“Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.”
My Notes
What Does Deuteronomy 23:7 Mean?
"Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land." Two nations you're not allowed to hate: Edom (your brother's descendants) and Egypt (your former host's nation). Both prohibitions are grounded in relationship: Edom is family. Egypt is history. You don't hate family, and you don't hate the nation that housed you, even though both caused you pain.
The Edom-brother connection reaches back to Jacob and Esau: despite centuries of conflict, the kinship persists. The stolen blessing, the generational enmity, the political opposition — none of it cancels the brotherhood. You can have a complicated relationship with your brother. You can't abhor him.
The Egypt-stranger connection is equally counterintuitive: Egypt enslaved you for four hundred years. Egypt killed your children. Egypt oppressed you with rigour. And God says: don't hate them. Because before the slavery, they took you in. The hospitality that preceded the oppression isn't erased by the oppression that followed it.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Who are you abhorring that a complicated history doesn't justify hating?
- 2.How does the Egypt instruction — don't hate your former enslaver because they once sheltered you — challenge your grudges?
- 3.What family conflict are you letting override the kinship that should prevent hatred?
- 4.What does 'no abhorrence' require when the reasons for hatred are legitimate?
Devotional
Don't hate Edom — he's your brother. Don't hate Egypt — they took you in when you were hungry. Two nations with complicated histories, and the instruction for both is the same: no abhorrence.
The Edom instruction challenges every grudge held between siblings: your brother wronged you. Your family history is painful. The relationship is complicated. And God says: don't hate him. He's your brother. The family connection outlasts the family conflict. The kinship overrides the grievance.
The Egypt instruction is even more counterintuitive: they enslaved you for four hundred years. They drowned your baby boys. They worked you to death in brick pits. And God says: don't hate them — because they once gave you shelter. The hospitality that began the relationship matters alongside the cruelty that marked it. Both are real. Neither cancels the other.
The prohibition against abhorrence doesn't mean forgetting what happened. It doesn't mean the slavery was okay. It doesn't mean the brotherhood was never broken. It means hatred — the soul-deep revulsion that poisons everything — is prohibited even toward nations that genuinely harmed you.
This is the hardest form of the love-your-enemies command: don't hate the people who have legitimate reasons to be hated. The brother who wronged you. The nation that enslaved you. The person with a complicated history in your story. God says about each one: don't abhor them. The relationship is complicated. The hatred is forbidden.
Who are you abhorring that God says you shouldn't?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Thou shall not abhor an Edomite,.... Or an Idumean, the descendants of Esau, whose name was Edom, Gen 25:30 the Targum…
The Edomite, as descended from Esau the twin brother of Jacob (compare Deu 2:4), and the Egyptian, as of that nation…
Interpreters are not agreed what is here meant by entering into the congregation of the Lord, which is here forbidden to…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture