Deuteronomy 7:2 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thou shalt smite and utterly destroy them That is, in case they continued obstinate in their idolatry, they were to be destroyed, as nations, or bodies politic. But if they forsook their idolatry, and became sincere proselytes to the true religion, they would then be proper objects of forgiveness, as being true penitents. For, says God himself, by Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 7:8,) At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation to destroy it, if that nation turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them See Exodus 23:32; Exodus 24:12. To make a covenant with and to spare such incurable idolaters, would have been cruelty to themselves and their posterity.