The Logic of Little by Little Text: Deuteronomy 7:17-26
Introduction: The Sin of Demoralized Arithmetic
The modern church, particularly in the West, is afflicted with a bad case of what we might call demoralized arithmetic. We look at the cultural Goliaths arrayed against us, the vast and glittering institutions of unbelief, and we do the math. We count their tanks, their budgets, their media outlets, and their legions of indoctrinated footsoldiers. Then we count our own meager resources. The conclusion, based on this kind of carnal calculation, is always the same: despair. We are outnumbered. We are outgunned. The best we can hope for is a respectable retreat, a managed decline, or a pietistic escape into the sweet by-and-by.
This is not just a strategic error; it is a profound sin. It is the sin of looking at the waves instead of the Lord who walks on them. It is the sin of the ten faithless spies who saw giants in the land and saw themselves as grasshoppers. It is the very sin that Moses confronts here on the plains of Moab. The people of God are on the cusp of a generation-defining task, the conquest of Canaan. And God, knowing their hearts, anticipates the precise objection that their faithless fear will raise: "These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?"
Notice the pronoun: "how can I dispossess them?" The moment the question is framed that way, the battle is already lost in the heart. The question assumes that the outcome depends on Israel's strength, Israel's numbers, Israel's military prowess. But the entire basis of the covenant is that the outcome depends entirely upon the faithfulness and power of Israel's God. This passage is God's definitive answer to the church's perennial temptation to strategic despair. It is a lesson in how to think about overwhelming odds. It is a command to trade our faulty arithmetic for a robust, historical theology. God's prescription for the fear of the future is a potent dose of remembrance of the past.
The Text
"If you should say in your heart, 'These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?' you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, Yahweh your God will send the hornet against them until those who remain and hide themselves from you perish. You shall not dread them, for Yahweh your God is in your midst, a great and fearsome God. And Yahweh your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, lest the wild beasts become too numerous for you. But Yahweh your God will give them over before you and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. And He will give 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. 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, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become devoted to destruction like it; you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction."
(Deuteronomy 7:17-26 LSB)
The Divine History Lesson (vv. 17-19)
The problem begins in the heart, with a silent, fearful calculation.
"If you should say in your heart, 'These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?' you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt..." (Deuteronomy 7:17-18)
God's antidote to this internal monologue of fear is not a pep talk. It is not an encouragement to "try harder." It is a command to remember. Specifically, they are to remember the Exodus. Why? Because the Exodus was the ultimate demonstration of asymmetrical warfare. In Egypt, Israel had no army, no weapons, no political power, and no strategy. They were a nation of brick-making slaves. Pharaoh, on the other hand, had the most powerful military machine on the planet. By any human calculation, the odds were not just long; they were absurd. Israel versus Egypt was a grasshopper versus a tank.
And yet, God crushed Egypt. He did it not with an Israelite army, but with His own "mighty hand and outstretched arm." He did it with signs and wonders that systematically dismantled the entire Egyptian pantheon, god by god. He judged the god of the Nile by turning it to blood. He judged the sun god Ra with impenetrable darkness. The lesson was clear: The conflict was never Israel vs. Egypt. It was Yahweh vs. the false gods of Egypt, and Yahweh vs. Pharaoh. And that was no contest at all.
The application for the Israelites entering Canaan is direct: "So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid." The God who defeated the established superpower of Egypt will have no trouble with a collection of petty Canaanite city-states. The same principle applies to the Church. Our Exodus is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There, the powers of sin, death, and the devil, which held us in a bondage far worse than Pharaoh's, were decisively broken. Christ, by His "mighty hand and outstretched arm," achieved a victory that we were utterly powerless to contribute to. Therefore, when we look at the cultural Goliaths of our day, we are commanded to remember the empty tomb. The power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power at work for us and in us. Any fear that neglects the resurrection is practical atheism.
Hornets, Beasts, and the Pace of Victory (vv. 20-22)
God's methods are often not what we would expect, and His timing is not always our own.
"Moreover, Yahweh your God will send the hornet against them... And Yahweh your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, lest the wild beasts become too numerous for you." (Deuteronomy 7:20, 22 LSB)
First, God promises to send the "hornet." Whether this refers to literal swarms of stinging insects, a series of demoralizing panic attacks, or Egyptian military incursions that weakened the Canaanites from the south, the point is the same. God fights for His people in ways they do not control and cannot anticipate. He is at work behind the scenes, softening up the enemy, driving out even those who hide in bunkers and fortified places. Our task is to be faithful in the main battle; God takes care of the ancillary operations. He is always doing more than we can see.
Second, and this is crucial, the victory is programmed to be gradual. "Little by little." This is profoundly at odds with the modern evangelical temper, which tends to want everything to happen yesterday. We want instant revival, sudden transformation, and a quick and tidy end to all our struggles. But God says no. The conquest will be a long, slow, multi-generational project. And He gives a fascinatingly practical reason: if the land were depopulated all at once, the ecosystem would be thrown out of balance, and the wild beasts would multiply, creating a different kind of threat.
This is the principle of godly dominion. Godly progress is organic, not revolutionary. It requires patience, perseverance, and long-term faithfulness. This is a foundational text for a postmillennial outlook. The kingdom of God grows like a mustard seed, slowly but inexorably. We are not called to a frantic, all-or-nothing charge, but to a faithful, generational siege. We take ground "little by little," discipling our children, building robust Christian institutions, and patiently applying the Word of God to every area of life. God's wisdom in pacing the victory prevents the "wild beasts" of unintended consequences, social chaos, and triumphalistic pride from devouring us.
Total War Against Idolatry (vv. 23-26)
While the pace of victory is gradual, the nature of the victory must be total. There can be no compromise with the gods of the Canaanites.
"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... for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God." (Deuteronomy 7:25 LSB)
The central issue in the conquest of Canaan is liturgical. It is a battle over worship. The Canaanites must be driven out not simply because they occupy real estate that God has promised to Israel, but because their idolatrous practices are a defilement of the land and an "abomination" to God. An abomination is something that is ritually and morally repugnant, something that provokes the holy revulsion of God.
The command is therefore absolute. The idols must be burned. Notice the specific temptation that is addressed: "you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them." An idol might be carved from a block of wood, but it was often overlaid with precious metals. The temptation for an Israelite soldier would be to think, "The idol itself is false and powerless, but this gold is real. Why let good money go to waste? I'll just scrape off the gold and put it in the offering plate." This is the logic of pragmatism, and it is forbidden. Why? Because the gold is not neutral. It has been consecrated to a demon. It is part of the abominable system. To take it for yourself is to be "snared by it." You cannot loot the devil's house for materials to build God's house.
This principle is then driven into the heart of the Israelite home.
"And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become devoted to destruction like it; you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction." (Deuteronomy 7:26 LSB)
The word here for "devoted to destruction" is the Hebrew word cherem. It refers to something set apart for God, either for sacred use or for total destruction. In this context, the idols are cherem, they are irrevocably devoted to God's holy wrath. The terrifying logic of this verse is that if you bring a cherem object into your house, you and your entire household become cherem along with it. The contagion of the abomination infects you.
This is the principle of antithesis. We are not to make peace with the idols of our age. We are not to find them fascinating, or sample their wares, or try to "Christianize" their gold. We are commanded to cultivate a holy hatred for them: "you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it." This is not a suggestion. This is the emotional posture of a heart that loves the holiness of God. We must detest the idols of sexual confusion, materialism, statism, and self-worship that litter our cultural landscape. We must not bring them into our homes through our screens or our schools, lest we and our children become devoted to destruction along with them.
Conclusion: The Great and Fearsome God With Us
The foundation for all of this, the courage to fight, the patience for gradual victory, and the holiness to destroy idols, is found in one central reality. "You shall not dread them, for Yahweh your God is in your midst, a great and fearsome God" (v. 21).
The presence of God is the game-changer. He is not a distant deity cheering from the grandstands of heaven. He is Immanuel, God with us. He is in our midst. And He is not a tame God; He is "great and fearsome." He is more fearsome to our enemies than they could ever be to us.
This promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Great Commission. After His resurrection, Jesus Christ, the one to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given, commands His church to go and dispossess the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that He commanded. The odds look impossible. The nations are more numerous than we are. But the command is grounded in a promise that echoes Deuteronomy: "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
The great and fearsome God is in our midst. Therefore, we must not be afraid. We must remember the victory He has already won. We must commit ourselves to the "little by little" work of generational faithfulness. And we must cultivate a holy abhorrence for every idol, refusing to bring any abomination into our homes, our churches, or our hearts. The victory is not in doubt. The only question is whether we will be a generation that believes God and takes Him at His word.