Restoration Quarterly 17 (1974)
222-235.
Copyright © 1974 by Restoration
Quarterly, cited with permission;
digitally prepared
for use at
Deuteronomy 7: A Covenant
Sermon
When dealing with a passage from the
Pentateuch, and especially
from the Mosaic covenant sermon material in the
early chapters of
Deuteronomy,
the question of authorship is of central concern, since
there are many different viewpoints regarding the
final form of the five
books. The predominant scholarly opinions concerning
Deuteronomy
are the following:
1. Moses recorded the speeches and the laws as
he delivered them to
the Israelites at
2. The sayings of Moses and the giving of the
law were preserved and
written down in Yahwistic
circles through the monarchical period,
primarily in
elements were added or omitted to make the
material relevant to the
new situation.
3. The work was composed in the seventh century
in reaction to the
apostasies of Ahaz and
Manasseh. The ancient legal material in the book
was placed in the context of a covenant renewal at
the time when
reform was essential if
This
article will not depend on any one theory of authorship, but
certain points may immediately be noted in
preparation for the actual
exegesis of Deuteronomy 7.
First, even conservative scholars such as R. K.
Harrison recognize
that chapter 34, the account of Moses' death, is
added to the original
form of Deuteronomy. It is also significant that the
book begins with
"These
are the words that Moses spoke. . . ," as though
someone later
was putting in written form this farewell address
of Moses. Indeed, the
entire Pentateuch is narrated in the third person.
This situation is
comparable to the New Testament, which was written
by Jesus'
followers rather than Jesus himself. Just as the
Gospel writers selected
their material from the abundance of available
tradition about the Lord
222
Crump: Deuteronomy 7 223
to take their evangelical and theological thrist to their particular
audiences (cf. Luke 1:1-4; John
the words of Moses present and even elaborate upon
them in ways that
met their theological needs. It is a fundamental principle
of exegesis
the biblical materials are to be understood or the
basis of their
situation in life, both of the original event or
saying and of the later
audience to which the written account is addressed:
Their purpose was
to meet the needs of a live historical situation
with truth from God
and not simply to compile a biography of a great
leader such as Moses
or Jesus.
A second important observation is that the parenetic material in
Deuteronomy
is clearly Mosaic In thought and content. Chapter 7
quotes frequently from the "Book of the Covenant"
(Exodus 21-23),
the laws given by Moses at Sinai in connection with
the Decalogue in
chapter 20. Deuteronomy is thus centered on the
covenant given
through Moses and in effect reiterates it as his
last testimony to the
nation. The book is structured, roughly, in the form
of an ancient
covenant document, with many elements of the
Hittite suzerainty
treaty: historical prologue, stipulations in the form
of commandments,
cosmic witnesses (30:19), and blessings and curses,1
found in
Deuteronomy 7 as well as in the later chapters. Chapter 29 begins with
the statement "These are the words of the
covenant which the Lord
commanded Moses to make with the people of
the covenant made “at Horeb."
The essential theme of Deuteronomy,
therefore, is the renewal of the covenant. Those
who felt the need in
it later times for such a revival of dedication to
Yahweh quite naturally
saw in this Mosaic covenant material the basis for
such an endeavor.
Deuteronomy is, as Nicholson states, "the
deposit of the authentic
Mosaic
faith as it developed during the course of
the seventh century until
. . . under the shadow
of the destruction of the northern tribes and
the threat of a similar
fate for the remaining Judean kingdom it
was formulated Into the
book of Deuteronomy in an attempt to
1. G. E. Mendenhall, "Covenant,” The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible,
I.
714, 715.
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revive the nation and ensure
its future as Yahweh's covenant
people.2
Those
who wrote down Deuteronomy in its final form brought Moses'
words to bear with renewed force on the situation of
the nation at a
critical moment in the history of God's people,
when a weakened faith
was perceived as totally inadequate for the future
of the covenant
nation. Many scholars observe affiliations between the
parenesis of
Deuteronomy
and the prophetic activity beginning in the eighth
century. God's love for
7,
is a prominent theme in Hosea (3:1; 11:1; 14:4).
The similarity in style between Deuteronomy and
Jeremiah has been
widely observed.3 Dahl notes elements as well
of the "social passion of
Amos" and the "national devotion of
Isaiah."4 The "book of the
law"
found in the temple during Josiah's reign probably
was at least the
essential part of the present fifth book of the
Pentateuch, which is itself
a "book of the law" (28:61; 29:21;
30:10; 31:26). Josiah's covenant to
keep Yahweh's commandments "with all his heart
and all his soul" (2
Kings
23:3) echoes the command of Deuteronomy 26:16. The reforms
which Josiah proceeded to institute involved the
destruction of all
vestiges of polytheism and idolatry, as the
reading of Deuteronomy
might well have prompted. He had already begun to
restore the political
and religious status of
the discovery of the "book of the law."5
Deuteronomy 7 is founded on the covenant
relationship between
God
and his people based on his mighty acts on their behalf in the past
and the potential for the future if the covenant
criteria are maintained.
As
a genre it may best be termed a "covenant sermon." Its contents
include encouragement, warning, promise,
remembrance, and
admonition. The chapter has universal implications
beyond its
immediate context and expounds the central themes
of the Jewish (and
indeed the Christian) religion. While several chapters
in Deuteronomy,
2. E. W. Nicholson, Deuteronomy and Tradition (
1967),
p. 121.
3. G. Ernest Wright,
"Deuteronomy,” The Interpreter's
Bible, II.
319.
4. George Dahl, "The Case for the Currently
Accepted Date of
Deuteronomy,” Journal of Biblical Literature, 47 (1928), pp. 373, 374.
5. Wright, op. cit., p.322; cf. his discussion
of the disintegration of the
Assyrian
Empire, which left
Crump: Deuteronomy 7 225
notably the one immediately preceding, stress
the loving response
demanded by the one great God, Deuteronomy 7
emphasizes the hesed
bestowed by God upon his own. The chapter is
essentially a unified
homiletic presentation, despite the diverse
elements within it. Like the
rest of the book, and indeed the entire Deuteronomistic corpus, its
material is subordinated to the overriding
concern of total dedication to
Yahweh.
It is said that the idea of love is more
prominent in Deuteronomy
than anywhere else in the Old Testament.6
Chapters 6 and 7, and
others as well, make it evident that love on the part
of both God and
men is the central element in the covenant
relationship. In 7:9 God's
faithfulness to his berith is
inseparably linked with his hesed. The
chapter is in fact one of the outstanding
expositions of grace in the Old
Testament. The author recognizes that the
tremendous blessings
bestowed by Yahweh upon his chosen people are
based solely on his
love and election. Of course,
wholeheartedly to God's acts. Although
there are many statutes and
commandments to observe, these are
subsidiary to the "great
commendment" to love, to
devote one's whole being to Yahweh. In
fact, Eichrodt maintains,
the covenant stipulations are "examples and
practical guides" to help
They
outline a "way of life" by which God's people can prosper under
the "gracious benefaction" of Yahweh and
his covenant.8 The concept of
God
as one who loves, not only with respect to the hesed promised in the
second commandment (Exodus 20:6), but also in a very
personal
way ('ahab), is certainly a significant biblical viewpoint.
Deuteronomy
7
is a noteworthy segment of a work which presents this sophisticated
formulation of God's relationship to
powerful truths.
The Sitz Im Leben of
Deuteronomy 7
Several factors are involved in the
determination of the origins of the
material in the chapter. It is part of a sermon
which reiterates the
6. Jacob M. Myers, "The Requisites for
Response: On the Theology of
Deuteronomy,” Interpretation, 15 (January, 1961), 29.
7. Walther Eichrodt,
"Covenant and Law,” Interpretation,
20 (July, 1966),
313.
8. Ibid.,
309, 310.
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convenant founded at Horeb (5:2ff.). This parenetic
material is part of
a document structured according to the ancient
covenant formula. The
point is made in 5:3 that the covenant is made with
"all of us here alive
this day" and not just the "fathers"
coming out of
"this day" recurs in
that chapters 5-11, connected by common ideas and
particularly the
motif of the land, are concerned with a covenant
renewal activity. Von
Rad thinks that the setting of this reiteration of
the Mosaic covenant
was originally cultic and that for this purpose Deuteronomy
is arranged
according to the liturgy of a festival of the cult.9
It has been altered,
however, into the form of homiletic instruction for
the laity.10 Such a
covenant ceremony may in fact have taken place
from the early days of
also "made a covenant" with the people at Shechem (Joshua 24:25). If so,
Shechem or one of the other old shrines could
have been the primary
location for such a cultic event down through the
monarchical period.
The
powerful emphasis on purification from idols and foreign gods calls
to mind kings such as Ahab and Manasseh, although
the
Deuteronomistic historian condemns all
the kings of
many of those of
Yahwists carried on the covenant ceremony in
spite of hostile
monarchs. The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal that such
an event took place
periodically in the
from undesirable developments in the religion of
God's chosen nation.
This
sermon therefore uses the covenant words of Moses for
later worship and renewal of faith.
But what information does Deuteronomy 7 provide
concerning its
specific setting in life? From verse 5, there is
clearly a problem with
Canaanite
religion, which included 'asherim and masseboth.12
Although
these references do not establish precisely the location, they
suggest the areas toward the north, closer to
stories. Several expressions in the chapter,
like others in the book, are
9. Gerhard von Rad, Deuteronomy, tr. Dorothea Barton (
10. Ibid., p. 23.
11. G. Vermes, The
Penguin
Books, 1968), pp. 72-74.
12. Joseph Reider, Deuteronomy (
Society of
Crump: Deuteronomy 7 227
stylistically close to those of the
"E" Pentateuchal source, which many
scholars believe to be grounded in
(7:4), "Yahweh will bless thee" (
not in chapter 7, the name "Horeb" (cf. 5:2) for Sinai is a particularly
notable correlation.13 Deuteronomy 7
must be considered to have a
particular message for its immediate audience. It
seems likely that the
latter-day faithful have taken the covenant of
Moses with the people
and applied it to a time when the battle against
the importation of
foreign cultic practices into Yahwism was at its height."14 There is
such a radical concern for separation from the slightest
foreign taint (cf.
vss. 2-5, 25-26) that one
must assume that contamination is a critical
and immediate problem. The best analysis seems to
be that the material
was passed down through northern Yahwistic circles, became influential
in
threat of imminent destruction), and became in final form
a strongly
parenetic recall of the covenant
to the nation during and after Josiah's
reform. Conceivably it was part of a great ceremony
centered on the
material in Deuteronomy at some time in the
interlude between the
apostasy of Manasseh and the years just before
the exile.
Relations with Other
Nations
Deuteronomy 7 is not universalistic in theology.
The emphasis is
rather upon separateness of the covenant nation from
foreign contact.
The
first five verses speak of the utter destruction which the Israelites
must bring about to the peoples who do not worship
Yahweh. He will
bring them into the land and will "clear away"
(nashal)
many nations
so that they may possess it. The land is the central
motif in the early
chapters of Deuteronomy. It represents tangibly
the saving gift of God
promised since the time of the patriarchs. It is
singularly appropriate as
a representation of God's love and grace at any
moment in
history. The promise of the "fathers"
(7:8), now to be fulfilled, is
indeed solely dependent upon the Lord, for all the
nations are mightier
than
that the blessing of the land under God's covenant
may continue to be
realized. As Miller says, "The ideas of the
divine gift and human
13. Wright. op. cit., pp. 318-320.
14. Ibid.,
p. 324.
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participation are not incompatible. .
. ."15 Yahweh “brings" (bo in the
Hiphil), but the people are about to “enter" (bo
as a Qal participle); he
clears away the nations,16 but they must
destroy them and their
worship. It is an act of faithful response to
carry out these stipulations
against great odds.17
There is much in Deuteronomy that is derived
from the so-called
“Book
of the Covenant" (Exodus 21-23), the laws given in connection
with the decalogue.18 This observation reinforces
the idea that
Deuteronomy
is concerned with the renewal of the covenant originally
given at Sinai. The major part of the material is
therefore of ancient
origin and is to be traced back to the Mosaic giving
of the law.
Deuteronomy
7 has close affiliations with Exodus 23 in particular, and
also with Exodus 34, which repeats the covenant
given on Sinai in
terms that make it likely to be Deuteronomistic.
Deuteronomy 7:2
states that no covenant shall be made with the
conquered peoples, nor
is
commands the Israelites: “You shall make no
covenant with them;
or with their gods." The concept of the herem, or ban, wherein the
inhabitants are utterly exterminated as a devotion
to Yahweh, is almost
solely Deuteronomistic.19 It is extended to
the entire body of peoples
in
development toward exclusivism
in the covenant relationship, although
Exodus
34:16 and other passages (possibly Deuteronomistic)
in the
historical works (Joshua
danger of marriage entanglements.20
15. Patrick D. Miller, "The Gift of God:
The Deuteronomic Theology of the
Land," Interpretation,
23 (October, 1969), 455.
16. Von Rad, Deuteronomy, p. 67, notes that the list
of inhabitants of the
land in 7: 1 is "traditional" and appears
with certain variations in Ex. 3:8, 17;
13:5.
17. Miller, op.
cit., 456.
18. Von Rad, op. cit., pp. 13, 14. Von Rad here and in succeeding pages
argues at length that the Deuteronomic
wording of the old laws, together with ones
omitted as no longer applicable and other new
ones, makes Deuteronomy as it
now exists considerably later than the Book of the
Covenant.
19. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A.
Briggs, A Hebrew and English
Lexicon of
the Old Testament,
p. 355. Besides several places in Deuteronomy, the
term appears in Joshua and occasionally in the other
historical books where
Deuteronomistic redaction seems
probable. It is rare in the older legal materials
(cf.
Ex. 22:19; Lev. 27:28, 29; Num. 21:2, 3, where a special vow is made).
20. George Adam Smith, The Book of Deuteronomy (
Press,
1950), p. 107.
Crump: Deuteronomy 7 229
The first three verses of Deuteronomy 7 address
the nation as
singular throughout, with Moses as the speaker.
Verse four begins a
series of fluctuations between the singular and the
plural which is
characteristic of Deuteronomy21
and is notable in this chapter.
Although
some explanations will be offered for this phenomenon, the
transitions are not sufficiently clear-cut to
establish divergent literary
strands. Verse four inexplicably intertwines two
plurals with two
singulars and even has the only first-person
reference to God in the
chapter, as a suffix. The LXX, which maintains a
close translation of
the MT, particularly in the early verses of the
chapter, concurs with all
these contradictory endings except the plural of 'abad, with
which
other versions and one Hebrew MS also disagree. Verse
five, which
specifies the destruction of altars, pillars,
idols and Asherim, is entirely
in the plural. Although verse four cannot be
satisfactorily explained, it
is quite likely that verse five is late and purely
Deuteronomic material.
The
earlier exhortations are singular like their counterparts in Exodus
23
and 34, but the same plural intrusion is found in Exodus 34:13,
which is almost identical to verse five. It is likely
that these parallels are
contemporary. The Old Testament
references, other than in
Deuteronomy
(7:5; 12:3;
together as monuments of Canaanite religion are
all in the monarchical
period and concentrated in its latter centuries.22
The phrase
undoubtedly became stereotyped in the Deuteronomistic history,
sometimes with the phrase "on every high hill
and under every green
tree" (1 Kings
Although it was Josiah who carried out the great
Deuteronomic
reform after the abominations of Manasseh, it is
significant that
Hezekiah
also destroyed the masseboth
and 'asherah
(2 Kings 18:4).
Since
only these kings are mentioned in this regard, it may be presumed
that the great concern for exclusiveness of religion
emerged during the
period when
circles of covenant renewal and cult purity thus
began to have influence
in the South in the years following the downfall
of
prophetic activity was strong and some of the
Northern Yahwists
brought their traditions, including cult laws,
worship materials, and a
21. Ibid., p..lxxiii.
22. Brown-Driver-Briggs, pp. 81, 663.
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theology Influenced by prophets such as Hosea.
The trend among the
faithful was inevitably toward the revival of
strict Yahwism and a
tightening of rules about contact with outsiders.
If the nation was to
remain a distinct people in the face of foreign
worship and military
aggression, it must be totally faithful to Yahweh.
Deuteronomy 7 builds
on previous instructions to avoid pagan influence
by stating this
necessity in the strongest possible terms, with
specifically detailed
commands to allow marriages neither of daughters
nor of sons and to
destroy altars, pillars, Asherim,
and idols. As Welch states, "Chapter 7 is
intended to stiffen up the terms of the Code in
the direction of
segregating
as that of Deuteronomy 21:10-13 were not a threat
to the nation, the
Code
requires only a ritual purification from former heathenism;24
now, Deuteronomy 7 and Exodus 34 demand a complete
break with all
possibilities for alien influence.
The Nature of the
Covenant Relationship
The idea of separation is continued in verses
6-11, the magnificent
passage about the love of Yahweh for his chosen
people. The
justification for the harsh actions
toward foreigners previously
commanded is set forth memorably. The nation is ‘am qadosh to
Yahweh,
chosen from all the nations as a people of "treasured value"
(segullah) , or a
"prized possession."25 Although qadosh developed a
rich variety of connotations involving morality and
godliness, its "more
elemental meaning" centers on "separation,"
according to Muilen-
berg26 and most other
commentators.
her existence has been solely determined by the
choice of Yahweh and
will continue only so long as she remains "set
apart" and "treasured."
These
qualities of
19:5,
6, where they are conditional upon
of the "covenant." Though Deuteronomy
26:18 and 28:9 are similar
conditional statements, the emphasis in Deuteronomy
7 is upon God's
23. Adam C. Welch, "The Purpose of
Deuteronomy, Chapter vii," Expository
Times, 42 (June, 1931),411.
24. Ibid.
25. Lester J. Kuyper,
"The Book of Deuteronomy," Interpretation,
6 (July,
1952), 331.
26. James Muilenberg,
"Holiness," The Interpreter's
Dictionary of the Bible,
II.
617.
Crump: Deuteronomy 7 231
unconditional grace. Verses 7 and 8a,
again in the plural address,
elaborate the point of verse 6 by cautioning the
nation to remember
that their favored status with God is by no means
because of greatness,
since they were the least among the peoples.
In 7:8 two reasons are given for God's
"attaching" himself (hashaq,
a colorful verb of relationship27) to
fathers. It is not a covenant in the legal sense
of two parties setting up a
mutual agreement; it is a relationship of love based
solely on the hesed
of Yahweh but involving also the personal aspect
of 'ahab,
which
Toombs
calls a "domestic" word.28 Together the three different
words
used for Yahweh's attitude toward his people convey
the fullness of
what is involved in the love of God: closeness of
attachment, fidelity,
and personal feeling. The oath (shebulah) is the technical basis
of the
covenant, but love is its fundamental
characteristic. Oath and covenant
are virtual synonyms as used in Deuteronomy;29
Yahweh has "sworn a
covenant" (
excepting the last phrase of 8, which has a
singular suffix after the
verb30)
are Deuteronomic statements of God's grace in
founding a
covenant upon his love for his people and their
response from the
"heart."
Verses 9-11 return to the singular address to
state definitively (with
the formula "know therefore") that Yahweh
is a "faithful" God who
keeps his berith and his hesed (whether the two are
parallel or to be
taken as distinct is uncertain) to those who make the
response of
'ahab31
and who keep his commandments. Here it is stated that the
covenant is conditional, but love is placed
before keeping the
commandments, and
of Yahweh which have previously been described in
detail. Verse 10
presents the negative side of Yahweh's dealings
with men. Those who
respond to God's overtures with hatred he will
speedily requite. The
point is made that the punishment will be to the
individual and not to
his descendants, as in Exodus 34:7. There is a
notable contrast between
27. Cf. von Rad, Deuteronomy, p. 68.
28.
19 (October, 1965), 402.
29. Gene M. Tucker, "Covenant Forms and
Contract Forms," Vetus
Testamentum, 15
(October, 1965), 497.
30. The LXX omits the suffix, although one is needed.
31. The LXX translates hesed with eleos and 'ahab with agapao.
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the never-ending grace of God for those who love
him and the quick
destruction for those who reject him, also
emphasized in verse 4. The
message is plainly yet eloquently stated: the
God of steadfast love is
faithful to his covenant; if you respond in kind
to his choice of you as a
people, you will be forever blessed. If you do not, as
shown by your
neglect of his commandments and your attentions
to other gods, you
may expect speedy and severe punishment (at the
hand of these
threatening nations around you).
God's Blessings in the
land
The next verses of the covenant sermon set forth
in detail the
tangible blessings associated with Yahweh's covenant,
particularly with
respect to the one great gift of the land. Verse
12a, which restates
the
conditional aspect of keeping the mishpatim, is in
the plural and
therefore a probable later addition. The promise
to Abraham in Genesis
their descendants. Deuteronomy
before these two aspects of the promise. Descendants,
produce, and
domestic animals will be abundant and prosperous
in the land. In
parallel with "the offspring of thy
cattle" is the interesting phrase
'asheroth soneka, which implies some
connection between the goddess
Astarte and the fecundity of flocks which has
come into the Hebrew
language.32 It is undoubtedly an
old and commonplace association,
since otherwise the reference to a foreign goddess
would not appear
thus in Deuteronomy. These same two expressions in
parallel occur in
28:4,
18, 51 and therefore constitute a stereotyped expression of
blessing.
The latter verses (14--16) of this section of
the sermon are taken
largely from Exodus 23. The promise that there
will be no barrenness
or sickness is found in Exodus 23:25, 26, although
the wording is
different and other promises are included. Verse
15 elaborates this
blessing of health by referring to Exodus
lord will not inflict upon his people the diseases
which he gave to the
Egyptians. This verse in Exodus thus clarifies the
somewhat ambiguous
32. Cf. Smith, op. cit., p.113; Brown-Driver-Briggs, p.
800.
Crump: Deuteronomy 7 233
wording of the statement in Deuteronomy, which
could be taken to
mean that the Israelites suffered the diseases.33
They are evils which
the Lord will again put upon those who hate
diseases.34 Verse 16 uses the
figure of "consuming" ('akal) the peoples
which Yahweh is giving over to the nation. They are
"bread" for
because Yahweh is with her, as Joshua and Caleb
confidently assert in
Numbers 14:9. After these blessings
are mentioned, the speaker
commands, "thine
eye shall not look with compassion (hum)
upon
them": This idiom is found also in 13:8;
The
section concludes with an exhortation from Exodus 23:33 not to
serve other gods because "that would be a snare
(moqesh) to
you."
Even
such a series of confident pronouncements of blessings cannot be
left alone without a reminder that fidelity to
Yahweh is the
precondition.
Confidence in Yahweh's
Promise
The last part of the sermon is a strong
exhortation to faith in the
context of war and conquest. With such a
covenant as has been
expounded, there is no need to worry about adverse
odds. The people
are reminded, as in 4:34, of the great power which
Yahweh Elohim
displayed in bringing the nation out of
his land. Remembrance of the Exodus is a
significant feature of
worship and parenesis.
Here the "dramatic re-enactment" of the
normative event gives it "meaning and
direction for the present," in the
process of reaffirming the covenant.36
God has shown abundantly that
he will take care of
are taken from Exodus 23 in this regard. Yahweh
will send "the
hornet" to drive out the peoples (Exodus
will not clear them away all at once, lest the wild
beasts overrun the land
(Exodus
23:29-30). He will "discomfit" or confuse them so that they
may be destroyed (Exodus
33. The LXX adds the phrase has heorakas before
"which you knew,” thus
rendering the
comparison with Ex. 15:26 more probable if it is original.
34. Contra Smith and Reider,
who cite diseases such as dysentery and
elephantiasis as the probable
references, apart from the plagues sent upon
35. The verb hum
is common in Ezekiel and other prophetic writings
(Brown-Driver-Briggs, p. 299).
36. Edward P. Blair, "An Appeal to
Remembrance: The Memory Motif in
Deuteronomy,” Interpretation, 15 (January, 1961), 44.
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them. They are not to tremble before the peoples,
because God, the great
and fearful one, is in their midst. These verses
"delineate the whole range
of the conceptions connected with the Holy
War," as von Rad observes in
placing them in the context of the revived
"sacral regulations" in the
reform period.37 Certainly they would be
appropriate for the time
when powerful nations threaten tiny and impotent
The last two verses of the chapter (25, 26)
again become quite
specific about what to do with the material objects
of worship of the
heathen religions. The first verb of verse 25 is
in the second person
plural, but the remainder of the section uses the
singular address. The
next verb (hamaq). In this concluding instruction is the same as that
of
the final commandment of the Decalogue--an
interesting literary
correlation to the original covenant.38 No
part of any idol is to be
appropriated; all the gold and
silver is an "abomination" and under the
ban. Anything might be a "snare" which
could bring its possessor under
the ban with it. The intensive infinitive absolutes
of shiqqes
and ti’ab
bring home the point with great force to accompany
the repeated
nouns to’ebah and herem in making this admonition as strong as could
be imagined. The chapter thus concludes with the
characteristic
Deuteronomic strictures about idols,
with extreme emphasis on the
abominable nature and ritual effects of anything
connected with them.
It
is somewhat difficult to imagine Moses using such violent language or
expressing such strong cultic concern to the nation
just before the
conquest. These latter verses deal with the
peculiarly Deuteronomic
concern in the final form of the chapter.
Conclusion
afterwards.
yet remembered how God had delivered
prophets announced that the sin of the people
would be punished by
other nations acting according to the will of Yahweh.
Some of the
faithful became aware that a revived devotion to
the Lord was vitally
necessary, and the finding of the "book of
the law" was the final
37. Gerhard von Rad, Studies in Deuteronomy, tr. David
Stalker (
SCM Press, 1953), pp. 54, 55.
38. William L. Moran, "The Conclusion of
the Decalogue,” Catholic Biblical
Quarterly, 29 (October, 1967), 543.
Crump: Deuteronomy 7 235
impetus to reform. Its contents were expanded
into a re-presentation of
the covenant, possibly in a great ceremony
comparable to more
localized ones in the past. The sermon form of
Deuteronomy 7 and
surrounding chapters brought the original, Mosaic
covenant into
renewed effect with a reminder of God’s mighty
acts and an
exhortation to follow his covenant commands so that
the nation may
again fully share in its blessings. Such a "covenant
renewal" may have
taken place at various times and places, but never In
the systematic
fashion of Deuteronomy, of which chapter 7 is a
microcosm. In it the
old promises and commands are combined with
stereotyped
Deuteronomic phrasing and emphases to
enjoin the radical observance
of a covenant based on the love of a faithful God
at a time when the
nation needs him most.
This material is cited with gracious
permission from:
Restoration Quarterly
Corporation
www.restorationquarterly.org
Please report any errors to Ted
Hildebrandt at: thildebrandt@gordon.edu