Dvar Torah Parshat Va’etchanan

What Does it Mean to be a Small Nation?

By Evan Weiner | 20 April 2024 | 3 Minute Read

Parshat Va’etchanan

Towards the end of Parshat Vaetchanan, the Israelites are reminded that they’ll soon be entering the Promised Land. When they get there, they will have to fight with the seven Canaanite nations who are living there.

Israel and the Canaanites

Moshe details three prohibitions related to the Canaanite people:

1. לֹא־תִכְרֹת לָהֶם בְּרִית

Don’t make any covenants with them.

2. וְלֹא תְחָנֵּם

Don’t show them any special favor.

3. וְלֹא תִתְחַתֵּן בָּם

Don’t intermarry with them.

(Deuteronomy 7:2-3)

In other words, these laws are basically saying, hey Israelites, you need to keep your distance from these Canaanite nations. You’re a holy people, and we want to keep it that way. The next few verses continue this theme and issue a command to destroy any idolatrous altars these nations may leave behind.

A Surprising Twist

But then, as part of the very same speech, Moshe follows these laws with a statement that seems to come completely out of nowhere! He says:

לֹא מֵרֻבְּכֶם מִכָּל־הָעַמִּים חָשַׁק יְהוָה בָּכֶם וַיִּבְחַר בָּכֶם כִּי־אַתֶּם הַמְעַט מִכָּל־הָעַמִּים כִּי מֵאַהֲבַת יְהוָה אֶתְכֶם

Because, you’re actually the smallest of all the nations. It’s not because of your vast numbers that God desired you and chose you. Rather, it’s because of His great love for you.

(Deuteronomy 7:7)

Now, is that the next thing you’d expect Moshe to say? Don’t make deals with the Canaanites, don’t show them favor, don’t intermarry with them, and, oh, yeah, you’re really small, but that’s okay – God doesn’t care about that.

It’s totally out of left field. Everything here is about the Israelites keeping their distance from the nations of the land. What does the fact that the Israelites are small—and God loves them anyway—have to do with these laws about distancing themselves from the Canaanites?

What is the Connection?

Well, I actually think that being small does have something to do with making deals with foreign nations, showing them favor, and intermarrying. But to see that connection, we need to dig a little deeper. 

You see, there’s another place in the Torah, a story, where we also encounter this idea of the Israelites being small. And the crazy thing is, all these prohibitions we have been talking about—making deals with Canaanite nations, showing favor, intermarrying—all of these themes come up in this story too! So maybe, if we see how everything fits together in that story, we can understand what’s going on here.

This other story is the rape of Dina in Genesis, and the response of Yaakov and his sons. What does that story have to do with Moses’s speech at the Torah? How does it explain the verse above? Continue to this video to find out!

More on Parshat Va’etchanan

• The 10 Commandments
• This Week's Parsha