The cherem of the seven Canaanite nations—complete separation through no covenant and no intermarriage—reflects Deuteronomy's rigorous understanding of Israel's election as incompatible with compromise. The theological justification that God acts not because Israel is most numerous but because of his love and oath-keeping reframes election as divine grace rather than Israelite merit, a principle foundational to Paul's argument in Romans on predestination. The promise that God will clear the nations away little by little acknowledges the gradual character of conquest while emphasizing relentless divine action, and the prohibition against coveting their silver and gold—declaring such acquisitions an abomination—protects against idolatry's material and spiritual dimensions. This chapter encodes in law the principle of covenantal holiness: belonging to the LORD requires separation from idolatrous practices and peoples, a boundary that will mark Jewish identity through all subsequent history.
Deuteronomy 7:14
You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle; -- the exception is made: no barrenness. The blessing extends even to animals. Israel's fertility contrasts with surrounding nations' struggles.
Deuteronomy 7:1
When the LORD your God shall bring you into the land whither you go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you; -- the enumeration of seven Canaanite peoples marks the conquest's scope. The nations are 'greater and mightier,' yet the LORD 'casts them out.' The specific list (Hittites through Jebusites) grounds the conquest in historical ethnography.
Deuteronomy 7:2
And when the LORD your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall smite them; then you shall utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, and show them no mercy; -- the command to utterly destroy (cherem) is absolute. No treaties, no mercy. The Canaanites are devoted to destruction. The comprehensiveness of the command marks the gravity of the religious stakes: Canaanite religion and culture must be eliminated.
Deuteronomy 7:3
Neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall you take unto your son; -- intermarriage is forbidden. The prohibition protects Israel's religious identity: marriage creates kinship and religious syncretism. The ban applies equally to giving daughters and taking wives.
Deuteronomy 7:4
For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods; and so the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and destroy you quickly; -- the theological reason: intermarriage leads to apostasy. Canaanite spouses will turn Israel toward idolatry. The consequence is swift destruction. The danger is real: mixed marriages threaten covenantal identity.
Deuteronomy 7:5
But thus shall you deal with them; you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire; -- the systematic destruction of Canaanite religious infrastructure: altars, pillars (masseboth), Asherim (wooden poles representing the goddess), and images. Religious objects must be obliterated.
Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a holy people unto the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are upon the earth; -- Israel's election is grounded in holiness (kedusha, separation unto God) and divine choice. 'A people for his own possession' (am segullah, a treasured people) expresses unique status. The universality ('out of all the peoples') emphasizes that this selection is distinctive.
Deuteronomy 7:7
The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; -- the reason for election is not numerical strength; Israel is actually 'the fewest.' Selection is not based on merit or advantage but on divine will. Love (ahavah) precedes and creates election.
Deuteronomy 7:8
But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, has the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; -- the dual motivation: divine love for Israel and God's oath to the patriarchs. Redemption (pidyuth) is the historical expression of love and covenant-keeping. The mighty hand brings Israel from slavery.
Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God, he is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments unto a thousand generations; -- the characteristic of Israel's God: faithful (ne'eman), covenant-keeping (notser brit), merciful (chessed). Fidelity extends to 'a thousand generations'--vast futurity. Love and obedience activate covenant-keeping.
Deuteronomy 7:10
And repays them that hate him to their face, to destroy them; he will not be slack to him that hates him, he will repay him to his face; -- the balance: those who hate God are destroyed. 'To their face' suggests immediacy; there is no delay in divine judgment for those who reject covenant.
Deuteronomy 7:11
You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them; -- the imperative: obedience to the law is the human response to God's faithfulness. The law is not burden but covenant expression.
Deuteronomy 7:12
And it shall come to pass, if you hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD your God shall keep unto you the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto your fathers; -- the conditional: if Israel keeps the law, the LORD maintains covenant and mercy toward the fathers' oath. Obedience activates the ancient covenant.
Deuteronomy 7:13
And he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your corn and your wine and your oil, the increase of your kine and the young of your flock, in the land which he sware unto your fathers to give you; -- the promised blessings are comprehensive: divine love, multiplication, fertility (children, crops, livestock). The patriarchal oath grounds the promise. Blessing is material and relational.
Deuteronomy 7:15
And the LORD will take away from you all sickness; and all the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, will he not put upon you, but will lay them upon all them that hate you; -- the promise of health: diseases (common in Egypt) will not afflict Israel. Instead, enemies will suffer the diseases. Divine protection is active.
Deuteronomy 7:16
And you shall consume all the peoples which the LORD your God shall deliver unto you; your eye shall not pity them; and you shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare unto you; -- the command to utterly consume the nations is reiterated. 'Your eye shall not pity them'--emotions are not to override command. Idolatry is characterized as a snare (moqesh, trap), dangerously attractive.
Deuteronomy 7:17
If you shall say in your heart, 'These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?' -- the anticipated objection: the nations are numerous and strong; how can Israel overcome them? The logical difficulty is acknowledged.
Deuteronomy 7:18
You shall not be afraid of them; but shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; -- the antidote: recall the exodus miracles. The LORD who defeated Egypt can defeat the Canaanites. Historical memory fuels faith.
Deuteronomy 7:19
The great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby the LORD your God brought you out; so shall the LORD your God do unto all the peoples of whom you are afraid; -- the pattern is clear: as God acted toward Egypt, so toward Canaan. Signs, wonders, mighty action define God's modus operandi.
Deuteronomy 7:20
Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left and hide themselves from you be destroyed; -- the hornet (tsirah) is a plague agent. Psychological terror ('they hide themselves') precedes destruction. The hornet may be literal or figurative (terror-spreading disease).
Deuteronomy 7:21
You shall not be affrighted at them; for the LORD your God is in the midst of you, a great God and terrible; -- the final assurance: God is present and powerful. The adjective 'terrible' (nora, awesome/fearful) describes God's character. Human terror is unnecessary when God is near.
Deuteronomy 7:22
And the LORD your God will cast out those nations before you by little and little; you may not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase against you; -- the conquest will be gradual ('little by little'), not immediate. The reason: rapid depopulation would allow wild animals to multiply, posing danger. Gradual conquest allows time to repopulate the land responsibly.
Deuteronomy 7:23
But the LORD your God shall deliver them unto you, and shall discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed; -- the gradual process is still divinely orchestrated. 'Discomfit' (hamam, to confuse/panic) describes God's action: psychological paralysis precedes military defeat.
Deuteronomy 7:24
And he shall deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under heaven; there shall no man be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them; -- the comprehensive victory: kings are captured, names are erased (damnatio memoriae), and military resistance collapses. Total conquest means total elimination of Canaanite political existence.
Deuteronomy 7:25
The graven images of their gods shall you burn with fire; you shall not desire the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto you, lest you be snared thereby; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God; -- the religious ban: idols are destroyed, not plundered. The precious metals are forbidden ('do not covet them'). Greed is the snare; the gold and silver of idols are contaminated. 'Abomination' (to'evah) marks them as offensive to the LORD.
Deuteronomy 7:26
Neither shall you bring an abomination into your house, and become accursed like it; but you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is devoted to destruction; -- the final prohibition: no religious object from Canaan enters Israel's home. Contact brings curse. 'Utter detestation' (shiqqutz) and 'utter abhorrence' (ta'ev) express visceral rejection. These objects are marked for destruction (cherem), and possessing them spreads the ban.