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The Eradication of Idolatry Commanded
v. 1. When the Lord, thy God, shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, an event certain to materialize in the near future, and hath cast out many nations before thee, great in numbers, in resources, and in valor, 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;
v. 2. and when the Lord, thy God, shall deliver them before thee, give them into the hands of the children of Israel, so that they would be witnesses of His power, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them, it was to be a war of extermination, Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them, give them no quarter, reject all offers of submission. The measure of sins of these heathen nations was full, and therefore the Lord wanted them to he removed entirely.
v. 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thus becoming allied to them by ties of relationship; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, to the son of any member of these nations, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son, for the giving in marriage is the prerogative of parents to this day.
v. 4. For they will turn away thy son from following Me, the danger being particularly great when the unbelieving wife sets out to lead her husband astray, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly, for that was the punishment which the Lord had placed upon idolatry, Deu_4:26. There are so many dangers to the faith connected with mixed marriages, when a Christian marries an unbeliever, or one belonging to a sectarian church, that the warning must be sounded again and again.
v. 5. But thus shall ye deal with them: Ye shall destroy their altars, which were dedicated to the abominations of idolatry, and break down their images, the pillars or statues of stone which represented their idols, and cut down their groves, wooden pillars erected to Astarte, the goddess of love and fruitfulness, and burn their graven images with fire, completely destroy even the last vestige of them. All idolatry is an abomination before the Lord, and He wanted Israel to turn away from every evidence of it with the utmost loathing, just as He expects Christians to shun intimacy with unbelievers, lest they lose the precious jewel of their faith.
v. 6. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord, thy God, consecrated to Him, set apart for His service; the Lord, thy God, hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, a peculiar people, a people of His property, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. They were God's possession, which He set apart for Himself.
v. 7. The Lord did not set His love upon you, turn to you, cling to you in love, nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people, more numerous and more powerful than other nations; for ye were the fewest of all people, Abraham, their forefather, being a single person over against great and powerful nations when the Lord called him;
v. 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, Exo_13:3-14, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the position of shameful serfdom, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Israel was never to forget that it was pure love and mercy on God's part which prompted Him to make them His people, and no merit on their part.
v. 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, for He is most eager to show mercy and love, it is His greatest delight to reward those that love Him;
v. 10. and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them, in this they get their just dues. He will not be slack to him that hateth Him; He will repay him to his face. God is not like a weak, indulgent father, who will overlook the transgressions of his children, often in maudlin sentimentality.
v. 11. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command thee this day, to do them, because Jehovah, the faithful covenant God, is equally energetic in mercy and in holiness. We Christians should also never forget that God has chosen us out of the world of unbelievers, not because we are in any way better than others, but out of pure goodness and mercy. Therefore we should thank God for this unmerited mercy, serve and obey Him, and keep His covenant with all faithfulness.