Do not say …when Hashem pushes them away from before you… “Because of my righteousness Hashem brought me to possess this Land, and because of the wickedness of these nations Hashem drove them away from you.” Not because of your righteousness…but because of the wickedness of these nations does Hashem your G-d drive them away.^[2]

Puzzling is this insistence that it was not the people’s merits that facilitated Hashem’s providing assistance to them!. Just a verse before, Hashem told them, “Hashem your G-d, He crosses before you. He will destroy them, and He will subjugate them…as Hashem spoke to you.” He tells them explicitly that His commitment was directly to them – not the result of the misbehavior of the Land’s inhabitants. Additionally, our pasuk speaks merely of pushing the inhabitants out of the way. The previous pasuk spoke of “destroying” and “subjugating” them.

An important principle is at work here. There are indeed two distinct ways in which the nation can enjoy miraculous Divine assistance. The previous verse speaks of situations in which we merit His aid in our own right. When we do, He does more than shunts the enemy aside. He takes the initiative, leading the battle; He crosses before us to strike the enemy. He oversees their complete destruction and subjugation.

Our pasuk represents Plan B – when we fail to meet His expectations, when we are positioned at a low rung of spiritual achievement. He tells us that even so, He will protect us from the evil enemies, by at least removing their ability to harm us.

Earlier, the Torah wrote, “Hashem your G-d is among you, a great and awesome G-d.”^[3] Gadol and nora are mentioned – but not gibor! Eliding His strength is conspicuous.

But it makes sense. Gibor comes from midas hadin. Were His gevurah the sole determining factor in quashing our enemies, we would be imperiled in the process. Oftentimes, we are not well positioned for scrutiny under the requirements of din. All kinds of objections could then be raised in the Heavenly Courts to punishing our enemies. Rather, as Kedushas Levi observes,^[4] “That which I take vengeance upon your enemies who wish to harm you, primarily is a product of My love for you.” Hashem’s actions against our enemies are sourced in chessed, not din! Therefore, the earlier pasuk does not mention gibor.

Let’s return to our pasuk. “Not because of your righteousness…but because of the wickedness of these nations.” Rashi says that the work ki/but should be understood as “but rather.” In other words, the Torah is not saying that it was our merit alone was insufficient that He would drive out the enemy, and it would take a combination of our merit and the horrible sins of the inhabitants. This was not the case. It was, rather, their wickedness alone that would cause it! There would be times when comparing us to the surrounding enemies would not be so flattering. Times during which the Land would be saturated with following the ways of the other nations, and only a minority committed to Torah and mitzvos. Our merits would not get us very far. At those times, the evil of our enemies would suffice for Hashem to protect us!

In effect, at times He would launch a kind of mini-gevurah, surgically designed against our enemies, even when we would have very few merits to show for ourselves. But it is always sourced not in pure gevurah, but in His love for us.

1. Adapted from Be’er Moshe, by the Ozherover Rebbe zt”l ↑
2. Devarim 9:4-5 ↑
3. Devarim 7:21 ↑
4. Bereishis 15:1 ↑