Bible Commentaries

Deuteronomy 7:1-26

1When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations [heathen] before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater [more numerous] and mightier than thou; 2And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, [and] thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them,¹ thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his Song of Solomon, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy Song of Solomon 4For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may [and they shall] serve other gods: so [and] will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly 5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, [their (image) statues] and cut 6 down their groves,² and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above [out from] all people that are upon the face [surface] of the earth 7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep [hold, preserve] the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bond-men, from 9 the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know [So consider, judge] therefore that [for] the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand [the thousandth] generations: 10And repayeth them that hate him to ³ their face, to destroy them; he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, [commandment] and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them 12 Wherefore it shall come to pass [And it shall be for a reward],⁴ if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: 13And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will [and will] also bless the fruit of thy womb [body] and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks [and the increase of thy flocks]⁵ of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee 14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle 15 And the Lord will take away [hold far off] from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee: [and] but will lay them upon all them that hate thee 16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver ⁶ thee; thine eyes shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be [is] a snare unto thee 17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations [heathen] are more than I, how can I dispossess them? 18Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; 19The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, [the hand, the strong] and the stretched-out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of [before] 20whom thou art afraid.⁷ Moreover [And also] the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves [and those hidden] from thee,⁸ be destroyed 21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible 22 And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once [quickly], lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee 23 But the Lord thy God shall deliver them ⁹ unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be [shall be] destroyed 24 And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man 25 be able to stand before thee, until thouhave [hast] destroyed them. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them [wherewith they are covered] nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God 26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest [and] thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest¹⁰ it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Deuteronomy 7:1-11. The seventh chap. continues the exposition of the first command in relation to the idolaters and idolatry in Canaan, while chap6 considers it only in its application to Israel. Deuteronomy 7:1 parallel to Deuteronomy 6:10. There the secularization and apostacy in consequence of the possession is in view, here the same also in the occupation with reference to its previous possessors. Many, indeed, more numerous than thou, because, as the number itself shows, seven against one. The number seven ( Acts 13:19) is certainly designed, since elsewhere11, 10, 6, 5, are all given. Over against the people of the covenant number (7), the one covenant people, the seven heathen nations of Canaan are set as its caricature1) The Hittites, who are at times referred to as the Canaanites generally, dwelling upon the mountains of Ephraim and Judah unto Hebron2) The Girgashites living in the west Jordan country; nothing more definitely is known3) The Amorites. Comp. upon Deuteronomy 1:4; Deuteronomy 1:7; Deuteronomy 1:19 sq4). The Canaanites, in the narrower sense, as those in the lowlands westerly upon the great sea, easterly in the Arabah5) The Perizzites (appellatively, Deuteronomy 3:5) in distinction from the mercantile tribes dwelling in the lowlands, the husbandmen and herdsmen of the elevated plains6) The Hivites in the region from Sichem, Gibeon, to Hermon7) The Jebusites in Jerusalem (Jebus) and its environs. Mightier (comp. Deuteronomy 4:38) in the same sense as more numerous, viz., when taken together. Deuteronomy 7:2; Deuteronomy 1:8; Deuteronomy 2:33-34; Deuteronomy 3:3. כָּרַת with לְ is to make a covenant for the good of any one. Deuteronomy 7:3. This would involve alliances, and lead to acts of favor ( Exodus 23:32 sq.; Deuteronomy 34:12 sq.; 16; Genesis 24:3). Deuteronomy 7:4. It is not therefore national hatred, but the danger to Israel with respect to the first command. As the me is clear, since Moses speaks in the name of Jehovah, it is evident that so he will refers to the heathen father-in-law of the specified nations. Comp. further Deuteronomy 6:15; Deuteronomy 4:26. Deuteronomy 7:5. ( Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:13). Images, i.e., statues, pillars of Baal, as the highest male deity (the sun) as the fructifying power of nature. Groves of Astarte (אֲשֵׁרָח the weaker form) the goddess of love and fruitfulness (Venus), the moon. As the מַצֵּבוֹת were stone pillars, so the אֲשֵׁרִים were neither green trees nor oaks, but wooden pillars, which appear to have been erected beneath them. The reasons for this conduct follow. Deuteronomy 7:6. 1) From the national character of Israel: קָדוֹשׁ לַיהוָֹה set apart to Jehovah, and thus holy, but the idea here is not of freedom from sin, as also in Exodus 19:6. According to this priestly title it has the task of the banning, or curse, but also the duty not to pollute itself religiously, or to fall under the curse ( Deuteronomy 7:26), Leviticus 11:44. 2) From the choice of Israel ( Deuteronomy 4:47). 3) From the destination of Israel to be above all people in which the choice reaches its end. סְגֻלָּה is a property viewed as a sure possession (as נַחֲלָה4:20, an inheritance) from סָגָל to acquire or gain ( 1 Peter 2:9, εἰς περιποίησιν). Deuteronomy 7:7. Such a preeminence has its ground not in anything external, as in the numerical importance and greatness of a people, in which case to be above all would imply that they were more numerous, if not than all taken together, still than any one of the all. That Israel was as the stars ( Deuteronomy 1:10; Deuteronomy 10:22) was merely the fulfilment of the promise of God to the fathers, a promise according to grace, not implying any merit or pre-eminence on the part of the people. For ye were, sq, is not to be pressed, as if each of the other nations surpassed Israel in numbers and natural strength ( Deuteronomy 7:1), but that while in the promise of grace the sands of the sea-shore ( Genesis 22:13) are not sufficient to correspond with the greatness, of Israel, it appears in nature as a drop in the ocean, as set over against the nations generally, or even against those directly in view here ( Luke 12:32). חַשַׁק inclination, delight, pleasure in any one ( Genesis 34:8; Isaiah 38:17). [Bib. Com.: “He chose to himself Israel, when as yet but a single family, or rather a single person—Abraham.” So also Wordsworth.—A. G.]. Deuteronomy 7:8. מֵאַהֲבַת, comp. Deuteronomy 1:27. As in Deuteronomy 4:37, with reference to the fathers, the choice rests upon love, so here Deuteronomy 7:7 in direct reference to Israel itself, but here also Deuteronomy 7:8, the realization of this choice in leading them from Egypt; the reference to the fathers is introduced through the faithfulness and truth of Jehovah. ( Luke 1:73; 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16). Comp. Deuteronomy 3:24; Deuteronomy 4:34. Deuteronomy 7:9; Deuteronomy 4:35. Jehovah the true and faithful God; the latter in a twofold respect: 1) keeping covenant and mercy through which alone the establishment of the covenant (comp. upon Deuteronomy 4:13. Doct. and Eth13), was confirmed, Deuteronomy 5:10; Exodus 20:6; Exodus 20:2) Deuteronomy 7:10 : And repayeth, sq, by which Deuteronomy 5:9; Exodus 20:5, are illustrated. To his face individually, each one of them, like the expression upon his own head. [Bib. Com.: “Punishes His enemies in their own proper persons. The phrase variously interpreted. ‘Openly,’ Grotius; ‘instantly,’ Vulgate, Vater; ‘while still alive,’ Rosenmuller.”—A. G.]. The repetition guards what is said against the doubt, that God in opposition to His faithfulness, delays to punish, because the punishing brings no gain, pays nothing. If He thus delays, it is upon other grounds entirely, 2 Peter 3:9; Romans 2:4. Deuteronomy 7:11; Deuteronomy 6:17; Deuteronomy 5:1.

2. Deuteronomy 7:12-16. While in Deuteronomy 4:31 a relation was foreseen for a warning in which Israel falls into disobedience, and Jehovah alone keeps the covenant, here Deuteronomy 7:12 for their encouragement a better case, the only right case, is selected, in which the people hear and obey, since it does these judgments (comp. upon Deuteronomy 4:1) i.e., whatever is right, in all relations, according to this commandment, and the statutes ( Deuteronomy 7:11). In this case they should receive as a reward (עֵקֶב, Isaiah 5:23), with the most emphatic prominence, whatever in Deuteronomy 7:9 is presented, barely as the truth of Jehovah corresponding to the love of Israel. Others render merely therefore, because, ( Deuteronomy 8:20; Numbers 14:24) or, And this is the result, if ye will, sq, so Jehovah will keep, sq. Deuteronomy 7:13. Inwardly love, outwardly enlargement, the medium of the blessing. עַשְׁתְרֹת ( Deuteronomy 28:4; Deuteronomy 28:18; Deuteronomy 28:51) Veneres Astarte, appellative as Ceres of the grain, Lucina of the birth. (Knobel). In connection with שְגַר, used perhaps purposely with contempt. Deuteronomy 7:14. The wish becomes now a formal promise. Deuteronomy 7:15. Connects with the solemnity of the promise, the averting of all that is opposed to the blessing of life. The generally expressed All sicknesses is now specialized by the recollection of Egyptian diseases ( Deuteronomy 28:27; Deuteronomy 28:60). The transitive thought to the special Egyptian diseases in this connection, if it is not to be viewed as a mere supposition, must be, in the memory of Israel, the historical plagues.( Exodus 15:16). For the peculiarities as to the diseases of Egypt, comp. Hengstenberg. The Books of Moses, p225 sq. [Pliny, as quoted in the Bible Com, calls Egypt the mother of most diseases. Wagner, Nat. Hist, of Man, a focus of contagious sickness of all history. “It is not without significance that Egypt, which represents in Scripture the world as contrasted with the Church, should thus lie under the power of disease and death.”—A. G.]. Thus the plague scarcely ever ceasing in Alexandria; eye diseases are very frequent in Egypt; more recently the cholera came from thence. The plagues hold the chief place among the evil diseases be falling the Egyptians in reference to Israel, so they should be put upon all those hating thee, and thus the people of God are literally placed parallel with their God (comp. Deuteronomy 7:10; Deuteronomy 5:9)—they hate thee because they hated Me. Hence all that Deuteronomy 7:16, taking up the thread from the beginning of the chapter, inculcates anew upon Israel, becomes a divine judgment: Comp. Numbers 24:8; Numbers 14:9. ( Deuteronomy 31:17). “The affections or inclinations of the heart are attributed to the eyes of those in whom they appear or may be seen” (Berl. Bib.). Comp. Deuteronomy 13:8; Deuteronomy 19:13, etc. Snare. The image of the hunt, draught-net, snare, not used so much with reference to the ensnaring in sin, as rather to the imprisonment in the like judgments with these which Israel should execute, partly as divine judgments, partly as the natural nemesis, (the self-destructive power of evil), Hupfeld upon Psalm 9:16. Comp. Exodus 10:7. הוּא elsewhere specially the serving other gods ( Deuteronomy 7:4), but since this is only the result of sparing the people, it is generally the failure to carry out the divine command to consume them.

3. Deuteronomy 7:17-26. In the statement, Deuteronomy 7:7, humbling all self-righteous thoughts, according to which faith alone could be spoken of in opposition to presumption and fleshly boldness, there might be also in opposition to faith, cowardice, the prudence of, fear, which would prevent obedience ( Deuteronomy 1:28). Hence Deuteronomy 7:17 sq, in thy heart, because the heart is desponding as it is over-confident, ( Jeremiah 17:9). Deuteronomy 7:18 ( Deuteronomy 1:21), Deuteronomy 1:30; Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 6:22. Deuteronomy 7:19.—הַ of which I have so many times already spoken reminding thee. Deuteronomy 7:20. Moreover also the hornet (הַצִרְעָח [Keil] with the article collective as a species or kind), i.e., before thou consumest, destroyest them ( Deuteronomy 7:16) and thus evidently to be understood as, Deuteronomy 2:25, of the terrors of God, which should go before Israel (Knobel) with which also Joshua 24:12, Psalm 44:2) fully agree. For in distinction from Israel’s sword and bow, there is something truly wrought by God, and this is then emblematized under the more simple and sometimes insignificant form, the more mighty the work is. In the plagues in Egypt the small animals served as the hosts of God. The Song of Solomon -called large wasps are feared by man and beast from the painfulness of their sting. Armies have been seriously molested or destroyed by hornets. &Aelig;lian XI:28. But even in Exodus 23:28 (to which there is a reference here), the hornets are not mentioned “as peculiarly fitted to excite alarm,” as Schultz thinks, but—and this may serve to explain the article—as symbolizing the terrors there described in Deuteronomy 7:27. Thus the terrors of God should so clear the way among the nations, that Israel should have merely to glean; they would already, and indeed utterly, perish before the terrors of the coming events.—Before thee shows that Israel should be active as the instrument which God uses. Deuteronomy 7:21; Deuteronomy 1:29; Deuteronomy 1:42 ( Deuteronomy 31:17). Deuteronomy 7:22. ( Deuteronomy 7:1), as Exodus 23:29 sq. ( 2 Kings 17:25 sq.). Thus Moses indeed strikes another tone, Joshua 23:13; comp. Judges 2:3; Judges 3:1. Deuteronomy 7:23; Deuteronomy 2:33; Deuteronomy 2:15. מְהוּמָה, destruction effected inwardly through fear ( Deuteronomy 7:20), outwardly through sicknesses, the sword, and the like. Deuteronomy 7:24; Deuteronomy 2:30; Deuteronomy 3:3. The utter destruction of the Canaanites which is described, Deuteronomy 7:23, by the instruments, the way and manner generally, is here presented by the objects which are more especially concerned, their kings ( Joshua 10:22 sq.), and the nations (names), ( Deuteronomy 25:19). After such a destruction of the persons, it only remains to speak of their affairs or possessions, Deuteronomy 7:25. A pure separation. Thou shalt not desire ( Deuteronomy 5:18), much less take or bring into thy house, in order to preserve ( Deuteronomy 7:26). Coverings, ornaments, and the like are intended. Comp. upon Deuteronomy 7:16. Israel must share the opposition of God to idols; otherwise it will be betrayed into that which has been used in the service of idols, and be involved in the judgment of God upon it. Deuteronomy 7:26. Faithfulness in little things proves their love to Jehovah; the sacred zeal for Him should never grow cold, and degenerate into indifference toward anything connected with the Canaanitish idolatrous service. What is abomination to Jehovah is a curse for Israel. The want of an inward consecration to God in thought leads necessarily to an outward consecration to God, through destruction. כָּמֹהוּ, the masculine, refers to כּסף וזהב ( Deuteronomy 7:25) as הוא also. שִׁקֵץ, Levitical impurities, Leviticus 11.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. For the Bann (Cherem) comp. upon Deuteronomy 1:6 to Deuteronomy 4:40. Doct. and Eth3,9.

2. As to the rigorous destruction of the Canaanites here commanded, two things are to be observed1. That it was a judicial act on the part of God. The iniquity of the Amorites, which was not yet full, Genesis 15:16, was now full. God had patiently endured their inquities, He had given them space for repentance, He had sent among them the patriarchs, whose worship was a constant testimony to the true God, had warned by the solemn judgments upon the cities of the plain, and they had resisted all. The times of retribution for these nations had come, as it came to the world before the flood, as it came to Sodom and Gomorrah. He who used the forces and elements of the natural world in carrying out His judgments in other cases, now uses as His instruments the Israelites. But2. It is clear here that the Israelites acted by an express and definite divine command. They were not actuated by desire of conquest or gain, or by worldly ambition. This was expressly and carefully guarded against in the very grant of the land made to them and in the fact that they were strictly enjoined to come to all other nations than the dwellers in Canaan with offers of peace. They were farther warned, and that repeatedly, and in the most impressive way, that a like sin on their part would involve a like destruction. There were also great moral ends to be secured with respect to Israel to guard it from the contamination of heathenism, and with respect to all men to set forth, as in a rehearsal, the retributive process which is going forward now in the history of nations, and which shall reach its final act and consummation when Christ shall judge all whose iniquities are full. See Hengstenberg, Auth. II:471–507; Graves on the Pentateuch; Kalisch370.—A. G.]

3. Since the Canaanites, Deuteronomy 6:19 (elsewhere also), are called the enemies of Israel, chap7 inculcates with sacred earnestness from its beginning to its close their entire and thorough eradication ( Deuteronomy 7:6), states it as a principle of theocratic hostility, whose realization for the people of God comes out in the Song of Solomon -called imprecatory psalms. In connection with the moral aversion and horror which Israel truly in this following after God should feel towards the idolatrous heathenism, with a practical energy passing down into the individual life, there is a hatred for the sake of Jehovah in the interests of His honor, which a true love for God gives. The former corresponds to the nature of God and true piety, as well as the latter. If we can say in a social way: “The friend of my friend is himself my friend,” how much more upon the theocratic ground must the enemy of God be Israel’s enemy! The distinction between private hatred, and hatred for the sake of God, is hardly sufficient here, since piety can never be a pure abstraction from its subject; but the more vital it is, the more subjective it will be; the interests of God are ever my interests. As the reproaches of Christ over the cities, in which the most of His mighty works were done, because they had not repented; as His repeated woe over the Pharisees; as the curse of Peter on Simon Magus; as the well-known utterance of Paul in regard to the coppersmith Alexander, are New Testament instances, so the Heid. Cat. Q52, in reference to the coming of Christ, comforts itself with this: “that He will cast all His and my enemies (i.e. those who are at the same time mine) into eternal perdition” But any misunderstanding between the hatred flowing out of love to God, and the hatred springing from selfishness, is prevented by the distinction between after the Spirit and after the flesh. Christ utters the fundamental theocratic position after the Spirit, Matthew 5:43 : “Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy; But His “I say unto you,” sq. ( Deuteronomy 7:44) goes through the whole sermon on the mount, and bears especially against the carnal interpretation and use of the fundamental position understood alone after the Spirit, as it was generally known in the tradition of the Scribes and Pharisees, and almost alone received as valid ( Acts 10:28). They understood the theoretical fundamentalposition given out of love to Jehovah, as applying over and beyond the historical letter; the hatred against the Canaanites. against their idolatrous service, as a required national hate generally. That was spirit indeed, but the spirit of the flesh (political egoism). Then they applied it in the private life from the stand-point of the letter, and thence much more still to other ends than those intended, than to the heathen. This was the letter of the flesh (Dogmatic Egoism). As, however, Christ, Matthew 5:44, turns Himself against this unloosing on the one hand, and this ossifying on the other, of this fundamental, theocratic position, so also His but I against that “which has been said,” is unmistakable also after the Spirit. The spirit of the New Covenant differs therein from the sprit of the Old Covenant, that according to Luke 9:56, “the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (comp5:54, 55), [i.e. against the spirit of the Old Covenant, as it was understood and carried out by the Jews, or even as the disciples, in the case quoted, conceived of that Spirit. There is no real distinction in spirit between the Old and the New.—A. G.] The special grace for Israel has become general, and grace prevails over judgment. Thus the love of God is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given unto us, and love bears all, believes all, and hopes all things.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Deuteronomy 7:1 sq. Luther: “After he has made the heart right, which then becomes a spring of works, then he directs the hand with the other members, that they should destroy, sq. Our sword is the word of God, with which the spiritual people fight and kill, i.e. convert the heathen from their error, in which they have lived.” Calvin: “Therefore it is better for us to sunder connections, than by intimacy with the enemies of God to be drawn by their allurements away from Him; for they will ever strive by all possible arts to make division between us and God. While we live among unbelievers we cannot escape the common corruption; but when we seek close communion with them, we throw open the door to Satan.” Berl. Bib.: “Thus also the New Testament forbids intimacies with vicious men, who are living as the heathen,” 1 Corinthians 5:9; 2 Corinthians 6:14. Deuteronomy 7:3. Tub. Bib.: “Marriage with an unbeliever, or an infidel is most dangerous, and to be counselled against.” Deuteronomy 7:4. Berl. Bib.: “Think not that thou wilt convert them, through thy intimacy; rather they will lead thee astray. Gradually one accommodates himself to their works, and does the same.” The holiness of God’s people, not a natural quality (nature rather inclines to the Canaanites, hence Deuteronomy 5:1 sq.), but their destination in the choice of God. Deuteronomy 7:7. Luther: That they might not fulfil in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit, and be puffed up with their works after they had destroyed the idols and the godless, as the flesh is wont to be, He comes and takes away all glory and confidence in their works, as if he had said: God uses not your sword, because your strength is necessary to Him; but the glory of the work is this, that He overthrows so great a number with you who are so few. If He wished to overcome them with a great multitude, He would not have chosen you, but another nation greater than you.” Deuteronomy 7:8. Luther:” And this is the simple and perfect understanding of the first command, that we have nothing through our own merits, but have and hold all things through His mercy and love alone, and so are enabled to live for His glory.” Starke: “Dear friend, if the Jews and their fathers could not earn from God the promised land which was so small, belonging to earth and time, how can we hope to earn as a debt heaven and eternal life?” The design of the choice; separation from the world ( Deuteronomy 7:6), the humbling of the selfish ego ( Deuteronomy 7:7), the praise of the Lord’s grace and faithfulness ( Deuteronomy 7:8). Deuteronomy 7:10. Schultz: “The judgments of God are often delayed, but sure.” Retribution even in the present time is clear from numerous cases, is taught under the Old Covenant, and wins clearer light in the New.” Deuteronomy 7:12. Luther: “It is preventient mercy, through which we are chosen, called and justified, without any works of ours; it is following grace when we, through our works, become sure of our part in that preventient grace, and so enjoy it.” Deuteronomy 7:13. Love, blessing, increase, the three-fold tone of divine grace. Deuteronomy 7:14. Cramer: “The divine blessing profitable to all things, sq, 1 Timothy 4:8. Thus God allures us to obedience through kindness.” Deuteronomy 7:16. Snare is it to thee: a word in season for every undecided, every half-way heart, every self-confident one. Consolation in times of sadness ( Deuteronomy 7:17). from what God has done ( Deuteronomy 7:18), from what we ourselves have experienced ( Deuteronomy 7:19), from the word and promise of God which go beyond our experience ( Deuteronomy 7:19 sq.). Deuteronomy 7:20. Luther: “The hornets signify, that the godless should be driven away through the terrors of the law, and cannot conceal themselves, etc. It was not in the power of the Israelites to send the hornets before them, neither is it in ours to terrify any godless one; but God troubles and terrifies the heart, Acts 9:6; Acts 2:37.” Deuteronomy 7:21. He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world ( 1 John 4:4); therefore fear not; He is rather to be feared. Deuteronomy 7:22. Luther: After the god-lessness of the heart is overcome, the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit remains ( Romans 7; Galatians 5), that we should not be proud or lifted up. The Jebusites, Canaanites and Philistines are left within the flesh to tempt us, and to call us to the exercise of spiritual weapons. Usually they are cruel and raging passions, carnal security, vain glory, pride and idleness.” Luther: “The house of the conscience should be kept pure, for there is nothing more tender or sensitive.” Little children, keep yourselves from idols, 1 John 5:21.—Berl. Bib.: “Is everything under the curse an abomination, so also all who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 16:22.”

Footnotes