Deuteronomy 7:20

20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from thee be destroyed.

Deuteronomy 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.

Deuteronomy 7:20 In-Context

18 thou shalt not be afraid of them, but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt--

19 the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm --whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out. So shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.

20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from thee be destroyed.

21 Thou shalt not be frightened at them; for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and fearsome.

22 And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee little by little; thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.