Deuteronomy 7 - John Trapp Complete Commentary

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;

Ver. 1. And hast cast out many nations.] God did all: "He cast out the heathen before them, and divided them an inheritance by line," &c. Psa 78:55 Hence Josephus calls the commonwealth of Israel Yεοκρατειαν. Sic, Regnum Angliae, Regnum Dei. a

a Polydor. Virgil.

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:

Ver. 2. Nor show mercy unto them.] Their iniquity was now full; Gen 15:16 they filled the land with filthiness, from corner to corner; Ezr 9:11 they were ripe for the sickle, ready for the vintage of God's wrath, which now came upon them to the utmost.

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.

Ver. 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them.] As neither with any other that were idolatots. Ezr 9:1-2

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.

Ver. 4. For they will turn away thy son.] As the foreign women did Solomon. 1Ki 11:2-4 What is the reason the Pope will not dispense in Spain or Italy, if a Papist marry a Protestant, yet here they will, but in hope to draw more to them? The tyrant Mezentius tied the living bodies of his captives to the dead; but the dead did not revive by the living, the living rather putrified by the dead. a

a Corpora corporibus iungebat mortua vivis. - Virgil.

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.

Ver. 5. And break down their images.] Cromwell did notable service here in Henry VIII's time, by discovering the knavery of Popish priests, and pulling down those images and monuments of idolatry, the rood of grace, the blood of Hales, &c. And in Edward VI's days, the same day the Popish pictures were publicly burnt at Paul's Cross, the great victory was gotten by the English at Musselburgh field in Scotland. a

a Act. and Mon.

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.

Ver. 6. For thou art a holy people.] viz., With a federal holiness; which yet without an inherent holiness in the heart and life, will profit a man no more than it did Dives in the flames that Abraham called him son; or Judas, that Christ called him friend. An empty title yields but an empty comfort at last.

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.

Ver. 8. But because he loved you.] Lo, he loved you, because he loved you. This may seem idem per idem, a woman's reason. But it excellently shows the ground of God's love to be wholly in himself.

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;

Ver. 9. The faithful God.] The God of Amen. Psa 31:6 "The Amen, the faithful and true witness," Rev 3:14 that "will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips," Psa 89:33 all his precepts, predictions, promises, menaces, being the issue of a most faithful and righteous will, void of the least insincerity or falsehood. "Thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day," saith Solomon in his prayer. 1Ki 8:24 Neither could ever any day or age produce one instance to the contrary. The promises are ancient, Tit 1:1-2 and yet they never failed; nor the menaces. Zep 3:5

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.

Ver. 10. He will not be slack.] Slow he may be, but sure he will be. Supplicii tarditatem gravitate compensat; a The higher he holds his hand, the heavier he will strike. Aries quo altius erigitur, hoc figit fortius. Arcus quo retrahitur longius, hoc iaculatar ulterius. Aqua quae aegre calefit, aegre denus frigescit, &c.

a Val, Max.

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.

Ver. 13. And he will love thee.] So he did before, Deu 7:8 but so he will continue to do. See a like expression in 1 John 5:13, "These things write I unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

Ver. 14. Thou shalt be blessed.] There is a μυριομακαριοτης in godliness. 1Ti 6:6 See Trapp on " 1Ti 6:6 "

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.

Ver. 15. And the Lord.] Health is a sweet mercy; Non est vivere, sed valere vita, a A sickly life is a lifeless life. A healthy body is the reward of piety. Pro 3:8

a Martial.

Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

Ver. 20. Send the hornet.] See Trapp on " Exo 23:28 "

Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God [is] among you, a mighty God and terrible.

Ver. 21. For the Lord thy God is amongst you.] And how many do you reckon him for? as Antigonus said once to his soldiers, when they feared their enemies as more in number.

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.

Ver. 24. Thou shalt destroy their name.] It shall be either buried in oblivion, or if mentioned, it shall be but as the stirring of a sepulchre, which thereby stinketh the more. Solomon reckoneth it for a mercy to a wicked man, when he is buried, to be forgotten in his city. Ecc 8:10

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.

Ver. 25. Lest thou be snared.] Lest it prove as the gold of Toulouse, a baneful to all that fingered it; or the sepulchre of Semiramis, which they that rifled, expecting to find treasure, met with a deadly poison.

a Aurum Tolosanum.