the country. God will confuse their enemies. Those enemies might *destroy themselves. That happened when ice from the sky struck the *Amorite army. (See Joshua 10:11.) It also happened to Sisera’s army. They could not get out of the mud after it rained heavily. (See Judges chapter 4.) God forced out only a few of the *Israelites’ enemies at a time. So the number of the wild animals would not become too large. God was testing them. He would see whether the *Israelites would obey him. They must avoid everything that would persuade them to leave God. That included the kings and the *idols from the other nations. The *Israelites did not always do what God told them. The story of Achan in Joshua 7 shows what happened on that occasion.

God wants to have the important place in our life. Jesus said this in Matthew 6:24. ‘You cannot serve God and money.’ In 1 John 5:21 we read this. ‘Dear children, make sure that you avoid *idols.’ People may say that they love God. So they must hate what he hates.

Lord ~ a name for God. It translates the word ‘Adonai’ in the Hebrew language, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.

LORD ~ God gave this special name to himself. It translates the word ‘Yahweh’ in the Hebrew language. It is the Covenant name for God. It links to the words ‘I am’; it means that God has always been here.

covenant ~ the special promise that God made to his people. God’s covenant with the Israelites established a relationship between him and them. But they must obey him.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
Amorite ~ a nation of people who were among the original inhabitants in the country called Canaan; anything that has a relationship with that nation. There may have been more than one nation that had that name. The Israelites had to travel through Amorite country as they went to Canaan.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
Canaanites ~ the people who originally lived in the country called Canaan.
destroy ~ to damage something so that it does not continue to exist; to kill people or animals.
mercy ~ kindness instead of punishment.
altar ~ a table on which people give gifts or sacrifices to God or to a false god.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.
holy ~ morally good; something completely good and perfect; something that people consider to be very important in their religion.
idol ~ an image of a false god that people give honour to; an object of wood, stone or metal that people worship.

worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a sacrifice.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a sacrifice.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.
ancestors ~ people in your family who lived before you.
faithful ~ when someone always does what they have promised to do; when someone is loyal at all times.
keep ~ to do whatever you should do because of a promise or a law; to respect and to give honour to the law.
covenant ~ the special promise that God made to his people. God’s covenant with the Israelites established a relationship between him and them. But they must obey him.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
generation ~ a period of about 20 to 30 years. During that time, children grow up and they have their own children.
commandment ~ a rule or a command that God gave to the Jews; the 10 rules that God gave to Moses. That was on the mountain called Mount Sinai (or Horeb); a command from someone who has authority.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Mount ~ mountain. For example, ‘Mount Sinai’ means the mountain called Sinai.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
grace ~ God’s mercy and kindness, which are free gifts to us.

mercy ~ kindness instead of punishment.
cattle ~ cows and bulls.

bull ~ male farm animal; (the female is called a cow). The Israelites made a metal image of a bull, which they worshipped as an idol.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a sacrifice.

idol ~ an image of a false god that people give honour to; an object of wood, stone or metal that people worship.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

sacrifice ~ something valuable that people give to God, or to a false god; or, to make such a gift.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
clean ~ good in thought and in action. But, in the Old Testament, many things could make a person not clean towards God. For example, if they touched a dead body, that would make them not clean. And the Israelites must not eat animals that God called not clean.

Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, it tells about the history and the beliefs of the Israelites.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
sign ~ an unusual event that God uses to teach people something. But sometimes false prophets promised signs.
wonder ~ an event that astonishes people and it shows God’s power. But other people who did not love God sometimes did them too.
fear ~ to be afraid; to respect someone who is very great.
curse ~ the opposite of a blessing; bad things that God will do to people because they have been wicked; to say that God will curse someone.

blessing ~ a good thing that God does for us; when someone asks God to do good things for a person or for people; when a person speaks good words about someone.
Egyptian ~ someone from the country called Egypt; anything with a relationship with Egypt. The Israelites were *slaves in Egypt before God freed them.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.

Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.