Deuteronomy
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Deuteronomy 7 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered
A response and reply to the notes on Deuteronomy 7 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).
King James Version
SAB comment
My comment
1 When 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;
So when we read that certain inhabitants were not destroyed at once, this is partially according to how the Israelites would conquer the Canaanites, but sometimes it was also slackness. See the individual verses the author of the SAB quotes to see what the cause was in a particular case.I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
On the seven nations: greater and mightier might not refer to numbers, but to their armies and weapons
2 And 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:
(7:2) "Thou shalt smite them."
God tells the Israelites to kill, without mercy, all the inhabitants of the land that they conquer.
To kill or not to kill
How should strangers be treated?
(7:2-4) "Nor shew mercy unto them"
If you do show any mercy to such strangers, "give your daughters to any of them, or "take" any of their daughters, then you'll get God so angry that he'll "destroy thee suddenly."
Will God destroy those that intermarry?
On intermarrying: this verse is irrelevant for that subject, because it clearly talks about the inhabitants of Canaan, not about marrying anyone else.
3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
(7:3) "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them."
God forbids marriages with those of other tribes. [He makes an exception for Moses, though (Numbers 12:1, 9-10).]
4 For 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.
5 But 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.
(7:5) "Ye shall destroy their altars."
Destroy the altars, images, and places of worship of those with different religions.
6 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.
(7:6) "For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God."
Is only God holy?
(7:6) "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."
God prefers the Israelites to everyone else. It's not that he's prejudiced, he just like them better.
I see no reason to deny God the freedom of choice. Why may he not have this?
7 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:
8 But 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.
9 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;
10 And 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.
(7:10) "Repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them."
God will kill those who hate him.
11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
12 Wherefore 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:
13 And 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.
14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
God's favorite people will never be infertile (neither will their cows!) and will never get sick. (God will send infertility and diseases on the other guys.)
15 And 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.
16 And 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.
Kill everyone that the Lord delivers to you. Show them no mercy.
Is God merciful?
17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;
19 The 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.
20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.
God will send hornets to kill your enemies, for he is mighty and terrible.
21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
22 And 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.
23 But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.
24 And 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.
25 The 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.
Burn and "utterly detest" the religious symbols of other faiths. They are an abomination to God. If you bring such an image into your house you will become "a cursed thing like it."
26 Neither 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.
God promises to cast out seven nations including the Amorites, Canaanites, and the Jebusites. But he just couldn't do it. (See Joshua 15:63, 16:10, 17.12-13:; Judges 1:21, 27, 3:1-5)
(7:1) "Seven nations greater and mightier than thou"
These nations were "greater and mightier" than the Israelites, who according to Exodus 12:37 and Numbers 1:45-46 already had numbered several million. So the region, according to the bible, must have had a population of more than twenty million!