Deuteronomy 7:6

(6) An holy people. —Not merely “a holy nation” (as in Exodus 19:6 ), but “a holy people” i.e., a state of which holiness to Jehovah was the very constitution. If God pleased to establish such a state, manifestly its laws could allow no toleration of anything displeasing to Him. And it is also manifest that nothing but Divine revelation would authorise the establishment of such a constitution. A special people.—The same word with the “peculiar treasure” of Exodus 19:5 and the “jewels” of Malachi 3:17. The private property of King David is described by the same word (1Chronicles 29:3), “mine own proper good.” (See also Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18; Psalm 135:4 )

Verse 6. - An holy people ; a people consecrated to God, to be holy as he is holy (cf. Leviticus 11:43-45 ; Leviticus 19:2 ; Leviticus 20:26 ; Leviticus 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 , "peculiar treasure of kings"); LXX., λαὸς περιούσιος , applied by St. Paul to Christians as the chosen and special property of Christ ( Titus 2:14 :). Above all people; rather, out of or from among all the peoples . Deuteronomy 7:6

6-10. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God—that is, set apart to the service of God, or chosen to execute the important purposes of His providence. Their selection to this high destiny was neither on account of their numerical amount (for, till after the death of Joseph, they were but a handful of people); nor because of their extraordinary merits (for they had often pursued a most perverse and unworthy conduct); but it was in consequence of the covenant or promise made with their pious forefathers; and the motives that led to that special act were such as tended not only to vindicate God's wisdom, but to illustrate His glory in diffusing the best and most precious blessings to all mankind.

6 . an holy people unto Jehovah thy God ] So Deuteronomy 14:2 ; Deuteronomy 14:21 ; Deuteronomy 26:19 ; Deuteronomy 28:9 ; cp. Exodus 19:6 (J prob. expanded): an holy nation . As elsewhere in Deut., holy is here used in the formal sense of separated unto, or reserved for, Jehovah, and includes an ethical meaning only by implication, i.e. in so far as traffic with the heathen and the worship of their gods, which Israel, in consequence of his holiness to Jehovah , was forbidden to share, would necessarily involve the people in immoral practices. See the following note. Holiness in Deut. and other O.T. Writers The adj. holy ( ḳadosh ), and the noun holiness ( ḳodesh ), with the various forms of the verb (prob. denominative) to be holy , and to hallow or sanctify , require a separate note, especially in view of certain phenomena which distinguish the use of these terms in Deut. The meaning of the root ‘ḳ-d-sh’ ‘appears to be physical: ‘cut off,’ ‘separate,’ ‘set apart.’ But in Heb. and other Semitic languages the words derived from it are always used in a religious sense, both of God or the gods and of things and men in their relation to the deity. It is not certain whether they were first applied to deity as separate from, or at a distance above men, and then transferred to men and things belonging to the deity; or whether they were originally used of these as set apart from common use for the use of the god and then transferred to himself.

But this is clear, that as the meaning of the terms grew in Israel’s use of them, the chief influence in that growth was the revealed nature of Israel’s God. At first the meaning of holy and holiness was purely formal, without ethical content, and negative. Even in Israel, and even with prophets who had very rich conceptions of the moral and metaphysical nature of God, the terms still often retain their original and negative character. To Hosea God is Holy as the Utter Contrast of man, Hosea 11:9 : God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee ; to the Prophet of the Exile He is the Incomparable, Isaiah 40:25 : to whom will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One . But as these passages show, the terms could not remain negative when used of God, but became positive and equivalent to godhead. In Phoenician (as A. B. Davidson points out) the phrase ‘the holy gods’ just means the divine gods. Similarly in Israel the contents of the term Holy came to be the contents of the nature of Jehovah as these were revealed to the prophets. To Hosea ( Hosea 11:9 , see above) God’s holiness, His utter contrast with men, is His love and power of forgiving.