Deuteronomy 7:1-9 New King James Version
A Chosen People
A Chosen People
1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, 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 you,
2 and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son.
4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images,[a] and burn their carved images with fire.
6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
8 but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
God is reinforcing that He is faithful to us and is also giving a warning that He is a God of justice. In Verses 1-5, God is saying He wants His service pure. The Israelites were commanded to go into seven nations of Canaan and destroy them. They were not suppose to make any type of agreement between them nor show them any mercy. God did not want any idolatry to continue. He doesn't want any ritual or superstition in His service (Deut. 12:3). This is one of the differences between idols and God. Pure worship is what He wants from us. He is such a faithful God to those that love Him and keep His commandments. God remembers His covenant with us.
We should not show any mercy to our flesh. Destroy our flesh and all our lusts. Anything that we love more than God is definitely an idol and we need to get rid of it. In Verse 9 He says we are to know that He is God. Remember that He is a faithful God and fills His promises made to our forefathers. We are set apart and chosen by God. He thinks of us as treasures...always thinking of us as special. However, there are some things that He is specific about. There are things we must do and things we cannot do because He loves us so much. Read the Book of Deuteronomy and study it. Our destiny is a high one. "The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule" is a quote from Albert Einstein. We are to serve God with all our heart and soul. Just think about this today and think of our intense, special relationship to Him. Think of His goodness and His mercy and that we are His chosen people.
God is reinforcing that He is faithful to us and is also giving a warning that He is a God of justice. In Verses 1-5, God is saying He wants His service pure. The Israelites were commanded to go into seven nations of Canaan and destroy them. They were not suppose to make any type of agreement between them nor show them any mercy. God did not want any idolatry to continue. He doesn't want any ritual or superstition in His service (Deut. 12:3). This is one of the differences between idols and God. Pure worship is what He wants from us. He is such a faithful God to those that love Him and keep His commandments. God remembers His covenant with us.
We should not show any mercy to our flesh. Destroy our flesh and all our lusts. Anything that we love more than God is definitely an idol and we need to get rid of it. In Verse 9 He says we are to know that He is God. Remember that He is a faithful God and fills His promises made to our forefathers. We are set apart and chosen by God. He thinks of us as treasures...always thinking of us as special. However, there are some things that He is specific about. There are things we must do and things we cannot do because He loves us so much. Read the Book of Deuteronomy and study it. Our destiny is a high one. "The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule" is a quote from Albert Einstein. We are to serve God with all our heart and soul. Just think about this today and think of our intense, special relationship to Him. Think of His goodness and His mercy and that we are His chosen people.
