DESTRUCTION—AND LOVE
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Opening Prayer
Lord, where I lack understanding, teach me by your Holy Spirit. Help me to grasp more and more of what you have for me in your Word.
Read DEUTERONOMY 7
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Driving Out the Nations
7 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.[a] Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles[b] and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
7 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. 10 But
those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction;
he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.
11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.
12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. 15 The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. 16 You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” 18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. 20 Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. 21 Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. 22 The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. 23 But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them. 25 The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. 26 Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 7:2 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 26.
- Deuteronomy 7:5 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah; here and elsewhere in Deuteronomy
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How has the understanding that you are God’s child because he chose you influence the ways you live as his child?
This chapter speaks of total destruction (e.g., v. 2) and God’s electing love. The extermination language cannot be taken too lightly, as is demonstrated by the forbidding of intermarriage, the curious language about ‘the hornet’ (v. 20) and the slow conquest, the seven nations, and the book of Joshua. The major concern of the chapter is the temptation to worship false gods. Detailed instructions are given about how to prevent this. The whole Old Testament story shows how this was a constant danger.
In the middle of this violent and frightening language are the most wonderful explanations of how ‘God loves you because he loves you’, how he is a covenant-keeping God, and how the Israelites will be the most blessed of all peoples.
Three early acts of judgment by God in the Pentateuch are made without human agency: the flood, the destruction of Sodom, and the plagues of Egypt. It appears that there are times when God says, ‘Enough! That’s it!’ and judgment falls. Jesus spoke of this,1 and Revelation is full of songs and sorrows and judgments. Reading the bigger story confirms to us that this chapter is not about xenophobia or genocide: Rahab the Canaanite was saved; Achan the Israelite and his family were destroyed. The chapter places before us the absolute priority of faithfulness to the God who has chosen us and his abhorrence of anything that will shift us from our allegiance to him. The choosing of Abraham and his descendants was not an act of favoritism but a stage in the intention of God to bless all nations.2 Before we entertain any jealous thoughts about God’s choice of the Jews, we need to remember how much they have suffered.
Apply
Take time to carefully examine your life. Are there areas where you are being tempted to compromise what you know is God’s plan for you?
Closing prayer
Father, keep me faithful to your fervent love for me, without pride, but with deep humility and gratitude, committing myself to follow and serve only you.
1 E.g. Matt 7:23; 25:46 2 Gen 12
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