Deuteronomy 7:4

4 For he will draw away thy son from me, and he will serve other gods; and the Lord will be very angry with you, and will soon utterly destroy thee.

Deuteronomy 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 7:4

For they will turn away thy son from following me
From the pure worship of God, his word, statutes, and ordinances:

that they may serve other gods;
worship their idols; that is, the daughters of Heathens, married to the sons of Israelites, would entice them from the worship of the true God to idolatry; so the Targum of Jonathan; as Solomon's wives drew him aside: or "he will turn away thy son" ^F4; meaning, as Jarchi observes, that the son of an Heathen, that marries the daughter of an Israelite, will turn away the son born of her to idolatry, called here the grandfather's son; though Aben Ezra says this respects the son mentioned in the preceding verse, that is, the son married to an Heathen woman, and not to a son born in such marriage:

so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee
suddenly;
by some immediate judgment striking dead at once; there being nothing more provoking to God than idolatry, that being directly contrary to his being, nature, perfections, honour, and glory, of which he is jealous.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (ryoy) "faciet recedere": Pagninus, Montanus; so Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Tigurine version, Vatablus, V. L. all in the singular number.

Deuteronomy 7:4 In-Context

2 and the Lord thy God shall deliver them into thy hands, then thou shalt smite them: thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt not make a covenant with them, neither shall ye pity them:

3 neither shall ye contract marriages with them: thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, and thou shalt not take his daughter to thy son.

4 For he will draw away thy son from me, and he will serve other gods; and the Lord will be very angry with you, and will soon utterly destroy thee.

5 But thus shall ye do to them; ye shall destroy their altars, and shall break down their pillars, and shall cut down their groves, and shall burn with fire the graven images of their gods.

6 For thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God; and the Lord thy God chose thee to be to him a peculiar people beyond all nations that upon the face of the earth.