seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 23:20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.
31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. 32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”
Here's the link to the commentary I read.But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak: It was characteristic of the Mosaic covenant that blessing was based almost purely on Israel’s performance. If they obeyed, they would be blessed. If they disobeyed, they would be cursed.
So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water: If they did reject the gods of the Canaanites and continue in faithfulness to God, He promised to bring blessing through their whole life.
Little by little: God promised to drive out the enemies of Israel from Canaan, but He would not drive them out all at once. Israel may have wanted to have the land all cleared out before them, but God knew it was not best for the land or for them.
Lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field become too numerous: This was just one reason why it was better for God to defeat their enemies little by little. Doing it what seemed to be the easy way — clearing out all of Israel’s enemies at once — had consequences Israel could not see or appreciate.
I doubt anyone will mind that I skipped over the Sabbath rules and the rules concerning the Three Annual Festivals.
I was attracted to the Special Angel! God sent a Special Angel to be point on their trip. The Angel's role, apparently, was to move the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of the way.
The commentary hints that it might have been Jesus.
We only know a few angels by name, and in a sense, Micha-el and Gabri-el each have the name of God in their name. But neither Michael nor Gabriel commanded this kind of obedience from Israel or presumed to sit in judgment over them. This is the specific Angel of the LORD, Jesus appearing in the Old Testament, before His incarnation in Bethlehem, who often speaks directly as the LORD.
Verse 27 says "I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter." The first thing that comes to mind when I read verse 27 is "you don't know who you are messing with". Then I remember hearing stories about how US Soldiers would blitz the warzone with pamphlets claiming that US Soldiers were capable of eating the people they killed. I heard the invaders in Kuwait thought we were cannibals so they would leave our troops alone. They would surrender rather than becoming dinner.
I don't know if it was Jesus [as the commentary alludes], as the mighty warrior, or if God sent one of His personal warriors. John, the best friend of Jesus, says Jesus was right by His Father, God, while all this was going on. No doubt Jesus could have dealt with clearing the way for the humans to trek... but something haunting tells me this was not Jesus. Just a Mighty Angel. Something tells me, if it was Jesus, it would have been told.
Oh, and look at verses 29 and 30. God says He's not going to wipe the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out immediately. According to the verses, God wants them to stay to keep the weeds and the wild animals in check until the Israelites are all settled in.
I don't want to lose our place in what was going on while God was giving Moses these rules and regulations. Moses was on the mountain talking with God. Aaron, the elders and the judges were all "safe" at the base of the mountain. The mountain itself was erupting and the ground the elders and the judges were camped on was quaking. It was noisy and very, very terrifying.
I bet those elders and judges had no doubt that God could just flick His finger and wipe them and all the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out without a trace. But God said He wasn't going to do that. Sodom was so five minutes ago... right?
The plan was, a Special Angel would move in front of the Israelites and clean up sections for them to possess.
The hitch was.... the Israelites are warned not to get involved with the idols and gods of the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites.
Oh, and remember.... only three sons got off Noah's Ark. So, the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites were family... you might say. It would be very easy to get sucked in. After all, if cousin so-in-so, does it and lives... it must be acceptable... after all, it's family.... right?
My Online Bible titles these verses "God's Angel to Prepare the Way".
I guess that's ok.
