The Law · Chapter 7 of 34
Deuteronomy 7
Moses commands Israel to destroy the seven nations of Canaan and their idols, making no covenants or marriages with them, lest they be turned to other gods. He reminds Israel they were not chosen for their greatness but because God loved them and kept his oath. God is faithful, keeping covenant and mercy to a thousand generations. If they obey, he will bless them and drive out nations mightier than they.
What happens in Deuteronomy 7
Moses tells Israel that when God brings them into Canaan and casts out seven nations greater than they, they must utterly destroy them, make no covenant, show no mercy, and form no marriages, since intermarriage would turn their children to other gods. They are to break down altars, images, and groves, and burn the idols, for Israel is a holy people chosen by God. Moses explains the reason for their election with striking honesty: God did not choose them because they were many, for they were the fewest of all peoples, but because he loved them and kept his oath to their fathers.
He is the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy to a thousand generations of those who love him. Moses promises rich blessing for obedience, fruitfulness of womb, field, and flock, and the removal of disease. Israel need not fear the nations; remembering what God did to Pharaoh, they can trust him to drive out their enemies little by little.
Deuteronomy 7 in context
As Israel prepares to enter Canaan, this chapter commands the herem, the devoting of the Canaanite nations to destruction. The stated purpose is not ethnic hatred but protection from idolatry, which would corrupt Israel and destroy them spiritually. Modern readers rightly find these commands disturbing; the text frames them as a limited, specific judgment tied to preserving covenant faithfulness in the land, not a general principle.
Alongside the severity stands one of Scripture's clearest statements of grace.
Main themes of Deuteronomy 7
Deuteronomy 7 (KJV)
1When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, 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 thou; 2And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 6For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8But because the LORD 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. 9Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; 10And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 11Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. 12Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: 13And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 14Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. 16And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. 17If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? 18Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; 19The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. 20Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. 21Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. 22And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. 23But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. 24And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. 25The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.
Verses to carry from Deuteronomy 7
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”Deuteronomy 7:6
“The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:”Deuteronomy 7:7
“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;”Deuteronomy 7:9
Thematic connection
How Deuteronomy 7 points to Jesus
At the center of this severe chapter shines pure grace: God did not choose Israel for their greatness, for they were the fewest of all peoples, but simply because he loved them. That same undeserved love is the gospel, for God commends his love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us, and we love him because he first loved us. The declaration that God keeps covenant and mercy to a thousand generations of those who love him is fulfilled in Christ, in whom all God's promises are yes and amen.
The chapter's hardest command, to destroy every idol lest it become a snare, is answered in the gospel not by the sword but by a love that captures the heart, so that Christ casts out the idols that once enslaved his people.
Questions about Deuteronomy 7
How can we read the command to destroy the Canaanites honestly?
Without flinching from its severity. The text presents it as a specific, limited judgment on nations whose idolatry would corrupt Israel, with the stated aim of guarding covenant faithfulness in the land, not a timeless license for violence. It disturbs us rightly. The New Testament shows God's people fighting not flesh and blood but spiritual evil, and Jesus explicitly refuses the sword for his kingdom, leaving final judgment to God alone.
Why does God stress that Israel was the fewest of peoples?
To make clear that his choice rested on love, not their merit. They were small and unimpressive; God set his love on them freely and kept his oath to their fathers. This is grace in its purest form, and it guards against pride. The same truth undergirds the gospel: God chose and saved his people not because of anything in them but because he loved them first in Christ.
Reflection
Hear the astonishing reason God chose his people: not their strength or worth, but his love. The same love has laid hold of you in Christ, while you were still small and unworthy. Rest in that grace, and let it drive out the idols that no longer need to rule you.
A prayer from Deuteronomy 7
Read the whole Bible with the family
Open it in the app, study it live with someone, and let it lead you to Christ.
Open the BibleRead it togetherSee what God is doing