Deuteronomy 7

Chap. VII. Ver. 1—26. No alliances to be made with the Canaanites.—We have seen the command for destroying the devoted nations of Canaan, and the reasons on which it was founded: both are repeated again and again in this book, and in the following book of Joshua. The order for their destruction is founded on their incurable attachment to idolatry; an attachment that, at first sight, may appear unaccountable to us Christians, but the following hints may lead us into the mystery. 1. Men naturally prefer a deity like themselves. In paganism, they found a variety of gods and goddesses, not only endowed with human passions, but with the same frailties as themselves. Heroes, indeed, and famed for strength and courage; but artful, envious, and addicted to every species of licentiousness.

Such were much more agreeable to the depravity of human nature than the rigorous and jealous character of the God of Israel; who not only could endure no rival, but no compeer—no partner in his throne. 2. A god himself subject to frailties, would naturally be supposed more indulgent to the vices of mankind. So that, admitting them to be conscious of the conduct of their worshippers, if they had their due portion of sacrifices, they were not likely to be very strict as to the principles of morality; a little lewdness or intemperance must be of small consideration with them, though intolerable to the God of Israel. 3. Men love to mingle not only pomp and splendour with their devotions, but also the indulgences of intemperance and lust, which are always and necessarily connected with the worship of such deities as Venus and Bacchus, and many others: and the natural attachment to these is in nothing more evident than in the astonishing fact, that though the external orgies of these idols are now suppressed, there are multitudes who call themselves Christians, that still praise them with all the zeal of devotees, and with as much delight as ever they were celebrated in the Pagan world!

It is not to be wondered at, then, that the Gentile world was attached to paganism. Moses, while he interdicts the Israelites from heathen rites and heathen vices, is no less anxious to guard them against supposing, that they were in themselves better than the nations that were expelled to make room for them. “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number (or, by parity of reason, because ye were better) than other people;…. but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers.” 1. God fixes his love upon sinners gratuitously. He saith, ‘I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

((Exodus 33:19).) 2. He perseveres in his love and in his mercy, not only from the unchangeableness of his nature, but also from his fidelity to his covenant. ‘He is the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”’ Neither, however, the freeness of his mercy, nor his unchangeable fidelity, are to be abused, as arguments to relax in our obligations; for because he is gracious and is faithful, as well as because he will punish the disobedient: ‘Therefore (saith he) thou shalt keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.”

Notes on the verses

Chap. VII. Ver. 1. The Hittites, &c.—In the promise to Abraham, (Genesis 15:18-21), there are ten nations named instead of seven; but great revolutions had doubtless taken place since that period. For their different stations in the country, see note on (Joshua 3:10).—[With respect to the situation of these nations in the land of Canaan, Calmet remarks, that the Canaanites chiefly inhabited Phœnicia; the Hittites, the mountains south of the promised land; the Hivites, mount Ebal, and Gerizim, and towards Hermon; the Girgashites, beyond Jordan, towards the lake of Gennesareth; the Jebusites, about Jerusalem; the Amorites, the mountains west of the Dead sea, and part of the land of Moab; and that the Perizzites were probably not a distinct nation, but villagers scattered through the country.]

—Bagster. Ver. 6. To be a special people.—St. Paul seems to quote this “a peculiar people,” (Titus 2:14). Compare (Exodus 19:5). Ver. 7. Ye were the fewest of all people.—See (Deuteronomy 10:22). “It was no good in them that induced God to choose them, at this time, to be his peculiar ee: he had his reasons, but these sprung from his infinite goodness.” —Dr. Ver. 10. He will repay him to his face.—That is, openly, fully, in the sight of all men. See (Deuteronomy 32:35-36). - Ver. 15. The evil diseases of Egypt.—One of these was called Egyptiaca, or “the botch of Egypt,” (Deuteronomy 28:27). It appears to have been a species of elephantiasis, common on the banks of the Nile. See Clarke on the latter text.—[The Israelites, if obedient, would have been subject to no maladies but those common to fallen men, and generally very healthy and long lived; being exempted from pestilential diseases, which have often most tremendously scourged guilty nations; and from such maladies in particular, as they had witnessed in Egypt, by which God afflicted their cruel oppressors, but of which we know nothing with certainty: ((Exodus 15:26).) this must be referred to the national covenant: for though godliness commonly secures the most solid temporal advantages; yet temporal blessings were not, even among them, uniformly dispensed to individuals according to their obedience: but they are [blessed] with an exactness which is not observed towards any other.]

—Bagster. Ver. 19. The great temptations.—Trials, contentions, as between Jehovah and Pharaoh, Moses and the Magicians, in which the former triumphed most decidedly. See (Exodus 8:18-19); ix. 11; x. 2, &c. Ver. 20. Will send the hornet.—Bochart cites several instances of people being chased from their habitations by hornets; and he mentions the Phaselites, a party of Canaanites, driven from the mountains of Solyma by wasps.

Joshua mentions two kings of the Amorites actually driven out of the land by hornets, (Joshua 24:12). Dr. T. M. Harris’s Nat. Hist. of the Bible, in Ver. 22. Lest the beasts of the field increase.—[As the Israelites were not yet sufficiently numerous to fill the whole land occupied by these nations; and as wild and ferocious animals might be expected to multiply where the place was but thinly peopled, therefore God informs them that their extermination from before them should be gradual. Haynes says, “The approaching to Canaan, at the close of the day, as we did, is at once terrifying and dangerous. The surrounding country swarms with wild beasts, such as tigers, leopards, jackals, &c. whose cries and howling, I doubt not, would strike the boldest traveller, who had not been frequently in a like situation, with the deepest sense of horror.”

]—Bagster. Ver. 25. Thou shalt not desire the silver nor the gold that is on them.—Many of their idols were wood, plated over with gold; and lest this should tempt them to preserve the idols, they are commanded to burn them, that the ore might be melted down, and the image beneath utterly destroyed. Ver. 26. It is a cursed thing.—It must not, therefore, be brought home, lest it bring a curse on its possessor. Every thing connected with idolatry was ac-