The subject before us now is that of holy war and its relation to the First Commandment. In a pluralistic society, faithfulness to the First Commandment is necessarily a declaration of war. And this in turn leads to a certain lack of popularity. “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it . . .” (Deuteronomy 7:1-26).
Our overview should take careful note of how Moses structured this chapter, and how he highlighted what was most important in it. This chapter follows a chiastic structure.
A—God requires the destruction of the gods of Canaan, and their worshipers—Israel is to be holy (vv. 1-6).
B—God loved their forefathers and delivered them from Egypt (vv. 7-8)
C—Yahweh is the God of covenant love (vv. 9-10)
B—God will fulfill the promise made to their forefathers (vv. 11-16) so remember the Exodus (vv. 17-19).
A—The destruction of the gods of Canaan and their worshipers—lest Israel become detestable (vv. 20-26).
God will bring Israel into the land, and will cast out the seven nations before them (v. 1). This number is probably symbolic—Scripture elsewhere lists the number of nations there from three to ten. These nations are stronger than Israel (v. 1), which always provides the compromisers and realists with an argument they are not reluctant to use. But God prohibits any compromise with them—whether political (v. 2), social and marital (v. 3), or religious (vv. 4-5). Obviously, these categories all run together. Israel is to be involved in constant, total war. They are set apart as a holy nation (v. 6).
How did they come to be holy? God was kind to them with a gracious election. It was not because of their numbers (vv. 1, 7). God loved them because He loved their fathers, and He had made a promise to them (v. 8). And that is why they were delivered from Egypt.
The heart of this chapter is that God is a faithful covenant-keeping God. Our God, your God, He is the faithful God. But note that He keeps covenant with sinners, not with those who are perfect. He keeps covenant and mercy. The condition of the covenant is faith, not perfection. Moreover, it is faith, not perfect faith. Those who love Him and keep His commandments have Him as their covenant God for a thousand generations. But our covenant God has a response for covenant-breakers—those who hate Him openly. With them, God is not slack with them—He destroys them (v. 10).
Because God is like this, what should His people be like? They must keep His commandments (v. 11). God will keep His promise made to their fathers if they are faithful (v. 12). The blessings of the covenant are not invisible and “spiritual.” God will love, bless and multiply them. He will give them children (v. 13), fruitful fields, vineyards and orchards (v. 13), and meadows for grazing (v. 13). The blessing will surpass all other peoples, and barrenness will be virtually unknown (v. 14). They will be free from the diseases of Egypt, and their enemies will not be (v. 15). If they consume (eat) their enemies without pity, then the land will be fruitful in this way (v. 16). They must reject both idolatry (v. 16) and fear (vv. 17). The antidote to fear is a good memory (vv. 18-19).
There is to be no compromise. God will drive the heathen out—He will send a numinous panic upon them (v. 20). Israel must fear their terrible God, and not fear their enemies (v. 21). God will remove the Canaanites slowly, lest the land become too wild (v. 22). Nevertheless, they will be destroyed (vv. 23-24). Their idols, along with all the idolatrous paraphanialia, had to be utterly destroyed lest it become a snare (v. 25). Israel must remain holy, and not become detestable herself (v. 26)
The applications for us are not hard to find. Becoming like our god—we must abominate that which is false, or we become abominable and false ourselves(v. 26). If we serve idols we become detestable, just like them. We hear an echo of this in Psalm 115. No compromise—we must never compromise the Word. But we may compromise. A thousand generations—there is no such thing as isolated faithfulness (vv. 9-10). We are to love God over the course of generations.