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John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 7:7

Verse 7 7.The Lord did not set his love upon you. He proves it to be of God’s gratuitous favor, that He has exalted them to such high honor, because He had passed over all other nations, and deigned to embrace them alone. For an equal distribution of God’s gifts generally casts obscurity upon them in our eyes; thus the light of the sun, our common food, and other things, which all equally enjoy, either lose their value, or, at any rate, do not obtain their due honor; whilst what is peculiar is... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 7:8

Verse 8 8.Because he would keep the oath. The love of God is here referred back from the children to the fathers; for he addressed the men of his own generation, when he said that they were therefore God’s treasure, because He loved them; now he adds that God had not just begun to love them for the first time, but that He had originally loved their fathers, when He chose to adopt Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But although he more clearly proves that the descendants of Abraham had deserved nothing... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 7:9

Verse 9 9.Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God. The verb (220) might have been as properly translated in the future tense; and, if this be preferred, an experimental knowledge, as it is called, is referred to, as if he had said that God would practically manifest how faithful a rewarder He is of His servants. But if the other reading is rather approved, Moses exhorts the people to be assured that God sits in heaven as the Judge of men, so that they may be both alarmed by the fear of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 7:10

Verse 10 10.And repayeth them that hate him. There is no mention here made of the vengeance “unto the third and fourth generation? (222) Those who expound the passage that God confers kindnesses on the wicked, whilst they are living in this world, (223) that He may at length destroy them in final perdition, wrest the words too violently. Nor is the opinion of others probable, that God repays the wicked with the reward of hatred, in His face, or anger. I therefore interpret it to mean the face... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:1-6

Judgment without mercy. This decree is to be viewed— I. AS A JUST JUDGMENT ON PEOPLES WHOSE INIQUITIES CRIED FOR VENGEANCE . The doomed nations had been long borne with ( Genesis 15:16 ). Their iniquities were of a kind and degree of enormity which imperatively called for a Divine interposition (Le 18:27, 28; Deuteronomy 9:4 ). This was the true ground of God's dealings with them, and furnishes a sufficient answer to all cavils. The destruction of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:1-11

A holy people's policy of self-preservation. We have in this paragraph a glance onward to the time when Israel's march through the wilderness would be completed, and when the people to whom God had given the land should be confronted with those who had it previously in possession. In our Homily on it let us observe— I. WE HAVE HERE POINTED OUT THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH ISRAEL WOULD TAKE POSSESSION OF THE LAND . 1. There was a great covenant promise... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:1-11

Israel's iconoclastic mission. Material idolatry is the great peril of humanity. To what corruption and misery such idolatry leads, we in Christianized England can scarcely conceive. What the history of our world would have been if that hotbed of Canaanite corruption had continued, it would be difficult to imagine. Many methods were open to God by which he might arrest that plague of vice; out of them all, his wisdom selected this , viz. to employ the Hebrews as his ministers of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:5-8

They were not only to have no fellowship with the idolaters, but they were to root out their idolatry, everting their altars and destroying their idols; and this because they were a holy people, graciously chosen of God to be his special possession—a high privilege and honor which they were to be careful not to cast away. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:6

An holy people ; a people consecrated to God, to be holy as he is holy (cf. Le 11:43-45; Deuteronomy 19:2 ; Deuteronomy 20:1-20 :26; Deuteronomy 21:6 ; Deuteronomy 23:14 ). A special people unto himself ; literally, to be to him for a people of property ( סְגֻלָּה ), a people his own, his peculiar property (cf. Exodus 19:5 ; Deuteronomy 14:2 ; Deuteronomy 26:18 ; and, for the meaning of the word, 1 Chronicles 29:3 , "mine own proper good;" Ecclesiastes 2:8 ,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:6-8

On the election of rations. We are here introduced to remarkable words touching the election of, or we might say, selection of the Jews. The leading principles of the Divine administration are here set before us. The following points may be noticed:— I. THE JEWS WERE SELECTED NOT ON ACCOUNT OF ANY NATIONAL SUPERIORITY . Moses tells them that, numerically, they were the fewest of all people. It was not numerical strength, nor national advantages of any kind,... read more

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