Deuteronomy 7:1-16: a reflection

1When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—seven nations greater and mightier than you; 2and when the LORD your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. 3You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son. 4For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods. So the LORD’s anger would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5But you shall deal with them like this: you shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire. 6For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7The LORD didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; 8but because the LORD loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9Know therefore that the LORD your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments, 10and 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. 11You shall therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which I command you today, to do them. 12It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers. 13He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. 14You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. 15The LORD will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. 16You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you.

As Moses reminds Israel that God has chosen them as his own, he takes care to name the reason, and it is not their greatness. The LORD didn't set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, he says; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you. God did not choose them for their size, strength, or worthiness; they were the fewest, the least impressive. He chose them simply because he loved them. His love, not their merit or greatness, was the reason he set his love on them.

Notice the reason for God's choosing: his love, not their worthiness or greatness. Israel might have imagined God chose them because they were great, numerous, impressive, deserving; but the opposite was true, they were the fewest, the least. God chose them not for anything in them that merited it, but simply because he loved them. His love was the reason, not their worth. God set his love on them because he loved them, a love that did not depend on their greatness or merit, but was freely given to the least.

That is a great comfort, for it means God's love for us does not rest on our worthiness or greatness, but on his own love. We can imagine that God's love for us must be earned by our worthiness, our merit, our impressive qualities; but God set his love on Israel not for their greatness but simply because he loved them. God's love for you does not rest on your worthiness or greatness, but on his own free love, given even to the least. Do not imagine that God loves you because you have earned it, or that his love depends on your worthiness; he loves you freely, not for your greatness but because he loves you, as he chose the fewest of peoples simply because he loved them. Rest in the free love of God, which does not depend on your worthiness or greatness but flows from his own heart, as God set his love on Israel not because they were great but because he loved them, and loves us freely still.

Lord, as Moses reminds Israel that you have chosen them as your own, he takes care to name the reason, and it is not their greatness. The LORD didn't set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, he says; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you. You did not choose them for their size, strength, or worthiness; they were the fewest. You chose them simply because you loved them. Show me the reason for your choosing: your love, not their worthiness or greatness. Israel might have imagined you chose them because they were great, impressive, deserving; but the opposite was true, they were the fewest. You chose them not for anything in them that merited it, but simply because you loved them. Your love was the reason, not their worth. Give me the comfort of that, for it means your love for me does not rest on my worthiness or greatness, but on your own love. I can imagine that your love for me must be earned by my worthiness, my impressive qualities; but you set your love on Israel not for their greatness but simply because you loved them. Your love for me does not rest on my worthiness, but on your own free love. Keep me from imagining that you love me because I have earned it, or that your love depends on my worthiness; you love me freely, Lord, not for my greatness but because you love me. Help me rest in your free love, which flows from your own heart.