The Mystery of Esau and Ephraim

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—

— the Hittites; this people were descended from Heth, the second son of Canaan; the Girgashites; supposed by some to be the same as the Gergesenes, who lay to the east of Lake Gennesareth; but they are placed on the west of Jordan;

— the Amorites, descended from the fourth son of Canaan. They occupied, besides their conquest on the Moabite territory, extensive settlements west of the Dead Sea, in the mountains; the Canaanites, located in Phœnicia, particularly about Tyre and Sidon, and being sprung from the oldest branch of the family of Canaan, bore his name;

— the Perizzites, that is, villagers, a tribe who were dispersed throughout the country and lived in unwalled towns; the Hivites, who dwelt about Ebal and Gerizim, extending towards Hermon. They are supposed to be the same as the Avims;

— the Jebusites, resided about Jerusalem and the adjacent country; seven nations greater and mightier than thou; ten were formerly mentioned (Ge 15:19-21); it could be three of them, the Kenites, and Kenizires, and the Rephaim; were either destroyed by foreign or domestic wars, or by marriage united with and swallowed up in some of the rest.

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 show mercy unto them. — nor show mercy unto them; by sparing their lives, bestowing any favours upon them, or giving them any help and assistance when in distress.

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;

— neither shalt thou make marriages with them; unless they became proselytes, as Rahab; or as Ruth the Moabitess, and so any captive taken in war; otherwise it was not lawful, to prevent being snared and drawn aside into idolatry, which was the case of Solomon;

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.

— so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly; by some immediate judgment striking dead at once; there being nothing more provoking to God than idolatry;

⁵ But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their graven images with fire. — and cut down their groves; sacred to idols, which were usually planted on hills, and about pagan temples, and under which idols were placed to be worshipped;

⁶ “For thou art a 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. — 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; for special service and worship, and to enjoy special privileges and benefits, civil and religious;

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; — ye were the fewest of all people; it may be observed that the development of the Moabites, Ammonites, Ishmaelites, and Edomites (all, like Israel, descended from Terah), was far more rapid than that of the chosen line;

— Abraham had twelve grandsons through Ishmael, but only the same number of great grandsons through Isaac and Jacob. Edom, Moab, and Ammon all preceded Israel in the conquest of territory. Kings reigned in Edom “before there reigned any king over the children of Israel” (Genesis 36:31);

— it was only “when the time of the promise drew nigh” that the Israelites grew and multiplied in Egypt; the Scripture is throughout consistent in representing their development as due to the special providence of God (Deuteronomy 10:22);

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.

— and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers; the promise he had made, confirmed by an oath: hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand; out of the land of Egypt; and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen; where they were slaves to the Egyptians;

⁹ Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations,

— with them that love him, and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations; Exodus 20:6 which are not the causes or conditions of his covenant and mercy, nor of his keeping them, but descriptive of the persons that enjoy the benefit thereof;

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. — he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face; not defer the execution of his judgment and vengeance, which may seem to slumber and linger, but will quickly and openly bring it upon the sinner.

¹¹ Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command thee this day, to do them. — which I command thee this day, to do them; Catholics and Protestants alike giving lip services in the name of the Lord; by virtue of which he made fake declaration of obedience to put them out of their mind in order to justify themselves.

¹² “Therefore 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 swore unto thy fathers. — the observance of these commandments would also bring great blessings (Deuteronomy 7:12-16). “If ye hearken to these judgments and keep and do them”

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 cattle and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which He swore unto thy fathers to give thee.

— and bless thee, and multiply thee; that is bless thee with a multiplication of offspring, which was what was often promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that their seed should be as the stars of heaven, the dust of the earth, and the sand of the sea;

— the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep: their larger and lesser cattle, oxen and sheep: in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee; the Land of Promise, given in a promise, and that established by an oath.

¹⁴ Thou shalt be blessed above all people. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your cattle. — there shall not be male or female barren among you; which to be was reckoned a reproach, and the contrary a blessing, Luke 1:25 Psalm 128:3.

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 those who hate thee. — the evil diseases of Egypt; such as the Egyptians were infected with, either commonly, or miraculously;

— it seems to refer not only to the plagues of Egypt, but to some other epidemic diseases, which they remembered to have prevailed among the Egyptians, and by which God had chastised them for their national sins;

— confirmed by the reports of many modern writers, who tell us that, notwithstanding its equal temperature and sereneness, that country has some indigenous maladies which are very malignant, noxious and nauseous, such as ophthalmia, dysentery, smallpox, and other plagues.

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.

— and thou shall consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, which the Lord should deliver into their hands; them they were not to spare, but utterly destroy men, women and children.

¹⁷ “If thou shalt say in thine heart, ‘These nations are more than I. How can I dispossess them?’ — if thou shall say in thine heart; should have secret thoughts arise in the heart, misgivings of heart, fears and doubts there, which, though not outwardly expressed, might be inwardly retained;

¹⁸ thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt— but shall well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; a people more numerous and potent than the Canaanites, among whom the Lord wrought such wonderful things by his power, which obliged them to let Israel go;

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.

— and the mighty hand, and stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out; that is, out of Egypt, which was an instance and proof of his almighty power:

— so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid; not perform the same miraculous operations among them, but exert the same power in the destruction of them, and in dispossessing them of their land, as in destroying the Egyptians, and delivering Israel from among them.

²⁰ Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from thee be destroyed. — until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed; such of the Canaanites who escaped the sword of the Israelites, and hid themselves in holes and caverns of the earth;

— these the hornets would find out and sting them to death, until they were all destroyed; thus God can make use of small creatures, even insects, to destroy nations the most populous and mighty.

²¹ Thou shalt not be frightened at them; for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and fearsome. — for the Lord thy God is among you: in the tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies, which was in the midst of them, and besides would give proof of his powerful presence among them, in protecting them, and destroying their enemies;

²² And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee little by little; thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. — thou mayest not consume them at once; though it was in the power of their hands to do it, there being some wise reasons for sparing them awhile, at least for not cutting them off all at once;

²³ But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed. — but the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee; gradually, by little and little, until at length they should all come into their hands: and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed; even all of them;

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. — thou shall destroy their name from under heaven; not only destroy the name of the reigning kings;

— so as that they should not be remembered and made mention of any more, but put an end to the name and race of kings among them, so that they should never have any more, as they never had.

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. — an abomination to the Lord thy God; not only the idol itself, being put in the place of God, and so derogatory to his honour and glory;

— but the gold and silver on it, being devoted to a superstitious and idolatrous use; and even the taking of it, and appropriating it to a man’s own use, was an abomination, and resented by the Lord as such.

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.

— and thou shalt utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing; devoted to destruction; and to have anything to do with it is the way to entail a curse, and bring to everlasting ruin and destruction;

— from MSG

So don’t be intimidated by them. God, your God, is among you—majestic God, awesome God. God, your God, will get rid of these nations, bit by bit. You won’t be permitted to wipe them out all at once lest the wild animals take over and overwhelm you.

But God, your God, will move them out of your way—he’ll throw them into a huge panic until there’s nothing left of them. He’ll turn their kings over to you and you’ll remove all trace of them under Heaven. Not one person will be able to stand up to you; you’ll put an end to them all. Deuteronomy 7:21-24

Deuteronomy 8

¹ “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers.

— all the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do; this is repeated over and over again, to impress on their minds and to show the importance and necessity of it, how greatly it was expected from them, and how much it was incumbent on them;

— that ye may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers; for their temporal life, and the mercies and comforts of it, the multiplication of their offspring, and of their substance, their entrance into the land of Promise;

² And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or not.

— to know what was in thine heart, that is, that thou mightest discover to thyself and others that infidelity, inconstancy, hypocrisy, apostacy, rebellion, and perverseness, which may lay hidden in thy heart;

³ And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.

— but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live; the Targum of Jonathan says, “but by all that is created by the Word of the Lord doth man live;”

⁴ Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell these forty years.

— thy raiment waxed not old upon thee; the common interpretation of these words is, that, by a miracle, their clothes did not so much as decay, nor their foot swell; or thy shoe did not wax old upon thy feet; that is, “You were not reduced, through poverty, to wear shoes till they were grown so old and torn that they could not defend your feet against tumours.

⁵ Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. — thou shalt also consider in thine heart; and meditate upon, revolve in your thoughts, well weigh in your minds, and take into thorough and deliberate consideration in your hearts;

— that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee; that they stood in the same relation to God as a son to a father, and therefore happy and honourable; that all their afflictions came from God;

⁶ Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God to walk in His ways and to fear Him. — to walk in his ways, and to fear him; to walk in the ways he directed, to be under an awe of his majesty, a fear of offending him,

— unlike in the New Testament era, where most Potestant bigwigs thought you could chitchat with him and ignoring his laws, statutes and judgments, which the Lord repetitively and steadfastly commanded.

⁷ For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills,

— and this, an excerpt from “America the Beautiful”

“O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!”

⁸ a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil, and honey, — a land of plenty, in fact “overcapacity” with lots for export; see details in Agriculture in the United States

⁹ a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness. Thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. — thou shall not lack anything in it; for necessity and convenience, and for delight and pleasure;

— a land whose stones are iron; in which were iron mines; and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass; both which are taken out of the earth and the stones of it;

¹⁰ When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee. — for the good land which he hath given thee; which supplied them with such plenty, that they enjoyed full meals every day.

¹¹ “Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I command thee this day, — again, a constant reminder of keeping his commandments, statutes and judgments;

¹² lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, — lest when thou hast eaten and art full; not only once and again, but continually, day after day, being indulged with great plenty;

— and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; who for forty years had only dwelt in tents, moving from place to place in the wilderness.

¹³ and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, — and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply; having good pasture for them in so fruitful a land: and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied; by trading with other nations;

¹⁴ then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage,

— and thou forget the Lord thy God; from whom all good things come, and who can take them away when he pleases, and therefore should be ever kept in mind, in deep remembrance always; who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

¹⁵ who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint, — and drought where there was no water; a dry and barren place where no water was to be had; or it may be rather another kind of serpents may be meant,

¹⁶ who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; — that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee; they were kept humble, being dependent on God for their daily bread;

— having nothing in the wilderness to support themselves with; and this tried them, whether they would trust in God for their daily supply, and be thankful for it, or not;

— at thy latter end, that is, that after he hath purged and prepared thee by afflictions, he may give thee, and thou mayst receive and enjoy, his blessings with less disadvantage, whilst by the remembrance of former afflictions thou art made thankful for them, and more cautious not to abuse and forfeit them again.

¹⁷ and thou say in thine heart, ‘My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.’ — or thus Israel thought in his heart, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth; so ascribing that to themselves, their labour, and diligence, instead of ascribing the bounty and blessing of God; 

¹⁸ But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

— for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; for though men may have seeming opportunities for getting wealth, may have capacities for the management of business for the acquisition of it; it is the blessing of God that makes rich, and to that it should be imputed whenever it is enjoyed;

¹⁹ And it shall be, if thou at all forget the Lord thy God and walk after other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. — a pure prophecy that if thou forget the Lord thy God, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish;

— by one judgment and calamity or another, as the sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity; there being nothing more provoking to God than idolatry, breaking his laws, commandments, the statutes and judgements;

²⁰ As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish, because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God. — your nation will be in the same ruin and destruction that you are now going to execute upon the Canaanites for your national sins.

~ by Japheth on April 25, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses