Webster Bible (1833) - with Strong’s numbers (EN)

1When the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 shall bringH935 thee into the landH776 where thou goestH935 to possessH3423 it, and hath cast outH5394 manyH7227 nationsH1471 beforeH6440 thee, the HittitesH2850, and the GirgashitesH1622, and the AmoritesH567, and the CanaanitesH3669, and the PerizzitesH6522, and the HivitesH2340, and the JebusitesH2983, sevenH7651 nationsH1471 greaterH7227 and mightierH6099 than thou; 2And when the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 shall deliverH5414 them beforeH6440 thee; thou shalt smiteH5221 them, and utterlyH2763 destroyH2763 them; thou shalt makeH3772 no covenantH1285 with them, nor show mercyH2603 to them: 3Neither shalt thou make marriagesH2859 with them; thy daughterH1323 thou shalt not giveH5414 to his sonH1121, nor his daughterH1323 shalt thou takeH3947 to thy sonH1121. 4For they will turn awayH5493 thy sonH1121 from followingH310 me, that they may serveH5647 otherH312 godsH430: so will the angerH639 of the LORDH3068 be kindledH2734 against you, and destroyH8045 thee suddenlyH4118. 5But thus shall ye dealH6213 with them; ye shall destroyH5422 their altarsH4196, and break downH7665 their imagesH4676, and cut downH1438 their grovesH842, and burnH8313 their graven imagesH6456 with fireH784. 6For thou art an holyH6918 peopleH5971 to the LORDH3068 thy GodH430: the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 hath chosenH977 thee to be a specialH5459 peopleH5971 to himself, above all peopleH5971 that are upon the faceH6440 of the earthH127. 7The LORDH3068 did not set his loveH2836 upon you, nor chooseH977 you, because ye were moreH7230 in number than any peopleH5971; for ye were the fewestH4592 of all peopleH5971: 8But because the LORDH3068 lovedH160 you, and because he would keepH8104 the oathH7621 which he had swornH7650 to your fathersH1, hath the LORDH3068 brought you outH3318 with a mightyH2389 handH3027, and redeemedH6299 you from the houseH1004 of bondageH5650, from the handH3027 of PharaohH6547 kingH4428 of EgyptH4714. 9KnowH3045 therefore that the LORDH3068 thy GodH430, he is GodH430, the faithfulH539 GodH410, who keepethH8104 covenantH1285 and mercyH2617 with them that loveH157 him and keepH8104 his commandmentsH4687 to a thousandH505 generationsH1755; 10And repayethH7999 them that hateH8130 him to their faceH6440, to destroyH6 them: he will not be slackH309 to him that hatethH8130 him, he will repayH7999 him to his faceH6440. 11Thou shalt therefore keepH8104 the commandmentsH4687, and the statutesH2706, and the judgmentsH4941, which I commandH6680 thee this dayH3117, to doH6213 them. 12Therefore it shall come to pass, ifH6118 ye hearkenH8085 to these judgmentsH4941, and keepH8104, and doH6213 them, that the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 shall keepH8104 to thee the covenantH1285 and the mercyH2617 which he sworeH7650 to thy fathersH1: 13And he will loveH157 thee, and blessH1288 thee, and multiplyH7235 thee: he will also blessH1288 the fruitH6529 of thy wombH990, and the fruitH6529 of thy landH127, thy grainH1715, and thy wineH8492, and thy oilH3323, the increaseH7698 of thy cattleH504, and the flocksH6251 of thy sheepH6629, in the landH127 which he sworeH7650 to thy fathersH1 to giveH5414 thee. 14Thou shalt be blessedH1288 above all peopleH5971: there shall not be maleH6135 or female barrenH6135 among you, or among your cattleH929. 15And the LORDH3068 will take awayH5493 from thee all sicknessH2483, and will putH7760 none of the evilH7451 diseasesH4064 of EgyptH4714, which thou knowestH3045, upon thee; but will layH5414 them upon all them that hateH8130 thee. 16And thou shalt consumeH398 all the peopleH5971 which the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 shall deliverH5414 to thee; thy eyeH5869 shall have no pityH2347 upon them: neither shalt thou serveH5647 their godsH430; for that will be a snareH4170 to thee. 17If thou shalt sayH559 in thy heartH3824, These nationsH1471 are moreH7227 than I; howH349 canH3201 I dispossessH3423 them? 18Thou shalt not be afraidH3372 of them: but shalt wellH2142 rememberH2142 what the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 didH6213 to PharaohH6547, and to all EgyptH4714; 19The greatH1419 temptationsH4531 which thy eyesH5869 sawH7200, and the signsH226, and the wondersH4159, and the mightyH2389 handH3027, and the outstretchedH5186 armH2220, by which the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 brought thee outH3318: so shall the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 doH6213 to all the peopleH5971 of whom thou art afraidH3373 H6440. 20Moreover the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 will sendH7971 the hornetH6880 among them, until they that are leftH7604, and hideH5641 themselves fromH6440 thee, shall be destroyedH6. 21Thou shalt not be terrifiedH6206 ofH6440 them: for the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 is amongH7130 you, a mightyH1419 GodH410 and terribleH3372. 22And the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 will drive outH5394 thoseH411 nationsH1471 beforeH6440 thee by littleH4592 and littleH4592: thou mayestH3201 not consumeH3615 them at onceH4118, lest the beastsH2416 of the fieldH7704 increaseH7235 upon thee. 23But the LORDH3068 thy GodH430 shall deliverH5414 them to theeH6440, and shall destroyH1949 them with a mightyH1419 destructionH4103, until they are destroyedH8045. 24And he shall deliverH5414 their kingsH4428 into thy handH3027, and thou shalt destroyH6 their nameH8034 from under heavenH8064: there shall no manH376 be able to standH3320 beforeH6440 thee, until thou shalt have destroyedH8045 them. 25The graven imagesH6456 of their godsH430 shall ye burnH8313 with fireH784: thou shalt not desireH2530 the silverH3701 or goldH2091 that is on them, nor takeH3947 it to thee, lest thou shouldest be snaredH3369 in it: for it is an abominationH8441 to the LORDH3068 thy GodH430. 26Neither shalt thou bringH935 an abominationH8441 into thy houseH1004, lest thou shouldest be a cursed thingH2764 like it: but thou shalt utterlyH8262 detestH8262 it, and thou shalt utterlyH8581 abhorH8581 it; for it is a cursed thingH2764.


Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary
 1   Here is, I. A very strict caution against all friendship and fellowship with idols and idolaters. Those that are taken into communion with God must have no communication with the unfruitful works of darkness. These things they are charged about for the preventing of this snare now before them.
1. They must show them no mercy, Deut 7:1, Deut 7:2. Bloody work is here appointed them, and yet it is God's work, and good work, and in its time and place needful, acceptable, and honourable.
(1.) God here engages to do his part. It is spoken of as a thing taken for granted that God would bring them into the land of promise, that he would cast out the nations before them, who were the present occupants of that land; no room was left to doubt of that. His power is irresistible, and therefore he can do it; his promise is inviolable, and therefore he will do it. Now, [1.] These devoted nations are here named and numbered (Deut 7:1), seven in all, and seven to one are great odds. They are specified, that Israel might know the bounds and limits of their commission: hitherto their severity must come, but no further; nor must they, under colour of this commission, kill all that came in their way; no, here must its waves be stayed. The confining of this commission to the nations here mentioned plainly intimates that after-ages were not to draw this into a precedent; this will not serve to justify those barbarous laws which give no quarter. How agreeable soever this method might be, when God himself prescribed it, to that dispensation under which such multitudes of beasts were killed and burned in sacrifice, now that all sacrifices of atonement are perfected in, and superseded by, the great propitiation made by the blood of Christ, human blood has become perhaps more precious than it was, and those that have most power yet must not be prodigal of it. [2.] They are here owned to be greater and mightier than Israel. They had been long rooted in this land, to which Israel came strangers; they were more numerous, had men much more bulky and more expert in war than Israel had; yet all this shall not prevent their being cast out before Israel. The strength of Israel's enemies magnifies the power of Israel's God, who will certainly be too hard for them.
(2.) He engages them to do their part. Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them, Deut 7:2. If God cast them out, Israel must not take them in, no, not as tenants, nor tributaries, nor servants. Not covenant of any kind must be made with them, no mercy must be shown them. This severity was appointed, [1.] By way of punishment for the wickedness they and their fathers had been guilty of. The iniquity of the Amorites was now full, and the longer it had been in the filling the sorer was the vengeance when it came at last. [2.] In order to prevent the mischiefs they would do to God's Israel if they were left alive. The people of these abominations must not be mingled with the holy seed, lest they corrupt them. Better that all these lives should be lost from the earth than that religion and the true worship of God should be lost in Israel. Thus we must deal with our lusts that was against our souls; God has delivered them into our hands by that promise, Sin shall not have dominion over you, unless it be your own faults; let not us them make covenants with them, nor show them any mercy, but mortify and crucify them, and utterly destroy them.
2. They must make no marriages with those of them that escaped the sword, Deut 7:3, Deut 7:4. The families of the Canaanites were ancient, and it is probable that some of them were called honourable, which might be a temptation to the Israelites, especially those of them that were of least note in their tribes, to court an alliance with them, to ennoble their blood; and the rather because their acquaintance with the country might be serviceable to them in the improvement of it: but religion, and the fear of God, must overrule all these considerations. To intermarry with them was therefore unlawful, because it was dangerous; this very thing had proved of fatal consequence to the old world (Gen 6:2), and thousands in the world that now is have been undone by irreligious ungodly marriages; for there is more ground of fear in mixed marriages that the good will be perverted than of hope that the bad will be converted. The event proved the reasonableness of this warning: They will turn away thy son from following me. Solomon paid dearly for his folly herein. We find a national repentance for this sin of marrying strange wives, and care taken to reform (Ezra 9:1-Ezra 9:15, 10; and Neh. 13), and a New Testament caution not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, 2Cor 6:14. Those that in choosing yokefellows keep not at least within the bounds of a justifiable profession of religion cannot promise themselves helps meet for them. One of the Chaldee paraphrases adds here, as a reason of this command (Deut 7:3), For he that marries with idolaters does in effect marry with their idols.
3. They must destroy all the relics of their idolatry, Deut 7:5. Their altars and pillars, their groves and graven images, all must be destroyed, both in a holy indignation against idolatry and to prevent infection. This command was given before, Exod 23:24; Exod 34:13. A great deal of good work of this kind was done by the people, in their pious zeal (2Chr 31:1), and by good Josiah (2Chr 34:3, 2Chr 34:7), and with this may be compared the burning of the conjuring books, Acts 19:19.
II. Here are very good reasons to enforce this caution.
1. The choice which God had made of this people for his own, Deut 7:6. There was such a covenant and communion established between God and Israel as was not between him and any other people in the world. Shall they by their idolatries dishonour him who had thus honoured them? Shall they slight him who had thus testified his kindness for them? Shall they put themselves upon the level with other people, when God had thus dignified and advanced them above all people? Had God taken them to be a special people to him, and no other but them, and will not they take God to be a special God to them, and no other but him?
2. The freeness of that grace which made this choice. (1.) There was nothing in them to recommend or entitle them to this favour. In multitude of the people is the king's honour, Prov 14:28. But their number was inconsiderable; they were only seventy souls when they went down into Egypt, and, though greatly increased there, yet there were many other nations more numerous: You were the fewest of all people, Deut 7:7. The author of the Jerusalem Targum passes too great a compliment upon his nation in his reading this, You were humble in spirit, and meek above all people; quite contrary: they were rather stiff-necked and ill-natured above all people. (2.) God fetched the reason of it purely from himself, Deut 7:8. [1.] He loved you because he would love you. Even so, Father, because it seemed good in thy eyes. All that God loves he loves freely, Hos 14:4. Those that perish perish by their own merits, but all that are saved are saved by prerogative. [2.] He has done his work because he would keep his word. He has brought you out of Egypt in pursuance of the oath sworn to your fathers. Nothing in them, or done by them, did or could make God a debtor to them; but he had made himself a debtor to his own promise, which he would perform notwithstanding their unworthiness.
3. The tenour of the covenant into which they were taken; it was in short this, That as they were to God so God would be to them. They should certainly find him, (1.) Kind to his friends, Deut 7:9. The Lord thy God is not like the gods of the nations, the creatures of fancy, subjects fit enough for loose poetry, but no proper objects of serious devotion; no, he is God, God indeed, God alone, the faithful God, able and ready not only to fulfil his own promises, but to answer all the just expectations of his worshippers, and he will certainly keep covenant and mercy, that is, show mercy according to covenant, to those that love him and keep his commandments (and in vain do we pretend to love him if we do not make conscience of his commandments); and this (as is here added for the explication of the promise in the second commandment) not only to thousands of persons, but to thousands of generations - so inexhaustible is the fountain, so constant are the streams! (2.) Just to his enemies: He repays those that hate him, Deut 7:10. Note, [1.] Wilful sinners are haters of God; for the carnal mind is enmity against him. Idolaters are so in a special manner, for they are in league with his rivals. [2.] Those that hate God cannot hurt him, but certainly ruin themselves. He will repay them to their face, in defiance of them and all their impotent malice. His arrows are said to be made ready against the face of them, Pss 21:12. Or, He will bring those judgments upon them which shall appear to themselves to be the just punishment of their idolatry. Compare Job 21:19, He rewardeth him, and he shall know it. Though vengeance seem to be slow, yet it is not slack. The wicked and sinner shall be recompensed in the earth, Prov 11:31. I cannot pass the gloss of the Jerusalem Targum upon this place, because it speaks the faith of the Jewish church concerning a future state: He recompenses to those that hate him the reward of their good works in this world, that he may destroy them in the world to come.

 12   Here, I. The caution against idolatry is repeated, and against communion with idolaters: Thou shalt consume the people, and not serve their gods. Deut 7:16. We are in danger of having fellowship with the works of darkness if we take pleasure in fellowship with those that do those works. Here is also a repetition of the charge to destroy the images, Deut 7:25, Deut 7:26. The idols which the heathen had worshipped were an abomination to God, and therefore must be so to them: all that truly love God hat what he hates. Observe how this is urged upon them: Thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; such a holy indignation as this must we conceive against sin, that abominable thing which the Lord hates. They must not retain the images to gratify their covetousness: Thou shalt not desire the silver nor gold that is on them, nor think it a pity to have that destroyed. Achan paid dearly for converting that to his own use which was an anathema. Nor must they retain them to gratify their curiosity: Neither shalt thou bring it into thy house, to be hung up as an ornament, or preserved as a monument of antiquity. No, to the fire with it, that is the fittest place for it. Two reasons are given for this caution: - 1. Lest thou be snared therein (Deut 7:25), that is, Lest thou be drawn, ere thou art aware, to like it and love it, to fancy it and pay respect to it 2. Lest thou be a cursed thing like it, Deut 7:26. Those that make images are said to be like the, stupid and senseless; here they are said to be in a worse sense like them, accursed of God and devoted to destruction. Compare these two reasons together, and observe that whatever brings us into a snare brings us under a curse.
II. The promise of God's favour to them, if they would be obedient, is enlarged upon with a most affecting copiousness and fluency of expression, which intimates how much it is both God's desire and our own interest that we be religious. All possible assurance is here given them,
1. That, if they would sincerely endeavour to do their part of the covenant, God would certainly perform his part. He shall keep the mercy which he swore to thy fathers, Deut 7:12. Let us be constant in our duty, and we cannot question the constancy of God's mercy.
2. That if they would love God and serve him, and devote themselves and theirs to him, he would love them, and bless them, and multiply them greatly, Deut 7:13, Deut 7:14. What could they desire more to make them happy? (1.) He will love thee. He began in love to us (1John 4:10), and, if we return his love in filial duty, then, and then only, we may expect the continuance of it, John 14:21. (2.) He will bless thee with the tokens of his love above all people. If they would distinguish themselves from their neighbours by singular services, God would dignify them above their neighbours by singular blessings. (3.) He will multiply thee. Increase was the ancient blessing for the peopling of the world, once and again (Gen 1:28; Gen 9:1), and here for the peopling of Canaan, that little world by itself. The increase both of their families and of their stock is promised: they should neither have estates without heirs nor heirs without estates, but should have the complete satisfaction of having many children and plentiful provisions and portions for them.
3. That, if they would keep themselves pure from the idolatries of Egypt, God would keep them clear form the diseases of Egypt, Deut 7:15. It seems to refer not only to those plagues of Egypt by the force of which they were delivered, but to some other epidemical country disease (as we call it), which they remembered the prevalency of among the Egyptians, and by which God had chastised them for their national sins. Diseases are God's servants; they go where he sends them, and do what he bids them. It is therefore good for the health of our bodies to mortify the sin of our souls.
4. That, if they would cut off the devoted nations, they should cut them off, and none should be able to stand before them. Their duty in this matter would itself be their advantage: Thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee - this is the precept (Deut 7:16); and the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them - this is the promise, Deut 7:23. Thus we are commanded not to let sin reign, not to indulge ourselves in it nor give countenance to it, but to hate it and strive against it; and then God has promised that sin shall not have dominion over us (Roma 6:12, Roma 6:14), but that we shall be more than conquerors over it. The difficulty and doubtfulness of the conquest of Canaan having been a stone of stumbling to their fathers, Moses here animates them against those things which were most likely to discourage them, bidding them not to be afraid of them, Deut 7:18, and again, Deut 7:21. (1.) Let them not be disheartened by the number and strength of their enemies: Say not, They are more than I, how can I dispossess them? Deut 7:17. We are apt to think that the most numerous must needs be victorious: but, to fortify Israel against this temptation, Moses reminds them of the destruction of Pharaoh and all the power of Egypt, Deut 7:18, Deut 7:19. They had seen the great temptations, or miracles (so the Chaldee reads it), the signs and wonders, wherewith God had brought them out of Egypt, in order to his bringing them into Canaan, and thence might easily infer that God could dispossess the Canaanites (who, though formidable enough, had not such advantages against Israel as the Egyptians had; he that had done the greater could do the less), and that he would dispossess them, otherwise his bringing Israel out of Egypt had been no kindness to them. He that begun would finish. Thou shalt therefore well remember this, Deut 7:18. The word and works of God are well remembered when they are improved as helps to our faith and obedience. That is well laid up which is ready to us when we have occasion to use it. (2.) Let them not be disheartened by the weakness and deficiency of their own forces; for God will send them in auxiliary troops of hornets, or wasps, as some read it (Deut 7:20), probably larger than ordinary, which would so terrify and molest their enemies (and perhaps be the death of many to them) that their most numerous armies would become an easy prey to Israel. God plagued the Egyptians with flies, but the Canaanites with hornets. Those who take not warning by less judgments on others may expect greater on themselves. But the great encouragement of Israel was that they had God among them, a mighty God and terrible, Deut 7:21. And if God be for us, if God be with us, we need not fear the power of any creature against us. (3.) Let them not be disheartened by the slow progress of their arms, nor think that the Canaanites would never be subdued if they were not expelled the first year; no, they must be put out by little and little, and not all at once, Deut 7:22. Note, We must not think that, because the deliverance of the church and the destruction of its enemies are not effected immediately, therefore they will never be effected. God will do his own work in his own method and time, and we may be sure that they are always the best. Thus corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers by little and little. The work of sanctification is carried on gradually; but that judgment will at length be brought forth into a complete victory. The reason here given (as before, Exod 23:29, Exod 23:30) is, Lest the beast of the field increase upon thee. The earth God has given to the children of men; and therefore there shall rather be a remainder of Canaanites to keep possession till Israel become numerous enough to replenish it than that it should be a habitation of dragons, and a court for the wild beasts of the desert, Isa 34:13, Isa 34:14. Yet God could have prevented this mischief from the beasts, Lev 26:6. But pride and security, and other sins that are the common effects of a settled prosperity, were enemies more dangerous than the beasts of the field, and these would be apt to increase upon them. See Judg 3:1, Judg 3:4.