God Chooses a Holy People

7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you – 7:2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! 7:3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 7:4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you. 7:5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, cut down their sacred Asherah poles, and burn up their idols. 7:6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. He has chosen you to be his people, prized above all others on the face of the earth. The Basis of Israel’s Election 7:7 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you – for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. 7:8 Rather it is because of his love for you and his faithfulness to the promise he solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with great power, redeeming you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 7:10 but who pays back those who hate him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve! 7:11 So keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that I today am commanding you to do. 7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you as he promised your ancestors. 7:13 He will love and bless you, and make you numerous. He will bless you with many children, with the produce of your soil, your grain, your new wine, your oil, the offspring of your oxen, and the young of your flocks in the land which he promised your ancestors to give you. 7:14 You will be blessed beyond all peoples; there will be no barrenness among you or your livestock. 7:15 The Lord will protect you from all sickness, and you will not experience any of the terrible diseases that you knew in Egypt; instead he will inflict them on all those who hate you. 7:16 You must destroy all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you. 7:17 If you think, “These nations are more numerous than I – how can I dispossess them?” 7:18 you must not fear them. You must carefully recall what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt, 7:19 the great judgments you saw, the signs and wonders, the strength and power by which he brought you out – thus the Lord your God will do to all the people you fear. 7:20 Furthermore, the Lord your God will release hornets among them until the very last ones who hide from you perish. 7:21 You must not tremble in their presence, for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a great and awesome God. 7:22 He, the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you. 7:23 The Lord your God will give them over to you; he will throw them into a great panic until they are destroyed. 7:24 He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. Nobody will be able to resist you until you destroy them. 7:25 You must burn the images of their gods, but do not covet the silver and gold that covers them so much that you take it for yourself and thus become ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. 7:26 You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house and thereby become an object of divine wrath along with it. You must absolutely detest and abhor it, for it is an object of divine wrath. The Lord’s Provision in the Desert

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Moses tells Israel that the Lord will bring them into the land and give them victory over the Canaanite nations. Israel must not make peace with their idols or join their worship. The Lord chose Israel by grace, not because they were many or strong, and he will bless them if they obey him. The people must fear the Lord, remember what he did in Egypt, and reject every form of idolatry.

This passage calls Israel to exclusive loyalty to the Lord. The nations in the land are under divine judgment, so Israel must not make treaties with them, intermarry with them, or keep their idols. Their altars, pillars, Asherah poles, and images must be destroyed. The reason is not Israel’s greatness. The Lord chose them because of his love and his promise to their fathers. He redeemed them from Egypt and made them his treasured people. Therefore they must keep his commandments. If they obey, he will bless them with fruitfulness, health, protection, and victory. If they fear stronger nations, they must remember the Lord’s power in Egypt. He will drive the nations out little by little. They must not covet the gold or silver of idols, and they must not bring anything detestable into their house, lest they come under divine wrath.

• God’s choice of Israel was based on his love and covenant faithfulness, not on Israel’s size or merit.
• The conquest is described as the Lord’s judgment on the Canaanite nations and as a gift to Israel.
• Intermarriage and treaty-making would lead Israel toward idolatry and away from the Lord.
• Obedience to God’s commandments is the proper response to grace and election.
• The Lord promises blessing, fruitfulness, and protection to those who obey him.
• Fear of stronger enemies must be answered by remembering God’s acts of judgment and deliverance.
• Idols and everything attached to them are detestable and must not be kept for gain.

• Do not make a treaty with the nations.
• Do not show them mercy in the conquest setting.
• Do not intermarry with them.
• Destroy their altars, pillars, Asherah poles, and idols.
• Keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances the Lord commands.
• Do not fear the nations.
• Do not covet the silver and gold on their idols.
• Do not bring anything detestable into your house.
• If Israel obeys, the Lord will keep covenant and bless them.
• The Lord will bless them with many children, crops, livestock, health, and protection.
• The Lord will drive the nations out little by little.
• The Lord repays those who hate him.
• Violating this command can bring divine wrath.

The Lord’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stands behind this passage. He redeemed Israel from Egypt, chose them in love, and brought them toward the promised land. Their holiness in the land is part of his covenant purpose. In the wider Bible, Israel’s failure here points to the need for a faithful covenant representative who obeys fully and secures the promised blessing.

God’s people must not make peace with idolatry. What seems useful, profitable, or socially easy can become a snare if it pulls the heart from the Lord. We should remember God’s past help when fear rises. We should obey him with humility, because his favor is a gift, not a reward for greatness. We must also refuse to keep what God says is detestable, even if it looks valuable.

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