Deuteronomy 7:7,8

Ver. 7, 8. The Lord did not set his love upon you, &c.— To preserve them from pride and a conceit of their own greatness, Moses here advises them to remember, that it was not their numbers, their strength, or external grandeur, it was not any merit or qualification of their own, which had caused the Lord thus to choose and distinguish them. These great promises were made to their forefathers when they were a small family, and of little consideration in the world. The eminent virtues of those forefathers, or rather the free bounty and mere good pleasure of God, ver. 8 were the sources of those peculiar privileges; just as, out of his free, unmerited goodness, God makes one species of creatures more excellent than another, and bestows different gifts and advantages upon different individuals of the same species. God loved them, says Grotius, in remembrance of their fathers, and of the oath which he sware to them; and this, says he, is the election whereof St. Paul speaks, Romans 11:28. With respect to the election, they are beloved for the father's sake.

See commentary on Deuteronomy 7:9