Commentaire sur Le Deutéronome 7:7

לא מרבכם NOT ON ACCOUNT OF YOUR BEING [MORE] NUMEROUS — This is to he understood according to its plain sense. But its Midrashic explanation (taking לא מרבכם in the sense of “not because you are great") is: Because you do not regard yourselves as great when I shower good, upon you, therefore חשק … בכם DID [THE LORD] DELIGHT IN YOU

לא מרבכם, not in order to be honoured by a multitude.

כי אתם המעט, "for you are the fewest, etc." The Torah could not content itself with writing "not because you were numerous, etc.," as that might have implied that though the Jewish people were not more numerous than other nations they were nonetheless equal to them in number.

לא מרובכם מכל העמים, intelligent people cannot conceal their surprise that Moses should have thought that the Israelites considered themselves as the most numerous nation so that Moses had to tell them that they were not.
Furthermore, not only does G’d make the point that quantity does not determine whom He loves or prefers by adding חשק ה' בכם, but the meaning of the verse is as follows: In verse one the Torah had spoken of the many nations which G’d will dispossess on account of the Jewish people, seven powerful nations. These people had been described both as more numerous and as more powerful than the Israelites in that same verse. It was therefore possible that the Israelites might consider themselves as more numerous than those people and as militarily more powerful so that they could conquer the land of Canaan due to their military prowess and numerical superiority. Moses disabuses them of such thinking by saying that G’d would not like them on account of their being numerous even if that were true. The fact is that they were less numerous than any of these seven tribes. But, there is an irrational reason for what G’d does, i.e. He loves the Jewish people. 2.) He has to make good on an oath sworn to the forefathers of the Jewish people concerning their future.

לא מרובכם, “(what motivated G’d was) not your being numerous, etc.” although it would have seemed appropriate that a great King, the King of the universe, should select a most numerous people as His special favorites. Throughout our history we have been taught (Proverbs 14,28) that ברב עם הדרת מלך, “where there is a multitude that is a king’s honour.” This would enable the King to appoint many generals to be in charge of different divisions of his armies. Although, in your case, you are not a numerous people, nonetheless Hashem chose you.

CHASHAK’ (HE TOOK DELIGHT). The meaning thereof is that He had “bound” Himself with you with a mighty bond that He will never be separated from you, similar in expression to ‘vachashukeihem’ (and their fillets — silver threads encircling the pillars of the Tabernacle) shall be of silver.³³⁶Exodus 27:10. And He has chosen you from among all peoples that you be His treasure and inheritance, for “being chosen” always implies selection from others. And he stated the reason, But because the Eternal loved you³³⁷Verse 8. He chose you, meaning, He saw you to be worthier than all peoples to be loved by Him and to be chosen for love. He mentioned for this no [other] reason except that you were chosen [because of His love for you], for he who is chosen to be loved, is known to be ready to suffer whatever comes upon him from his lover, and the Israelites are more qualified for that than any other people. As the Rabbis have said:³³⁸Beitzah 25 b. “Three [creatures] are of strong character, Israel among the nations etc.,” for Israel has stood by Him in all trials. [When challenged by the nations, Israel has stubbornly declared,] “Either [we remain loyal] Jews or [we will be] nailed to the stake.”³³⁹Shemoth Rabbah 42:9. And the purport of the word you [and He chose ‘you’] is “because of your fathers,” who became so worthy that He swore to them³⁴⁰Verse 8. in order that no sin should cause [His] promise [to them] to be nullified. Therefore He brought you out from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand. And He redeemed you³³⁷Verse 8. — this is an allusion that He smote them in your stead, similar to what is said, I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.³⁴¹Isaiah 43:3.

VV. 7 u. 8. לא מרבכם, nicht um eurer numerischen Größe willen hat Gott gerade euch für seine Zwecke erwählt, denn eben diese äußerlich imponierende Größe fehlt euch, כי מאהבת וגו׳, sondern das Motiv eurer Erwählung liegt in eurem Wesen und in Gottes Beziehungen zu euren Vätern. Euer Wesen fand er seiner Liebe würdig, er fand in eurem Wesen das geistig Sittliche, welches die Nähe Gottes zum Menschen bedingt, "er fand sich" — menschlich gesprochen — "zu euch hingezogen", und er hatte gleichzeitig den Eid zu lösen, den er euren Vätern — ebenfalls um ihrer geistig sittlichen Würdigkeit willen — geschworen hatte.

לא מרובכם, “not on account of your being so numerous, etc.;” Rash’bam understands this verse as linked to the first verse of the paragraph starting in chapter 6,10. He explains the sequence as follows: G–d does not like you because you are numerous, but He loves you, period. (Love is never motivated by logical considerations based on calculations). Furthermore, He is obligated to make good on the promise He made to your forefathers. If you were to argue then that if He loves us as a father loves his children, why should we burden ourselves with having to observe all His commandments? The answer is that His patience extends until one thousand generations in searching for one that merits His keeping the oath He has given to your forefathers. Whenever such a generation of descendants of these forefathers is prepared to observe the condition of His oath, namely to observe His commandments, all the promises He has made will become effective.

לא מרובכם מכל העמים, “not because you were more numerous than all the other nations;” the “other” nations referred to here are the seven Canaanite tribes that will be replaced by the Israelites shortly.

כי אתם המעט FOR YOU ARE LITTLE — you regard yourselves as small, as, e.g., Abraham did who said, (Genesis 18:27) “For I am dust and ashes", and as, e.g., Moses and Aaron did who said, (Exodus 16:7) “And we, what are we?". Not as Nebuchadnezzar who said, (Isaiah 14:14) “I will be like the Most High", and Sennacherib who said, (Isaiah 36:20) “Who are they among all the gods of these countries [that have delivered their countries out of my hand?]", and Hiram who said, (Er. 28:2), “I am a god, I sit in the seat of God" (Chullin 89a).

חשק, “desired;” the meaning of this word in this connection is that He established a permanent inseparable bond with you. We find this root in the same context in Exodus 38,12 and 38,18 וחשוקיהם כסף, where it describes how the silver bands connected the lace hangings of the Tabernacle to the pillars supporting them.

כי אתם המעט מכולם, “rather because you are the least numerous;” but it is because He loves you.

כי אתם המעט — Here you have the word כי used in the sense of “because".

ויבחר בהם, “He chose them;” He chose you out of all the nations that He had at disposal. The word בחר always means that the one doing the choosing had the option to select his choice from a number of candidates. The reason why He chose the Jewish people was out of a feeling of love for them. G’d had seen that this nation was worthy of His love more than all the other nations. Moses does not spell out a special virtue of the Jewish people that made them worthy of this extraordinary love of Hashem. When someone has been chosen as another person’s especially beloved, he must henceforth endure with equanimity anything that results from the fact that he is so beloved. Israel qualified as being especially beloved by G’d because they were a tough nation, a nation capable of enduring a great deal when being tested by their lover, Hashem. He took a liking to you on account of your forefathers the three patriarchs whom G’d had subjected to so many trials all of which they had endured uncomplainingly so that He eventually swore an oath to them promising to give them the Holy Land. He swore the oath in order that His promise previously not reinforced by an oath, should not become null and void on account of sins that the offspring of these patriarchs might become guilty of. As a result of this oath, G’d took this nation out of Egypt amongst all the miracles that were needed to accomplish this.

ויפדך, He liberated you, redeemed you;” an allusion to how G’d smote the Egyptians on account of the Israelites; (compare Isaiah 43,3 נתתי כפרך מצרים, “I have given (away) Egypt as a ransom in exchange for you.”)