6.4–9 In Jewish liturgy, this is the lead paragraph of the Shema‘ (which means Hear, the unit’s initial word, in Hebrew), which the faithful are instructed to recite twice daily (cf. Mishnah Berakot 1.1–3.6). In the synoptic Gospels the creedal injunction of vv. 4–5 is affirmed as the “Great Commandment,” which, together with the requirement to love one’s neighbor (Lev 19.18), epitomizes the Mosaic law (Mt 22.36–40; Mk 12.28–34; cf. Lk 10.25–28).
6.4–5 Love is commanded as the fullest measure of the loyalty that Israel owes the Lord (Yahweh), its only divine sovereign (cf. 5.6–10). Heart, connoting the human intellect and will, and soul, meaning the vitality of self-hood, are often so conjoined in Deuteronomic rhetoric (e.g., 4.29; 10.12; 26.16; Josh 23.14; 2 Kings 23.3); the final item, might, or “capacity,” appears only here and in a tribute to King Josiah (2 Kings 23.25).
6.6–9 Moses’ instruction is to be internalized by the faithful (cf. Ps 37.31; Prov 3.3; Isa 51.7; Jer 31.33) and outwardly displayed in witness to personal and communal identity among the Lord’s people.
6.10–19 A concise exposition of 5.6–9, framed as a warning that Israel must never compromise its reliance on the Lord’s providence.
6.10–11 The Lord’s largess. Cf. 8.7–14; 32.11–15; Josh 24.13; Neh 9.25.
6.13 A summary of positive duties; see also 10.20. Swear. Cf. Josh 23.6–8; Isa 48.1; Jer 4.2; 5.7; 12.16.
6.14–15 The perennial injunction and threat; see, e.g., 4.23–26; 8.19–20; 11.16–17; 13.12–18; 29.24–28; 30.17–18; Josh 24.14; Judg 2.11–15; 2 Kings 17.7–18.
6.16 Test, by questioning God’s presence with or benevolent intentions toward Israel, as exemplified by the incident at Massah; see Ex 17.1–7; cf. 1.26–33; Num 14.22; Ps 95.8–9; Mt 4.7.
6.19 For the divine promise, see Ex 23.27; 34.11–12 (cf. Josh 2.22–24).
6.20–25 This catechesis illustrates observance of the instruction in 6.6–9, i.e., how a new generation should be led to acknowledge the Mosaic statutes and ordinances as central to God’s gracious design for Israel’s well-being (cf. Ex 12.26; 13.14–15; Josh 4.6–7, 21–22).
6.21–23 We. The response is succinct, confessional, and experiential; see also 26.5–10 (cf. 5.3; 6.4).
6.24–25 The chief aim of God’s law is to secure life (cf. 4.1–4; 30.15–20). Be in the right, a verdict of acquittal, anticipated here because of meritorious discharge of covenantal obligations (cf. 24.13; Gen 15.6; Ezek 18.5–9).
DEUTERONOMY 7
A Chosen People
1When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you—2and when the LORD your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy. 3Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5But this is how you must deal with them: break down their altars, smash their pillars, hew down their sacred poles,a and burn their idols with fire. 6For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
7It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8It was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10and who repays in their own person those who reject him. He does not delay but repays in their own person those who reject him. 11Therefore, observe diligently the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today.
Blessings for Obedience
12If you heed these ordinances, by diligently observing them, the LORD your God will maintain with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to your ancestors; 13he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you. 14You shall be the most blessed of peoples, with neither sterility nor barrenness among you or your livestock. 15The LORD will turn away from you every illness; all the dread diseases of Egypt that you experienced, he will not inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16You shall devour all the peoples that the LORD your God is giving over to you, showing them no pity; you shall not serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
17If you say to yourself, “These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?” 18do not be afraid of them. Just remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20Moreover, the LORD your God will send the pestilenceb against them, until even the survivors and the fugitives are destroyed. 21Have no dread of them, for the LORD your God, who is present with you, is a great and awesome God. 22The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you. 23But the LORD your God will give them over to you, and throw them into great panic, until they are destroyed. 24He will hand their kings over to you and you shall blot out their name from under heaven; no one will be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them. 25The images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself, because you could be ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the LORD your God. 26Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.
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a Heb Asherim
b Or hornets: Meaning of Heb uncertain
7.1–26 In order to safeguard its allegiance to the Lord, Israel must extirpate the nations of Canaan along with their idolatrous cults (cf. 12.2–3; 20.16–18; Ex 23.23–33; 34.11–16; Num 33.51–56).
7.1–6 Prescription.
7.1 Like Canaanites and Amorites (see 1.7), Hittites may be a generic label for Israel’s predecessors (cf. Gen 10.15; 23.3–20; 49.29–30; Num 13.29; Josh 1.4; Ezek 16.3, 45). Anatolian antecedents are possible for the Girgashites (cf. Gen 10.16), the Perizzites (cf. Gen 13.7; 34.30; Josh 17.15; Judg 1.4–5), and Jerusalem’s Jebusites (cf. Josh 15.63; 2 Sam 5.6–8). Hivites, perhaps from north Syria, are associated with Shechem and the Gibeonite cities (cf. Gen 34.2; Josh 9.1–7; Judg 3.3; 2 Sam 21.2). Seven nations appear also in Josh 3.10; 24.11; such lists most often have six of the names (e.g., Ex 3.8; Josh 9.1; Judg 3.5; cf. Gen 15.19–21; 1 Kings 9.20).
7.2 Utterly destroy. The ban is a radical solution (cf. 20.16–18; Josh 10.40; 11.11–12) that, if enforced, would make the commands of vv. 2b–5 superfluous. No covenant. See Ex 23.32–33; 34.12, 15; Josh 9.3–27; 11.19; Judg 2.2–3.
7.3 Prohibition of intermarriage. See Ex 34.16; Josh 23.12–13; Judg 3.5–6 (cf. Gen 34.9–10; 1 Kings 11.1–6).
7.4 Me, apparently Moses, speaking as the Lord’s surrogate; see 5.27 (cf. 11.13–15; 17.3; 28.20; 29.5).
7.5 Eradication of Canaanizing cult places and practices is a Deuteronomic priority (12.2–4, 29–31; 16.21–22; 18.9–14) which resonates with the measures attributed to k
ings Hezekiah and Josiah in 2 Kings 18.4; 23.4–24). Pillars, commemorative steles (cf. Gen 28.18; 35.14; Ex 24.4; Lev 26.1; 2 Kings 10.26–27). Asherim (see text note a) were probably cultic poles or trees, associated at least indirectly with the goddess Asherah (cf. Ex 34.13; Judg 6.25–30; 1 Kings 14.22–24; 2 Kings 17.16; Isa 27.9; Jer 17.2; Mic 5.14).
7.6 Holy to the LORD and treasured possession define the character of Israel’s election. See 14.2, 21; 26.18–19; cf. Ex 19.5–6; Ps 135.4; Mal 3.17.
7.7–16 God’s devotion to Israel is motivated solely by divine love and faithfulness and not by the nation’s intrinsic value (variations on 5.6–10).
7.7 Set his heart, “was smitten with love” (10.14–15; cf. 21.11; Gen 34.8; Hos 11.1).
7.8 See 5.6. Redeemed, emancipated or ransomed (also 9.26; 13.5; 15.15; 21.8; 24.18; cf. Num 18.15–17; Ps 78.42; Hos 13.14).
7.9 Echoing 5.10 (cf. Neh 1.5; 9.32; Dan 9.4; Jon 4.2). Faithful, trustworthy, consistent, diligent (cf. 32.4; Pss 89.1–2; 98.3; Isa 49.7). Covenant loyalty, lit. “the covenant [Hebrew berit ] and the steadfast love [Hebrew chesed ]” (also v. 12). Cf. 1 Kings 8.23–24; Ps 89.24, 28, 33–34; Isa 54.10; 55.3; Mic 7.20).
7.10 An emphatic revision of 5.9b (cf. Ex 34.6–7; Num 14.18). Instead of corporate punishment, which might affect several generations, retribution for breach of covenant is now targeted against individual offenders (cf. 24.16; Jer 31.29–30; 32.18–19; Ezek 18.1–24).
7.13–14 Cf. 15.6; 28.4–14; Ex 23.25–26. Grain, wine, oil, the chief agricultural products of Canaan (11.14; 12.17; 14.23; 18.4; 28.51; cf. Hos 2.8, 22).
7.15 Diseases of Egypt, presumably exemplified by the plagues of Ex 9.3, 9 (cf. Deut 28.27, 60; Ex 15.26; Am 4.10).
7.16 Snare to you. See 12.29–32; cf. 7.25; Ex 23.32–33; 34.12–16; Judg 2.3.
7.17–26 Implementation (the conquest theme).
7.17–19 Divine warfare. Cf. 1.28–30; 3.22; 4.34, 37–38; 9.1–3; 20.1; 29.2–3; Josh 23.3, 9–10.
7.20 Pestilence, perhaps a metaphor for terror as a weapon of divine warfare (cf. 2.25; 32.23–24; Ex 15.14–16; 23.27–28; Josh 24.12; Hab 3.5).
7.22 Little by little. Cf. Ex 23.29–30; Judg 2.3, 20–23; 3.1–6.
7.23 Panic. Cf. 28.20; 1 Sam 5.9–11; 14.18–20.
7.24 See 11.25; 12.3; cf. Josh 13.
7.25–26 Images…you shall burn. See 9.21; 1 Kings 15.13; 2 Kings 10.26–27; 23.4, 11, 15. Do not covet. This and the following provisions foreshadow Josh 6.18–19 and the aftermath in Josh 7; cf. Judg 8.24–27; 17.2–4. Abhorrent to the LORD is a label used to proscribe things, practices, and persons deemed fraudulent, idolatrous, or otherwise morally repugnant (e.g., 12.31; 17.1; 18.12; 22.5; 23.18; 24.4; 25.16; Prov 3.32; 6.16; 15.8–9, 26; cf. Gen 43.32; Ex 8.26). Destruction, or “ban” (Hebrew cherem). See note on 2.33–35.
DEUTERONOMY 8
A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity
1This entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. 2Remember the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. 3He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.a 4The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. 5Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the LORD your God disciplines you. 6Therefore keep the commandments of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, 8a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. 10You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.
11Take care that you do not forget the LORD your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. 12When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, 13and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, 14then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonousb snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, 16and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. 17Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” 18But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today. 19If you do forget the LORD your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20Like the nations that the LORD is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
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a Or by anything that the LORD decrees
b Or fiery; Heb seraph
8.1–20 The theme that affluent life in Canaan encourages haughtiness and apostasy is a familiar one in prophetic as well as Deuteronomic sources (cf. 4.25; 31.20; 32.13–18; Isa 5.1–7; Jer 2.1–13; Hos 13.4–6; Am 6.1–8). Here the issue is addressed in light of Israel’s experience of divine providence during the wilderness era.
8.1–10 Exhortation (remember, v. 2; know, v. 5; keep, v. 6).
8.2 Forty years. Cf. 1.3; 29.5; Ps 95.10; Am 2.10. The Israelites were humbled in the wilderness, treated in a humiliating manner (e.g., 21.14; 22.24; 26.6; Ex 22.22–23; Ps 90.15), to test their willingness to obey.
8.3 Israel survived on manna (cf. Ex 16; Num 11.5–9; Josh 5.12), which was “miserable food” (Num 21.5), because that is what the Lord had provided. The lesson: life is ordered and sustained not by human preferences but by anything and everything that the Lord alone decrees (cf. Ps 104; Prov 30.8).
8.4 Cf. 29.5; Neh 9.21.
8.5 On divine and parental discipline, see, e.g., 4.36; 11.2; 21.18; Jer 31.18; Ps 94.12; Prov 3.11–12; 19.18; 29.17; Hos 11.1–4.
8.7–9 An encomium on Canaan’s bounties (cf. 1.25; 11.9–12; 32.13–14; 33.28; Num 20.5; also the Egyptian “Tale of Sinuhe” 81–84).
8.10 Eat…bless, return praise to the Lord for the blessings received (cf. Gen 24.48; Neh 9.5; Pss 34.1; 145.1–2; also Mishnah Berakot 6).
8.11–20 Admonition (Do not forget, v. 11; Do not say, v. 17).
8.11–14 A reprise of 6.10–12.
8.15 Snakes. Cf. Num 21.6–9. Flint rock. See 32.13; cf. Ex 17.6; Num 20.8–11; Ps 114.8.
8.17–18 Because the Lord provides the means to acquire wealth (cf. Gen 34.29; Job 5.5; Prov 13.22; Ezek 28.4–5), prosperity must always be acknowledged as a divine gift and never claimed as a personal right (see also 9.4–5; 12.5–7; 14.28–29; 15.4–18; 26.1–15).
8.19 Solemnly warn, testify against or threaten (cf. 4.26; 30.19; 32.46; 1 Sam 8.9; 2 Kings 17.13).
DEUTERONOMY 9
The Consequences of Rebelling against God
1Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross the Jordan today, to go in and dispossess nations larger and mightier than you, great cities, fortified to the heavens, 2a strong and tall people, the offspring of the Anakim, whom you know. You have heard it said of them, “Who can stand up to the Anakim?” 3Know then today that the LORD your God is the one who crosses over before you as a devouring fire; he will defeat them and subdue them before you, so that you
may dispossess and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has promised you.
4When the LORD your God thrusts them out before you, do not say to yourself, “It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to occupy this land” it is rather because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. 5It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to occupy their land; but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is dispossessing them before you, in order to fulfill the promise that the LORD made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6Know, then, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to occupy because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people. 7Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; you have been rebellious against the LORD from the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place.
8Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. 9When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10And the LORD gave me the two stone tablets written with the finger of God; on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken to you at the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11At the end of forty days and forty nights the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 12Then the LORD said to me, “Get up, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have been quick to turn from the way that I commanded them; they have cast an image for themselves.” 13Furthermore the LORD said to me, “I have seen that this people is indeed a stubborn people. 14Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.”
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