12 " Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers . 13 "He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground , your grain and your new wine and your oil , the increase of your herd and the young of your flock , in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you. 14 "You shall be blessed above all peoples ; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle . 15 " The Lord will remove from you all sickness ; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known , but He will lay them on all who hate you. 16 "You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods , for that would be a snare to you. 17 "If you should say in your heart , 'These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?' 18 you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt : 19 the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid . 20 "Moreover , the Lord your God will send the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish . 21 "You shall not dread them, for the Lord your God is in your midst , a great and awesome God . 22 " The Lord your God will clear away these nations before e you little by little ; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly , for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you. 23 " But the Lord your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed . 24 " He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven ; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. 25 "The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire ; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God . 26 "You shall not bring an abomination into your house , and like it come under the ban ; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 7:12-26
Commentary on Deuteronomy 7:12-26
(Read Deuteronomy 7:12-26)
We are in danger of having fellowship with the works of darkness if we take pleasure in fellowship with those who do such works. Whatever brings us into a snare, brings us under a curse. Let us be constant to our duty, and we cannot question the constancy of God's mercy. Diseases are God's servants; they go where he sends them, and do what he bids them. It is therefore good for the health of our bodies, thoroughly to mortify the sin of our souls; which is our rule of duty. Yet sin is never totally destroyed in this world; and it actually prevails in us much more than it would do, if we were watchful and diligent. In all this the Lord acts according to the counsel of his own will; but that counsel being hid from us, forms no excuse for our sloth and negligence, of which it is in no degree the cause. We must not think, that because the deliverance of the church, and the destruction of the enemies of the soul, are not done immediately, therefore they will never be done. God will do his own work in his own method and time; and we may be sure that they are always the best. Thus corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers by little and little. The work of sanctification is carried on gradually; but at length there will be a complete victory. Pride, security, and other sins that are common effects of prosperity, are enemies more dangerous than beasts of the field, and more apt to increase upon us.