Devarim 7:20

20 Moreover Hashem Eloheicha will send the hornet swarm among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

Devarim 7:20 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 7:20

Moreover, the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them,
&c.] Not a single one, but several of them, and which may be understood of creatures so called, which resemble wasps, only twice as large, an insect very bold and venomous; see ( Exodus 23:28 ) . Aben Ezra interprets it of the leprosy:

until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed;
such of the Canaanites who escaped the sword of the Israelites, and hid themselves in holes and caverns of the earth; these the hornets would find out and sting them to death, until they were all destroyed. Thus God can make use of small creatures, even insects, to destroy nations the most populous and mighty.

Devarim 7:20 In-Context

18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them; but shalt well remember what Hashem Eloheicha did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Mitzrayim;

19 The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the otot, and the mofetim, and the yad chazakah, and the stretched out zero’a, whereby Hashem Eloheicha brought thee out; so shall Hashem Eloheicha do unto kol ha’amim of whom thou art afraid.

20 Moreover Hashem Eloheicha will send the hornet swarm among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

21 Thou shalt not be afraid of them; for Hashem Eloheicha is among you, an El Gadol v’Norah.

22 And Hashem Eloheicha will put out those Goyim before thee m’at m’at (little by little); thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the sadeh increase upon thee.