Deuteronomy 7:9, commentary and pictures

Christ Himself, veiled in the pillar of cloud as Israel's leader and teacher, made known that the Lord is the true God, the faithful One who holds to covenant kindness for a thousand generations toward those who love Him and keep His commandments. He did not choose Israel because they were great or deserving, for they were the fewest of peoples, but because He loved them and would keep His oath to their fathers by redeeming them with a mighty hand from slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh. That keeping of mercy is conditioned on hearkening to do His statutes and judgments, and on that obedience richer blessings were in store — life, health, increase, protection, and salvation — while death is the sure result of disobedience and those who hate Him He repays to their face without delay. To a thousand generations means His commandments, including the true Sabbath as the sign that He sanctifies His people, are binding through all time into eternity and will be kept by the redeemed in His kingdom. What He required of ancient Israel to be a holy and separate people He requires now, calling those living at the end of the world to come out from worldliness, refuse idolatrous unions and alliances, train their children in His word, and stand as overcomers ready for the final review and the everlasting kingdom, from which no commandment-breaker will enter.

Speaker Words and Setting

The words were spoken by Christ Himself, enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, and given through Moses to God's chosen people. He was Israel's invisible leader and guide and protector, their teacher giving definite instruction, and the same great Physician who healed the sick in Palestine. His word to His people is always Yea and Amen, never Yea and Nay, with the richest blessings in store on condition of keeping His commandments.

Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. He did not choose Israel because they were many or numerous or deserving, for they were the fewest of all peoples, but because He loved them and would keep the oath sworn to their fathers. In keeping that oath He redeemed them with a mighty hand from the house of bondmen, from slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh king of Egypt. On condition of hearkening to do His commandments and statutes and judgments, obedience was to accompany the covenant relationship, carrying His commandment-keeping people through life's trials to victory and their reward with love and blessing and prosperity, abundant crops and livestock, protection from disease, long life, and the experience of salvation.

Joined to the promise is the warning that He repays those who hate Him to their face to destroy them, and will not be slack toward them but repay without slackness or delay. Therefore His commandments and statutes and judgments commanded that day must be kept. This is declared as the reason for the command not to intermarry with idolatrous nations nor form confederacy with them, because such unions would turn away their sons from following Him to serve other gods so that His anger would be kindled to destroy them suddenly.

The verse reveals God's name and character as the true and faithful God, good and merciful and true. His faithfulness and mercy stand against any false picture of Him as harsh and condemnatory, for Christ came on an ambassage of mercy to save, not to condemn the world. God means what He says, His covenant is unalterable, and His infinite goodness and love and absolute power assure His people that He can remove every obstacle and fulfill His promises, while the Ten Commandments including the seventh-day Sabbath are an expression of His character.

Israel's Election and Redemption

The verse was addressed to Israel as a holy people whom the Lord chose to be His own special people above all peoples on the earth, a peculiar treasure, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and a holy nation called out of darkness into His marvelous light. It sets forth God's purpose for them and the conditions on which they would be prospered, declaring Him to be the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy to a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments, and who repays those who hate Him to their face to destroy them without slackness. It therefore calls them to keep His commandments and statutes and judgments, to give close attention to reading and hearing the Word, to be earnest practical workers, and to labor for food that endures to eternal life rather than for food that perishes. The same standing belongs to present believers as God's holy, chosen, special, loved and redeemed people, with great possibilities before them as laborers together with God to give His message in wisdom and righteousness.

He did not choose them because they were many, numerous, powerful or deserving, for they were the fewest of all peoples, but because He loved them and would keep the oath sworn to their fathers. Their small numbers did not earn His choice, nor did size or merit determine it; His choice rested on His love and His oath to their ancestors. That oath grounds their duty to obey His commandments and remain faithful to their covenant with Him, with the assurance extending through their earthly pilgrimage toward the heavenly Canaan and its abundant inheritance for all who love God and keep His commandments. The following verses explain that keeping His commandments is linked with His keeping the covenant mercy He promised, and the promise supports the call for His people, though few in number, to obey His enduring law, including the Sabbath as His memorial and sign between Him and His people. Israel's safety and strength depended on trusting and obeying God, not on its numbers or its own power.

In keeping that oath He redeemed them with a mighty hand from the house of bondmen, from slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh king of Egypt, and Israel's deliverance fulfilled His oath to their fathers. Because He had so chosen, loved and redeemed them to be holy and special to Himself, they must keep His commandments and statutes and judgments and must not mingle or confederate with those who have no respect for the truth but remain separate from them. God does not fail His people unless they fail to do His will. Israel's misfortunes and delay in entering Canaan were not His fault, for distrust, unbelief, pride and disobedience made the people unready and broke their pledge to Him, while as a loving, compassionate Father He pardons those who truly repent and His promised blessings would not fail if they met the conditions of obedience. They had to remain free from the sins of the nations, obey God, and show by words and actions that they loved, feared and obeyed Him.

His faithfulness to keep covenant love for a thousand generations toward those who love and obey Him is seen in Shem's respect for his father being richly rewarded with a blessed posterity including an illustrious line of holy men.

Obedience and Promised Blessings

Keeping the commandments, statutes and judgments, hearkening to do them, is the condition on which the faithful God keeps the covenant and mercy sworn to the fathers with those who love Him. On that condition He loves, blesses and multiplies His people and takes away all sickness from them. Richer blessings were in store for Israel if they obeyed Him, and the same call stands for a people today whom He can bless as His own when they serve Him in righteousness and obey.

Obedience was the condition for the promised covenant blessings of prosperity, abundant crops and livestock, protection from disease, long life, and the experience of salvation. Worship of the true God and obedience to His righteous law were to restore His moral image in humanity and make the nation a witness to other peoples, displaying His glory and helping prepare for Christ's kingdom to extend over the earth. To that end He promised to give them wisdom and skill and vigor of intellect, prosperity, protection from the diseases afflicting other nations, growth in numbers, and occupation of the land He had specified. As their healer He is able to preserve and restore, so obedience brings His protection from disease.

The commandments were not given as a burden but for good always, that obedience might preserve people alive. They were given so that by obeying them people might preserve physical, mental and moral health and live by obedience. Death is the sure result of disobedience to the law of God.

Covenant faithfulness carries commandment-keeping people through the trials of life to the victorious end, to victory and their reward. To those who love Him and exalt His name He gives mercy and grace in abundance, beyond what they ask or think, with nothing too valuable for Him to bestow. Israel's place as His special people did not come from being more numerous than other nations but from His love and His oath to their ancestors, and their safety and strength depended on trusting and obeying God, not on numbers or their own power.

Law Sabbath and Eternity

The words to a thousand generations mean the commandments are binding for that long, enduring through all time and eternity and reaching into the kingdom of God into the presence of God and His holy angels. Keeping them lasts that long, and keeping the covenant brings blessing, for God has respect for the obedient and keeping them takes people into His kingdom. When the thousand generations are complete, all in the world who have served God will be translated to heaven and the dead raised, will see the King in His beauty, and will enter through the gates of the holy city as the nations that have kept the truth. No one who would not keep His commandments in this world will be brought in, for father or mother or children will not be allowed to spoil the heavenly courts, but those who are commandment keepers, tried and loving God supremely, will be welcomed by Christ Jesus into the golden city, and there will never be a second rebellion in heaven. The commandments were not given as a burden but for good always, that by obedience people might preserve alive and preserve physical, mental, and moral health and live, while death is the sure result of disobedience to the law of God.

Keeping that covenant means honoring God through faithful obedience, including observance of the true Sabbath, which is the sign between Him and His people throughout their generations that He is the Lord who sanctifies them and which marks those who serve Him. His people must therefore keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments He commands, including keeping His Sabbaths, and obey the light given about the Sabbath as God's memorial and sign and seal. He chose Israel to be a holy and special people above all people, not because they were many in number, for they were the fewest, nor for size or merit, but because He loved them and would keep the oath sworn to their fathers, redeeming them with a mighty hand out of bondage in Egypt from Pharaoh king of Egypt. Keeping covenant with God requires a sincere, active loyalty that honors Him, shown by a separate and peculiar people who keep His commandments and proclaim the third angel's message. The thousand generations point to the lasting reach of His covenant promise, yet each person's eternal fate is decided before that period ends, with the faithful receiving everlasting life and a home in His kingdom while those who reject God, hate Him, or give Him only half-hearted service face destruction and eternal death.

The Sabbath is set apart to be kept holy through a thousand generations as a distinguishing feature of faith and loyalty to God's commandments. God blesses those who keep it holy, and its observance continues among the redeemed in God's city and kingdom. The words to a thousand generations reach to the mansions Christ has gone to prepare for His people, who were chosen to be holy and special to Himself not because they were many but because He loved them and would keep His oath, redeeming them from bondage, and who therefore must not mingle or confederate with those who have no respect for the truth but remain separate from them.

God means what He says as the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy to a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments, while He repays those who hate Him to destroy them without slackness, so His commandments and statutes and judgments must be kept. The Ten Commandments are an expression of His character, including the seventh-day Sabbath, and the surrounding instruction treats God's law as binding and unchanged, joining love for God with obedience to His commandments. Obedience to His Word through faith in Christ brings blessing, prosperity, clear spiritual perception, and enjoyment of His grace and infinite love, and those who thus obey and return to loyalty are assured that for Christ's sake God counts as righteous only those who respect His commandments and that they are His sons and daughters, members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, while disobedience turns light to darkness. Parents are therefore called to teach that enduring law faithfully to their children.

Together with Deuteronomy 5 and Deuteronomy 6, the chapter gives parents instruction to read and carry out God's requirements. They must train their children from infancy and from very infancy to form characters that meet God's approval. They must take every precaution to prevent their children from growing up with objectionable traits of character, in a work for their children that nothing else should take the place of.

Final Judgment and Kingdom

The thousand generations measure how far God's covenant promise reaches, for His faithfulness in keeping covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments extends through that whole span. That span signifies a very long period reaching to Christ's coming in the clouds and to the life of His faithful people in His kingdom, so long that the Lord will come before it ends, when His faithful people will be in His kingdom still keeping His commandments.

Each person's eternal fate is decided before those thousand generations have passed, for the faithful receive everlasting life while those who reject God face eternal death. Keeping that covenant means honoring God through faithful obedience, including observance of the true Sabbath which marks those who serve Him. The faithful who remember Calvary, stand for truth and strive to honor God receive the welcome of the everlasting kingdom, while those who hate Him, serve half-heartedly and conform to the world receive a sentence of rejection, destruction and eternal death. When the thousand generations are complete, all in the world who have served God will be translated to heaven and the dead raised, will see the King in His beauty, and will enter through the gates of the holy city as the nations that have kept the truth. Keeping His commandments lasts that long, and keeping His covenant brings His blessing, for God has respect for those who are obedient. No commandment-breaker will be admitted for the sake of father or mother or children to spoil the heavenly courts, but those who are tried, who love God supremely and have kept His commandments will be welcomed by Christ Jesus into the golden city, and there will never be a second rebellion in heaven.

Obedience is urgent because the world is nearing God's great final review before the Judge of all the earth, and is now in the time of investigation when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity. What was required of ancient Israel that they might be a holy people unto Himself is required now, for keeping His commandments and statutes and judgments and hearkening to do them is the condition on which He keeps the covenant and mercy sworn to the fathers, and loves, blesses, multiplies and takes away all sickness. Israel was a holy people chosen to be special above all peoples, not because they were many in number, but because the Lord loved them and would keep the oath sworn to their fathers, redeeming them with a mighty hand from the house of bondmen under Pharaoh. Therefore they must keep His commandments and statutes and judgments, for He repays those who hate Him to their face to destroy them without slackness. Obedience brings its reward and disobedience its retribution, and these words must be stamped upon every soul as with a pen of iron, for by obtaining a perfect experience in His service His people are qualified to stand before the heavenly universe and the fallen world as overcomers.

This assurance applies through God's people's earthly pilgrimage toward the heavenly Canaan and its abundant inheritance, for all who love God and keep His commandments. Israel was chosen not because it was numerous or deserving, but because God loved them and kept His oath to their ancestors, redeeming them from Egypt. Their worship of the true God and obedience to His righteous law were to restore God's moral image in humanity and make the nation a witness to other peoples. God promised to give them wisdom and skill, prosperity, protection from diseases afflicting other nations, and vigor of intellect, and as their numbers grew they were to occupy the land He had specified. Their flourishing was to display God's glory and help prepare for Christ's kingdom to extend over the earth.

Separation and Present Obedience

What God required of ancient Israel to be a holy people to Himself He requires now, calling His people to come out from the world and be separate, to remain distinct from surrounding nations and to guard against worldliness by refusing to follow worldly practices. Keeping His commandments and statutes and judgments with hearkening to do them is the condition on which He keeps the covenant and mercy sworn to the fathers, loving and blessing and multiplying His people and taking away sickness. This obedience is urgent because the world is nearing God's great final review before the Judge of all the earth, now in the time of investigation when every character will be investigated and every case decided for eternity.

The words spoken to Israel also instruct God's people now and apply to the last days, standing as instruction and warning and admonition for those living at the end of the world. As Israel was brought out of Egypt to keep God's law, present believers as a holy people chosen to be special above all people, loved and redeemed by a mighty hand out of bondage, are called to be a distinct people under God as their acknowledged ruler. They are to receive and obey His words rather than rely on their own judgment, and to give His message in wisdom and righteousness. God has not left the world without witness but has His loyal, chosen people who do not make this world their home but are here to bear living witness for Him, and as long as probation lasts a living witness will be borne by these faithful messengers. Satan with his angels confederates with evil men against them to counteract their testimony and destroy them, even as Christ when He came on an embassy of mercy to save and not to condemn was scorned and hunted.

The verse is given as the reason for the command to ancient Israel not to intermarry with the idolatrous nations around them nor form any confederacy with them. Infinite Wisdom foresaw that such unions would turn away their sons from following Him to serve other gods, so that His anger would be kindled to destroy them suddenly, for they were a holy people chosen to be special unto Himself above all people on the face of the earth. That direction requires Christians everywhere to avoid all intimate alliances needing harmony in spirit and action, including membership in Free Masons and other secret societies. Loving God and keeping His commandments means working distinctly in God's lines, while trampling His commandments, taking commandment-breakers as counselors, and uniting in politics with unbelievers and parading political belief like the world proves lack of love for God in the heart, creates division and strife and jealousy, is a great offense to God, and He cannot and will not prosper those who follow it.

The call to separation includes providing schools where children receive thorough lessons in Bible truth apart from the corruption found among children in the public schools. Keeping covenant with God requires sincere, active loyalty that honors Him, shown in full surrender followed by continuing simple obedience to all of the Lord's commandments according to His special directions, neglecting none of the important things specified in His Word but taking special interest in doing them. It requires searching the Scriptures personally and making God's Word the study book, sanctifying self daily according to the Word lest one be found in rebellion, so that the Lord is glorified. As God's holy, chosen, special, loved and redeemed people with great possibilities before them, Christians are to be laborers together with God by giving close attention to reading and hearing the Word, by being earnest practical workers, and by laboring for food that endures to eternal life rather than for food that perishes. The true Sabbath is presented as a sign distinguishing those who serve Him, set against the certainty that each person's fate will be decided for eternity with a home in God's kingdom for the faithful and destruction and eternal death for those who hate God or give Him only half-hearted service.

Knowing God means honoring Him and bringing character into harmony with Him, for He chose Israel not because they were numerous or powerful but because He loved them and kept His oath to their ancestors, redeeming them from slavery in Egypt though they were the fewest of all peoples. This is applied to treating family members and children with patience and kindness rather than irritability, and helping them become able to stand before God and call Him Father. Humble, earnest, persevering faith and obedience reveal a heart filled with God's abundant grace, by which He regards His people as a precious treasure. Remembering God's past dealings with His people revives faith and encourages hope. That covenant faithfulness accompanies God's patience and compassion, but persistent rebellion does not escape punishment when the boundary of His forbearance is passed.