신명기 Chapter 7

Translation: ESV

1

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you,

Key Message

Because God himself drives out the strong enemies, we must advance without fear.

▸God promises to lead Israel into the Promised Land and drive out the seven nations.

God promises to lead Israel into the Promised Land and drive out the seven nations. These seven nations were powerful peoples inhabiting the Canaanite region, more numerous and stronger than Israel. It is declared in advance that only God's power will make this victory possible.

Related Verses

"When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,
2

and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.

Key Message

For the sake of spiritual purity, a thorough resolve not to compromise with sin is necessary.

▸When God hands the Canaanites over to Israel, God commands complete destruction and forbids making any covenant with them.

3

You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

Key Message

The purity of faith must be protected starting from the most intimate relationships.

▸Intermarriage with foreign nations is strictly forbidden.

4

for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

Key Message

A small compromise with sin can ultimately lead to complete departure from God.

▸The reason for the prohibition of intermarriage is clearly stated.

5

But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved idols with fire.

Key Message

The instruments of sin must be completely removed, leaving no possibility of being reused.

▸God commands the complete destruction of the religious symbols of Canaan.

6

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Key Message

God's election is both a privilege and a calling to a holy life.

▸It is declared that Israel has been chosen as a holy people.

7

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,

Key Message

God's love is pure grace that cannot be explained by worldly standards.

▸It is made clear that Israel's election was not because of their size or strength.

8

but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Key Message

Salvation flows from God's love and covenant faithfulness, and is unrelated to our merit.

▸Two motivations for the Exodus are revealed.

9

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Key Message

God's steadfast love is an enduring blessing that continues to believers' descendants for generations.

▸God's faithfulness is expressed as steadfast love extending to a thousand generations.

10

and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.

Key Message

God's justice will surely be realized, and the judgment for sin cannot be escaped.

▸A warning that swift repayment comes to those who hate God.

11

You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

Key Message

Knowledge and love of God must necessarily manifest in concrete obedience.

▸Knowledge of God's love and justice must lead to obedience.

12

"And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers.

Key Message

Obedience is the key that opens the door of covenant blessing.

▸The covenantal blessing resulting from obedience is promised.

13

He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.

Key Message

The life of one who loves and obeys God overflows with blessing in every area.

▸The specific blessings resulting from obedience are enumerated.

14

You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock.

Key Message

God's blessing fills all areas of life that have deficiency and lack.

▸Israel's blessing will surpass that of all peoples, and there will be no barrenness.

15

And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.

Key Message

Those who are under God's protection need not fear what the enemy fears.

▸God's blessing extends even to the realm of health.

16

And you shall consume all the peoples that the LORD your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

Key Message

Compromise with foreign religion is never neutral—it will inevitably become a trap.

▸God commands thorough conquest of the Canaanite nations and not serving their gods.

17

"If you say in your heart, 'These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?'

Key Message

Fear is a natural response, but faith enables one to go beyond fear.

▸God speaks in advance about what to do when fear and doubt arise.

18

you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt,

Key Message

Remembering what God has done in the past is the power to overcome present fear.

▸The remedy for fear is memory.

19

the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So will the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

Key Message

The God of yesterday is the same today, and his power is likewise unchanged.

▸Recalling the miracles of the Exodus, this verse assures that the same God will also act in the Canaanite conquest.

20

Moreover, the LORD your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed.

Key Message

God brings victory through unexpected means as well.

▸God promises to use hornets (a swarm of wasps) to destroy even those who flee and hide.

21

You shall not be in dread of them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.

Key Message

When we know that God is in our midst, we can overcome any other fear.

▸This is the concluding exhortation concerning fear.

22

The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you.

Key Message

God's gradual guidance is a wise plan, and we must trust his timing.

▸It is explained that the Canaanite nations will be driven out gradually rather than all at once.

23

But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.

Key Message

When God throws the enemies into confusion, Israel will win the victory.

▸God promises that he will throw the enemies into great confusion and bring them to destruction.

24

And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.

Key Message

No human power can stand before God's promise.

▸God promises that the kings of Canaan will be handed over to Israel and their names will be completely erased.

25

The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

Key Message

One must not touch what God considers abominable, however valuable it may appear.

▸God commands burning the idols and not taking even the gold or silver covered on them.

26

And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.

Key Message

Holiness requires thorough separation from what is abominable.

▸A warning is given that bringing an idol or anything related to idols into one's home in itself contaminates that home and makes it an object of destruction.