18 thou art not afraid of them; thou dost surely remember that which Jehovah thy God hath done to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt,
Who smote the first-born of Egypt, From man unto beast. He sent tokens and wonders into thy midst, O Egypt, On Pharaoh and on all his servants. Who smote many nations, and slew strong kings,
And He remembereth the days of old, Moses -- his people. Where `is' He who is bringing them up from the sea, The shepherd of his flock? Where `is' He who is putting in its midst His Holy Spirit? Leading by the right hand of Moses, the arm of His glory, Cleaving waters from before them, To make to Himself a name age-during. Leading them through the depths, As a horse in a plain they stumble not. As a beast into a valley goeth down, The Spirit of Jehovah causeth him to rest, So hast Thou led Thy people, To make to Thyself a glorious name. Look attentively from the heavens, And see from Thy holy and beauteous habitation, Where `is' Thy zeal and Thy might? The multitude of Thy bowels and Thy mercies Towards me have refrained themselves.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah, Awake, as `in' days of old, generations of the ages, Art not Thou it that is hewing down Rahab, Piercing a dragon! Art not Thou it that is drying up a sea, Waters of a great deep? That hath made deep places of a sea A way for the passing of the redeemed?
Be not afraid, for with thee I `am', Look not around, for I `am' thy God, I have strengthened thee, Yea, I have helped thee, yea, I upheld thee, With the right hand of My righteousness. Lo, all those displeased with thee, They are ashamed and blush, They are as nothing, yea, perish Do the men who strive with thee. Thou seekest them, and findest them not, The men who debate with thee, They are as nothing, yea, as nothing, The men who war with thee. For I, Jehovah thy God, Am strengthening thy right hand, He who is saying to thee, `Fear not, I have helped thee.' Fear not, O worm Jacob, ye men of Israel, I helped thee, an affirmation of Jehovah, Even thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
To Him smiting Egypt in their first-born, For to the age `is' His kindness. And bringing forth Israel from their midst, For to the age `is' His kindness. By a strong hand, and a stretched-out-arm, For to the age `is' His kindness. To Him cutting the sea of Suph into parts, For to the age `is' His kindness, And caused Israel to pass through its midst, For to the age `is' His kindness, And shook out Pharaoh and his force in the sea of Suph, For to the age `is' His kindness.
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `See, I have given thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother is thy prophet; thou -- thou dost speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother doth speak unto Pharaoh, and he hath sent the sons of Israel out of his land. `And I harden the heart of Pharaoh, and have multiplied My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt, and Pharaoh doth not hearken, and I have put My hand on Egypt, and have brought out My hosts, My people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments; and the Egyptians have known that I `am' Jehovah, in My stretching out My hand against Egypt; and I have brought out the sons of Israel from their midst.' And Moses doth -- Aaron also -- as Jehovah commanded them; so have they done; and Moses `is' a son of eighty years, and Aaron `is' a son of eighty and three years, in their speaking unto Pharaoh. And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, `When Pharaoh speaketh unto you, saying, Give for yourselves a wonder; then thou hast said unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast before Pharaoh -- it becometh a monster.' And Moses goeth in -- Aaron also -- unto Pharaoh, and they do so as Jehovah hath commanded; and Aaron casteth his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it becometh a monster. And Pharaoh also calleth for wise men, and for sorcerers; and the scribes of Egypt, they also, with their flashings, do so, and they cast down each his rod, and they become monsters, and the rod of Aaron swalloweth their rods; and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `The heart of Pharaoh hath been hard, he hath refused to send the people away;
He hath sent Moses His servant, Aaron whom He had fixed on. They have set among them the matters of His signs, And wonders in the land of Ham. He hath sent darkness, and it is dark, And they have not provoked His word. He hath turned their waters to blood, And putteth to death their fish. Teemed hath their land `with' frogs, In the inner chambers of their kings. He hath said, and the beetle cometh, Lice into all their border. He hath made their showers hail, A flaming fire `is' in their land. And He smiteth their vine and their fig, And shivereth the trees of their border. He hath said, and the locust cometh, And the cankerworm -- innumerable, And it consumeth every herb in their land, And it consumeth the fruit of their ground. And He smiteth every first-born in their land, The first-fruit of all their strength,
They have not remembered His hand The day He ransomed them from the adversary. When He set His signs in Egypt, And His wonders in the field of Zoan, And He turneth to blood their streams, And their floods they drink not. He sendeth among them the beetle, and it consumeth them, And the frog, and it destroyeth them, And giveth to the caterpillar their increase, And their labour to the locust. He destroyeth with hail their vine, And their sycamores with frost, And delivereth up to the hail their beasts, And their cattle to the burning flames. He sendeth on them the fury of His anger, Wrath, and indignation, and distress -- A discharge of evil messengers. He pondereth a path for His anger, He kept not back their soul from death, Yea, their life to the pestilence He delivered up. And He smiteth every first-born in Egypt, The first-fruit of the strong in tents of Ham.
To the Overseer. -- By sons of Korah. `For the Virgins.' -- A song. God `is' to us a refuge and strength, A help in adversities found most surely. Therefore we fear not in the changing of earth, And in the slipping of mountains Into the heart of the seas.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 7
Commentary on Deuteronomy 7 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
As the Israelites were warned against idolatry in Deuteronomy 6:14, so here are they exhorted to beware of the false tolerance of sparing the Canaanites and enduring their idolatry. - Deuteronomy 7:1, Deuteronomy 7:5. When the Lord drove out the tribes of Canaan before the Israelites, and gave them up to them and smote them, they were to put them under the ban (see at Leviticus 27:28), to make no treaty with them, and to contract no marriage with them. נשׁל , to draw out, to cast away, e.g., the sandals (Exodus 3:5); here and Deuteronomy 7:22 it signifies to draw out, or drive out a nation from its country and possessions: it occurs in this sense in the Piel in 2 Kings 16:6. On the Canaanitish tribes, see at Genesis 10:15. and Deuteronomy 15:20-21. There are seven of them mentioned here, as in Joshua 3:10 and Joshua 24:11; on the other hand, there are only six in Deuteronomy 20:17, as in Exodus 3:8, Exodus 3:17; Exodus 23:23, and Exodus 33:2, the Girgashites being omitted. The prohibition against making a covenant, as in Exodus 23:32 and Exodus 34:12, and that against marrying, as in Exodus 34:16, where the danger of the Israelites being drawn away to idolatry is mentioned as a still further reason for these commands. יסיר כּי , “ for he (the Canaanite) will cause thy son to turn away from behind me ,” i.e., tempt him away from following me, “ to serve other gods .” Moses says “from following me ,” because he is speaking in the name of Jehovah. The consequences of idolatry, as in Deuteronomy 6:15; Deuteronomy 4:26, etc.
The Israelites were rather to destroy the altars and idols of the Canaanites, according to the command in Exodus 34:13; Exodus 23:24.
They were bound to do this by virtue of their election as a holy nation, the nation of possession, which Jehovah had singled out from all other nations, and brought out of the bondage of Egypt, not because of its greatness, but from love to them, and for the sake of the oath given to the fathers. This exalted honour Israel was not to cast away by apostasy from the Lord. It was founded upon the word of the Lord in Exodus 19:5-6, which Moses brought to the recollection of the people, and expressly and emphatically developed. “ Not because of your multitude before all nations (because ye were more numerous than all other nations) hath Jehovah turned to you in love ( חשׁק , to bind oneself with, to hang upon a person, out of love), for ye are the littleness of all nations ” (the least numerous). Moses could say this to Israel with reference to its descent from Abraham, whom God chose as the one man out of all the world, whilst nations, states, and kingdoms had already been formed all around ( Baumgarten ). “ But because Jehovah loved you, and kept His oath which He had sworn to the fathers, He hath brought you out ,” etc. Instead of saying, He hath chosen you out of love to your fathers, as in Deuteronomy 4:37, Moses brings out in this place love to the people of Israel as the divine motive, not for choosing Israel, but for leading it out and delivering it from the slave-house of Egypt, by which God had practically carried out the election of the people, that He might thereby allure the Israelites to a reciprocity of love.
By this was Israel to know that Jehovah their God was the true God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant, showing mercy to those who love Him, even to the thousandth generation, but repaying those who hate Him to the face. This development of the nature of God Moses introduces from Exodus 20:5-6, as a light warning not to forfeit the mercy of God, or draw upon themselves His holy wrath by falling into idolatry. To this end He emphatically carries out still further the thought of retribution, by adding להאבידו , “ to destroy him ” (the hater), and וגו יאהר לא , “ He delays not to His hater (sc., to repay him); He will repay him to his face .” “ To the face of every one of them ,” i.e., that they may see and feel that they are smitten by God ( Rosenmüller ).
This energy of the grace and holiness of the faithful covenant God was a powerful admonition to keep the divine commandments.
The observance of these commandments would also bring great blessings (Deuteronomy 7:12-16). “ If ye hearken to these demands of right ” ( mishpatim ) of the covenant Lord upon His covenant people, and keep them and do them, “ Jehovah will keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which He hath sworn to thy fathers .” In עקב , for אשׁר עקב (Genesis 22:18), there is involved not only the idea of reciprocity, but everywhere also an allusion to reward or punishment (cf. Deuteronomy 8:20; Numbers 14:24). חסד was the favour displayed in the promises given to the patriarchs on oath (Genesis 22:16).
Deuteronomy 7:13-16
This mercy flowed from the love of God to Israel, and the love was manifested in blessing and multiplying the people. The blessing is then particularized, by a further expansion of Exodus 23:25-27, as a blessing upon the fruit of the body, the fruits of the field and soil, and the rearing of cattle. שׁגר , see Exodus 13:12. צאן עשׁתּרת only occurs again in Deuteronomy 28:4, Deuteronomy 28:18, Deuteronomy 28:51, and certainly signifies the young increase of the flocks. It is probably a Canaanitish word, derived from Ashtoreth (Astharte), the female deity of the Canaanites, which was regarded as the conceiving and birth-giving principle of nature, literally Veneres , i.e., amores gregis , hence soboles ( Ges. ); just as the Latin poets employ the name Ceres to signify the corn, Venus for love and sexual intercourse, and Lucina for birth. On Deuteronomy 7:14 and Deuteronomy 7:15, see Exodus 23:26. In Deuteronomy 7:15, the promise of the preservation of Israel from all diseases ( Exodus 15:26, and Exodus 23:25) is strengthened by the addition of the clause, “ all the evil diseases of Egypt ,” by which, according to Deuteronomy 28:27, we are probably to understand chiefly the malignant species of leprosy called elephantiasis, and possibly also the plague and other malignant forms of disease. In Egypt, diseases for the most part readily assume a very dangerous character. Pliny ( h. n. xxvi. 1) calls Egypt the genitrix of contagious pestilence, and modern naturalists have confirmed this (see Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses , p. 215; and Pruner, Krankheiten des Orients, pp. 460ff.). Diseases of this kind the Lord would rather bring upon the enemies of Israel. The Israelites, on the other hand, should be so strong and vigorous, that they would devour, i.e., exterminate, all the nations which their God would give into their hands (cf. Numbers 14:9). With this thought Moses reverts with emphasis to the command to root out the Canaanites without reserve, and not to serve their gods, because they would become a snare to them (see Exodus 10:7); and then in Deuteronomy 7:17-26 he carries out still further the promise in Exodus 23:27-30 of the successful subjugation of the Canaanites through the assistance of the Lord, and sweeps away all the objections that a weak faith might raise to the execution of the divine command.
Deuteronomy 7:17-19
To suppress the thought that was rising up in their heart, how could it be possible for them to destroy these nations which were more numerous than they, the Israelites were to remember what the Lord had done in Egypt and to Pharaoh, namely, the great temptations, signs, and wonders connected with their deliverance from Egypt (cf. Deuteronomy 4:34 and Deuteronomy 6:22). He would do just the same to the Canaanites.
Deuteronomy 7:20
He would also send hornets against them, as He had already promised in Exodus 23:28 (see the passage), until all that were left and had hidden themselves should have utterly perished.
Deuteronomy 7:21-23
Israel had no need to be afraid of them, as Jehovah was in the midst of it a mighty God and terrible. He would drive out the nations, but only gradually, as He had already declared to Moses in Exodus 23:30-31, and would smite them with great confusion, till they were destroyed, as was the case for example at Gibeon (Joshua 10:10; cf. Exodus 23:27, where the form המם is used instead of הוּם ), and would also deliver their kings into the hand of Israel, so that their names should vanish under the heaven (cf. Deuteronomy 9:14; Deuteronomy 25:19; and for the fulfilment, Joshua 10:22., Deuteronomy 11:12; 12:7-24). No one would be able to stand before Israel.
Deuteronomy 7:24
“ To stand before thee: ” lit., to put oneself in the face of a person, so as to withstand him. השׁמיד for השׁמיד , as in Leviticus 14:43, etc.
Deuteronomy 7:25-26
Trusting to this promise, the Israelites were to burn up the idols of the Canaanites, and not to desire the silver and gold upon them (with which the statues were overlaid), or take it to themselves, lest they should be snared in it, i.e., lest the silver and gold should become a snare to them. It would become so, not from any danger lest they should practise idolatry with it, but because silver and gold which had been used in connection with idolatrous worship was an abomination to Jehovah, which the Israelites were not to bring into their houses, lest they themselves should fall under the ban, to which all the objects connected with idolatry were devoted, as the history of Achan in Josh 7 clearly proves. For this reason, any such abomination was to be abhorred, and destroyed by burning or grinding to powder (cf. Exodus 32:20; 2 Kings 23:4-5; 2 Chronicles 15:16).