Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 7:7
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:
7. set his love upon you ] The radical meaning of the verb is to fix or bind, and it is used of a man’s falling in love with a woman, Deu 21:11; Gen 34:8; cp. the Eng. use for this of ‘attachment’ (also of a passion for building, 1Ki 9:19). Of Jehovah’s love for Israel only here and Deu 10:15. For an analogous phrase see Hos 2:14, I will speak comfortably to her, lit. speak to her heart as from man to woman when he woos her; also Isa 40:2.
ye were the fewest of all peoples ] Cp. Deu 4:38, Deu 7:1, Deu 9:1, all Sg., and Deu 11:23 Pl. as here; on the other hand Deu 1:10 Pl., Deu 10:22 Sg. as the stars of heaven, Deu 4:6 Pl. a great nation, Deu 26:5 Sg. great, mighty, populous. The representation of Israel’s numbers and power appears to vary in different passages, according to the thought which the writer at the time desires to express’ (Driver). Yet see on Deu 1:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7, 8. Change to the Pl. address. Because of this and because the choice of Israel by Jehovah is not mentioned in other Pl. passages, and also because these verses are not necessary to the connection, they are probably a later editorial insertion or at least a quotation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
To wit, at that time when God first declared his love to you, and choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, to wit, Isaac, and that was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then they had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, yet it was a long time ere they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them till after Josephs death, Exo 1:6,7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you,…. He had done both, and the one as the effect and evidence of the other; he loved them, and therefore he chose them; but neither of them,
because ye were more in number than any people; not for the quantity of them, nor even for the quality of them:
for ye were the fewest of all people; fewer than the Egyptians, from whence they came, and than the Canaanites they were going to drive out and inherit their land, De 7:1. Those whom God has loved with an everlasting love, and as a fruit of it has chosen them in Christ before the world began to grace and glory, holiness and happiness, are but a small number, a little flock; though many are called, few are chosen; nor are they better than others, being by nature children of wrath even as others, and as to their outward circumstances the poor of this world.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7. The Lord did not set his love upon you. He proves it to be of God’s gratuitous favor, that He has exalted them to such high honor, because He had passed over all other nations, and deigned to embrace them alone. For an equal distribution of God’s gifts generally casts obscurity upon them in our eyes; thus the light of the sun, our common food, and other things, which all equally enjoy, either lose their value, or, at any rate, do not obtain their due honor; whilst what is peculiar is more conspicuous. Moreover, Moses takes it for granted, that there was nothing naturally in the people to cause their condition to be better or more distinguished; and hence infers, that there was no other reason why God should choose them, except His mere choice of them. We have elsewhere observed, that by this His love, whatever men would bring of their own is excluded or annihilated. It follows, therefore, that the Israelites could never be sufficiently grateful to God, since they had been thus liberally dealt with by Him, without any desert of their own.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) The Lord did not . . . choose you, because ye were more.The danger lest Israels peculiar relation to the Most High should beget national pride is so obvious, that Moses takes special pains to counteract it by asserting Gods sovereignty in the choice.
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 (Gen. 36:31). It was only when the time of the promise drew nigh that the (chosen) people grew and multiplied in Egypt. The Scripture is throughout consistent in representing their development as due to the special providence of God. (See also on Deu. 10:22.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Ye were the fewest of all people Jehovah did not choose you for his people because you were a mighty nation like the Egyptian. Moses looks back to the call of Abraham, and the going down to Egypt of Jacob and his family.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Reason For Doing This Is because In Compassion and Mercy He Has Chosen Them To The End That They Are His Holy (Set Apart For Himself) People And Has Set His Love On Them ( Deu 7:7-11 ).
In this passage the love and faithfulness of God is accentuated, and it is stressed that He loves them, not because they deserve it or were worthy, but simply because He has sovereignly set His love on them and also for their fathers’ sakes. Thus they can be sure that He will reveal His faithfulness by responding to those who are faithful to Him while repaying those who become unfaithful.
Analysis in the words of Moses:
a Yahweh did not set his love on you (you all), nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all peoples (Deu 7:7).
b But because Yahweh loves you all, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, has Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt (Deu 7:8).
c Know therefore that Yahweh your God, He is God, the faithful God (El) (Deu 7:9 a).
c He keeps covenant and lovingkindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations (Deu 7:9 b).
b And those who hate Him He repays to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face (Deu 7:10).
a You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them (Deu 7:11).
We note in ‘a’ that Yahweh showed great favour to them by setting His love on them so that in the parallel they are to respond by keeping His commandments give to them this day, and doing them. In ‘b’ Yahweh loves them and because He would keep His oath to their fathers has delivered them from bondage in Egypt, but in the parallel those who hate Him He repays to their face. In ‘c’, because He is Yahweh, the faithful God, in the parallel He is faithful to His covenant and reveals His covenant love to His people permanently as long as they too are faithful.
Deu 7:7
‘ Yahweh did not set his love on you (ye all), nor choose you (ye), because you (ye) were more in number than any people, for you (ye) were the fewest of all peoples,’
Here we have emphasised that Yahweh has set His love on them. And note that Moses expects them to be aware of that fact. They have good reason to know that they are the beloved of Yahweh.
He stresses that Yahweh did not set His love on them or choose them because they were so many, or because they were a more numerous people than others, for they were not. That was the way men looked at things. When He had first chosen them they had been the fewest of all peoples, wandering through Canaan with their herds and flocks, seen as strangers passing by, and then settling in Egypt as a band of resident aliens. They were the weak, the foolish, the despised (compare 1Co 1:27-29). It was nothing in them that had occasioned His love and choosing. It was rather an act of divine grace, of unmerited goodness and power, because they were descendants of, or had become connected with the descendants of, His faithful and beloved servant Abraham.
Deu 7:8
‘ But because Yahweh loves you (ye all), and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your (your) fathers, has Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you (ye) out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.’
Rather, therefore, Yahweh chose them because He loved them. The final reason for that is unstated. It was simply the determined act of God. It was true that it was for their father’s sakes, and then for their own sake because of their response to Him in the covenant, and because He was determined to keep His oath to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But over and above it all it was because He had chosen for His love to reach out to them. And that was why He had redeemed them out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Here in this verse we have important theological overtones. Firstly that Yahweh loved His people. They were chosen because He loved them, and they were chosen because of the oath that He had sworn to their fathers. And secondly that it was because of these things that He had bought them, He had ‘redeemed’ them, a piteous people, out from under bondage, delivering them from the hand of Pharaoh. The connection of ‘redeemed’ with ‘bondmen in bondage’ supports the idea that we see it as the paying of a price, even if that price was the exertion of His power to bring Pharaoh in submission to His will.
And we too, if we are Christ’s, are chosen in His love. The thought that God has set His love on us from all eternity (Eph 1:4) can only humble us and yet flood our hearts with praise and gratitude. For we are God’s true Israel, being the continuation of the old spiritual Israel (Gal 3:29; Eph 2:11-22; Rom 11:17-24). And the Scripture makes quite plain that having chosen us and loved us He has justified us in Christ, and will raise us to final glorification (Rom 8:29-30). How then can we also fail to seek to fulfil all His commandments and rid ourselves of all that is displeasing to Him?
Deu 7:9-10
‘ Know therefore that Yahweh your (thy) God, he is God, the faithful God (El), who keeps covenant and lovingkindness with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him, he will repay him to his face.’
By consideration of this (‘therefore’) they could know that Yahweh is God (He defeated Pharaoh, god of Egypt, and all his supporting gods, treating them as nothings), that He is the faithful God, faithful to His past covenants and to those on whom He has set His love in the past, and that He keeps covenant with and shows gracious mercy towards those who love Him and keep His commandments. Note that loving Him comes prior to the keeping of His commandments. The keeping of the commandments results from that love. This is not to be seen as abiding by strict rules out of fear of the consequences, but as lovingly responding to Yahweh’s requirements because they love Him for what He has done for them. (Compare Luk 7:41-42).
“To a thousand generations.” That is, to numberless generations. His faithfulness, love and compassion go on and on. (Compare how ‘a thousand years’ means numberless years – Psa 90:4; Ecc 6:6).
“And repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him, he will repay him to his face.” But while on the one hand there is love and compassion, on the other there is aversion to sin and to those who reject His covenant, those who thus show that they ‘hate’ Him. These, such as the Canaanites, He will destroy. This fact is stressed. He is not slack and slovenly about dealing with sin, He does it openly and readily in the face of the sinner. Therefore let all who would sin beware. There is no room in His land for sin.
Deu 7:11
‘ You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them.’
Because of that (‘therefore’), because he is compassionate and merciful to those who look to Him, and harsh with sinners, they are to keep His commandment, and the statutes and ordinances that He commands them this very day, as they will shortly be unfolded.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 7, 8. The Lord did not set his love upon you, &c. To preserve them from pride and a conceit of their own greatness, Moses here advises them to remember, that it was not their numbers, their strength, or external grandeur, it was not any merit or qualification of their own, which had caused the Lord thus to choose and distinguish them. These great promises were made to their forefathers when they were a small family, and of little consideration in the world. The eminent virtues of those forefathers, or rather the free bounty and mere good pleasure of God, ver. 8 were the sources of those peculiar privileges; just as, out of his free, unmerited goodness, God makes one species of creatures more excellent than another, and bestows different gifts and advantages upon different individuals of the same species. God loved them, says Grotius, in remembrance of their fathers, and of the oath which he sware to them; and this, says he, is the election whereof St. Paul speaks, Rom 11:28. With respect to the election, they are beloved for the father’s sake.
See commentary on Deu 7:9
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I hardly know a passage in the Old Testament more sweetly expressive of the freeness and sovereignty of grace; and more encouraging at the same time to the mind of every poor enquiring sinner. Dear JESUS! and are all the numberless proofs of thy mercy towards thy people, the sole result of the FATHER’s everlasting love, thine own most free and unmerited grace, and the blessed SPIRIT’s fellowship? LORD! help me ever to keep these gracious testimonies in view, to comfort my soul in a dark and trying hour. 1Jn 4:19 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
love = affection. Hebrew. hashak, a love which joins one to what is loved = to set one’s love upon.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The Lord: Psa 115:1, Rom 9:11-15, Rom 9:18, Rom 9:21, Rom 11:6, 1Jo 3:1, 1Jo 4:10
ye were: Deu 10:22, Isa 51:2, Mat 7:14, Luk 12:32, Rom 9:27-29
Reciprocal: Gen 34:30 – and I being Deu 4:37 – because Deu 7:13 – he will love Deu 9:4 – Speak not Deu 10:15 – General Deu 23:5 – because the Deu 26:5 – a few Deu 33:3 – he loved 1Sa 12:22 – it hath 2Ch 2:11 – Because Psa 44:3 – because Psa 60:5 – That Psa 86:2 – holy Psa 105:12 – a few Psa 135:4 – the Lord Psa 149:2 – rejoice Son 8:10 – then Isa 41:9 – called Isa 41:14 – men Isa 63:9 – in his Jer 31:3 – I have Eze 36:22 – General Hos 3:1 – according Hos 11:1 – Israel Hos 14:4 – I will love Rom 11:28 – are beloved Gal 1:15 – it Eph 1:4 – as Eph 2:4 – his 2Ti 1:9 – according to his
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 7:7-8. The fewest To wit, at that time, when God first declared his choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, namely, Isaac, and that was not till he was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, yet it was a long time before they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them until after Josephs death. The Lord loved you It was his free choice, without any cause or motive on your part.