Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, July 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Bible Commentaries
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Ellicott's Commentary
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliographical Information
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Deuteronomy 7". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/ebc/deuteronomy-7.html. 1905.
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Deuteronomy 7". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (42)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (4)
Verse 1
VII.
(1) When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land. . . .âThe 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 intercourse 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.
Verse 2
(2) And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee. . . .âIt would be possible to read, âThen the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, and thou shalt smite.â Or the sentence might also be divided thus: âWhen the Lord thy God shall bring thee in, and shall have delivered the nations from before thee, and thou hast smitten them, then thou shalt utterly destroy themââi.e., shalt make them chêrem, a devoted or accursed thing. Perhaps this last way of dividing the clauses is, upon the whole, to be preferred. But in any case it should be noted that Jehovahâs deliverance of the nations into Israelâs hand is to precede their defeat and extermination. Indiscriminate attack and massacre are not to be thought of. (See for a further Note on this, Joshua 13:0) All the operations described in Joshuaâthe sieges of Jericho and Ai, the southern campaign and the northern campaignâwere alike undertaken under Divine direction. The same may be said of the battles in Mosesâ lifetime, whether against Amalek, Sihon, Og, Arad, or Midian. The same is true of the judges, and of Davidâs operations against the Philistines after he came to the throne (2 Samuel 5:19, &c). The principle was acknowledged by Ahab in his attack on Ramoth-gilead (1 Kings 22:0).
Thou shalt make no covenant with them.âThe reason for this is too obvious to need comment. If Israelites and idolaters were unitedâstill more if they were intermingled in marriageâthere was an end to the distinction of race and religionâan 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 in a great measure 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.
Verse 5
(5) Ye shall destroy their altars. . . .âThis course, if adopted in a conquered territory, would be certain to bring matters to a crisis. The inhabitants must rise in defence of the objects of their worshipâa course which would end in their exterminationâor they must adopt the worship of Jehovah.
Their groves.âHere 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.âDavid treated the images of the Philistines thus (1 Chronicles 14:12). Compare Isaiah 37:19.
Verse 6
(6) An holy people.âNot merely âa holy nationâ (as in Exodus 19:6), but âa holy peopleâ i.e., 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.âThe same word with the âpeculiar treasureâ of Exodus 19:5 and the âjewelsâ of Malachi 3:17. The private property of King David is described by the same word (1 Chronicles 29:3), âmine own proper good.â (See also Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18; Psalms 135:4 )
Verse 7
(7) The Lord did not . . . choose you, because ye were more.âThe danger lest Israelâs peculiar relation to the Most High should beget national pride is so obvious, that Moses takes special pains to counteract it by asserting Godâs sovereignty in the choice.
Ye were the fewest of all people.âIt 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 âbefore there reigned any king over the children of Israelâ (Genesis 36:31). It was only âwhen the time of the promise drew nighâ that âthe (chosen) people grew and multiplied in Egypt.â The Scripture is throughout consistent in representing their development as due to the special providence of God. (See also on Deuteronomy 10:22.)
Verse 8
(8) But because the Lord loved you.âAnd this, again, was not due to themselves, as he points out fully in Deuteronomy 9:4, &c.
Verses 9-11
(9-11) These verses are a direct comment upon the second commandment. The âthousands of them that love Himâ are here expanded into a âthousand generations.â The âhatred,â too, is the same thing denoted there: âThou shalt therefore keep the commandments.â
Verse 12
(12) At this point begins the third of the Hebrew divisions of the book.
If ye hearken.âLiterally, as a return for your hearkening. (See Note on Deuteronomy 8:19.)
Verse 13
(13) The flocks.âThe word here employed for flocks is peculiar to Deuteronomy in this sense. It occurs in Deuteronomy 28:4; Deuteronomy 28:18; Deuteronomy 28:51. It is in form identical with Ashtaroth, and signifies âincrease,â or progeny.
Verse 14
(14) All people.âLiterally, all the peoples: i.e., all other states and communities.
Verse 15
(15) Evil diseases.âThe word for diseases here used is found only in Deuteronomy (see Deuteronomy 28:60). It must not be forgotten that the law of Moses was in many of its details a sanitary quite as much as a moral code. Some of the associations of this word and the root from which it is derived would seem to point to those âlanguorsâ and âinfirmitiesâ which arise from neglect and violation of the laws of God, both moral and physical.
Verse 16
(16) Thou shalt consume (literally, eat up) all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee.âWhen delivered to Israel, they are delivered for execution; but the time of delivery is in the hand of Jehovah. (Comp. the words of Caleb and Joshua in Numbers 14:9 : âThey are bread for us: their shadow is departed from them, and the Lord is with us.â)
Verse 18
(18) Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember . . . Egypt.âNo free nation could ever have the same ground for terror as a nation of slaves rising up against its masters. If Israel had been delivered by Jehovah in that position, it was a security for all time that He would give them the victory in every enterprise He called them to undertake.
Verse 19
(19) The great temptations.âThe several repetitions of the summons to Pharaoh that he should let Israel go, accompanied and enforced by plagues, may well be called âtemptationsâ in the sense of trials of his character. The word âtemptationâ in the sense of âinducement to sinâ is very rare, if not absolutely wanting, in the Old Testament.
Verse 20
(20) The hornet.âTo be understood literally. (See on Deuteronomy 1:44, and Joshua 24:12.) The âland flowing with (milk and) honeyâ may well have swarmed with bees and hornets.
Verse 22
(22) The Lord thy God will put out.âThe word for âputting outâ is illustrated by its use in Deuteronomy 19:5, of the axe-head flying off from the handle in the midst of a blow, and of the olive âcastingâ his fruit in Deuteronomy 28:40. (Comp. also 2 Kings 16:6, and 1 Samuel 25:29, for a similar thought.)
By little and little.âThis confirms the view already expressed, that the expulsion of each particular nation was contingent upon the Divine decree, and that none were to be attacked by Israel except when the Lord should deliver them into Israelâs hand.
Verse 24
(24) He shall deliver their kings into thine hand.âIn the summary of Joshuaâs conquest (Joshua 12:0) the kings are reckoned for the cities. Special mention is made of seven of them, who were hanged.
There shall no man be able to stand before thee.âA promise personally renewed to Joshua (Joshua 1:5), and fulfilled to Israel under his command (Josh. 20:44).
Verses 25-26
(25, 26) These words are a special warning against the sin which Achan committed (Joshua 7:21): âI coveted them, and took them.â They also describe the consequences which he experienced, together with his whole household, being made chêrem. devoted or accursed by the spoil which he took from Jericho. (See on Joshua 7:0)