Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Chapter 7. Synopsis of the chapter
He commands the Hebrews to destroy the Chanaanites and their idols: first, because they themselves are a people chosen by God; secondly, verse 9, because their God is strong, faithful and an avenger of evil. Thirdly, verse 12, he promises them many goods if they keep the law of God. Fourthly, verse 18, he warns them not to fear the Chanaanites, though more numerous and stronger, because God will fight for the Hebrews against them.
1. When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which thou goest in to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the Hethite, and the Gergesite, and the Amorrhite, the Chanaanite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou: 2. And the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor shew mercy to them, 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son; 4. For she will turn away thy son from following me, that he may rather serve strange gods: and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled, and will quickly destroy thee. 5. But thus shall you deal with them: Destroy their altars, and break down their statues, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven things. 6. Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the earth. 7. Not because you surpass all nations in number is the Lord joined unto you, and hath chosen you, for you are the fewest of any people: 8. But because the Lord hath loved you, and kept his oath which he swore to your fathers: and hath brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, out of the hand of Pharao king of Egypt. 9. And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, he is a strong and faithful God, keeping his covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments, unto a thousand generations: 10. And repaying forthwith them that hate him, so as to destroy them, without further delay, immediately rendering to them what they deserve. 11. Keep therefore the commandments and ceremonies and judgments, which I command thee this day to do. 12. If after thou hast heard these judgments, thou keep and do them, the Lord thy God also will keep his covenant to thee, and the mercy which he swore to thy fathers: 13. And he will love thee, and multiply thee, and will bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy vintage, thy oil, and thy herds, and the flocks of thy sheep upon the land, for which he swore to thy fathers that he would give it thee. 14. Blessed shalt thou be among all people. There shall not be barren of either sex among you, neither of men nor cattle. 15. The Lord will take away from thee all sickness: and the grievous infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, he will not bring upon thee, but upon all thy enemies. 16. Thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God will give thee. Thy eye shall not spare them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, lest they be thy ruin. 17. If thou say in thy heart: These nations are more numerous than I, how shall I be able to destroy them? 18. Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao, and to all the Egyptians, 19. The great plagues which thy eyes saw, and the signs and wonders, and the strong hand, and the stretched out arm, that the Lord thy God might bring thee out: so will he do to all the people whom thou fearest. 20. Moreover the Lord thy God will send among them hornets, until he destroy and consume all that are left, and that have been able to hide themselves from thee. 21. Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God great and terrible: 22. He will consume these nations in thy sight by little and little and by degrees. Thou wilt not be able to destroy them altogether: lest perhaps the beasts of the earth should multiply against thee. 23. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them in thy sight, and shall slay them until they be utterly destroyed. 24. And he shall deliver their kings into thy hands, and thou shalt destroy their names from under heaven: no man shall be able to resist thee, till thou break them in pieces. 25. Their graven things thou shalt burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver and gold of which they are made, nor take to thee any thing thereof, lest thou offend, because it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. 26. Neither shalt thou bring anything of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema.
1. SEVEN NATIONS.—In Genesis xv, 19, ten nations of the Chanaanites are numbered, whom the Hebrews expelled: three therefore remained, or had perished before, or were mixed with the other seven, as I said on Genesis xv.
Tropologically, the seven hostile nations signify the seven capital vices; of which Cassian treats at length, Conference V, chapter xvi, and following.
2. AND SHALL HAVE DELIVERED THEM TO THEE,—in Hebrew before thee, that is, into thy power.
3. NEITHER SHALT THOU MAKE MARRIAGES WITH THEM.—Note: It is only forbidden here to contract marriages with the Chanaanites so long as they remain idolaters. For if they be converted and gathered to the people of God, they are already Jews, not Chanaanites; and so it is lawful to marry with them. For then the reason of the law, which is given in verse 4, ceases: “For she will turn away thy son from following me, that he may rather serve strange gods.” So Salmon married Rahab of Jericho, who had received the spies sent by Josue, Matthew i, 5; for Rahab became a proselyte, and took up the Jewish rites.
6. BECAUSE THOU ART A HOLY PEOPLE TO THE LORD.—“Holy,” that is, separated from those nations, and devoted to the religion of the true God.
TO BE HIS PECULIAR PEOPLE.—In Hebrew, that thou be to him a people segullah, that is, like a treasure, or a thing most dear and precious. See what was said on Exodus chapter xix, verse 5.
[FORTHWITH,] in Hebrew is, to their face, that is, while they are yet alive; as if to say, God does not defer the penalty due to the sins of the parents to the children, but inflicts it on the parents themselves while they live. The Chaldee takes this not of punishment but of the goods and rewards of certain virtues which the impious have; for it translates: repaying his enemies the goods which they do before him in their life, that he may destroy them (in the future life), and does not delay to do good to his enemies for the goods which they do before him, but in their life repays them. But this sense is destroyed by what follows: “So as to destroy them, without further delay, immediately rendering to them what they deserve.” The genuine sense is therefore of the punishment of the impious, as if to say: Beware, O Hebrews, of offending God, because as God bestows good things on them that love him unto a thousand, that is, very many generations, so he forthwith punishes them that hate him, as was plain in the punishment of those who worshipped the golden calf, Exodus xxxii, and of those who lusted after flesh meat, Numbers xi, and the punishment of Core, Dathan and Abiron, Numbers xvi, and the punishment of the murmuring of Mary, Numbers xii (1).
13. AND HE WILL BLESS THE FRUIT OF THY WOMB,—namely thy children; abundance of children was the blessing of those ancients, such as Rebecca, Genesis xxiv, 60, and Abraham, Genesis xxii, 17, and Lia, Genesis xxx, 13; and that both for its own sake: for fruitfulness is a great good, both of parents and of the commonwealth; and for the hope of the Messias to be born of their posterity. Hence among the Hebrews it was a known thing to be barren and childless; for there was a suspicion that such a one had committed some crime for which she was deprived of this common blessing of her nation, as is gathered from Genesis xxx, 23, Luke i, 25.
16. THOU SHALT CONSUME ALL THE PEOPLE (by consuming them with the sword, and plundering their riches) THAT THINE EYE SPARE THEM NOT,—that is, that thou spare none of the Chanaanite enemies in the land promised to thee, but slay all; and that first on account of their enormous crimes, chiefly lusts, as I said on Leviticus xviii, 27; second, lest they be a scandal to the Jews, as is here said, and draw them to enormous lust.
(2) For “and herds,” etc., the Hebrew has: the increase of thy oxen and the young of thy sheep, that is, the herds of oxen and sheep shall be most fruitful.
25. SILVER AND GOLD OF WHICH THEY ARE MADE.—In Hebrew it is, which is upon them, that is, with which they are covered or overlaid. For they used to gild idols of wood or brass, and to cover them with gold or silver, to procure for them ornament and reverence (2).
20. AND HORNETS.—Of these hornets I spoke on Exodus xxiii, 28 and Josue, last chapter, verse 12. 21. THE LORD THY GOD IS IN THE MIDST OF THEE,—is with thee, BECAUSE (that) IT IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD THY GOD,—it is abominable before thy God.
22. THOU WILT NOT BE ABLE TO DESTROY THEM ALTOGETHER,—that is, at once, at the same time. See what was said on Exodus xxiii, 29 (1).
24. THOU SHALT DESTROY THEIR NAMES,—thou shalt destroy them with all their race, that their names remain not in their children, but their whole memory be blotted out.
26. LEST THOU BECOME AN ANATHEMA, LIKE IT.—In Hebrew, lest thou become cherem, that is, a thing devoted to destruction, to be cut off and brought to nothing with the whole family, as is the idol itself; for this ought to be cut off and annihilated. On cherem see what was said on Leviticus last chapter, 28.