And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah thy God will keep with thee the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto thy fathers;
Moses is speaking to Israel on the edge of the promised land. He links three things asked of the people — listen, keep, do — to what God promises to do for them. So does God's oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob hang on how a later generation behaves?
The ESV opens the verse with "And because you listen to these rules." Older translations read it as a condition — "if you listen." Either way, the sentence sets two groups of words side by side: what Israel was to do, and what the Lord would do.
What a powerful appeal! How moving! Notice the two groups of words. Israel was to "listen," "keep" and "do." The Lord was to "love," "bless," and "multiply." Sadly, Israel failed — shamefully failed — under law and under God's government. So instead of love, blessing and increase, there has come judgment, curse, barrenness, dispersion and desolation.
Read verse 12 beside verse 8 and the word "love" appears twice, carrying different weight each time.
In Deuteronomy 7 we find both the love of delight and that of communion. In verse 8 we read, "The Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn to your fathers the Lord has brought you out." Then in verse 12, "If you listen to these judgments, and keep, and do them … He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you." The first is according to His oath to the fathers, and absolute. The second depends on obedience — "if you do."
Could a disobedient generation cancel the promise made to the fathers? Commentators answer by separating the covenant itself from the enjoyment of it.
Promises of blessing from God on condition of Israel's obedience should have made them eager to keep His laws. He promised that if they obeyed, He would keep His covenant which He swore to their fathers (v.12). In fact, whether they obeyed or not, God will eventually keep that covenant made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for it is unconditional. Yet if Israel had obeyed God, they would have reaped the benefits of the covenant in the land. He would never have put them out of it as long as they obeyed.
So what exactly does the "if" in this verse govern?
This covenant looked back to the oath made with the fathers. It promised blessing if they obeyed, and threatening if they disobeyed. God did not promise that they would keep the land, but that they would be blessed in it. Otherwise He would drive them out of it. Yet God would show mercy to them in a far country, if their hearts turned to the Lord.
The verses that follow spell out the promise in ordinary things: children, crops, herds. Israel never saw it on that scale, and the writer looks forward for the reason.
He would bless them with children, bless the fruit of their land, prosper their crops of grain, wine and oil, and increase their livestock (v.13). He would bless them above all other nations, with not one male or female barren, whether among people or livestock (v.14). This would have been marvellous indeed, though we know it did not take place. In the millennium it will be so, however, because God's covenant with the fathers cannot fail, and the grace of God will do what law never could.
The verse promises that God will keep the covenant and His steadfast love — "mercy," in older translations. Israel's obedience never came. So how will God keep His word?
But blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! If Israel has failed under law and government, He has not failed in His rich and precious sovereign grace and mercy. He will keep the covenant and the mercy He swore to their fathers. Not one jot or tittle of His covenant promise shall ever fail. He will make it all good by and by. He cannot do this on the ground of Israel's obedience. But He can and will do it through the blood of the everlasting covenant — the precious blood of Jesus, His eternal Son.
The "if" of this verse still puts a question to us, and it is not about how busy we are.
Obedience is always the test. "To obey is better than sacrifice." If this principle of unquestioning obedience marked our souls, how different the state of the church of God would be! It is a day of great activity, but is it one of obedience?
- Oath first. God's love in verse 8 rests on an oath already sworn to the fathers. It is absolute, and owes nothing to Israel.
- Then the "if." Verse 12 adds a second kind of love, one that waits on listening, keeping and doing.
- Three for three. Israel was to listen, keep, do; God would love, bless, multiply — and the failure came from the human side.
- Land, not promise. Obedience governed their blessing and their stay in the land, not the promise itself.
- Grace finishes it. Obedience never earned the blessing, so grace will keep the promise — through the blood of the everlasting covenant, doing what law never could.
and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee, and will bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, thy corn and thy new wine, and thine oil, the offspring of thy kine, and the increase of thy sheep, in the land which he swore unto thy fathers to give thee.
Moses keeps pressing the same "if" on the people. If they obey, God will open the door to every good thing He swore to their fathers — children, crops and cattle. Two questions follow. How can God's love rest on a condition? And what happened to a promise Israel never saw fulfilled?
The chapter speaks of God's love twice, and not in the same way. One writer names the two kinds. He counts our verse's opening words with verse 12:
In Deuteronomy 7 we find both the love of delight and the love of communion. In verse 8 we read, "The Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn to your fathers has the Lord brought you out." Then, in verse 12, "If you listen to these judgments, and keep, and do them … He will love you, bless you, and multiply you." The first is according to His oath to the fathers, and absolute. The second depends on obedience — "if you do."
The choice was never earned. The enjoyment of it was another matter.
Israel had three things to do. God pledged three things in return.
What a powerful appeal! How moving! Notice the two groups of words. Israel was to "listen," "keep" and "do." Jehovah was to "love," "bless," and "multiply." Sadly, Israel failed — shamefully failed — under law and under government. And so, instead of the love and the blessing and the multiplying, there has been judgment, curse, barrenness, dispersion, desolation.
This book names grain, wine and oil together again and again. Together they cover a farming nation's whole livelihood.
God set blessing before Israel in full measure. We see this when we consider that "the grain, the wine, and the oil," so often linked together in Deuteronomy and other scriptures, take in the produce of the field, the vineyard and the orchard. He made all of it yield its increase in blessing, and of Him it is said, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof."
These same three items carry a further meaning for Christians:
But these things wear out as they are used. For us they are only pictures of our spiritual blessing, which is eternally rich and endlessly full. The reality behind the grain is clearly the person of Christ Himself, the One who is the fine flour of the grain offering, and the bread of God. We find the reality behind the wine in His work of redemption. Only in this sense can we understand the heart of God to be cheered by wine. And the reality behind the oil is the Holy Spirit poured out.
This verse promises full barns and growing herds. So people often read it as a formula for prosperity. One writer draws a firm line:
Israel had the promise of earthly blessings if they were to keep the law faithfully (Deut. 6:3, 7:13ff). We as children of God do not have any promise of material blessing or prosperity. In fact, we do not have any promise of spiritual blessings either. Because you are no longer promised something you already have. As Christians, we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing!
Israel never lived in the conditions described here. That does not cancel the verse. Its day is the millennium, the thousand-year kingdom still to come:
God would love and bless and multiply Israel on the ground of their obedience. He would bless them with children, bless the fruit of their land, prosper their crops of grain, wine and oil, and increase their livestock. This would have been wonderful indeed, though we know it did not take place. In the millennium it will be so, however. God's covenant with the fathers cannot fail, and the grace of God will do what law never could.
The change is in the basis, not in the promise. Law could not secure it; grace will.
- Chosen first. God's love in verse 8 rests on His own oath and is absolute. The love in this verse is enjoyed in communion, and that side depends on obedience.
- Three for three. Israel was to listen, keep and do; God pledged to love, bless and multiply. The second trio waited on the first.
- Everything covered. Children, fields, vineyards, orchards, herds and flocks. Grain, wine and oil take in a whole nation's livelihood, and the God who owns the earth gives it all.
- Types, not a contract. Grain, wine and oil point to Christ Himself, to His work of redemption, and to the Holy Spirit poured out. The Christian's blessings are spiritual, and we already have them.
- Grace finishes it. Israel failed and reaped desolation instead. Yet God will make the covenant good in the coming kingdom, by grace and not by law.
Thou shalt be blessed above all the peoples; there shall not be male or female barren with thee, or with thy cattle;
Moses has just listed what obedience would bring: children, grain, wine, oil, herds and flocks. Now he sums it up in one promise — and the question is whether God ever meant to keep it after Israel failed.
The chapter speaks of God's love twice, and the two mentions do not work the same way. One rests on the oath God swore to their fathers. The other answers their obedience.
In verse 8 we read, "The Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn to your fathers has the Lord brought you out." Then, in verse 12, "If you listen to these judgments, and keep, and do them … He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you." The first rests on His oath to the fathers, and is absolute. The second depends on obedience — "if you do."
That "if" hangs over the whole promise. But an older promise lies underneath it, and Israel's failure could not cancel that one.
He promised them that if they would obey, He would keep His covenant which He swore to their fathers (v.12). Whether they obeyed or not, God will one day keep that covenant made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for it is unconditional. Yet if Israel had obeyed God, they would have reaped the benefits of the covenant in the land, and God would never put them out as long as they obeyed.
The promise is not vague goodwill. It names the womb, the field, the crops and the flock, and it sets one nation above all the rest. Israel never saw such a thing, so the promise points to a day still ahead.
He would bless them with children, bless the fruit of their land, prosper their crops of grain, wine and oil, and increase their livestock (v.13). He would bless them above all other nations, with not one male or female barren, whether of humans or livestock (v.14). This would have been marvellous indeed, though we know it did not take place. In the millennium it will be so. God's covenant with the fathers cannot fail, and the grace of God will do what law never could.
You can count, weigh or eat every blessing named here. That matters, because Christians sometimes claim these promises as their own.
The conditional blessings are for an obedient Israel under their God, the Lord. They are earthly blessings, however rich. They are not the blessings that mark out the Christian, whatever some argue.
Some Christians read this and feel they have been given less.
No Christian should envy such a prospect: how sad that one should speak of a feeling so unworthy in a believer's heart. Are we not blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ? Let us rejoice that Israel are yet to be blessed on earth, and to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.
Moses lays out a matched pair: three things Israel must do, three things God will then do. History records the opposite of every item.
Notice the two groups of words. Israel was to "listen," "keep" and "do." The Lord was to "love," "bless," and "multiply." But Israel failed under law and under government — a sad and shameful failure. So instead of the love and the blessing and the multiplying, there has been judgment, curse, barrenness, dispersion, desolation.
Israel lost the promise by failing. God will keep it on another ground altogether.
But if Israel has failed under law and government, God has not failed in His rich and precious sovereign grace and mercy. He will keep the covenant and the mercy He swore to their fathers. Not the smallest part of His covenant promise will ever fail. He will make it all good in time. He will fulfil to the very letter all His gracious promises. He cannot do this on the ground of Israel's obedience. He can and will do it through the blood of the everlasting covenant — the precious blood of Jesus, His eternal Son.
- Condition. The love and blessing of verses 12–14 hang on an "if" — Israel was to listen, keep and do; God would then love, bless and multiply.
- Increase. Nothing barren anywhere — womb, field, grain, wine, oil, herd and flock all fruitful.
- Earthly. These blessings are earthly: land, crops, children, cattle. They set one nation above the rest. They are not the Christian's blessing in Christ.
- Reversal. Israel failed under law. They got the opposite of the promise: curse, barrenness, dispersion, desolation.
- Grace. What obedience lost, grace keeps. The covenant sworn to the fathers still stands, and the blood of Christ will make it good — Israel blessed on earth, and a blessing to every nation.
and Jehovah will take away from thee all sickness, and none of the evil infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, will he put upon thee; but he will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
Moses is describing life in the land if Israel keeps the covenant. Health is part of the deal, and that raises two hard questions: did Israel ever see it, and does such a promise belong to believers now?
The verse sits inside a longer appeal. One writer lines up its two sides.
What a powerful appeal! How moving! Notice the two groups of words. Israel was to "listen," "keep" and "do." The Lord was to "love," "bless," and "multiply." Sadly, Israel failed — failed shamefully — under law and under government. So instead of the love, the blessing and the multiplying, there has been judgment, curse, barrenness, dispersion, desolation.
The verse names no particular illness, only a source Israel knew from Egypt. A dictionary entry on the words for sickness explains why, and adds what came later.
There are four Hebrew words and four Greek words translated this way, but, like the English word, they do not specify the nature of the complaint. God promised Israel that if they would be obedient He would take away from them all sickness. He would put on them none of the evil diseases of Egypt which they had known (Deut. 7:15). When the Lord was on earth He healed every sickness and every disease among the people (Matt. 9:35). On the ground of obedience they failed to gain freedom from diseases, but their Messiah healed them all in grace.
Centuries later, crowds of sick people pressed around Jesus. One writer asks who had failed.
What did all kinds of disease and sickness in the land of Israel mean, as it were crowding round Him to be healed? And why did they bring from all Syria everyone who was sick — those suffering under various illnesses and torments, those possessed by demons, those out of their minds and those paralysed? It was not the Lord who heals that had failed, but man generally and Israel in particular.
When Jesus healed, He gave Israel what this verse had tied to obedience. One writer shows how the leaders answered.
He was, as it were, renewing His covenant with them — His covenant of health and salvation. He was taking away from them all sickness and giving out healing through the land (Deut. 7:15). Faith would have rejoiced and begun that song of praise prepared long ago for a repentant and believing Israel... But Israel's guides and rulers, now thinking evil in their hearts, whispered, "This man is blaspheming."
The second half of the verse is easy to skip. One writer asks whether a Christian would really want it.
Freedom from sickness as a result of obedience was woven into the first covenant. Is that what the Christian wants today — his diseases put on anyone who may hate him? Yet that is part of that covenant.
No such guarantee of bodily health stands today. One writer names what takes its place.
God's rule over His people must always be reckoned with, and especially by those He has blessed with the knowledge of redemption. Israel would have been kept from such physical diseases if they were simply obedient to the Lord, for He is the Lord who heals. In the present time of grace we are not promised freedom from physical diseases on the ground of obedience. But obedience will certainly keep us from spiritual diseases, and give us spiritual health and strength.
Illness in a believer's life may have nothing to do with disobedience.
Godly people today may suffer illness and other afflictions such as this, as Epaphroditus was "sick, near to death," not for disobedience, but for the sake of the work of Christ (Phil. 2:25-30).
Israel forfeited the promise, but God has not cancelled it. What Israel lost, He intends to give outright.
Even under the law this would have been so, had the people been obedient. They would have escaped the diseases of Egypt, and lived longer in the land, but they forfeited it all by their disobedience and sin. But in the future God will cause His people to enjoy all, and more than all, the blessings which He had promised long ago on the condition of keeping the law.
- Condition — God asked three things of Israel: listen, keep, do. He pledged three in return: love, bless, multiply. Health hung on Israel's side.
- Contrast — The diseases named are the ones Israel saw fall on Egypt. Obedience would move them off God's people and onto His enemies.
- Collapse — The Gospels show crowds of sick Israelites. The promise went unclaimed, and the failure lay with Israel, not the Healer.
- Compensation — The Messiah gave in grace what obedience never won, and healed them all.
- Continuation — Christians hold no promise of bodily health for obedience, and sickness may even serve Christ's work, as it did for Epaphroditus. What Israel forfeited, God will yet give, and more.
And thou shalt consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God will give up unto thee; thine eye shall not spare them, and thou shalt not serve their gods; for that would be a snare unto thee.
Moses is preparing Israel for the land they are about to enter. Commentators answer the two questions this verse raises: how a merciful God could give such an order, and why serving other gods would trap Israel.
Commentators set this order beside earlier judgments on societies whose corruption was complete.
This was now the case with the Amorite nations. About four hundred years earlier God told Abraham, "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete" (Gen. 15:16). But now it clearly was complete. God purposed to wipe them out, as He had done with the world before the flood, and then with Sodom. Only this time He would use Israel to do it.
Why Israel, and not plague or famine? The choice was itself part of the lesson.
In this respect Israel was only the executioner of divine judgment, not of their own passion or greed for gain. He could have destroyed these nations by plague or famine. Instead He chose Israel to do the work, and so gave His people the most solemn lesson they could receive: the holiness of His own nature, and what sin is before Him. They themselves would face the same terrible judgments if they followed these nations into their sin.
Many readers stumble at the order to show no pity. One writer turns the problem around and examines the objector.
It is very plain that such people could not adopt the language of Revelation 15:3-4. They are not prepared to say, "Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!" They cannot justify God in all His ways. Instead, they are sitting in judgment on Him. They presume to measure God's government by the standard of their own shallow thoughts — to weigh the infinite by the finite. In short, they measure God by themselves.
The severity had a protective purpose. Removing the nations was meant to guard Israel itself.
God designed the destruction of these utterly corrupt peoples to have a healthy effect on Israel itself. It would have prevented their marriages with the daughters of the various peoples. Those marriages were the surest way for Israel to catch the infection of their dreadful idolatrous systems. Their later history shows the result. Their failure here largely accounted for their constant dabbling in idolatrous things. That finally brought about their own judgment and dispersal under the Assyrians and Babylonians. Failing to judge and destroy the evil completely, they caught its infection and fell under its power.
Israel never finished the work, and the survivors became the snare God warned of.
It was a high honour put upon Israel to destroy those guilty nations. They proved themselves completely unworthy of it, because they failed to do as God commanded. They left alive many they should have destroyed. Those they spared became the wretched instruments of Israel's own ruin in the end. The survivors led Israel into the very same sins that had called so loudly for God's judgment.
Another writer names the motive behind the sparing, and its cost.
In fact, their own ruin came largely because the children of Israel failed to carry out the will of Jehovah about the Canaanites. Perhaps they gave in to laziness and cowardice, and in some cases to good nature. But I have no doubt it was far more often because they were not really up to His mind in the matter. So they spared themselves far more than they spared the Amorites, and they forgot God.
Commentators carry the verse forward in two ways. One reads the nations as a picture of unseen enemies:
As a picture, the Canaanites stand for the agents of Satan. They stand for the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places — the rulers of the darkness of this world we are called to wrestle with now. They are the powers of evil that keep turning every link of religion into deliberate and ruinous dishonour to God. With such enemies there can be, and ought to be, no terms and no compromise. The fight never stops, at any time or under any circumstances.
The other applies the verse to Christians:
Now we as Christians are committed to separation of a spiritual sort, as is made very plain in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. We Christians are loved in a more personal and intimate way, and so our separation and deliverance from this present evil age is even more distinct.
- Full measure — Judgment fell only when the sin of these nations was complete, four hundred years after God told Abraham it was not.
- Sword for a plague — God could have used famine or disease. He chose Israel's own hands, so they would learn the holiness of His nature and what sin is before Him.
- No pity, one reason — The order protected Israel. Marriage into these nations was the surest way to catch the infection of idolatry.
- Spared means served — Israel left alive what God said to destroy, giving in to laziness, cowardice and easy good nature. Those survivors became the instruments of Israel's own ruin.
- Our fight now — Commentators read Canaan as a picture of the powers of evil we still face. With those there is no compromise, and the Christian's separation is spiritual.
If thou shouldest say in thy heart, These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?
The hardest battle can be fought before any army is seen. It starts as a thought the people would say only in their own hearts. Israel is not told to deny the odds. The question is whether the heart will measure the enemy against itself, or against God.
The verse does not stand alone. It sets up a reply, and the reply tells Israel where to look when that thought comes.
They might be tempted to fear these nations because they were greater than Israel. They must not give in to such fear. They must remember well what the Lord did to Pharaoh and Egypt, including the great signs and wonders that proved Him greater than every enemy. God would destroy all the power of those in the land as easily as He dealt with Egypt's power.
Moses never tells Israel that the nations are small. One writer is sharp about comfort that pretends trouble away.
The great remedy for all unbelieving fears is to fix the eye on the living God. This lifts the heart above the difficulties, whatever they may be. It is of no possible use to deny that there are difficulties and opposing influences of all sorts. This will not bring comfort and encouragement to the sinking heart. Some people adopt a certain way of speaking about trials and difficulties. It proves, not that they know God in practice, but that they are deeply ignorant of the hard realities of life.
The count in the verse is correct as far as it goes. Israel was outnumbered. The mistake is that the sum leaves out one figure.
Here lies the precious secret. The eyes are upon God. His power comes in, and this settles everything: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Moses meets the rising fears in the heart of Israel: "These nations are greater than I." Yes, but they are not greater than the mighty and awesome God. What nations could stand before Him? He had a solemn case against those nations because of their terrible sins. Their guilt was full. The time to settle accounts had come, and the God of Israel was going to drive them out before His people.
An earlier generation looked at the same land and reached the same conclusion. Their story stands as a warning.
What a disgrace their unbelief was! They spoke of their enemies as giants, and of themselves as mere grasshoppers in their sight. "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are." If they had measured the Canaanites by the God who brought them out of Egypt, they would have spoken in another way. But God was not in their thoughts. Caleb and Joshua had no dread of the enemy, and both lived to enjoy the blessing of the Lord in the promised land. Whenever we speak of lack of power, it is to our shame.
The thought starts inside, so the cure must be ready inside before the trouble comes. One writer reads this passage as a standing command about where the soul should look.
We should train our souls to look more at our resources than at our pressures or difficulties. "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?" The Lord commands this; as, for instance, in Deuteronomy 7:17-19… We should make our hearts familiar with the promises and provisions of grace. Then, when the occasion comes, we may enter the field of battle like Jehoshaphat's army, with the sweet sound of these promises like music in our ears, and that joy will carry us on to victory.
God's answer to this fear is certain, but it is not instant. Israel asks how it could ever drive such nations out; the answer sets the pace.
Israel was a people separated from the nations in the land. They were not to fear them, though those nations were stronger and greater in number. God, who had shown His power in dealing with Pharaoh, was still on their side. He would dispossess them "little by little" — not all at once, but step by step. This is still God's way in dealing with His saints. We do not grasp everything at once.
- Heart — The danger begins as a private thought, not a battle report. God answers it before anyone says it out loud.
- Honest — Moses never denies the odds. Pretending the trouble away shows ignorance of real life, not faith.
- Measure — Fear compares the nations with Israel. Faith compares them with God, and no nation can stand before Him.
- Memory — The cure God gives is memory. What He did to Pharaoh is the guarantee of what He will do here.
- Pace — The outcome is certain, but the ground comes little by little. That is still how God leads His people forward.
fear them not; remember well what Jehovah thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all the Egyptians;
Israel stood at the border of Canaan, facing seven nations bigger and stronger than themselves, and the verse before this one records their honest fear: how can we possibly drive them out? God's answer is not a pep talk but an order to the memory — look back at Pharaoh, then look again at the enemy ahead.
The fear here is a calculation. Israel measured themselves against the nations and came up short. The answer supplies the figure unbelief left out of the sum.
Here lies the precious secret. The eyes are upon God. His power comes in, and this settles everything: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Moses meets the rising fears in Israel's heart. They say, "These nations are more than I." Yes, but they are not more than the "mighty and terrible God." What nations could stand before Him?
The command to stop being afraid is not a command to pretend the enemy is small. The difficulty stays real. What changes is where the eye rests.
The great remedy for all unbelieving fears is simply to fix the eye on the living God. This lifts the heart above the difficulties, whatever they may be. It is of no use at all to deny that there are difficulties and opposing influences of every kind. That will not bring comfort and encouragement to a sinking heart. Some people have a certain style of speaking about trials and difficulties. It does not prove that they know God in practice. It proves how little they know of the hard realities of life.
Why Pharaoh? Because God had already broken Egypt's power, and the signs that did it proved Him stronger than every enemy.
If they were tempted to fear these nations because they were greater than Israel, they must not give in to such fear. They must remember well what the Lord did to Pharaoh and Egypt, including the great signs and wonders that proved Him superior to every enemy. God would destroy all the power of those in the land as surely and as easily as He dealt with Egypt's power.
Memory here faces forward. What God has already done tells Israel what He will do next.
Remembering the Lord's past dealings with us should strengthen our confidence as we go on… "Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done." And as He has done, so He will do. He has delivered; and He does deliver; and He will deliver. Past, present, and future are all marked by divine deliverance.
God does not tell people to remember things they are in no danger of forgetting. Israel had already proved, at the Red Sea, how fast a rescued people can lose the evidence.
Israel in Egypt had wonderful witness of what God was to them. Plague after plague had swept through that land, and God kept them safe through every one. On the night of the Destroying Angel, the blood on the doorpost sheltered them. The Pillar of Cloud had also begun to lead them out of the land. Still, after all this, when they came to stand between the army of Egypt and the Red Sea, it was all as though forgotten. They feared and murmured.
A verse like this trains the heart in advance. The promises grow familiar before the trouble comes.
We should train our souls to look more at our resources than at our difficulties… The Lord commands this, as He does in Deuteronomy 7:17-19. And what is Romans 8:31-39 but the believer boasting in his resources in the face of every difficulty? We should make our hearts familiar with the promises and provisions of grace. Then, when the occasion comes, we may enter the field of battle like Jehoshaphat's army, with the sweet voice of these promises like music in our ear. That joy leads us on to victory. For "joy is strength," as Nehemiah told the congregation.
This is not a one-off encouragement. The same two words follow God's people through every stage of their history.
The people of God hear this word every time they have to deal with the enemy. They heard it in Egypt, on the edges of the wilderness, and in Canaan under Joshua. They heard it in the years of ruin that marked the kingdom of Israel, and again after the exile. And when Israel lay in the "lowest pit" and cried to God in their distress, the Lord answered, "Fear not."
- Recalculate — unbelief compares itself with the enemy. Faith adds God to the sum, and the enemy's size stops deciding the outcome.
- Remember — the cure for fear is not courage worked up from within. It is a look back at Pharaoh, the power God has already broken.
- Refocus — nobody pretends the difficulty is small. The eye moves to the living God, and the heart rises above trouble that is still real.
- Rehearse — hearts forget fast, as the Red Sea showed. Make the promises familiar before the battle, not during it.
- Repeat — "Fear not" is God's standing word to His people in every era, from Egypt to after the exile.
the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the powerful hand, and the stretched-out arm, whereby Jehovah thy God brought thee out so will Jehovah thy God do unto all the peoples whom thou fearest.
Israel is about to enter a land held by stronger nations. Moses answers their fear with a memory — what their own eyes watched God do to Egypt — and treats that rescue as proof for the battle still ahead.
Israel's fear is spelled out a few lines earlier: "These nations are more than I." One writer sets God's greatness beside those numbers.
Here lies the precious secret. The eyes are upon God. His power is brought in, and this settles everything. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" By his precious ministry, Moses meets the rising fears in Israel's heart: "These nations are more than I." Yes, but they are not more than the great and awesome God. What nations could stand before Him? He had a solemn dispute with those nations because of their terrible sins. Their wickedness was full. The reckoning time had come, and the God of Israel was going to drive them out before His people.
Moses never tells Israel the enemy is imaginary. The same writer is sharp about people who comfort others by pretending troubles do not hurt.
Some people have a way of talking about trials and difficulties. It proves, not their practical knowledge of God, but their deep ignorance of the hard realities of life. They would like to persuade us that we ought not to feel the trials, sorrows and difficulties of the way. They might as well tell us we ought not to have a head on our shoulders or a heart in our chest.
So the encouragement rests somewhere other than in the absence of enemies.
How did Moses seek to encourage the hearts of his brothers? "Do not be afraid," he says. But why? Was it that there were no enemies, no difficulties, no dangers? No — but "the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God." That is the true comfort and encouragement. The enemies were there, but God is the sure resource.
The trials, signs and wonders are not listed for nostalgia. They are proof already given, and the closing promise carries that proof forward into the land.
If they were tempted to fear these nations because they were greater than Israel, they must not give in to such fear. They must remember well what the Lord did to Pharaoh and Egypt, including the great signs and wonders that proved Him superior to every enemy. God would destroy all the power of those in the land as effectively and as easily as He disposed of Egypt's power.
One writer sets out the two ways a heart can do the sum.
What unbelief does is to compare ourselves and our own strength with circumstances. What faith does is to compare God with circumstances… Caleb and Joshua compared these sons of Anak with God — what did it matter, then, whether they were giants or grasshoppers? They spoke the language of faith. It was no reasoning about circumstances; it was simply saying, Greater is He that is for us than all that can be against us.
One writer reads the psalm about lifting the eyes to the hills and points straight back to this passage.
We should train our souls to look more at our resources than at our pressures or difficulties. "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?" The Lord commands this, as, for instance, in Deuteronomy 7:17-19… We should make our hearts familiar with the promises and provisions of grace. Then when the occasion comes we may enter the field of battle, like Jehoshaphat's army, with the sweet sound of these promises like music in our ears. That joy will lead us onward to victory. For "joy is strength," as Nehemiah told the congregation.
The believer has an Egypt of his own to remember.
"When He bares His arm, who can withstand His might?" The chariots and the horsemen of Egypt, and the waters of the Red Sea, were nothing to the Lord… "Your eyes," said the Lord, "have seen what I did in Egypt." Yes, cries the Christian, our eye of faith has seen His power and His grace too. He delivered us from the present evil world, whose bondage once made us groan, almost despairing of freedom.
- Eyes that count. Fear measures the enemy against ourselves. The nations really were more than Israel, but never more than God.
- Eyes that remember. The signs and wonders proved God superior to every enemy. The land would fall as easily as Egypt fell.
- Eyes that compare. Unbelief measures self against circumstances. Faith measures God against them, and giants or grasshoppers stop mattering.
- Eyes that lift. Learn God's promises before the battle. Then you march in with them sounding in your ears, and joy is strength.
- Eyes of faith. Nobody pretends the difficulty away. The enemies were real, yet God stood in their midst, and the same arm that broke Egypt has delivered us.
Moreover, Jehovah thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and they that hide themselves from thee, are destroyed.
Israel stood at the edge of a land held by nations stronger than themselves. This verse names the weapon God would use against them: not an army, but an insect.
The word behind "hornets" names a real creature. The same promise turns up three times in Israel's story.
The insect tsirah is of the wasp kind. God promised to send these insects before the Israelites to drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan (Ex. 23:28; Deut. 7:20; Joshua 24:12). Travellers report that when someone disturbs a nest of such insects, animals and people flee in terror. The stings are very painful, and at times they kill.
Commentators differ on whether to read this literally or as a picture of panic sent from God.
A soldier can face another soldier. He cannot face a swarm.
A hornet is a small, insignificant insect, but the weapons of an army cannot withstand an attack of hornets. The soldiers would not stand and fight Israel while pursued by hornets! Whether this is fully literal or not, it still teaches us that God can use the smallest means to put His enemies to flight.
God gains more honour this way than by using tools that match the size of the task.
There is far more honour in doing a great work with small and seemingly useless means than with strong and fitting tools. So what strikes us is not that Shamgar and Samson rescued Israel. It is that one did it with a common ox-goad, and the other with the jawbone of a donkey. God shapes the basin of an ocean by means of tiny sea creatures. He builds a thousand miles of rock on the Australian coast through coral insects. He shows the glory of His power and wisdom most of all by doing vast and staggering work through instruments that are weak and despised.
Israel would carry swords into Canaan. But at the end of Joshua's life, when he retold the story, he did not credit the swords.
In Canaan, in the promised land, the same great story is told. Did the men of Jericho or the forces of the seven nations, each greater and mightier than Israel, come against them? The Lord says, "I delivered them into your hands." Did Israel take the offensive? They did not win the day by sword or bow, but because "I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you." In wars of defence or attack, whether enemies came at them or they went at their enemies, the Lord alone won the victory, every time. Can the Christian fail to rejoice in the same grace — yes, to boast in his God, who is the God of all grace and of all might?
Earlier in the chapter Israel says in their heart, "These nations are greater than I." The answer is not to pretend the odds are smaller.
The great remedy for all unbelieving fears is to fix the eye on the living God. That way the heart rises above the difficulties, whatever they may be. It is no use at all denying that there are difficulties and opposing forces of every kind. That will not bring comfort or encouragement to a sinking heart. Some people talk about trials and difficulties in a way that proves one thing. It is not that they know God in practice. It shows their deep ignorance of the hard realities of life.
Near the end of his life, Joshua looked back over Israel's whole history and checked God's promises against what God had done.
This look back is a marvel of short statements. It runs through the whole history of Israel from the call of Abraham onward. Its purpose is to remind the gathered people once more of the mercies and faithfulness of the Lord. How soon they may be forgotten! Yet a true walk with God depends on remembering what we are by nature and what the Lord in His infinite grace has done for us... God kept every promise made in Exodus and Deuteronomy about taking the land. Read Exodus 23:28 and Deuteronomy 7:20 and compare them with verse 12. He gave them a land they had not worked for.
- God sends. The verb belongs to Him. The hornet is not Israel's tactic but God's dispatch, sent ahead of them into land they had not yet entered.
- God sends small. An army's weapons are useless against a swarm. God defeats the strong through what is weak and despised, so the honour of the work is His.
- God sends to the end. The promise covers even those who survive and hide. God does not push the enemy back; He finishes the work.
- God sends, so fear stops. The cure is not denying the difficulty but fixing the eye on the living God. Anyone who says the trials are not real has understood neither life nor God.
- God sent. Joshua's closing review confirms it: not by sword or bow, but a land they had not laboured for — proof that what He promises, He performs.
Thou shalt not be afraid of them; for Jehovah thy God is in thy midst, a God great and terrible.
Israel stood at the border of Canaan, facing nations that outnumbered them, and the order was not to be in dread. The reason is not a smaller enemy but a greater God, present among them. So which fear does He take away, and which fear stays?
(Some older translations read "a mighty God and terrible." Several writers quoted here use that wording.)
The command came to people in real danger. Commentators warn against the comfort that pretends the danger is not there.
It is of no use to deny that there are difficulties and opposing influences of all sorts. That will not bring comfort and encouragement to a sinking heart. Some people take up a certain way of speaking about trials and difficulties. It proves, not that they know God in practice, but that they are deeply ignorant of the hard realities of life. They would like to persuade us that we ought not to feel the trials, sorrows and difficulties of the way. They might as well tell us that we ought not to have a head on our shoulders or a heart in our chest.
What Moses puts against the fear is not an absence of enemies but a Person:
How did Moses seek to encourage the hearts of his brothers? "Do not be terrified," he says; but why? Was it that there were no enemies, no difficulties, no dangers? No. But "the LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty God and terrible." Here is the true comfort and encouragement. The enemies were there, but God is the sure resource.
Israel measured the nations against themselves. Moses gives them something else to measure against.
Here lies the precious secret. The eyes are upon God. His power is brought in, and this settles everything. By his precious ministry, Moses meets the rising fears in the heart of Israel: "These nations are more than I." Yes, but they are not more than the "mighty and terrible God." What nations could stand before Him? He had a solemn dispute with those nations because of their terrible sins. Their wickedness was full; the time of reckoning had come.
The title given to God here belongs to one of the most common names for God in the Old Testament.
It occurs over 240 times in the Old Testament, and is found most often in Job and the Psalms. It means the Mighty God, One victorious in power. It clearly sets forth the true God in contrast to the false gods of the nations. Here are a few extracts that show this character of God: "A jealous God"; "A Mighty God"; "A Mighty God and terrible"; "A God that avenges"; "God greatly to be feared."
The chapter forbids dread of the enemy's strength. It then turns at once to their images and their gold.
So Israel had no need to fear the power of the enemy. The LORD would see to that. But something else was far more to be feared than the enemy's power: the ensnaring influence of their idolatry. "You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire." "What!" the heart might say, "are we to destroy the gold and silver that decorate these images? Could that not be put to some good use?"
God's presence in the middle of the camp did more than win battles.
What a precious privilege to have the LORD walking in their midst! What a motive for purity of conduct, and refined care in their persons and home life! If He was in their midst to secure victory over their enemies, He was also there to demand holiness of life.
Nehemiah used the same name for God when the people rebuilding Jerusalem's wall lost heart.
"Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes" (Neh. 4:13-14). And what effect did these words of Nehemiah have? … Their hearts were turned to the Lord when they felt their weakness, and so they were strengthened to go on. They counted on the great and terrible God, who brought the work and plan of the mockers to nothing.
- Presence. The cure for dread is not a smaller enemy but a God in the midst of His people. The enemies were still there; He was the sure resource.
- Measure. The nations were more than Israel. They were not more than the mighty and terrible God, who had His own reckoning with their sin.
- Name. The name used here means the Mighty God, One victorious in power — the true God, in contrast to the false gods of the nations.
- Snare. Their weapons were never the real danger; their idols were — down to the silver and gold that decorated them.
- Claim. The God who walks in the camp to win the battle also walks there to demand holiness. The privilege and the demand come from the same Presence.
And Jehovah thy God will cast out those nations from before thee by little and little; thou shalt not be able to make an end of them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
God promised Israel a land held by stronger nations — but He would clear it slowly, not all at once. Why does a God with all power take His time?
God matched the pace of the conquest to the land itself. Emptying it faster than Israel could fill it would have swapped one problem for another.
Yet Israel is told that God would not destroy the enemies all at once. He would drive them out a little at a time. If the land was not repopulated at once, wild animals would increase so much that they would cause another problem. But Israel must not lose heart at how long this would take. God would without fail enable them to finish the work.
The power that broke Egypt was now turned on these nations. Its slowness was mercy, not reluctance.
The power of God, which they had seen in Egypt, would be against their enemies and destroy them, though slowly. Even this was in tender mercy to them, in case the wild beasts should increase too much in the empty land.
The timing followed a simple rule. God does not empty a place faster than He fills it.
But in all this God would act so as not to create a vacuum. He would drive out these nations "by little and little," just as the Israelites increased in number and were able to fill up the land. One can see the wisdom of this, and also note that God acts in this way in His dealings with our souls.
What was true of the land is true of a person. God's work in us moves through stages.
Israel was not to fear them, though they were mightier and greater in number. God, who had shown His power in dealing with Pharaoh, was still on their side. He would dispossess them "by little and little" — not all at once, but step by step. This is still God's way in dealing with His saints. We all begin as spiritual babes. It is a happy thing if we do indeed move on to become the "young men," and then the "fathers," of 1 John 2.
A believer can own far more than he has yet taken in.
This reminds us that we do not learn all the truth of God at once. Little by little we enter into the value of the great blessings we inherit "in Christ." "Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" belongs to all true believers (Ephesians 1:3). Yet it takes time to "possess our possessions."
A slow conquest means living for years with enemies still in the land. Moses did not steady them by pretending the enemies were small.
How did Moses seek to encourage the hearts of his brothers? "You shall not be in dread of them," he says; but why? Was it that there were no enemies, no difficulties, no dangers? No, but "the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God." Here is the true comfort and encouragement; the enemies were there, but God is the sure resource.
A work spread over years can be dropped halfway. Israel dropped it.
The book of Judges shows us that Israel failed in their own responsibility to drive out the Canaanites (see Judges 1:27–36). They failed despite their best intentions and their promises to Joshua. So God had to withdraw His promise to drive them out. The angel of the LORD came to Bochim and declared: "I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."
- Little by little is wisdom. An empty land would have filled with wild animals — a worse enemy than the one driven out.
- Little by little is mercy. The slower pace was God sparing them, not God withholding.
- Little by little is growth. God clears ground in a life only as fast as the person grows to occupy it — babes, then young men, then fathers.
- Little by little is not uncertainty. The enemies remained, but God was among them. He would finish the work; He only set the pace.
- Little by little still needs obedience. Israel stopped partway. The nations they spared became thorns in their sides, and their gods a snare.
But Jehovah thy God will give them up before thee, and will confound them with great consternation, until they are destroyed.
Israel is camped on the edge of a land held by nations stronger than they are. This verse answers their fear with two promises. God Himself hands the enemy over. And He does not stop until nothing of the enemy remains.
One commentator points out that Moses does not pretend the danger away:
How did Moses seek to encourage the hearts of his brothers? "You shall not be in dread of them," he says; but why? Was it that there were no enemies, no difficulties, no dangers? No, but "the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God." Here is the true comfort and encouragement; the enemies were there, but God is the sure resource.
The same writer traces the exact thought Moses is reaching into — the one that says the odds are impossible:
Moses meets, by his precious ministry, the rising fears in the heart of Israel, "These nations are too many for me." Yes, but they are not more than the "great and awesome God." What nations could stand before Him? He had a solemn controversy with those nations because of their terrible sins; their iniquity was full; the reckoning time had come, and the God of Israel was going to drive them out before His people.
Readers often ask whether a good God could order such a thing. One writer sets it beside two earlier acts of judgment on the same scale:
The first case was of course the flood... The second occasion was the destruction of the cities of the plain, including Sodom and Gomorrah... In both cases human corruption had risen to such a height that it could not be further tolerated. This was now the case with the Amorite nations. Some four hundred years earlier God had told Abraham, "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete" (Gen. 15:16). But now it clearly was "complete." God purposed to wipe them out, as He had done with the world before the flood, and then with Sodom — only this time using Israel to do it.
The promise is that God delivers them; the command is that Israel finish the job. Commentators hold both sides together. On the length of the task and the certainty of its end:
Yet God told Israel that He would not destroy the enemies all at once. He would drive them out a little at a time. If the land was not repopulated at once, wild animals would increase so much as to cause another problem. But Israel must not lose heart at how long this would take, for God would without fail enable them to finish the work.
Another writer explains why Israel still had to claim the gift:
God defined the boundaries of the promised land very accurately. But knowing the boundaries was not enough. Owning the land came with a condition: "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you." They had to go there, overcome the obstacles with the help and by the power of God, and take actual possession. Without that they could not have it. They never took possession of all the land which God had given.
Israel's later history shows what an unfinished conquest cost them:
Their later history shows how their failure here largely accounted for their own constant dabbling in idol worship. That in the end brought God's judgment on them, and the Assyrians and Babylonians scattered them. They failed to judge and destroy the evil in a complete way, so they caught its infection and fell under its power.
Commentators read the campaign as a picture of the Christian's own conflict, though they are careful about the difference — the enemies in Canaan were flesh and blood:
If the Canaanites were only enemies of flesh and blood, they are pictures of the still deadlier foes we have to fight — foes whose effort it is to hinder the Christian from taking possession, in present enjoyment, of his heavenly inheritance.
Applied to this chapter directly, the refusal to spare becomes a refusal to negotiate:
This is a picture of believers today being responsible to destroy the deception of evil spirits opposing the truth of the Word of God in such a way as to deprive us of our rightful inheritance. We must not in any way compromise with satanic pressure.
- Cause — God did not drive the nations out on a whim. Their iniquity was "complete," and He used Israel to do what He had already done by flood and fire.
- Gift — God gives the enemy over, and can rout them by the smallest means. The comfort is not that the dangers are imaginary but that God is among His people as the sure resource.
- Grip — you must walk on a promised inheritance to hold it. Israel never took all that God had given, because taking it meant going in.
- Completion — "until they are destroyed" leaves no stopping point. Israel judged the evil only in part, caught its infection, and in the end the Assyrians and Babylonians scattered them.
- Confidence — a long task was never a reason to lose heart. God pledged to enable them to finish the work.
And he will give their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt put out their name from under the heavens; no man shall stand before thee, until thou hast destroyed them.
Moses ends chapter 7 by telling a nervous people how the war for Canaan will end. Not one enemy will be left standing. Two questions sit behind that promise. Why such total destruction? And where would Israel find the strength for it?
The verse calls for their name to perish from under heaven. That was not a sudden decision. God waited generations. The sentence fell only when their wickedness was complete.
Some four hundred years earlier Abraham had been told, "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete" (Gen. 15:16). But now it plainly was "complete." God purposed to wipe them out, as He had already done with the world before the flood and then with Sodom — only this time using Israel to do it. And because men did His strange work of judgment, failure came in, and the work was not done fully, as it was when God acted by the forces of nature.
The verse promises that no one can stand against Israel. The reason lies outside Israel altogether.
Here lies the precious secret. The eyes are upon God. His power is brought in, and that settles everything. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" By his precious ministry, Moses meets the rising fears in the heart of Israel, "These nations are more than I." Yes, but they are not more than the "mighty and terrible God." What nations could stand before Him?
The enemy leaves slowly, yet the promise runs "until you have destroyed them." The pace is slow. The outcome is not in doubt.
Yet God told Israel that He would not destroy the enemies all at once. He would drive them out a little at a time. If the land was not repopulated at once, wild animals would increase so much as to cause another problem. But Israel was not to lose heart over the length of time this would take, for God would without fail enable them to finish the work.
The same pattern marks growth in the Christian life.
God had shown His power in dealing with Pharaoh, and He was still on their side. He would dispossess them "little by little" — not all at once, but step by step. This is still God's way in dealing with His saints. We do not grasp everything at once. Step by step we may advance in the things of God.
Joshua later saw this part of the promise come true in plain sight.
Joshua had the five kings brought out. He told the captains of the men of war who went with him to put their feet on the necks of these kings. In the most emphatic way he showed that the power of Canaan was now subject to the Lord's army... Here lies a significant lesson for the Christian soldier. In his victories he finds only the confirmation of the sure promises of his God, made at the start of the campaign. He also finds the anticipation of that final conquest of Satan which is near at hand, for "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" (Rom. 16:20).
Later the same people heard the opposite. Where holiness was missing, the promise did not hold.
God not only said, "therefore Israel could not stand," but "You cannot stand." Their weakness would continue. Sorrowful change! Before it was "No man shall be able to stand before you." Now they could not stand themselves. Where there is no holiness, God lets the weakness of His people be seen. There is no strength except in Him, and He will not go out with them where holiness is lacking.
Israel's later history showed what happens when the work is left half done.
Failing to judge and destroy the evil completely, they caught its infection and fell under its power.
The Canaanites stand for something beyond themselves.
It is clear that if the Canaanites were only enemies of flesh and blood, they are pictures of the still deadlier foes we have to fight. These foes work to keep the Christian from taking possession, in present enjoyment, of his heavenly inheritance.
- Cause — God waited centuries. The nations fell when their wickedness was full, not because Israel deserved the land.
- Guarantee — "No one shall be able to stand against you" rests on God's power, not Israel's numbers. The fear "these nations are more than I" is answered by who goes with them.
- Pace — The enemy goes out little by little, yet the work will be finished. Slow progress is God's method, not His failure.
- Proof — Joshua's captains later put their feet on the necks of those kings. It is a foretaste of Satan crushed under the feet of God's people.
- Condition — Where holiness is missing, the promise does not hold. Unjudged evil first weakens, then infects, then rules.