Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 7

When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land... —The former chapter applies the Decalogue to the love of Jehovah and of His word, and to faith in Him as the God of Israel; and thus it may be regarded as an expansion of the first commandment. The exhortation in this chapter concerns the treatment of idolaters in the conquest of Canaan, and the avoidance of all such dealings or union with them as might tend to turn Israel from Jehovah. Obviously, this may be connected both with the first and with the second commandment.

And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee... —It would be possible to read, “Then the Lord your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall smite.” Or the sentence might also be divided thus: “When the Lord your God shall bring you in, and shall have delivered the nations from before you, and you have smitten them, then you shall utterly destroy them”—that is, you shall make them chêrem, a devoted or accursed thing. Perhaps this last way of dividing the clauses is, on the whole, to be preferred. But in any case it should be noted that Jehovah’s deliverance of the nations into Israel’s hand is to precede their defeat and extermination.

Indiscriminate attack and massacre are not to be thought of. (For a further note on this, see Joshua 13:0.) All the operations described in Joshua—the sieges of Jericho and Ai, the southern campaign and the northern campaign—were alike undertaken under Divine direction. The same may be said of the battles in Moses’ lifetime, whether against Amalek, Sihon, Og, Arad, or Midian. The same is true of the judges, and of David’s operations against the Philistines after he came to the throne (2 Samuel 5:19 and following). The principle was acknowledged by Ahab in his attack on Ramoth-gilead (1 Kings 22:0).

Thou shalt make no covenant with them. —The reason for this is too obvious to need comment. If Israelites and idolaters were united—still more if they were intermingled in marriage—there was an end to the distinction of race and religion—an end to the supremacy of Israel or the isolation of the people of Jehovah, as exhibiting His Law and the blessings of His government to mankind. It must be remembered, however, that the isolation here commanded was only a means to an end; it was not the end itself.

It may be further observed that as soon as the danger of idolatry was at an end, the isolation of Israel largely ceased. The object of giving the people a land of their own, and supremacy among the surrounding nations, was to enable them to develop the religion which was to prepare the way for Christianity. When the religious principles of the nation were sufficiently fixed to make their political supremacy unnecessary, this supremacy was taken away.

You shall destroy their altars.... — This course, if adopted in a conquered territory, would be certain to bring matters to a crisis. The inhabitants must rise in defense of the objects of their worship—a course which would end in their extermination—or they must adopt the worship of Jehovah.

Their groves. —Here the grove itself in which the idol was worshipped, and so in Deuteronomy 16:21. Sometimes the word is used for the image.

Burn their graven images with fire. —David treated the images of the Philistines thus (1 Chronicles 14:12). Compare Isaiah 37:19.

An holy people. —Not merely an holy nation , but an holy people, that is, a state of which holiness to Jehovah was the very constitution. If God pleased to establish such a state, manifestly its laws could allow no toleration of anything displeasing to Him. And it is also manifest that nothing but Divine revelation would authorise the establishment of such a constitution.

A special people. —The same word as the peculiar treasure of Exodus 19:5 and the jewels of Malachi 3:17. The private property of King David is described by the same word (1 Chronicles 29:3), mine own proper good. (Deuteronomy 26:18; Psalms 135:4)

The Lord did not ... choose you, because you were more. — The danger that Israel’s unique relationship with the Most High might lead to national pride is so obvious that Moses takes special care to counteract it by asserting God’s sovereignty in the choice.

You were the fewest of all people. — It may be observed that the development of the Moabites, Ammonites, Ishmaelites, and Edomites (all, like Israel, descended from Terah), was far more rapid than that of the chosen line. Abraham had twelve grandsons through Ishmael, but only the same number of great grandsons through Isaac and Jacob.

Edom, Moab, and Ammon all preceded Israel in the conquest of territory. Kings reigned in Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel (Genesis 36:31). It was only when the time of the promise drew near that the (chosen) people grew and multiplied in Egypt. The Scripture is throughout consistent in representing their development as due to the special providence of God. (See also on Deuteronomy 10:22.)