Chapter 7

  

LITV

Deu 7:1  When Jehovah your God shall bring you into the land to which you are going, to possess it, and He casts out many nations from before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations larger and mightier than you; 

Deu 7:2  and when Jehovah your God shall give them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them; you shall not cut a covenant with them, nor show mercy to them; 

Deu 7:3  nor shall you intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter to your son. 

Deu 7:4  For he will turn your son away from following Me, that they may serve other gods; and the anger of Jehovah will glow against you, and He will destroy you quickly. 

Deu 7:5  But you shall deal with them in this way: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces the cult-stones; and you shall cut down their Asherahs; and you will burn their carved images with fire. 

Deu 7:6  For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Jehovah your God has chosen you to be His own treasure out of all the people on the face of the earth. 

Deu 7:7  Jehovah did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 

Deu 7:8  But because Jehovah loved you, and because He kept the oath which He swore to your fathers, Jehovah has caused you to go out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of slaves, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 

Deu 7:9  Because of this, know that Jehovah your God, He is God, the faithful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to those who love Him, and to those who keep His commands, to a thousand generations; 

Deu 7:10  and repaying to his face those that hate Him, to destroy him; He will not delay, He will repay him who hates Him, to his face. 

Deu 7:11  And you shall keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances which I am commanding you today, to do them. 

Deu 7:12  And it shall be, because you hear judgments, and keep and do them, even Jehovah your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. 

Deu 7:13  And He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your land, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your oxen and the wealth of your flock, in the land which He has sworn to your fathers, to give it to you. 

Deu 7:14  You shall be blessed above all people; there shall not be a barren man or a barren woman among you, nor among your livestock. 

Deu 7:15  And Jehovah shall turn aside every sickness from you; and He will not put on you any of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you have known, but He will put them on all who hate you. 

Deu 7:16  And you shall destroy all the peoples whom Jehovah your God is giving to you. And your eye shall have no pity on them; and you shall not serve their gods; for it shall be a snare to you. 

Deu 7:17  If you shall say in your heart, These nations are more plentiful than I; how can I throw them out? 

 

Deu 7:18  You shall not be afraid of them; remembering you shall remember that which Jehovah your God has done to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt, 

Deu 7:19  the great trials which your eyes have seen, and the miracles, and the wonders and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm with which Jehovah your God has brought you out. So Jehovah your God shall do to all the peoples of whose face you are afraid. 

Deu 7:20  And Jehovah your God shall send the hornets among them, until the ones who are left perish, even those who hide themselves from your face. 

Deu 7:21  You shall not tremble before them, for Jehovah your God is among you, a mighty and fearful God. 

Deu 7:22  And Jehovah your God will clear out those nations before you by little and little. You may not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon you. 

Deu 7:23  And Jehovah your God shall deliver them up before you, and destroy them with a great destruction until they are exterminated. 

Deu 7:24  And He shall give their kings into your hand; and you shall destroy their name from under the heavens. No man shall be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. 

Deu 7:25  You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; and you shall not lust after the silver and gold on them, nor shall you take it to yourself, that you not be snared by it; for it is an abomination to Jehovah. 

Deu 7:26  And you shall not bring an abomination into your house, that you not be a cursed thing like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly hate it; for it is a cursed thing. 

 

Main Point(s): Moses creates a quasi-triangle. There is a direct line between “Jehovah your God” and Israel. The warning is that some nations will lead them astray if Israel aligns with them. That is an issue, because they break the line to God.

 

1.    What does call for the people to do (1-5)? --- you shall utterly destroy them; you shall not cut a covenant with them, nor show mercy to them; 
In the cases where a specific tribe of people were committing heinous acts in their worship, God required complete obliteration of those peoples. Child sacrifice was not unusual in this day and sexual immorality was rampant within many religions.

 

2.    Why were the people to do these things when they entered the land (6)?
6  For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Jehovah your God has chosen you to be His own treasure out of all the people on the face of the earth
This is the straight line between God and Israel. It was not to be intersected with any other religion (idol).
holy-H6918 - qâdôsh – Root word means “clean” - From H6942; sacred (ceremonially or morally); (as noun) God (by eminence), an angel, a saint, a sanctuary: - holy (One), saint.
This again shows the association that was to be placed on Israel in relation to God.

3.    What does God say is not the reason he chose Israel (7-8)? Why did He choose Israel?

…did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more in number than any people…
… Jehovah loved you, and because He kept the oath which He swore to your fathers

 

This is a repeated statement by Moses to remind them of how long God has been looking after them. It ties them back to Abraham and the promises given to him. Ultimately, this is about Jesus the Christ.

4.    How does God Describe Himself (9-10)? What does this mean for the people (11-16)?
God is certain to keep His covenant and have mercy on those who love Him, and just as certainly God will respond (repay) those who hate Him…(specifically, his enemies).
Moses is tempering obedience with matters of the heart. It is not enough to not consider yourself an enemy of God. He requires His children to come to love Him. What did that require on their part?
The outward evidence was listening (remembering/harkening) to His word and obeying. Yet, even a stubborn child will obey out of fear. God required them to draw near to Him and remember His affection for them. He wanted them to put ALL of their trust in Him. He just said Israel was holy. Were they? If they were it was because of God, not their own doing.
How should we consider someone who loves us that much….saves us from our own stupidity, and looks only to build us up?
Once Israel can achieve that level of faith, God would do virtually anything for their benefit. Has anything changed over time?

5.    What does God give the people to overcome their fear when they go in to conquer the land (17-24)? How would these things help the people? How do these things help us have faith and not fear?

Faith -

Proof of God’s physical protection: Pharaoh, being testing, signs, miracles, God’s strength. He will also send hornets ahead of them. God will be the one defeating these nations. He is the one with great strength.
Nothing has changed!

Our strength still dwells in God and His word. We have these historical things as testimony to bolster our faith.  

 

6.    What is God’s message in (25-26)?
Idols of a conquered nation were to be destroyed completely. Anything of value found in the sanctuary was to be destroyed as well. It was not to be taken as plunder. These items were considered an “abomination” and  “cursed” by God. If brought into your home, your home (and you) would be cursed!
abomination: H8841: to-ay-baw', to-ay-baw' - properly something disgusting (morally), that is, (as noun) an abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol:
A cursed thing: kem-o', kaw-mo' - A form of the prefix K, but used separately (compare H3651); as, thus, so: - according to, (such) as (it were, well as), in comparison of, like (as, to, unto)