Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy Chapter 7

• Deuteronomy 7:1 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; 

We must keep in mind that the Lord did not allow Israel to touch any other nations before this. He waited until the time when their sin became so oppressive and evil that He had no other alternative. Once we or any nation start harming innocent children, we are in danger of bearing judgment from God. Children cannot protect themselves. When people drive children into slavery, use them for sex objects, sacrifice them to idols and many other abominations, God has to intervene at some point. These nations did all these things and more. Abortion is just as evil as the above mentioned crimes.

• Deuteronomy 7:2 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: 

We see there from verse 2 that God sounds like a God that has put up with these people long enough just like in the days of Noah's flood. Israel was to show no mercy. God is a God who is full of mercy and compassion so these went far beyond what we would think as normal sin. They were cruel, murderous, using torture and oppressing the innocent. 

• Deuteronomy 7:3 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. 

This law nothing to do with race but with the fact that these nations served idols and the idolatry led to many sins such as child sacrifice. God did not want Israel to marry into these nations and cause the children of Israel to defile themselves and be conformed to their evil practices. 

We today who want to live for Jesus Christ should never even think to marry someone who does not also love and serve Jesus Christ and even then we need to seek the face of God for direction in who and when to marry. God knows ahead of time who will continue in the faith and who will stray. 

• Deuteronomy 7:4 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. 

Other gods have spirits of demons surrounding them. The influence of evil will prevail if one is bowing down to and worshipping idols. They are actually worshipping the devil. This is why God's anger is kindled when we do not worship Him in spirit and in truth. He knows that the devil desires to steal, kill and destroy not only our present life but our eternal souls. Eternity is forever and ever. Once we die in sin, we have no more chance to get right with God. The devil knows this and will try to get us focused on the material things of this life instead of on the things eternal. 

• Deuteronomy 7:5 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. 

This verse shows what is being judged. Their idolatry and false religion which destroys the souls of the followers of such religions, are being severely judged by God. 

• Deuteronomy 7:6 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. 

God chose Israel to be His and to be a holy people. Through faith in Jesus Christ, Gentiles also can be part of the holy people of God. Christ makes us partakers of His holiness when we truly believe in Him. We become adopted into the family of Israel and part of the chosen elect of God. 

• Deuteronomy 7:7 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: 

Israel was not chosen because they were great, mighty and large in number. 

• Deuteronomy 7:8 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. 

God loved them and remember His covenant with their father Abraham. 

• Deuteronomy 7:9 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; 

Here is the great "if" to be part of God's family and be the recipient of His covenant and mercy. Keeping His commandments is essential. Jesus repeats these words in the New Testament. 

• John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 

God does love everyone but there is an if to receive His eternal life, His blessings and His presence abiding within us.

• Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 

We have positive proof that New Testament words of Jesus show us that keeping the commandments is part of salvation along with faith in Jesus or being saved by grace. We are not saved by works, rituals and just being good but by faith in Jesus Christ but that doesn't mean we do not obey the commandments. Grace is not a license to sin and still inherit eternal life. We have to study the whole bible in context and not just use a few key verses that sound good. To deny this is to deny the words of Jesus. 

• Deuteronomy 7:10 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. 

Yes, there are haters of God. Those are the ones who want the good things God gives as far as material things, riches, and power but they want no reproof for the sins. The only thing God asks us to do to inherit eternal life is believe in His Son and repent or turn away from sin. One doesn't happen without the other. Jesus died to save us from sin and get us out of sin not justify us in our sins. Those that hate God, hate reproof and reject the message of repentance will be judged in the long run. 

• Deuteronomy 7:11 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. 

Loving God and keeping the commandments will eventually effect the land we live in if they too keep His commandments and love God. This is not promising riches to all believers as is commonly taught, neither does it promise riches to those that support rich TV evangelists. In general this is promising Israel that God will bless them and increase them if they love God and keep His commandments. If another nation does the same, they will be blessed as God has blessed America. If America turns its back on God like they are doing, God can remove His blessings.

Individual believers may be blessed materially or they may not be. It would depend upon their circumstances and where they live. If they live in a country that frowns on God, they may be persecuted by losing what material things they have. What is guaranteed though is spiritual blessings and an inheritance in heaven that never fades away. Material prosperity does not always come to believers in this life. It might, but we are not to seek those things.

• Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 
• 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 
• 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

As a nation though or a great body of people that fear God from the king down to the small child, the fear of God can effect the whole nation and cause them to prosper by the way they live and care for the poor. 

This prosperity message is a message for the nation of Israel if they continue to keep the commandments and love God. They didn't at that time, so they lost what they had. Wicked nations at times do become prosperous but it does not last if they go beyond the bounds God sets. Eventually they will lose that prosperity.

• Deuteronomy 7:14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 
• 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.

Again this is a promise to Israel as a nation. It will come to believers in Christ at His second coming. Before that they might prosper but not all will. Some will suffer persecution and even death for the cause of Christ. The apostles did not prosper in this life. We must not teach falsely about prosperity. It will effect a nation that fears God but if a nation does not, prosperity will vanish and it will even vanish from believers who live in that ungodly nation although God will care for them if they remain faithful to Him. We must tell people the truth and not give them a false gospel that promises all good things and no troubles in this life. 

• Deuteronomy 7:16 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. 
• 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; 

This is a warning to evil nations that hate God, not all nations. It especially applies to nations that hate God's people. 

• Deuteronomy 7:19 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. 
• 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. 

God could have sent violent storms, meteor showers or anything to destroy them all at once but the wild dangerous beasts would have multiplied and caused a lot of danger and trouble to the children of Israel. It is great the way God thinks of these kind of things ahead of time. 

• Deuteronomy 7:23 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. 
• 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. 

After God delivered them from Egypt, fed them in the wilderness, chose them above all nations around them, promised the food and prosperity, if they would turn to idols and covet the things of the heathen it would be an insult above all insults to God. 

If we could only see what God has prepared to those that love Him, this world would be nothing compared to it. 

• Isaiah 64:4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

To covet this world and its type of prosperity that preys upon the innocent and weak, is to lose out with God. 

• 1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
• 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
• 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 

Believers in Christ are not to seek the riches of this life. We are not to use the promise to Israel and nations that fear God and apply them to individual believers who may or may not have wealth in this life. Wealth is not a sign that one has God's favor above the poor that may not be wealthy but still love God. That is false teaching. 

• James 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 
• 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
• 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 
• 8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy 

Like I said before, take the whole word of God and not just a few favorite scriptures.

• Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 

All who serve God will receive prosperity in the future everlasting kingdom. Now though we will receive God's presence. Some may prosper financially but some may be poor. Being poor does not mean one is out of God's favor and we must never teach that.

• 1Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 
• 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 
• 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 
• 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 
• 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 
• 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 

God has something much better than the things we think are important. DC

Deuteronomy 8