Deuteronomy 7
PATbefore his host," (ver. 13.) Jehoshaphat also exhorts the judges in that book to great caution, (2 Chron. xix. 6.) because they judged not for man, but for the Lord. And the prophet exhorts, in the following chapter, (xx’« 15.) not to be afraid of a mighty host whicli eaine against him, because the battleis not yours, but God’s; the cause in which they fought being his, more than their own.
Deuteronomy 7:7
The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you. To be his special people, as he calls them in the foregoing verse.‘a; Because ye were morein number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people.’] When God declared his love first, to Abraham and his posterity he had no child, Gen. xii; 1 — 3. xv. 1, 2.. And when he had, his family continued so small, after there were twelve heirs of the promise, that in the space of two hundred years they were but seventy persons, (Gen. xlvi. 27.) Nor do we read of any great increase of them till after the death of Joseph, which was near fourscore years more, (Exod. i. 7, 8, &c.) So St. Stephen observes, Acts vii. 17. " When" the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt.", Ver..8. But becaiise the Lord loved you.] Because it was his good pleasure to single them out from; all other people, to receive special tokens of his favour to them. And because he would keep the oath] which he had stvorn unto % y our fathers, hath the Lord brought you out tvith a mighty, hand, &c] Not for any desert of theirs; but to make good his promise confirmed with an oath, did he work, their wonderful deliverance out of Egypt, (Gen. xv. 13, 14. xxii. 1G, See.).
Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore tliat (he Lord thy God, he is God. He exhorts them therefore to preserve this sense in their mind, tbat their God is the only God. The faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy tvith them that love him, and keep his commandments, &e.j Who will not only faithfully keep his word and make good his promises, but do abundantly more than he hath promised to those that cleave unto him alone, and serve no other God: for it appears by the second commandment, that is peculiarly meant by loving him., To a thousand generations.] See Exod. xx. G.
Deuteronomy 7:10
And repay them that hate him. Punish all idolaters,* who are peculiarly called haters of God, as I have often.observed. (See Exod. xx. 5.) To their face.] They themselves should live to see and feel the punishment of their idolatry. So the Chaldce pa-" raphrases it, Bacajehon, m their life. • lie ivill not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.] Though he do not punish him immediately, yet he will not defer it long, but be avenged of him before he die. Therefore, when he threatens to punish them to the third and fourth generation, the meaning is not that he will only punish their posterity, but them with their posterity; whom they shall see. destroyed before their face. For the fourth generation(as Maimonides observes) is as much as the oldest men commonly livo to sec. I;,;. And thou shall consume all the people, u?hich m the Lord thy God shall deliver thee.] Utterly destroy all the people of Canaan, when they had conquered them/ as he commanded them before, ver. 7. Thine eyes shall have no pity upon them.] The reason of this severity was, because of their abominable wickedness, as I there observed. Neither shall thou sewe their gods, for that will be a snare junto th$e.] In the Hebrew, and thou shall not serve their 4 S 2 Microsoft® [chap. VII. gods, &c. This severity was used to prevent their being enticed by them to their idolatry, if they had suffered thein to live among thein. Ver. 17- If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how shall I dispossess them?] If such a diffidence began to arise in their hearts, as possessed their forefathers, (Numb, xiv.).
Deuteronomy 7:11
Thou shall therefore keep the -commandments, ami the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. All the laws of God, (see vi. 1.) es-f peeially this groat commandment, to have no other God but him.,,,. w %;; •
Deuteronomy 7:12
Wherefore it shall come to jiass, if ye hearken to th&se judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and mercy which he sware unto thy fathers.] As faithfully fulfil his promises to them, as he did to their fathers.
Deuteronomy 7:13
And he will love tiiee. Continue his love to them. And bless thee, and multiply thee.] This was the greatpromise made to their fathers, that he would make their posterity as numerous as the stars of heaven, andthe dust 4 of the earth, (Gen. xv. 5. xxii. 17. xxviii*. 14.) He will also bless the fruit of thy ivomb.] Preserve them from miscarrying, that so they might multiply. And the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oiL] By giving them rain in due season, &q. • (See Lev. xxvi. 4, 5.) * - The increase of thy kind.] The Hebrew word segar, which we translate increase, the LXX. Vulgar, and Syriac, render: the herds. But Onkelos and Jonathan translate it as we do, the young ones which the mothers bring forth. (Sec Bochart. par. i. Hicrozoicon, lib. ii. cap. 30.) And the flocks of thy sheep.] The Hebrew word ashtaroth comprehends flocks both of sheep and of greater cattle^ as the same Bochart observes, par. i. Hieroz. lib. iii. cap. 43. and in his Canaan, lib. ii. cap. 2. where he observes,* thatthe goddess Astarte, in those countries, was thought tor preside over flocks of sheep and herds of oxen.
Deuteronomy 7:14
And thou shall be blessed above all people. He promises to make them as singular for his favours, asthey were in their laws and manner of living. There shall not be maleor female barren among you, or’. among your cattle.] See Exod. xxiii. 2G.
Deuteronomy 7:15
And the Lord tvill take away from thee all sickness. Or remove from them the common diseases and in– firmities of mankind; so that they should die in a good old age (as the Scripture speaks); which tended manifestly to their increase and multiplication. ■ • And tvill put none of the evil diseases of Egypt (ivhich thou knowest) upon thee.] Neither those blotches or biles which God, by an immediate hand; smote them withal, - (Exod. ix. 9. xv. 26.) nor any other which they in -that* country were subject unto, peculiarly their filthy ulcers,- called Egyptiaca and Syriaca, as Casaubon observes upon Persius, Sat. v. p. 4G7. with which the priests of Isis were wont to threaten and terrify poor people, if they did not worship her. In opposition to which our very learned Dr. Spencer thinks God made -thisspecial promise to hispeople, to preserve them from all such evil diseases, if they kopt themselves pure from that Egyptian idolatry. Which’ is very, ingenious, if the worship of lsis was so ancient as the days of Moses* (See lib. i. de Lcgibus Hebr. Ritual.* cap. 3.) And ivill lay them upon all them that hate thee.] Andthereby disable them to hurt his people. •,
Deuteronomy 7:18
Thou slialt not be afraid of them, but shalt well remember tvhat the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt J. He requires them immediately to expel all fear by faith in God; which the remembrance of what God had done for them, if seriously reflected on, might well work in them.
Deuteronomy 7:19
TJie great temptations which thine eyessaw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, &c. Of all these he had put them in mind before, (iv. 34.) and now renews the remembrance of it, that the experience they had of God’s power and goodness might banish all fear out of their hearts.
Deuteronomy 7:20
Moreover, the Lord thy God ivill send the hornet among them. Raise up enemies which they think not of to infest them, that is, unusual swarms of hornets, and of an unusual bigness, it is like, which came like an army upon them. (See Exod. xxiii. 28.) Until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.] Which should pursue those that fled from the Israelites, and sting them to death in their lurkingholes.
Deuteronomy 7:21
Thou shalt not be affrighted at them. Let all this inspire you with courage. For the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God, and a terrible.] The Sovereign of the world, of whose goodness you have had such long experience, dwells among you, and conducts and leads you, wheresoever you go: and who can stand before him? (See Exod. xvii. 7.)
Deuteronomy 7:22
And the Lord thy God will put out thesenations before thee, by little and little: thou?nayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. Be not discouraged, though they be* not destroyed all at once: there is great reason against that, concerning which see Exod. xxiii. 21. where this verso is explained.
Deuteronomy 7:23
But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. In time he will deliver them all up into thy hand; and thou shalt so overpower them, as to leave none of them remaining.
Deuteronomy 7:24
And he sliall deliver their Icings into thy hand. As he did, we read in the book of Joshua, xii. 7—9, &c. where thirty-one kings are enumerated, who were conquered by him. And thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven.] There shall no memory, of so much as the names of such men, be left any where. There shall 7io man be able to stand before thee until thou have destroyed them.] The kings and great men of the country being destroyed, their victory was easier over the rest. ■ Ver. 2o. The [graven images of tlieir gods shalt ye bum with fire.] This he had required before, ver. 5. but mentions ► it again, to let them know, that if they did not perform their part of the covenant (of which* this was the chief), God would not destroy the inhabitants of Canaan totally. As we find he did not, Judg. ii. 2, 3. and for this very reason, as Joshua had told them, xxiii. 12, 13. Thou shalt not desire the silver and gold that is upon them.] The Jews are too nice and curious who expound this only of the gold and silver clothes, or the chains, or other jewels of gold and silver, wherewith their images were adorned; because ho saith, upon them. There is no reason to doubt but he means, that they should be destroyed, if they were entirely made of massy gold and silver; which they were not to convert to their own use: for thus Moses did with the golden calf, Exod. xxxii. 20. and Jacob in ancienter time buried all the strange gods, as well as the ear-rings that were in their ears, (Gen. xxxv. 4.) And Josiah, in future ages, burnt every thing that had been employed to idolatry, even the vessels that were made for Baal; as well as the images, &c. and stamped them to powder, (2 Kings xxiii. 4. G. 14, 15.). Nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein.] Be drawn into a conceit, that there was something sacred in it, and so tempted to worship it. For it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.] Whatsoever hath been employed fo such idolatrous worship, is so detestable unto the Divine Majesty, that he will not have it converted to any ordinary and common use, but utterly destroyed.*
Deuteronomy 7:26
Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house. And therefore he requires them not to bring any of that silver and gold which had belonged to those idols (which he calls an abomination) into their houses, to be employed unto any private use whatsoever: so the Jews understand these words, having made from hence one of their affirmative precepts: that no man should seek the least profit or benefit from any thing appertaining to an idol. Lest thou be a cursed thing like it.] Every thing that \vas idolatrous was a cherem, devoted to destruction, as he saith in the last words, it is a cursed thing, which no man might meddle withal, (xiii.17.) If he did, he became an accursed thing, i. e. was devoted to destruction, as the thing itself was. This was apparent afterward in the example’ of Achan, (Josh, vii.) who took a wedge of gold and a Bab)’- lonish garment for his own private use, when it had been made a cherem by God’s express command, (Josh. vi. 17.) and therefore was stoned to death. But thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it.] Not only look uponit as useless and unprofitable, but as hateful and execrable in the highest degree, and therefore to be entirely destroyed. All this tended to their preservation in th6 true religion; which taught them to have every thing contrary to it in the utmost detestation: insomuch, (as Maimonidcs interprets this precept, in -his More Nevochim, par.- iii. cap. 37.) that if any man broke < such images, or melted them down, and then sold the silver and gold, he committed an abomination; and the price of this being mingled with his other riches, proved the rust of them all. This he thinks is the meaning df bringing an abomination into their house. Which was so far from bringing a blessing (as the heathen imagined), that it brought a s curse upon all that they had*. The Jews were so sensible of all this, after they had severely smarted for their idolatry, that they thought ifrunlawful to use any vessel that had been employed in sacrificing to a false god;. nay, to warm themselves with the