Deuteronomy 7

1. Background

Israel is being prepared to enter the Canaanite land to take it and drive out the people.  But as they are being prepped for war and conquest, they are learning about their God who rescued them from Egypt.  God is revealing Himself to them as they go along.  There have been revolts against God and mutiny against Moses.  And through their years in the wilderness as a result of their disobedience, they have learned that God is unique, there is none like Him, and He is worthy of our faithfulness (See Deut. 6:4).

2. Discovering God

God desires a faithful relationship with Him.  One of the first commands in this chapter preparing them to enter the land is instructing them not to make a covenant or inter-marry.

I once called a pastor to schedule a meeting in his church.  Since I am the one who called, I shouldn’t have gotten upset, but he said to me that my interracial marriage with my Navajo wife was wrong and so they wouldn’t have us in.  For a slim margin of people, they use this verse to come to that conclusion.  The issue here is not with multiple races, for there is no such thing as “race” under Adam.  We are not evolutionary products of different mutations that happened in different parts of the world that resulted in different colors of skin.  God’s interest in commanding the Israelites not to marry non-Israelites is simply to protect the fidelity of His people towards Himself.

Verse four says it plainly enough, ^“For they will turn away thy son from following me”

God’s concern is the faithfulness of His people in this relationship He is building with them.  He has saved them, protected them, cared for them for the last 40 years all for a great purpose.  Yet within that purpose, God allows the space for human responsibility to practice faithfulness.

God Sanctifies People Unto Himself.    He makes people holy, not an attribute they can make develop on their own, but a calling from His own sovereign decree.

⁶ For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

To be called holy by God comes with its own built-in definition: they are chosen and are special … unto himself, above all people.  God has separated them for a special purpose, and because He has chosen them, so they are holy and special.  Nothing they possess has availed themselves to holiness before God.

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

Their holiness was simply based on the Lord’s choice over them.  God’s choice, however, did not remove from them their responsibility to remain faithful, neither does their attempt to be faithful avail them to God’s good pleasure.

God lays responsibility on His People. The condition for physical safety and fruitfulness of the land depended on their faithfulness and obedience to God’s judgments.  This is made plain by the conditional phrase beginning in verse 12:

¹² Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

God desires His people to hold responsibility–an element of maturity in men and women who are full-grown and using their senses well.  Responsibility is an element of the relationship God desires with His people.

Be ye not as the horse,

Or as the mule, which have no understanding:

Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle

Psalm 32:9

God does not desire in us the same qualities of a dumb animal that must be led about without understanding.  God is wanting a relationship with people who will willingly understand His ways and willfully submit to them. The common denominator in the above observations is God’s desire for faithfulness in His people.

3. Fulfillment in Jesus Christ

More observations could be made about God and what He desires, but at least in the ones I mentioned above are all fulfilled in Christ.

God’s desire for faithfulness in our relationship together is exhibited in Christ.  As an example, Christ was faithful to the Father by the demonstration of obedience.  Jesus went to the cross and prayed the night before, “Not my will but thy will be done”.  But also Jesus’ faithfulness to use is what constrains us to Him and to hold Him in our hearts as our chief treasure.

This faithfulness that pleases God is a reckless abandonment of the world and everything else that gets in the way.  It is highly radical so that all things are rejected for the pursuit of Christ.  One does not obtain this faithfulness by pursuing it directly, but by experience and understanding the love of Christ for yourself.  Paul said “the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Jesus must become the focal point of our hearts daily looking unto Him and meditating on the love that Paul is talking about.  Daily discipline in that focus will prepare the heart for discipleship.

Jesu said: “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple.”  Such a statement shouldn’t be seen as an obligation that must checked off, but rather a simple observation for those who would pursue Christ.   If someone does not spend enough time observing and admiring Christ, their “faithfulness” would only be external rather than internal, a religious facade that will not persevere through a fiery trial.

Jesus also said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  Again, this is not a conditional statement to produce love for Christ, but commandment-keeping is the evidential outflow of love that already there.

4. Application:

Applications are twofold:  (1) Set aside daily worship time to reflect on God’s choosing of you in Christ. He desires a faithful and intimate relationship with you.  He has set His love on you.  Spend time and learn how to turn your heart to God rather than allowing your heart to follow vain emotions and thoughts. (2) Give yourself to the commands of Christ.  The exercise of our relationship to God is through the words of Jesus Christ whom He sent.  The benefit of obedience is all the goodness that God has pronounced to do through the agent of His Son.