In Deut 7.1-26 we begin in v 1-5 with the task of Israel. They were to destroy the seven nations in the land and destroy their Asherim and sacred pillars. The names of these nations are the same enemies (or spirits) we face today, so let’s go over them briefly. The Hittite means “terror” and it refers to those who put an extreme manifestation of fear on you (phobias, despair, bad dreams, depression etc). The Girgashite means “stranger” meaning those who are not with you and dwell on the things they can see. They are analytical and base their lives on the pros and cons of what they can understand. The Amorite means a “sayer or talker” and they are the one talk all the time but there is no action. They tend to exalt themselves and are fame seekers, and so the word is also associated with mountains. The Canaanite means “merchant” and they are those who are traffickers and want to make money off of you for religious reasons. They are concerned with money and prosperity, selling their latest CD’s and videos and want to be paid to teach you. The Perizzites are “rustic squatters” or “belonging to a village” and refer to people who “squat” in our congregations and bible studies but shouldn’t be there, and they have limited visie “livers” who think they have spiritual life but do not. Hivites like to “live it up.” The word is related to the word “Chava” meaning “mother of the living.” The Jebusite means “trodden down” or to “thresh” and are those who trample the things of God like the commandments, the Sabbath and other people. They try to make these things appear small or of no value. The task of defeating these nations was never fully completed by Israel and they were eventually led astray by them. Some say that God does not do Deut 7.10-11 anymore. It says, “but repays those who hate him to their faces, to destroy them; he will not delay with him who hates him, he will repay him to his face. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments (mitzvot) and the statutes (chukim) and the judgments (mishpatim) which I am commanding you today.” In Deut 7.13-26 we learn that God will bless Israel as they listen, keep and do the commandments in the Torah.
v 1…”When the Lord your God shall bring you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and shall clear away many nations before you, the Hittites (terror) and the Girgashites (stranger) and the Amorites (sayer) and the Canaanites (merchants) and the Perizzites (rustic squatter) and the Hivites (liver) and the Jebusites (trodden down-see the introduction above for the spiritual meaning of these nations), seven nations greater and stronger that you,
v 2…and when the Lord your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them (men, women, children; consider them “cherem” their cup of iniquity was full and they must not come near Israel-Gen 15.16). You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor (mercy) to them.
v 3…Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them (any of the seven nations unless they became a proselyte, like Uriah the Hittite for instance), you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.
v 4…For they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will quickly destroy you.
v 5…But thus you shall do to them, you shall tear down their sacred pillars (“mazavot”-pillars of Baal or obelisks, etc), and hew down their Asherim (sacred trees, pole that stood next to an altar with male, female or both, sexual imagery-2 Kings 17.10; a pagan “tree of knowledge”) and burn them with fire.
v 6…For you are a holy people (set apart with a kedusha) to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession (special, valued) out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
v 7…The Lord did not set his love (“chashak” meaning desire) on you nor choose you because you were more in number that any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples (a small percentage out of all humanity),
v 8…but because the Lord loved (“ahav” meaning an appetite for them; he just does) you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand, and redeemed you (by the blood of the lamb) from the house of slavery, from the hand (power) of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
v 9…Know (yada-feel the force of spiritual knowledge) therefore that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and his lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love (“ahav”-by action and obedience) him and keep his commandments;
v 10…but repays those who hate him to their faces, to destroy them; he will not delay with him who hates him (by not being obedient to his commandments in action). He will repay him to his face.
v 11…Therefore, you shall keep the commandment (mitzvah) and the statutes (chukim) and the judgments (mishpatim).
v 12…Then it shall come about, because (Hebrew “ekev” and is related to “ya’akov” or “heel of” and we can see the relationship; often we trample beneath our “heels” the commandments, especially the “least” of them in Matt 5.19, but soon this leaps to the big ones) you listen to these judgments and keep and do them (to “keep” the commandments means to incorporate the things of God into our lives and to stay true to the blueprint (tavnit) God has given for a specific thing to be done at a specific time, at a specific place by specific people; please keep this definition in mind whenever we use the word “keep” or “observe”), that the Lord your God will keep with you his covenant which he swore to your forefathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; it is not possible to divorce ourselves from all the things that have happened before. If you believe that your spiritual life is based on your relationship with God and not based on these things that have happened before, you are mistaken; our spiritual inheritance is based on these covenants).
Deut 7.13-26 tells us that God will bless Israel as they listen, keep and do the Torah.
v 13…And he will love you and bless you and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your forefathers to give you.
v 14…You shall be blessed above all peoples, there shall be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle.
v 15…And the Lord will remove from you all sickness and he will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt (Egypt was known for its diseases-Deut 28.27, 60) which you have known, but he will lay them on all who hate you.
v 16…And you shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them (Deut 20.17), neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you (and bring ruin).
v 17…If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them?’
v 18…you shall not be afraid of them (don’t go by sight, but what God has already told you), you shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt;
v 19…the great trials which your eyes saw (Deut 4.34, 29.2) and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
v 20…Moreover, the Lord your God will send hornets (raiders, desert bands, literal hornets) against them until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish.
v 21…You shall not dread them, for the Lord your God is in your midst (the Mishkan), a great and awesome God.
v 22…And the Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, lest wild beasts grow too numerous for you (He will clear the land like a hornet, it will come in waves. There are three basic reasons why. His purpose is to give the people time to know him and repent. Second, he is greater than their gods. Third, delivering the people from wild animals if large areas of land were to become desolate all at once; this is what the Lord does in our lives. Victories, knowledge and insight don’t ome all at one. He teaches us “little by little”).
v 23…But the Lord your God shall deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.
v 24…And he will deliver their kings into your hand so that you shall make their name perish from under heaven, no man will be able stand before you until you have destroyed them.
v 25…The graven images of the gods you are to burn with fire, you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it (by God’s judgment), for it is an abomination to the Lord your God (not only the idol, but the gold and silver; don’t derive any benefit from it).
v 26…And you shall not bring an abomination (an idolatrous image) into your house, and become a devoted thing (cherem/banned) like it; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is a devoted (cherem/banned) thing.
Leave a Reply