Essay for Deuteronomy 7:1
כִּ֤י יְבִֽיאֲךָ֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה בָא־שָׁ֖מָּה לְרִשְׁתָּ֑הּ וְנָשַׁ֣ל גּֽוֹיִם־רַבִּ֣ים ׀ מִפָּנֶ֡יךָ הַֽחִתִּי֩ וְהַגִּרְגָּשִׁ֨י וְהָאֱמֹרִ֜י וְהַכְּנַעֲנִ֣י וְהַפְּרִזִּ֗י וְהַֽחִוִּי֙ וְהַיְבוּסִ֔י שִׁבְעָ֣ה גוֹיִ֔ם רַבִּ֥ים וַעֲצוּמִ֖ים מִמֶּֽךָּ׃
When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
The Five Books of Moses, by Everett Fox
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The Five Books of Moses, by Everett Fox
An important part of Israel’s self-understanding in Deuteronomy, as elsewhere in the Torah, is separation from other peoples—particularly from the inhabitants of the land they are to conquer. This chapter emphasizes the absolute avoidance of the Canaanites which the Israelites are to practice (it begins and ends with “devotion-to-destruction,” a kind of ritual ban or confiscation). The violence on the part of Israel spoken of in the opening verses, and the destruction wrought by God in the closing lines, frame a middle section that speaks of God’s “love” and “loyalty” toward Israel—again, in the mode of an ancient Near Eastern overlord. The emotional tone of the chapter strongly suggests a period of intense nationalism.
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