Ver. 1. And hast cast out many nations.] God did all: “He cast out the heathen before them, and divided them an inheritance by line,” &c. (Psalms 78:55) Hence Josephus calls the commonwealth of Israel Θεοκρατειαν. Sic, Regnum Angliae, Regnum Dei. Polydor. Virgil.
Ver. 2. Nor show mercy unto them.] Their iniquity was now full; (Genesis 15:16) they filled the land with filthiness, from corner to corner; (Ezra 9:11) they were ripe for the sickle, ready for the vintage of God’s wrath, which now came upon them to the utmost.
Ver. 3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them.] As neither with any other that were idolatots. (Ezra 9:1,2)
Ver. 4. For they will turn away thy son.] As the foreign women did Solomon. (1 Kings 11:2-4) What is the reason the Pope will not dispense in Spain or Italy, if a Papist marry a Protestant, yet here they will, but in hope to draw more to them? The tyrant Mezentius tied the living bodies of his captives to the dead; but the dead did not revive by the living, the living rather putrified by the dead. Corpora corporibus iungebat mortua vivis. -Virgil.
Ver. 5. And break down their images.] Cromwell did notable service here in Henry VIII’s time, by discovering the knavery of Popish priests, and pulling down those images and monuments of idolatry, the rood of grace, the blood of Hales, &c. And in Edward VI’s days, the same day the Popish pictures were publicly burnt at Paul’s Cross, the great victory was gotten by the English at Musselburgh field in Scotland. Act. and Mon.
Ver. 6. For thou art a holy people.] viz., With a federal holiness; which yet without an inherent holiness in the heart and life, will profit a man no more than it did Dives in the flames that Abraham called him son; or Judas, that Christ called him friend. An empty title yields but an empty comfort at last.
Ver. 8. But because he loved you.] Lo, he loved you, because he loved you. This may seem idem per idem, a woman’s reason. But it excellently shows the ground of God’s love to be wholly in himself.
Ver. 9. The faithful God.] The God of Amen. (Psalms 31:6) “The Amen, the faithful and true witness,” (Revelation 3:14) that “will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips,” (Psalms 89:33) all his precepts, predictions, promises, menaces, being the issue of a most faithful and righteous will, void of the least insincerity or falsehood. “Thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day,” saith Solomon in his prayer. (1 Kings 8:24) Neither could ever any day or age produce one instance to the contrary. The promises are ancient, (Titus 1:1,2) and yet they never failed; nor the menaces. (Zephaniah 3:5)
Ver. 10. He will not be slack.] Slow he may be, but sure he will be. Supplicii tarditatem gravitate compensat; The higher he holds his hand, the heavier he will strike. Aries quo altius erigitur, hoc figit fortius. Arcus quo retrahitur longius, hoc iaculatar ulterius. Aqua quae aegre calefit, aegre denus frigescit, &c. Val, Max.
Ver. 13. And he will love thee.] So he did before, (Deuteronomy 7:8) but so he will continue to do. See a like expression in 1 John 5:13, “These things write I unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Ver. 14. Thou shalt be blessed.] There is a μυριομακαριοτης in godliness. (1 Timothy 6:6) [See Trapp on “1Ti 6:6”]
Ver. 15. And the Lord.] Health is a sweet mercy; Non est vivere, sed valere vita, A sickly life is a lifeless life. A healthy body is the reward of piety. (Proverbs 3:8) Martial.
Ver. 20. Send the hornet.] [See Trapp on “Ex 23:28”]
Ver. 21. For the Lord thy God is amongst you.] And how many do you reckon him for? as Antigonus said once to his soldiers, when they feared their enemies as more in number.
Ver. 24. Thou shalt destroy their name.] It shall be either buried in oblivion, or if mentioned, it shall be but as the stirring of a sepulchre, which thereby stinketh the more. Solomon reckoneth it for a mercy to a wicked man, when he is buried, to be forgotten in his city. (Ecclesiastes 8:10)
Ver. 25. Lest thou be snared.] Lest it prove as the gold of Toulouse, baneful to all that fingered it; or the sepulchre of Semiramis, which they that rifled, expecting to find treasure, met with a deadly poison. Aurum Tolosanum.