When the Lord, your God, brings you into the land which you are about to enter to possess, and removes many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you— 2 and when the Lord, your God, gives them over to you and you defeat them, you shall put them under the ban. Make no covenant with them and do not be gracious to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, neither giving your daughters to their sons nor taking their daughters for your sons. 4 For they would turn your sons from following me to serving other gods, and then the anger of the Lord would flare up against you and he would quickly destroy you. 5 But this is how you must deal with them: Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, chop down their asherahs, and destroy their idols by fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord, your God; the Lord, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own.
God reminds the Israelites that He is the one who will enable them to take possession of the land, a theme repeated throughout Deuteronomy (cf. Deut. 6:10-12). The seven nations listed are collectively called the “Canaanites” and represent the morally corrupt and idolatrous nations inhabiting Canaan (cf. Gen. 15:16; Lev. 18:24-28). The Canaanites knew about Israel’s God and His power, especially after the Exodus from Egypt (Joshua 2:8-11). They had a chance to change but chose not to change their abominable ways. The prohibitions listed in Leviticus 18:1-23 are directly related to the sexual practices common among the Canaanite nations, which were considered morally corrupt and incompatible with the covenantal holiness God required of Israel. Thus the Israelites are warned against assimilating their practices (cf. Exod. 23:23-33). The list of seven nations symbolizes completeness, highlighting the totality of the threat to Israel’s spiritual integrity.
The instruction to destroy the Canaanite nations reflects the need to purify the land from paganism to ensure that Israel maintains their status as a people set apart by God through a sacred covenant, requiring them to live in a way that reflects God’s own holiness (cf. Deut. 20:16-18). It was a divinely mandated act of judgment (cf. Lev. 27:28-29). In avoiding covenants or treaties with the Canaanites, Israel is to prevent any possibility of intermingling with idolatrous influences, as alliances might lead to compromises in worship. This mirrors the purity laws in Leviticus where God set the Israelites apart from other peoples (Lev. 20:26). Intermarriage with the Canaanites would endanger Israel’s religious purity and fidelity to Yahweh (cf. Exod. 34:15-16). If Israel integrates with pagan families, they risk adopting foreign deities and practices which could lead to apostasy (Ezra 9:1-2). God warns the Israelites that if they are unfaithful to Yahweh, they will incur swift divine retribution (cf. Deut. 6:15).
God told the Israelites to dismantle the symbols of pagan worship to prevent idolatry. The “altars,” “sacred pillars,” and “asherahs” were structures associated with Canaanite religious practices, likely dedicated to deities such as Baal and Asherah (cf. Judg. 6:25-28). In addition to being religious artifacts, these objects represented the power and influence of the pagan gods. Worship of such false gods would violate the First Commandment (cf. Deut. 5:7; Exod. 20:3). God elected the Israelites to be “set apart” or Holy to the Lord” (Lev. 20:26) and as a chosen people, they should reflect God’s holiness and reject any influences that could lead to impurity or idolatry.
Almighty God, You have called us to be set apart, holy in Your sight. Grant us the strength to resist all that leads us away from You, and help us to live in purity and faithfulness to Your covenant. May our lives reflect Your holiness and draw others to know Your truth and love. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
References
- McSorley, Joseph. An Outline History of the Church by Centuries (From St. Peter to Pius XII). 2nd ed., B. Herder Book Co., 1944.
- Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
- Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
- Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
- Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Prentice Hall, 1990.
- Charpentier, Etienne. How to Read the Old Testament. Translated by John Bowden, 1981.
- Komonchak, Joseph, et al., editors. The New Dictionary of Theology.
- McKenzie, John. Dictionary of the Bible. Collier Books, 1965.
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