First it is important to remember who God is. He is holy and righteous. He will reward their obedience to His holy decrees. Also, because He is righteous, He must judge deliberate disobedience of His holy decrees. The one who loves Him will enjoy His blessings. The one who hates Him will reap judgment. "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. But those who hate Him He will pay to their face by destruction; He will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate Him. Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today." (Deuteronomy 7:9-11) The Lord is going to remove the pagan tribes of the promised land because these tribes have hated Him and turned away from Him. He is going to give the land to Israel. But, as He's warned the Israelites before, He will also remove them from the land if they turn away from Him. Their continued faithfulness is required in order to ensure their continued possession of and enjoyment of the land.
Now the Lord makes promises which are unique to Israel. He promises particular blessings as rewards for the people's obedience. While it's true that the Lord blesses in many ways those who are faithful to Him in every nation and in every time period, these particular blessings of prosperity are spoken to Israel. I don't think a Gentile Christian like me can claim these promises for myself. A promise I can claim is this: "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19) But in the book of Deuteronomy the Lord promises a type of fruitfulness that is unique to a specific people in a specific place: "If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep His covenant of love with you, as He swore to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land---your grain, new wine and olive oil---the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land He swore to your ancestors to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you." (Deuteronomy 7:12-15)
Before the people can enjoy this great prosperity they must rid the land of the idolaters currently inhabiting it. "You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you." (Deuteronomy 7:16) Over the past couple of days we discussed why the Lord ordered the destruction of the tribes of Canaan, so we won't go back over any of that again today. We also talked about how this command was for a specific time and place; the Lord certainly isn't telling us today to move into another nation and begin wiping out the unbelievers there. This command was for the nation of Israel in the time period which we are studying.
The Israelites are not to doubt that the Lord will enable them to take the land. He has already displayed His ability to overthrow great nations. "You may say to yourselves, 'These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?' But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear." (Deuteronomy 7:18-19) Egypt was probably the most powerful nation on earth during the time the Israelites were held captive there as slaves, yet the Lord easily humbled Egypt. This is the God who spoke the universe into existence; showing Egypt who is boss was a piece of cake. It hardly took any effort at all. If the Lord so easily overpowered such a mighty nation, His promise to overpower the tribes of Canaan can be trusted. Those nations may be stronger than Israel and their armies may be bigger than Israel's army but the God who brought a superpower like Egypt to its knees will make short work of them.
"Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God." (Deuteronomy 7:20-21) It is not clear whether the Lord uses the word "hornet" ("stinging wasp" in the original text) figuratively or literally. What does seem clear is that He's saying even if some of the enemy soldiers escape the Israelite army, the Lord will bring destruction upon them wherever they are hiding. Whether this means literal wasps will attack them or whether the "hornet" is a euphemism for a plague or some other disaster, the Lord is saying to Israel, "Even if they escape you, they will not escape Me."
The Lord will fight for Israel but He will not clear the promised land of its tribes all at once. "The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven." (Deuteronomy 7:22-24) The Lord won't give the Israelites more than they can handle. If the land is cleared of its inhabitants too quickly the Israelites are not yet numerous enough to fill it. Then the wild animals will become overpopulated and the cleared fields will become filled with thorns and briers. In this same way I think the Lord has to sometimes dole out blessings to us a little at a time. If He gave us too much too fast we'd be overwhelmed. We wouldn't be able to handle it.
The Israelites are to regard all the pagan altars and idols as abominations. They are to be removed just as the people who fashioned them were removed. "The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver or gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction." (Deuteronomy 7:25-26) Melting the gold and silver off the idols to keep for themselves will cause the Israelites to look upon and handle the idols too much. It's never smart to spend time gazing upon a forbidden object. That is what caused Eve to sin in the Garden of Eden; she looked upon the forbidden fruit so long that she gave in to the temptation to eat it. Likewise, King David will commit a terrible sin later in the Bible when he gazes upon another man's wife. He probably thought looking was harmless but the looking led to action, causing him to do things he never could imagined himself doing: committing adultery and murder. When the Lord says a thing is detestable, every part of it is detestable. We must have nothing to do with it. Sinful thoughts lead to sinful actions quicker than we think they will.
If the Israelites obey the Lord in the promised land, their blessings will overflow. The Lord may not necessarily promise wealth or fame to us in our day in exchange for faithfulness, and He may not promise life will always be a bed of roses, but He promises us the help of His presence and the hope of eternal life with Him. In addition, He supplies all our needs and many of our wants besides. He is a loving Father who longs to give good gifts to His children.
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