Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee to the place that I have prepared.
The long list of laws given at Sinai ends with a promise. God will send someone ahead of Israel to guard them on the road and bring them to the land He has already made ready. Two questions follow: who is this messenger, and why does so much hang on obeying Him?
The promise comes right after pages of commands, and it is a gift, not a demand.
The goodness of God is seen again in His promise in verse 20. He would send an angel before them, both to guard them and to guide them to the place He had appointed for them, the land of promise. For the Lord does not leave us to make our own way to heaven as best we can!
The next verse gives the key to His identity: God's name is in Him.
Who then was this angel? It is clear, both from this scripture and chapter 14, as well as from others, that divine attributes are given to Him. It says here, for example, "My name is in Him."... That He is divine is therefore clear. So it is fair to conclude — as godly students of the Word in every age have concluded — that in this angel we have none other than the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jehovah. And in His many appearances we may see foreshadowings of His incarnation. It is He who has always been the leader of His people.
The same pattern shows up wherever God appears in this way — as a messenger who is still God Himself.
God goes before them by angelic power, by what He calls (v. 23) "my Angel." That is, it was God Himself stepping in, only in the form of angelic power... So where God, as I AM, showed Himself in a flame of fire in the bush, He is called "the Angel" in the bush. At Peniel (that is, the face of God) Jacob declares that he had seen God face to face and lived. Of the same event Hosea says "he had power over the angel and prevailed."
Later Scripture returns to this figure under other names. Each name points the same way.
Also we read of the Angel of the Lord who went before them, whom Isaiah calls "the Angel of His presence." In Malachi 3:1, the expression "Messenger of the covenant" is really "Angel of the covenant." That is a clear prediction of the coming of the Lord Jesus. So in this title too we may see a reference to Him.
The warning that follows the promise sounds severe: this Angel would not pardon Israel's transgressions. The reason lies in the arrangement Israel had just accepted.
He was holy. His people had put themselves under law, so He could not pardon their transgressions. "My name" — the expression of all that God was in His relationship with Israel — "is in Him." So He would act in righteousness, on the basis of the law God had given as the standard of their conduct.
The land was theirs by promise, but life in it depended on obeying this Guide.
But the unchanging favour of God does not lessen our responsibility... "But if you carefully obey his voice [that of the angel whom He sent] and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." Israel's prosperity was therefore conditional — it depended on their obedience. The promised possession was theirs by divine sovereignty. Their prosperity depended on their behaviour. And so it is with the Christian.
Israel soon failed, and God's answer to Moses reached back to the promise made here.
The Lord's answer still assured Moses that He would act in forbearance toward the erring people. He would lead them on by His Angel, as He had promised earlier in chapter 23:20-23. Yet His governmental judgment would still come upon them.
- Sent — God does not point out the road and leave His people to walk it alone; He sends One ahead to guard and to guide.
- Divine — "My name is in Him" marks this Angel out as God the Son, the same Person seen in the burning bush and at Peniel.
- Named — Angel of His presence, Messenger of the covenant. Both titles point forward to the Lord Jesus.
- Holy — Israel had put themselves under law, so this Guide could not pardon their transgressions.
- Faithful — obedience decided their prosperity. When Israel failed, God still led them on by the Angel promised here.
Be careful in his presence, and hearken unto his voice do not provoke him, for he will not forgive your transgressions; for my name is in him.
The last words of the covenant at Sinai are not a law but a promise of a guide — and a warning about how Israel must treat Him. Everything turns on one clause: God's own name is in Him.
The warning makes no sense if the one sent is only a servant. One writer answers by listing what this messenger does, and where He has appeared before.
Who is this angel? He is called in chapter 33:15 "the face of Jehovah" (literal translation). The name of God is in Him; God revealed Himself in Him. His voice must be obeyed. He has power to pardon transgressions or not to pardon them. This angel is not a created being. He is the same one who appeared in the burning bush. He is the same one Jacob spoke of when he said, "The angel, the Redeemer." It is Jehovah Himself, the Son of God. The ancient synagogue paraphrased this person by using the expression "Memra," which means "the Word." They believed and taught that "the Word" brought Israel out of Egypt; "the Word" led them in the pillar of cloud; "the Word" confounded the Egyptian army. And they paraphrased "the angel" by "the Word."
A name in Scripture is not a label. It tells you what a person is. That is why this phrase settles who the Angel is.
This title may be understood by a scripture in Exodus: "Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way … my name is in Him." That proves He was a divine Person. In the Word, a name is always the expression of the truth of what the Person is.
The refusal to pardon sounds harsh. But remember where Israel had just placed itself. The nation had come under law, and God dealt with it on that ground.
They were to beware of Him, obey His voice, and not provoke Him. He was holy. His people had placed themselves under law, so He could not pardon their transgressions. "My name" is the expression of all that God was in His relationship with Israel. That name "is in Him," and so He would act in righteousness, on the basis of the law God had given as the standard of their conduct. On the other hand, He made obedience the condition of fully identifying Himself with their cause.
Two things run side by side here. God promised the land outright. Enjoying it was another matter.
But the unchangeable favour of God does not lessen our responsibility. When the seed of Abraham grew into a nation, Jehovah spoke to that nation about His promise to Abraham. He then pressed their responsibility on them like this — "If you will indeed obey his voice [that of the angel whom He sent], and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." Israel's prosperity was therefore conditional — it depended on their obedience. The promised possession was theirs by divine sovereignty. Their prosperity depended on their behaviour. And so it is with the Christian.
The command to obey a voice that carries God's name reaches forward. When God's Son came, the claim went beyond the message He brought.
People were to receive a prophet because he spoke in the name of Jehovah who sent him (Deut. 18:18-19). But now men had to believe in the name of the Speaker Himself — the Only-begotten Son. Israel had to believe the message of the prophet, but not on his name. But now the people were called to believe on the Son, for Jehovah's "name is in Him" (Ex. 23:21).
Israel had the promise of an angel going before them. One writer sets what belongs to the church beside that.
In her path the church has to do with no mere angel or representative of God. It is a blessing to have such a pledge of God's faithfulness and power. Yet the church has to do with Him who has the fullness of divine power and divine supremacy over all rule or lesser authority — "Him who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars."
- The Guide. God does not leave His people to find their own way. He sends One before them to keep them in the way.
- The Name. A name in Scripture expresses what a person truly is, so "my name is in him" marks this Guide out as divine.
- The Warning. Because the name is in Him, He acts in righteousness. A people standing on law could expect no pardon for breaking it.
- The Condition. The land was theirs by God's gift, but their prosperity in it hung on obeying that voice.
- The Son. The voice carrying God's name speaks at last in Christ. Now people must not only believe a message; they must believe on Him.
But if thou shalt diligently hearken unto his voice, and do all that I shall say, then I will be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries.
God has just promised to send an Angel ahead of Israel. Here He adds a promise: obey that voice, and God Himself will stand against Israel's enemies. Two questions follow. Who is this Angel? And why does such a large promise start with "if"?
The "his voice" of this verse points back to the messenger God had just promised to send. Commentators agree that this is no ordinary angel. His titles show why.
Who is this angel? Exodus 33:15 calls Him "the face of Jehovah" (a literal translation). The name of God is in Him; God revealed Himself in Him. His voice must be obeyed. He has power to pardon transgressions or not to pardon them. This angel is not a created being. He is the same one who appeared in the burning bush. He is the same one Jacob spoke of as the angel who redeemed him. It is Jehovah Himself, the Son of God.
The same Person appears at each stage of Israel's story, fitting Himself to what His people need at the time.
Notice the wonderful grace with which this representative of Jehovah fits Himself to the circumstances of His people. This is the Angel of Jehovah whom the Old Testament speaks of so often — Jehovah Himself under this mysterious character. God says of Him, "My name is in him" (Ex. 23:21). As others have observed, He stands with Israel as their Deliverer at the Red Sea, as the Companion of their travels in the desert, and as Lord of Hosts in Canaan. Later, once the kingdom stands, He dwells in peace among them.
The "if" belongs to the arrangement Israel had taken on: they had promised to keep the law. Obedience still shields God's people today.
Israel receives a warning: provoking the angel would be no small thing. They must have a spirit of submission and obedience, for they could not expect any pardon for their transgressions. This is of course the language of law, for they had promised to keep the law. If they did obey, then the Lord would be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries. Satan will not gain any advantage over us while we obey the Word of the Lord.
God promised to make Israel's cause completely His own. His holiness set the terms.
They were to beware of Him, obey His voice, and not provoke Him. He was holy, and since His people had placed themselves under law, He could not pardon their transgressions. "My name" — the expression of all that God was in His relationship with Israel — "is in Him." So He would act in righteousness, on the basis of the law God had given as the standard of their conduct. On the other hand, obedience was the condition of His complete identification with their cause. Their enemies would in that case be His enemies, and He would cut them off.
This promise belongs to a covenant. So the Angel who secures the blessing can also punish. Israel met Him in that role later.
This was the angel of that conditional covenant which was now established. On the one hand He would make good all God's promises to the people. On the other, He would punish their sins against God. So we later see Him appearing at Bochim, to punish them there for breaking this covenant (Judges 2:1).
God had promised the land to Abraham long before. This verse settles something else: not whether His favour holds, but how well Israel would do.
But the unchanging favour of God does not cut short our responsibility. When the seed of Abraham rose into a nation, Jehovah addressed that nation about His promise to Abraham, and He then pressed on His people their responsibility. The promised possession was theirs by divine sovereignty; their prosperity was conditional on their behaviour; and so it is with the Christian.
Two things hold together here: what God secures and what we must do.
There is no clashing between the sovereignty of God in blessing His people and their responsibility to obey His word. By grace God has made every spiritual blessing secure in Christ for all His people. Even so, every man still reaps what he sows.
- The Voice — the One speaking is not a created messenger. He is Jehovah Himself, the Son of God, bearing God's name and the power to pardon or refuse pardon.
- The Condition — "if you carefully obey" is the language of law. Israel had promised to keep it.
- The Alliance — obedience was the condition of God taking their side completely. Their enemies then became His.
- The Warning — the same Angel who secures the promises also punishes covenant-breaking. Israel found this out at Bochim.
- The Balance — the land was theirs by God's sovereign gift. How well they did in it rested on their behaviour. Grace secures the blessing, and still every man reaps what he sows.
For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.
God promises to send His angel ahead of Israel, into a land already held by six nations, and to blot those nations out. Who is this angel, and why does the promise turn on Israel's obedience?
The promise of an angel sounds like the loan of a servant. But the words used of Him go far past any created being. One writer traces the evidence:
An angel was to go before them for guidance and safe conduct. He is often referred to in this connection (Ex. 14:19; Ex. 33:2; Num. 20:16, etc.). The prophet Isaiah calls Him the angel of His (Jehovah's) presence. Who then was this angel? This scripture, chapter 14, and others show that He has divine attributes. Here, for example, God says, "My name is in Him." In Exodus 14, the text first calls Him an angel, then identifies Him with Jehovah. So it is clear that He is divine. Godly students of the Word in every age have drawn the fair conclusion: in this angel we have no other than the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jehovah.
Another writer points to what only God can do:
The same great Person must be meant in Exodus 23:20: "Behold, I send an angel before you." No one but a Divine Person can "pardon transgressions," or have God's name in Him.
The Angel does two things in this verse. He goes ahead, and He brings them in.
The goodness of God is again seen in His promise in verse 20. He would send an angel before them, both to guard them and to guide them to the place He had ordained for them, the land of promise. For the Lord does not leave us to make our own way to heaven as best we can!
The list of names is not filler. Writers trace what each name means, and find a picture of the evils that keep God's people from their inheritance.
The names here, as everywhere, are surely significant. They stand for the powers of evil that get there first. They would stop us enjoying our God-given inheritance in Christ. The Hittite, "child of terror" — how spiritual dread makes cowards of us all! The Amorite, "the talker," rather than the doer of the Word. The Canaanite, "the trafficker," companion to the talker, who turns the very truth of God into merchandise. The Perizzite, "the countryman," perhaps suggests great power, nobility, false pride. The Hivite, "the villager," suggests the opposite, a false humility. The Jebusite, "the treader down," never rests until it has trampled every divine thing underfoot. All these are to be cast out. Any alliance with them is to be utterly refused.
Another writer applies the list to believers today:
Satan will not gain any advantage over us while we obey the Word of the Lord. The six nations mentioned in verse 23 stand for different forms of spiritual evil. They seek to draw the saints of God away from a path of true obedience to the Lord. If obedient, Israel could expect God's angel to cut off their enemies.
Verse 23 follows a warning. Israel had put itself under law, and the Angel would deal with them on that basis.
They were to beware of Him, obey His voice, and not provoke Him. He was holy, and since His people had placed themselves under law, He could not pardon their transgressions. "My name" — the expression of all that God was in His relationship with Israel — "is in Him." So He would act in righteousness, on the basis of the law God had given as the standard of their conduct. On the other hand, obedience was the condition of His full identification with their cause. Their enemies would in that case be His enemies, and He would cut them off.
Two things stand apart here — what God gives, and how His people fare in it:
The promised possession was theirs by divine sovereignty. Their prosperity depended on their behaviour. And so it is with the Christian.
What God promises to blot out, His people must not shelter:
There must be no covenant with the people of the land or their gods; nor should they let them live in the land. If they did, those nations would surely make them sin against the Lord. There can be no alliance between the people of God and His enemies. "The friendship of the world is enmity with God."
- The Guide — the Angel carries God's own name and divine attributes. Commentators identify Him as God the Son, leading His people in person.
- The Guarantee — He goes before, and He brings them in. God does not name a destination and leave His people to reach it alone.
- The Ground — the six peoples picture fear, empty talk, trading on holy things, pride, false humility, and contempt for what is God's.
- The Condition — under law, obedience made their cause His cause. God gave them the land; how they fared in it hung on their conduct.
- The Refusal — God pledged to blot these nations out, so Israel could make no treaty with them. Friendship with what God judges ends in sin.
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their deeds; but thou shalt utterly destroy them, and utterly shatter their statues.
God had just promised to send His Angel ahead of Israel into the land of Canaan. This verse sets the terms for living there — and it raises a hard question: why does God demand destruction rather than tolerance?
The command sits inside a promise. Obedience was the condition, and the peoples named just before stand for more than tribes on a map:
If they did obey, then the Lord would be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries. Satan will not gain any advantage over us while we obey the Word of the Lord. The six nations mentioned in verse 23 stand for different forms of spiritual evil that seek to lure the people of God away from a path of true obedience.
The verse forbids three things and commands one:
Israel was to give no recognition at all to the idols of these nations. They were not to compromise by following their example in anything (v. 24). Instead they were to reject and break down the pillars these nations considered sacred. This was essential if they were to really serve the Lord, and He would bless them in their daily life.
To modern ears, ordering the destruction of another people's religious objects sounds harsh. One writer meets that objection head-on rather than softening it:
The land was the Lord's. They were to hold it as tenants under Him. So their very first duty on taking possession was to demolish every trace of the old idolatry. This was absolutely necessary. By human reasoning, this might seem very intolerant towards other people's religion. We reply without any hesitation: yes, it was intolerant. How could the one only true and living God be anything but intolerant of all false gods and false worship? Suppose for a moment that He could permit the worship of idols in His land. That would mean He could deny Himself, and that is blasphemy. Do not misunderstand us: God does bear with the world in His patient mercy.
This command does not stand alone. Serving the Lord goes with it, and the two together open the door to the blessings that follow:
Two things come with this, and all their blessing would depend on them — separation from evil, and serving the Lord their God (vv. 24, 25). These conditions of blessing are unalterable. They are as true now as they were with Israel. The Thessalonians had turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9). Where God is truly in question, there can be no partnership with evil. He claims all that we are and have, and when we recognise this claim, He can bless us according to the desires of His own heart.
Few readers today live near carved pillars. One writer looks past the outward form to the principle behind it:
Idolatry takes various shapes. So it is not a question of the shape of the thing, but of the thing itself; not the outward form, but the root or principle of it. We read that "covetousness is idolatry," and that a covetous man is an idolater. That is, a man who wants more than God has given him is an idolater — guilty of the very sin of Israel when they made the golden calf and worshipped it. … What do those closing words of the first letter of John mean, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols"? Do they not tell us that we are in danger of worshipping idols? Certainly they do. Our treacherous hearts are capable of departing from the living God and setting up some other object beside Him. Whatever commands the heart is the heart's idol — money, pleasure, power or anything else.
Israel's later history shows what happens when the pillars stay standing:
Judges 2 shows something of why Israel failed to take possession of the inheritance. The Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim and convicted them of disobedience to the word of the Lord. This was the real cause of their troubles. God had said to Israel, "You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars." Because of their disobedience, the Angel of the Lord said, "I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."
- Promise first. The command follows God's pledge to go before Israel. If they obeyed, He would be an enemy to their enemies.
- Three refusals, one action. No worship, no service, no imitation — and then the pillars come down. Avoiding idols was not enough. Israel had to break them down.
- Intolerance defended. The land belonged to God, so allowing rival worship in it would mean God denying Himself.
- Separation plus service. Turning from idols and serving the living God go together. That pairing is the unchanging condition of blessing.
- The snare. What Israel spared became a snare. Idolatry is not about the shape of the object but about whatever commands the heart, so the warning still stands.
And ye shall serve Jehovah your God; and he shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness away from thy midst.
This verse closes the covenant terms God gave Israel, right after the command to destroy the idols of the land. It ties food, drink and health to one thing — serving the LORD — and that raises a question for readers now: does the promise still hold?
The land was a gift. What happened once Israel lived in it was another matter:
God's own choice gave them the promised land. Their prosperity depended on how they behaved. It is the same for the Christian.
The verse does not stand alone. It follows the command to tear down the idols of the land, and the pairing is deliberate:
God adds two things here, and all their blessing would depend on them — separation from evil, and serving the Lord their God (verses 24, 25). These conditions of blessing are unalterable. They are as true now as they were with Israel. The Thessalonians are described in the same way: they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9). Where God is really the issue, there can be no partnership with evil. He claims all that we are and have, and when this claim is recognised, He can bless us according to the desires of His own heart. So here the blessings follow. They are earthly blessings, because Israel was an earthly people, but blessings of that kind without limit.
Service was not a new demand sprung on Israel at Sinai. It had been the stated purpose of the whole rescue from Egypt:
When He sent Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt, God said to him, "You shall serve God on this mountain" (Ex. 3:12). Again and again during the dispute with Pharaoh the word was, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me." And when the people were at Sinai, the word was, "You shall serve the LORD your God" (Ex. 23:25). The law was given so that the people might know God's will for them, and serve by obeying it.
Knowing God's will is not the same as having the heart to do it. The same writer marks what the law could not supply:
The law did give them a certain standing as the acknowledged people of God. But it could not produce within them the state that would dispose them to obey... So, if we are to serve God, we need two things: an assured standing before Him, and a spiritual state that enables us to do His will.
The blessing named is ordinary — food, drink, and a body free of disease:
They were to be most careful not to touch their idolatries but to destroy them completely. Then they would be blessed with health and plenty; that is, with fullness of earthly good.
Does the promise carry over to believers now?
God gave these conditional promises to Israel under law, not to the church of God today. Our blessings are spiritual, and connected with heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). Godly people today may suffer illness and other afflictions. Epaphroditus was "ill, near to death" — not for disobedience, but for the sake of the work of Christ (Phil. 2:25-30).
Israel never kept their side of it. The sickness was still taken away, but by another route:
God promised Israel that if they obeyed, He would take all sickness away from them, and would put on them none of the evil diseases of Egypt that they had known (Deut. 7:15). When the Lord was on earth He healed every sickness and every disease among the people (Matt. 9:35). On the ground of obedience they failed to gain freedom from diseases, but their Messiah healed them all in grace.
One writer sees both halves of the verse — the food and the healing — met in a single day of the Lord's ministry:
In the evening the Lord satisfied the hungry mouths of the people with good things; and in the morning He healed all their diseases. In this way He fulfilled, in part, that ancient promise of the LORD to Israel: "You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you."
- Given, then conditional — the land came to Israel as God's gift; their prosperity in it hung on obedience.
- Serve, first by parting — blessing rested on two things: turning from the idols of the land, and serving the LORD.
- Serve, as the point of redemption — God brought His people out of Egypt for this — that they might serve Him.
- Serve, but not by law alone — the law told them God's will yet could not create the inward state that obeys.
- Served in grace instead — what obedience failed to win, Israel's Messiah gave in grace — food for the hungry, healing for the sick.
There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land; the number of thy days will I fulfil.
This promise closes a short list of blessings tied to serving the Lord. It raises two questions: was it ever true of Israel, and does it belong to believers today?
The promise does not stand alone. It follows two demands God made on the people just before it.
Two things go with this promise, and all their blessing would depend on them — separation from evil, and serving the Lord their God (vv. 24, 25). These conditions of blessing are unalterable. They are as true now as they were with Israel. Scripture describes the Thessalonians in the same way: they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9). Where God is truly in question, there can be no partnership with evil. He claims all that we are and all that we have. When we own that claim, He can bless us according to the desires of His own heart. So the blessings follow here. They are earthly blessings, because Israel was an earthly people, but blessings of that kind without limit.
Two things must be kept apart here: what God gave by His own choice, and what depended on how Israel lived.
God gave them the promised possession by His own sovereign choice. Their prosperity depended on how they behaved. And it is the same for the Christian.
The blessing lands on the most ordinary parts of life — health in the body, and children in the home.
Breaking with the idols of these nations was essential if they were really to serve the Lord. Then He would bless them in their daily life, and keep them from sickness too. Their women would not suffer miscarriages, nor be barren (v. 26).
One writer traces both the loss and what God will yet do.
Even under the law this would have been so, had the people been obedient. They would have escaped the diseases of Egypt, and prolonged their days in the land (see Exodus 15:26; Deut. 4:10; Deut. 5:16, 33; Deut. 6:2; Deut. 11:9, etc.); but they forfeited it all by their disobedience and sin. But in the future God will bring His people into all, and more than all, the blessings He promised long ago on the condition of keeping the law.
Another writer notes how wide the promise was, and where it will finally be kept.
He would bless them above all other nations, with not one male or female barren, whether among the people or their livestock. This would have been wonderful indeed, though we know it did not take place. In the millennium it will be so, because God's covenant with the fathers cannot fail, and the grace of God will do what law never could.
Only in that thousand-year reign will people live out the full number of their days.
Man will then fill his days, which he has never yet done — not even before the flood — no, not even Methuselah himself. Not one so far has stretched across ten centuries. This will be the rule for the righteous who are found alive on earth when the Lord reigns for the thousand years. Death will be the exception and not the rule. A person who dies at a hundred years old will be only a youth.
One writer warns against moving promises like this out of their setting.
All this is wonderfully true. But it gives no ground at all for transferring the promises made to Israel to New Testament believers. God has bound Himself by an oath to bless the descendants of Abraham His friend — to bless them with all earthly blessings, in the land of Canaan. That promise still stands, and it cannot be taken from them. We must always remember that Israel's blessings are earthly. The church's blessings are heavenly. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."
Some turn promises like this into a rule that a believer should never be ill. One writer answers that plainly.
In this present age of grace, God does not promise us freedom from physical disease in return for obedience. But obedience will keep us from spiritual diseases, and give us spiritual health and strength.
- Condition. The promise hangs on the two demands just before it — turn from the idols of the land, and serve the Lord.
- Content. It covers ordinary life: health, children safely born, and a full span of years.
- Collapse. Israel never collected it; disobedience forfeited what obedience would have secured.
- Covenant. The promise itself did not fail. God's covenant with the fathers cannot fail. Grace will pay what law never could, in a day when a man who dies at a hundred is still only a youth.
- Caution. These are earthly blessings for an earthly people. Believers today have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Obedience now guards spiritual health; it does not guarantee physical health.
I will send my fear before thee, and confound every people to which thou comest, and will make all thine enemies turn their back to thee.
God names His first weapon in the fight for Canaan, and it is not a sword. It is a terror He sends ahead of His people. So who wins Israel's battles, and on what terms does God fight them?
God works on enemy hearts while Israel is still marching:
As Israel advanced toward their land, God would stamp the fear of Himself on the hearts of their enemies, and make them retreat in confusion (v. 27).
Enemies did not slow God down. They put His grace on display:
Are there enemies? They only show more clearly the almighty grace of God acting for His people... Finally, all the nations flee before Israel, pursued by hornets, without the help of sword or bow.
A warning comes with the promise. God's help had terms:
They were to beware of the Angel, obey His voice, and not provoke Him. He was holy, and since His people had placed themselves under law, He could not pardon their sins. God's name — everything God was in His relationship with Israel — was in Him. So He would act in righteousness, on the basis of the law given as the standard of their conduct. On the other hand, obedience was the condition of His complete identification with their cause. Their enemies would in that case be His enemies, and He would cut them off.
God's gift did not depend on Israel. Their prosperity in the land did:
But God's unchanging favour does not lessen our responsibility. When Abraham's descendants grew into a nation, the LORD spoke to that nation about His promise to Abraham. He then pressed their responsibility on them: "if you carefully obey his voice [the voice of the angel whom He sent] and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." (Read Ex. 23:20-33.) Israel's prosperity was therefore conditional — it depended on their obedience. The promised land was theirs by God's sovereign choice. Their prosperity depended on their behaviour. And so it is with the Christian... There is no clash between God's sovereignty in blessing His people and their responsibility to obey His word.
Forty years later, spies slipped into Jericho and came back with a report:
What had they discovered? Nothing that faith could not already have grasped. "I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you" (Ex. 23:27 etc.). The spies only verified the word of promise spoken forty years before. They report that "all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us." God had said that He would make their enemies turn their backs to them. But Israel never expected that at their shout He would throw down the walls.
The dread began with news of what God had already done. A woman inside Jericho, Rahab, traced it back to the Red Sea:
This woman mentions the crossing of the Red Sea, which happened forty years before. It filled the Canaanite nations with terror, so that the way into the land was open from the first.
The same terror fell on the whole city. It did not produce the same result in everyone:
Many shared her fears. But who shared the faith of Rahab? The fighting men of the city were just as afraid. But in her case, as often in ours, God's Spirit worked where at first there was simply dread. God followed this up, replacing it with living faith in Himself and in His love for His people.
- Fear goes first. God's first move in the war is a terror He sends ahead of His people. Enemies scatter before Israel draws a sword.
- Fear rests on God's past acts. The dread came from reports of what God had already done. The Red Sea rescue, forty years earlier, had opened the way into the land before Israel arrived.
- Fear comes with a condition. The land was theirs by God's sovereign gift. Enjoying it depended on obeying the voice of the Angel He sent ahead. Commentators draw the same line for Christians today.
- Fear ran past the promise. The spies found nothing faith could not have known already. God then went past His own word: the walls fell at a shout.
- Fear alone saves no one. Jericho's soldiers felt the same terror as Rahab; only in her did God's Spirit turn dread into living faith in Him.
And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
The promise here is a strange one: the Lord will clear the land ahead of Israel not by armies but by hornets. So how does God win victories for His people? And why does He, not Israel's sword, drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites and the Hittites?
The word behind "hornets" names a real insect, and the promise appears three times in Scripture.
The insect tsirah is of the wasp kind. God promised to send these insects before the Israelites to drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. Ex. 23:28; Deut. 7:20; Joshua 24:12. Travellers report that when someone disturbs a nest of these insects, animals and people flee in terror. The stings are very painful, and they sometimes cause death.
Commentators differ. Some read real insects here; others read a picture of God-sent panic. Either way, the weapon is tiny.
A hornet is a small, insignificant insect, but the weapons of an army cannot withstand an attack of hornets. The soldiers would not stand and fight Israel while pursued by hornets! Whether this is fully literal or not, it still teaches us that God can use the smallest means to put His enemies to flight.
The hornet comes right after God's promise to send fear ahead of Israel. The two belong together.
As Israel advanced toward their land, God would stamp the fear of Him on the hearts of their enemies, so that they would retreat in confusion (v. 27). As a picture of this, God would send hornets ahead of them — small, insignificant things that still throw people into panic.
The words come back once Israel is in the land, and the verdict on every battle is the same.
Did the men of Jericho, or the armies of the seven nations — each greater and stronger than Israel — come against them? The Lord says, "I gave them into your hand." Did Israel attack first? Then they did not win by sword or bow, but because "I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you." In war, defending or attacking, under attack or on the attack, the Lord won the victory always, and He alone.
The three names in the verse carry meaning. Writers have read them as pictures of what stands between believers and their inheritance.
The names here, as everywhere, surely carry meaning. They stand for those powers of evil which hold the ground and would keep us from enjoying our God-given inheritance in Christ. The Hittite, "child of terror" — how spiritual dread makes cowards of us all! … The Canaanite, "the trafficker," companion to the talker, who turns the very truth of God into merchandise. … The Hivite, "the villager," suggesting a false humility. All of them must be cast out. We must refuse any alliance with them. We are to hate their religion and their ways. We are not to fear them because they are great; we are to overthrow them without letting up.
God did not empty the land all at once. Writers see the same wisdom in how He works in His people.
But in all this God would act so as not to create an empty space. He would drive out these nations "little by little," as the Israelites grew in number and were able to fill up the land. You can see the wisdom of this. God works the same way with our souls. We have to grow in grace, and as we grow we enter into the full blessing that is ours in Christ. The old things lose their place in our hearts and lives.
The promise came with an "if." What God gives and what Israel keeps are two different things.
God's unchanging favour does not lessen our responsibility. … The promised land was theirs because God had sovereignly given it. But whether they prospered depended on how they lived. It is the same for the Christian.
History proved the point.
This promise was lost. Israel never saw it fulfilled, apart from a brief time under David and Solomon, because of their unfaithfulness.
- Small. God's chosen weapon is an insect. He can use "the smallest means" to put His enemies to flight. Size settles nothing.
- Sent. The hornet goes before Israel. Fear reaches the enemy ahead of the battle, and they retreat in confusion.
- His. Israel did not win by sword or bow. Every victory, attacking or defending, traces back to the Lord.
- Slow. He clears the ground little by little, leaving no empty space. Believers grow into their blessings the same way.
- Kept. The land was theirs by God's gift, but enjoying it depended on obedience. Israel's lost borders show the cost of unfaithfulness.
I will not drive them out from before thee in one year lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
God tells Israel the land is theirs, yet He refuses to hand it over in a single season. He gives a practical reason: an emptied land would turn wild. That raises a bigger question. Why does God so often give His people less at once than they expected?
There is a reason God moved slowly.
But in all this God would so act as not to create a vacuum. He would drive out these nations "by little and little," just as the Israelites increased in number and were able to fill up the land. One can see the wisdom of this, and also note that God acts in the same way in His dealings with our souls.
Nothing escapes Him — not even what a fast victory would do to the land and its wild animals.
Notice, too, that God loses sight of nothing that affects His people. He tells them He will not drive out their enemies in one year — "lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you." He would lead them on. He would bless them as they were able to bear it.
Israel had to grow before it could hold what it owned. One writer starts from the verse's own reason and moves on to what belongs to a believer in Christ.
This reminds us that we do not learn all the truth of God suddenly. Rather, gradually, little by little, we enter into the value of the great blessings we inherit "in Christ." Though "all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ" are the property of all true believers (Ephesians 1:3), yet it takes time to "possess our possessions."
A Christian grows the same way — in stages, not one leap.
This is still God's way in dealing with His saints. We do not grasp everything at once. Step by step we may advance in the things of God. We all begin as spiritual babes. It is a happy thing if we do move on to become the "young men," and then the "fathers," of 1 John 2.
Scripture puts the gift before the process.
So two things are quite definite. First, God had given. Second, He had also begun to give. A shallow reader might object here. If we accept both statements, he says, they must come in the reverse order: first He began to give, second He had fully given. The order in Scripture is, however, the right one. First He gives, so that the title deeds are ours. Then He begins to give practically and in detail, as we begin to possess.
Owning the land and occupying it are not the same experience. The second one is a fight.
As soon as we begin to possess, opposition springs up. The old powers do not yield without a struggle. It is a stern business. It means saying "No" to many things which are not the things freely given to us by God. It means exercise and conflict and trouble. But it is well worth it. The joy of victory follows. It is the joy of possessing a little more of what is ours by an unchallengeable title, given by God.
The promise still left Israel with work to do.
There was rest from war, since the enemy's power was broken. But taking possession of the inheritance would depend on future energy... From then on Israel had to obey the Lord, so that He would fulfil His promise to drive out the shattered nations before them by slow degrees.
The same writer keeps the two things distinct — what God has settled, and what depends on us.
God's sovereignty gave them the promised possession. Their prosperity depended on their behaviour. And so it is with the Christian.
- Little by little — the reason. God will not empty the land faster than Israel can fill it; He acts so as not to create a vacuum.
- Little by little — the mercy. He watches even the wildlife of their fields, and blesses them as they are able to bear it.
- Little by little — the gift. The title deeds are given first; then God begins to give in practice as we begin to possess.
- Little by little — the growth. Babes become young men, and young men become fathers. Nobody grasps everything at once.
- Little by little — the cost. God promises the ground; we still have to take it. That means conflict, obedience, and energy that does not run out.
By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou art fruitful, and possess the land.
God's promise here sets a pace: the nations in Canaan will go, but slowly, tied to Israel's own growth. Why so slowly? And what does that pace say about the way God works with His people?
The previous verse gives the reason: an empty land would run wild. God matches the pace of removal to the pace at which Israel can fill the space.
But in all this God would act so as not to create a vacuum. He would drive out these nations "little by little," just as the Israelites increased in number and were able to fill up the land. One can see the wisdom of this, and also note that God acts this way in His dealings with our souls. We have to grow in grace. As we grow, we enter into the fullness of the blessing that is ours in Christ, and the old things lose their place in our hearts and lives. So we progress spiritually "little by little."
The same wisdom shows God's attention to detail. Nothing about His people's situation escapes Him, and He measures the blessing to what they can carry.
Notice, too, that God loses sight of nothing that affects His people. He tells them that He will not drive out their enemies in one year, "lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against you" (v. 29). He would lead them on — and bless them as they were able to bear it. But in due time they were to hold the full extent of their territory: "from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates" (v. 31). Sadly, Israel lost that promise through unfaithfulness. It came true only for a brief period during the reigns of David and Solomon.
There is a gap between what God has given and what we hold in practice. The slow conquest pictures that gap closing.
Wisely, then, God would gradually drive the enemies out until Israel was able to take full possession of their land. This reminds us that we do not learn all the truth of God suddenly. Instead, little by little, we enter into the value of the great blessings we inherit "in Christ." "Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" belongs to all true believers (Eph. 1:3). Even so, it takes time to possess our possessions.
The turning point in the verse is Israel's own increase. In Israel that increase meant numbers — enough people to fill the land. What God gives is fixed; what grows is our capacity to hold it.
In our case we have to remember two things. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. And He never withdraws His gifts or His calling, and never changes His mind about them. The spiritual blessings are ours. But grasping them, realising them and enjoying them is another matter. This is where we can grow greatly. That we should grow like this is part of God's design in His dealings with us.
A slow promise still called for obedience. The main battles were over, but Israel still had to hold the land.
There was rest from war, because God had broken the enemy's power. But holding the inheritance would depend on future energy. The living God had driven out the nations, just as He promised when they crossed the Jordan. The walled cities and the dreaded giants had fallen. From then on Israel had to obey the Lord, so that He could keep His promise to cast out the shattered nations before them, little by little.
The later history of Israel shows the cost of standing still.
Israel meant well and made promises to Joshua. Even so, the book of Judges shows that they failed in their own responsibility to drive out the Canaanites (see Judges 1:27–36). So God had to withdraw His promise to drive them out. The angel of the LORD came to a place called Bochim and solemnly declared: "I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you" (Judges 2:3).
Yet the loss is not the last word.
The promise remains to be fulfilled in all its extent and blessing under the rule of Christ, whom David and Solomon only pictured. What Israel lost under responsibility will then be fulfilled in grace and power.
- Pace — God removes the nations "little by little" so the land is never left empty. The readiness of the receiver sets the speed of the gift.
- Measure — He blesses His people as they are able to bear it, losing sight of nothing that affects them.
- Increase — the promise turns on the words "until you have increased." The blessings are already ours; growing large enough to enjoy them is God's design.
- Effort — a slow promise still needs obedient energy. God promised to finish the work as Israel kept obeying Him.
- Loss — where the advance stopped, God withdrew the promise and the nations left behind became thorns. Israel held the full borders only briefly. What was lost under responsibility will yet be given in grace and power.
And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the river; for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, that thou mayest dispossess them from before thee.
God closes His instructions about the land by drawing a map. He names the borders He will set for His people. He also names who does the work: He hands the inhabitants over, and Israel drives them out.
Older translations end this verse at "the river", without naming it. One writer explains why no name was needed.
Perhaps no other river is mentioned in Scripture as often as the Euphrates. It rose in Eden, or came from the river that had its springs there. Abraham answered the call of God and came into the land of Canaan. There God promised that his offspring would inherit the land, "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (Gen. 15:18). Later the Lord spoke to Moses about Israel's inheritance. He said, "I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates" (Exodus 23:31) [older translations end that line "to the river"]. The Euphrates was so important in the ways of God that it is called "the river". This river is God's geographical centre of the earth. Psalm 72:8 describes the Messiah's rule as "from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth".
Israel never held a land this size. One writer compares the borders God drew with the small strip people point to today.
They entered the land sword in hand. They had to gain it and to keep it by the sword. Even now, when God gives them the limits of their inheritance, we find nothing like the full extent of the land promised them... Their borders at this time reached neither the Red Sea nor the Euphrates... Men taunt Israel now with how small the land is — barely the size of Wales. That smallness does not show what grace has assigned them as their portion. It shows only their inability to make good their title to it.
Only two kings ever came near these borders, and even they held them briefly.
God loses sight of nothing that affects His people... He would lead them on — and bless them as they were able to bear it. But in due time they should have the full extent of their territory (v. 31). Sadly, the unfaithfulness of Israel lost that promise. It was never realised, except for a brief period during the reigns of David and Solomon (1 Chr. 18; 2 Chr. 9:26).
The promise came in stages, and each stage had to be claimed by faith.
First, we have the land set before them. This is no poetic exaggeration, overstating the much smaller territory they held. It matches the promise to their fathers, which we have in Genesis 15, and still more fully in Exodus 23:31. But as that last passage shows, the promise was to be fulfilled in instalments, as they had faith to take hold of it and make it their own — and they had not faith. Yet grace will not be defeated of its purpose, and the promise will not be left unfulfilled. It is the same for us with the better promise of a heavenly land. We are told to make it ours now, and we do so little.
The land was given outright. Prospering in it was another matter.
But the unchangeable favour of God does not lessen our responsibility. When Abraham's offspring grew into a nation, the Lord spoke to that nation about His promise to Abraham. He then pressed their responsibility on them: "But if you carefully obey his voice [that of the angel whom He sent] and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." Israel's prosperity was therefore conditional — it depended on their obedience. The promised possession was theirs by divine sovereignty; their prosperity depended on their behaviour; and so it is with the Christian.
Israel's failure did not cancel the map.
Israel never held it in full. They never had the land promised to them from the Red Sea to the River Euphrates. God never takes back His gifts and His calling (Romans 11:29), so the time must yet come when they receive that land in the size promised in Exodus 23:31. Their restoration comes with the coming of their once rejected King, our Lord, and then the nation will hold this promised land.
- Promised — God Himself sets the borders: the Red Sea, the sea of the Philistines, the wilderness, and the Euphrates. It is the same span He pledged to Abraham.
- Given — God hands the inhabitants over. Israel goes in and fights on the strength of His "I will give".
- Claimed — the promise came in instalments, and faith had to take hold of each one. God's sovereignty made them owners; their obedience decided what they enjoyed.
- Forfeited — Israel reached those borders only briefly, under David and Solomon. The smallness of what they held measured their unbelief, not God's gift.
- Kept — God never takes back His gifts and calling, so the full map still stands. Israel will hold it when they receive their King.
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
Exodus 23 ends a long list of promises — an angel to lead, enemies driven out, wide borders — with a short ban on treaties. Why must Israel refuse every deal with the people already in the land, and why does God name their gods too?
These instructions look ahead to life in the land, not the desert. One writer notes what all the blessing depends on:
All these instructions have the land in view rather than the wilderness. Two things go with them, and all their blessing would depend on both — separation from evil, and serving the Lord their God. These conditions of blessing never change. They are as true now as they were with Israel. The Thessalonians turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Where God is in question, there can be no complicity with evil. He claims all that we are and have. When we own that claim, He can bless us according to the desires of His own heart.
A covenant here is a treaty — a formal peace. The command allows none of it:
Finally, absolute separation is once more required. There must be no covenant with the people of the land or their gods; nor should they let them live in the land. If they did, those people would surely make them sin against the Lord. There can be no alliance between the people of God and His enemies. "Friendship with the world is enmity with God." How I wish this truth in all its power were engraved on the hearts and memories of all who bear the name of Christ!
The same rule held even where the clearing of the land was incomplete:
Even though some of the enemies had not been driven out, Israel was to make no covenant with those remaining, and was not to allow any to go on living in the land. The danger of adopting their customs was strongly warned against.
The gods are named because a treaty with a people quietly includes a truce with their worship. Commenting on how lightly people treat this, one writer draws the line sharply:
In every age, nothing marks the difference between God's word and men's thoughts more deeply than this. People treat idols and strange gods lightly, and He hates that — above all in His own people. They may have no deliberate intention of abandoning His worship. They may count it a small thing: going along with idolatry now and then, while still professing His name. But God refuses any such unholy compromise outright. And that is apart from the danger it carries, for those who allow it, of complete revolt from Him. It strikes at His majesty, at holiness and truth, and He cannot bear it.
Why was Israel put under such terms? One writer answers with a question of his own:
Why were the people to keep the most marked separation from the Canaanites? Why were they to refuse, with firm decision, to make any covenant or form any marriage alliance with them? Why were they to demolish their altars and break their images? Simply because they were a holy people. And who had made them a holy people? The Lord. He had chosen them and set His love on them. He had redeemed them and separated them to Himself. So it was His right, and His alone, to say what they were to be and how they were to act. "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
Israel later made peace with the very peoples named here. One writer, looking at a moment of national recovery spoiled by a truce with the Amorites, shows that the passing of centuries changed nothing:
God had told Abraham that "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." Now they had filled up the measure of their sin, and God had devoted them to destruction. Israel was to make no league and seek no peace with them. Israel could only make and keep that peace by compromise and disobedience to God's express command. They might try to excuse themselves. Time had passed, they could say, and the Amorites were no longer what they used to be. But the excuse could not stand before God's plain command: "They shall not dwell in your land." … Nothing teaches you the way of the wicked faster than making leagues with them.
The most famous breach came through a trick. Men from the nearby town of Gibeon arrived in worn-out clothes, with mouldy bread, and claimed to be from far away. One writer asks whether a disguise can change what God said:
Could tattered garments, old shoes and mouldy bread change the meaning of the divine command? Certainly not. Nothing can ever justify lowering the standard of obedience to the word of God by so much as a hair's breadth. If there are difficulties in the way, if puzzling circumstances come before us … what are we to do? Reason? Jump to conclusions? Most certainly not. What then? Wait on God — patiently, humbly, trusting Him; and He will surely counsel and guide. If Joshua and the leaders had done this, they would never have made a treaty with the Gibeonites.
- Redeemed — God chose Israel, loved them, redeemed them and set them apart for Himself. That is why He may say who they must not deal with.
- Separated — so the command asks for full separation. No alliance with God's enemies, and no room for them in the land.
- Undivided — the ban covers their gods too. Even occasional idolatry strikes at God's majesty, holiness and truth.
- Conditional — every promise in the chapter rests on those same two things: separation from evil, and serving the Lord. The terms never change.
- Guarded — the safeguard is not cleverness but waiting on God. At Gibeon, mouldy bread and old shoes fooled men who reasoned instead of asking Him.
They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me; for if thou serve their gods, it is sure to be a snare unto thee.
God's promise of the land ends with a limit on Israel's relationships: no treaty, no shared home, no shared gods. The command sounds harsh until you see its reason. The danger was not to Israel's safety. It was to Israel's worship.
The chapter's closing promise (verses 20–33) carries a condition:
God's unchangeable favour does not lessen our responsibility. The promised possession was theirs by God's sovereign gift. Their prosperity depended on their behaviour. The same is true for the Christian.
The ban was not about Israel's pride. It rested on a judgment already passed on those nations, and it taught Israel something about God:
They were completely to destroy the Canaanite inhabitants out of it, showing them no mercy, making no covenant or alliance with them. They were a people whose sin was now full, as it was not yet in Abraham's time. The land itself was spitting them out for their vile practices. In this respect Israel was only carrying out God's judgment, not their own anger or greed for land. He could have destroyed them by plague or famine. Instead He chose Israel to do it. In this way He gave His people the most solemn lesson possible about the holiness of His own nature, and about what sin is before Him. They would face the same dreadful judgments themselves if they followed them in their sin. Their disgusting gods of lust and murder were the full outcome and expression of that sin. There must be no toying with this evil, no alliance of any kind with those infected by it.
The verse gives its own reason twice over: living alongside them leads to serving their gods. One commentator draws the line as absolute, and applies it far beyond Israel:
Once more, God commands complete separation. There must be no covenant with the people of the land or with their gods, and Israel must not let them live in the land. If they did, those people would surely make them sin against the Lord. There can be no alliance between the people of God and His enemies. "Friendship with the world is enmity with God." How I wish this truth in all its power were engraved on the hearts and memories of everyone who bears the name of Christ!
Israel did not carry out the order. The snare God had described became the sentence He pronounced:
The book of Judges shows us that, despite their best intentions and their promises to Joshua, Israel failed in their own responsibility to drive out the Canaanites (see Judges 1:27–36). The result was that God had to withdraw His promise to drive them out. The angel of the Lord came to a place called Bochim and declared: "I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you" (Judges 2:3).
One writer explains why no peace was possible, and reads these nations as a picture of the spiritual enemies a believer still faces:
There must be no peace with the Canaanites — not because they were feared as rivals, but because they were doomed to destruction for their vile practices and their power to seduce. Seen as a picture, the Canaanites represent the agents of Satan — the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. They are those rulers of the darkness of this world that we are called to wrestle with now. They are the powers of evil that keep turning every link of religion into a means of deliberate and ruinous dishonour to God. With such there can be, and ought to be, no terms, no compromise, no break in the fight at any time or under any circumstances.
One writer traces what happens when we spare a little of what God said to remove:
How often these spared enemies of God have gone off and set up the same things all over again, so that we have to face them once more and find them harder to conquer. You make a compromise in your private life. You may call it "a little one," as Lot did. It may be only one single principle of unfaithfulness or disloyalty to Christ. But you spare it, and it grows into a great city that damages your whole spiritual life.
- Gift, then condition. God gave the land as a promise. Enjoying it depended on obedience, and the same pattern holds for the Christian.
- Judgment, not conquest. God removed those nations because their sin was full. Israel carried out His sentence and learned His holiness while doing it.
- The risk is worship. God gives His reason in the command: living together leads to serving their gods, and that becomes the snare.
- Disobedience seals it. Israel spared them, so God stopped driving them out. What they kept became thorns in their sides and a snare, just as He warned.
- No terms with the enemy. The Canaanites picture the spiritual powers we still face. They allow no compromise, and the small thing spared grows back into a great city.