Deuteronomy 7:8

7:1-11 Here is a strict caution against all friendship and fellowship with idols and idolaters. Those who are in communion with God, must have no communication with the unfruitful works of darkness. Limiting the orders to destroy, to the nations here mentioned, plainly shows that after ages were not to draw this into a precedent. A proper understanding of the evil of sin, and of the mystery of a crucified Saviour, will enable us to perceive the justice of God in all his punishments, temporal and eternal. We must deal decidedly with our lusts that war against our souls; let us not show them any mercy, but mortify, and crucify, and utterly destroy them. Thousands in the world that now is, have been undone by ungodly marriages; for there is more likelihood that the good will be perverted, than that the bad will be converted. Those who, in choosing yoke-fellows, keep not within the bounds of a profession of religion, cannot promise themselves helps meet for them.

But because the Lord loved you,.... With an unmerited love; he loved them, because he loved them; that is, because he would love them; his love was not owing to any goodness in them, or done by them, or any love in them to him, but to his own good will and pleasure: and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers; the promise he had made, confirmed by an oath: hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand; out of the land of Egypt: and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen; where they were bondmen to the Egyptians: from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; who detained them, and refused to let them go.

Verse 8. - Because the Lord loved you. Targum Onkelos, "Because he had complacency in you;" Vulgate, quia vobis junctus est . "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" (Keil). Deuteronomy 7:8

But because the LORD {c} loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (c) Freely, finding no cause in you more than in others so to do.

The fewest of all people - God chose for Himself Israel, when as yet but a single family, or rather a single person, Abraham; though there were already numerous nations and powerful kingdoms in the earth. Increase Deuteronomy 1:10 ; Deuteronomy 10:22 had taken place because of the very blessing of God spoken of in Deuteronomy 7:8 .

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.

8 . loveth you ] With Israel’s love to God (see on Deuteronomy 6:5 ) God’s love to Israel is equally characteristic of D and not found elsewhere in Hexateuch; first expressed and very fully in Hosea 1-3 and Hosea 11:1-4 . In Deut. of God’s love to the fathers of the nation, Deuteronomy 4:37 , Deuteronomy 10:15 , both Sg.; to the nation, Deuteronomy 7:8 Pl. (editorial), Deuteronomy 7:13 , Deuteronomy 23:5 Sg.; to the stranger, Deuteronomy 10:18 Sg. the oath which he sware ] See Deuteronomy 9:5 . mighty hand ] See on Deuteronomy 3:24 . redeemed you ] Heb. thee , and the Sg. is confirmed by Sam. and most MSS of LXX. This Sg. clause follows, not only conveniently upon Deuteronomy 7:6 , the last clause in Sg., but very appropriately because of its redeemed and the peculiar people of that clause. redeemed ] The ordinary term for ransoming beast or man from slavery or death (see on Exodus 13:13 ), is used of the redemption of Israel from Egypt in D here, Deuteronomy 13:5 , Deuteronomy 15:15 , Deuteronomy 21:8 , Deuteronomy 24:8 , all with the Sg., and in Deuteronomy 9:26 in a Pl. context; and so nowhere else in the Hexateuch.

16 . This day ] Obviously the same as that emphasised, both in the Introd. Addresses Deuteronomy 4:8 , Deuteronomy 5:1 , Deuteronomy 8:1 ; Deuteronomy 8:11 ; Deuteronomy 8:18 , Deuteronomy 10:13 , Deuteronomy 11:2 ; Deuteronomy 11:8 ; Deuteronomy 11:26 ; Deuteronomy 11:32 , and in the Code Deuteronomy 15:5 ; Deuteronomy 15:15 , Deuteronomy 19:9 (cp. Deuteronomy 12:8 ), as the day when the laws, revealed to Moses in Ḥoreb were by him published to the people in Moab in the valley over against Beth-peor ( Deuteronomy 3:29 ). the Lord thy God is commanding thee ] This is His part in the contract now to be formulated. statutes and judgements ] See on Deuteronomy 12:1 . keep and do them ] See Deuteronomy 4:6 , Deuteronomy 7:12 , etc.; cp. observe to do , Deuteronomy 5:1 , Deuteronomy 8:1 , Deuteronomy 12:1 ; Deuteronomy 12:32 , etc. This is Israel’s part in the contract. with all , etc.] Deuteronomy 6:5 f., Deuteronomy 10:12 , cp. Deuteronomy 11:18 . 16–19. Concluding Exhortation The proclamation of these laws and the consequent duty of Israel to keep them ( Deuteronomy 26:16 ) constitute a contract between Jehovah and Israel, by which He declares Himself their God, who shall exalt them above other nations, and they declare themselves His people, proper and holy to Him and obliged to obey His laws ( Deuteronomy 26:17-19 ).—In D’s style and the Sg. address (LXX curiously diverges into the Pl. in the last clause of Deuteronomy 26:16 ).

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.