Deuteronomy 7:1-2

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:1-11

Here is, I. A very strict caution against all friendship and fellowship with idols and idolaters. Those that are taken into communion with God must have no communication with the unfruitful works of darkness. These things they are charged about for the preventing of this snare now before them. 1. They must show them no mercy, Deut. 7:1, 2. Bloody work is here appointed them, and yet it is God's work, and good work, and in its time and place needful, acceptable, and honourable. (1.) God here... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:1

When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it ,.... The land of Canaan they were just now going into to take possession of; their introduction into which is here, as in many other places, ascribed not to themselves, or their leaders, but to the Lord as their covenant God: and hath cast out many nations before thee ; even all that were in it, the seven following: the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:2

And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee ,.... Into their hands: thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them ; men, women, and children; which was ordered not merely to make way and room for the people of Israel to inherit their land, but as a punishment for capital crimes they had been guilty of, such as idolatry, incest, murder, &c.; wherefore though they were reprieved for a while for Israel's sake, till their time was come to possess the land, they were at... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 7:1

Seven nations greater and mightier than thou - In several places of the Hebrew text, each of these seven nations is not enumerated, some one or other being left out, which the Septuagint in general supply. How these nations were distributed over the land of Canaan previously to the entering in of the Israelites, the reader may see in the note on Joshua 3:10 ; (note). read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 7:2

Thou shalt smite them, etc. - These idolatrous nations were to be utterly destroyed, and all the others also which were contiguous to the boundaries of the promised land, provided they did not renounce their idolatry and receive the true faith: for if they did not, then no covenant was to be made with them on any secular or political consideration whatever; no mercy was to be shown to them, because the cup of their iniquity also was now full; and they must either embrace, heartily embrace,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 7:2

Verse 2 2.Thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Those who think that there was cruelty in this command, usurp too great authority in respect to Him who is the judge of all. The objection is specious that the people of God were unreasonably imbued with inhumanity, so that, advancing with murderous atrocity, they should spare neither sex nor age. But we must first remember what we shall see hereafter, i.e., that when God had destined the land for His people, He was at liberty utterly to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:1

(Cf. Genesis 15:19-21 .) Of the ten nations named by God in his promise to Abraham, only six are mentioned here, those omitted being the Kenites, the Kennizites, the Kadmonites, and the Rephaim. The Rephaim were by this time extinct as a tribe, Og, "the last of the Rephaim," having been conquered, and he and his people destroyed by the Israelites. The three other tribes lay probably beyond the confines of Canaan, in that region promised to Abraham, but which was not included in the territory... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:1-4

EXPOSITION ENTIRE SEPARATION FROM IDOLATROUS NATIONS ENJOINED . The Israelites were about to enter on a country occupied by idolaters, and they are commanded not to spare them or to allow them to continue in their proximity, or to have any friendly relations with them (cf. Le 27:28). The Lord would cast out these nations, and deliver them, though greater and mightier than they, into their hands; and they were to smite them and place them under the ban; they were to make... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 7:1-5

Extermination with a moral purpose. When the Israelites were to cross into Canaan, they were directed to exterminate the seven nations they would find there. This is their commission. The invasion is to be conducted upon this principle. And here let us notice— I. NATIONS , LIKE INDIVIDUALS , MAY BECOME INCORRIGIBLE . There can be no doubt that sin tends to a final and incorrigible condition if the Divine mercy is not accepted and allowed to exercise its undermining power.... 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

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