Deuteronomy 7

Sugya Map

• The Problem: The mechanism of biur (eradication) of the Seven Nations in Eretz Yisrael. How does the text move from conquest (yerushah) to ontological displacement (nashal)?
• The Core Term: V’nashal (וְנָשַׁל) — linguistic roots, semantic range, and the tension between active expulsion and gradual, organic displacement.
• Primary Sources:
  • Deuteronomy 7:1-2 (The Commandment).
  • Deuteronomy 19:5 (The Axe-Head analogy).
  • Deuteronomy 28:40 (The Olive analogy).
• Nafka Mina: Is the removal of the nations a kinetic, singular event (warfare/expulsion), or an environmental inevitability triggered by the presence of holiness (kedushah) within the Land?

Text Snapshot

כִּי יְבִיאֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה בָא שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ וְנָשַׁל גּוֹיִם רַבִּים מִפָּנֶיךָ (Deut. 7:1)

• Leshon Nuance: The verb v’nashal (Root: נ-ש-ל). Note the dagesh in the shin. Grammatically, it functions as a piel form, implying an active, causative removal. However, the shoresh itself carries a connotation of natural detachment—the falling of fruit (yishal zaytecha) or the slipping of a tool from its handle (v’nashal ha-barzel). The juxtaposition of high-intensity warfare (harim) with the organic imagery of nashal is the crux of the lomdus.

Readings

The Rashbam: The Mechanics of Separation

Rashbam (ad loc.) insists on the literal, physical detachment. He notes that nashal refers to the breaking of a firm connection. By citing v’nashal ha-barzel (Deut. 19:5), he emphasizes the suddenness of the separation. For Rashbam, the seven nations are not merely being pushed out; they are being "un-attached" from the Land. The Land of Israel has an inherent property that rejects the idolatrous presence; the biur is the act of finalizing a disconnection that is already cosmically prepared.

The Haamek Davar: The Environmental Displacement

The Netziv (Haamek Davar, 7:2) offers a brilliant, almost sociological chiddush. He distinguishes between yerushah (legal inheritance/expulsion) and nashal (detachment). He argues that nashal is not a direct military purge but a structural displacement. As the population of Israel grows and settles the land, the presence of the nations becomes untenable—they are "detached" from their grip on the soil.

The Netziv’s genius lies in his reading of mifaneicha (from before you): it is the mere presence of the Jewish people that creates the friction causing the nations to fall away, like a loose axe-head from its handle. This moves the mitzvah from a singular historical event to a process of demographic and spiritual displacement dictated by the density of Jewish settlement.

Friction

The Kushya: The Paradox of Active vs. Passive

The strongest kushya arises from the internal contradiction of the text. Deuteronomy 7:2 commands, "You shall doom them to destruction" (harem tcharim otam), a violent, active command. Yet, in verse 22, the Torah admits: "The Eternal your God will dislodge those peoples before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them at once."

If the removal is a Divine, miraculous, and violent biur (as per harem tcharim), why the "little by little" (gradualism)? Why the delay? If God is the actor, why the concern for "wild beasts" (verse 22)?

The Terutz: The Ontology of Territory

The terutz lies in the difference between the command and the reality of the Land. The harem command applies to the national entity (the political sovereignty), while nashal describes the territorial reality. The "wild beasts" are not just biological threats; they represent the vacuum of civilization. If the nations were removed in one miraculous stroke, the Land—having not yet been "civilized" by the Torah-observant, agrarian life of Israel—would revert to tohu (wilderness).

The biur is therefore a two-part harmony: the legal prohibition of coexistence (harem) and the evolutionary process of the Land’s sanctification (nashal). We do not purge the land; we replace the occupancy.

Intertext

• Exodus 23:28: "I will send the hornet ahead of you, and it will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you." This serves as a vital cross-reference. The tsirah (hornet/plague) acts as the agent of the nashal process, validating the Netziv's claim that the displacement is often indirect, using natural/supernatural forces to create an environment where the indigenous nations can no longer survive.
• SA Hilchot Melachim 6:1: Rambam codifies the milchemet mitzvah against the seven nations. While he emphasizes the military imperative, the Minchat Chinuch notes that the obligation of biur is tied to the yishuv (settlement) of the land. The halachic consensus bridges the gap between the violent harem and the gradual nashal by framing the entire process as a function of national sovereignty.

Psak/Practice

In the contemporary context, the mitzvah of biur is dormant due to the Sancherev obfuscation of the nations (Berakhot 28a). However, the meta-psak remains active: the principle of nashal—that a land possesses an ontological character that demands a specific "fit" between its inhabitants and its holiness—is a cornerstone of Jewish geopolitical thought. We practice this today not through harem, but through the yishuv (settlement) and the creation of a society that, by its very existence, reorients the character of the soil.

Takeaway

The removal of the seven nations is not a mere conquest; it is a profound ontological "un-attaching" (nashal) that requires the presence of holiness to force out the vacuum of idolatry. We do not just conquer territory; we re-align its spiritual frequency.