Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Exodus 23:29-33
Yahweh's Promises and Warnings For The Future (Exodus 23:29).
a The Canaanites to be driven out little by little so as to preserve the land until the Israelites are numerous enough to possess it all (Exodus 23:29).
b The bounds of the promised land outlined with the promise that the Canaanites will be driven out (Exodus 23:31).
b Israel to make no covenant with them or their gods (Exodus 23:32).
a The Canaanites not finally to dwell in the land lest they make them sin and their gods become a snare (Exodus 23:33).
These four statements intermingle in a most comprehensive way but may also be seen as a chiasmus. In ‘a' we have the command to drive out the Canaanites and in the parallel they are not to be allowed to dwell in the land. In ‘b' God commands the Canaanites be driven out and in the parallel they must make no covenant with them. But ‘a' and ‘b' both refer to the driving out of the Canaanites, while ‘b' and ‘a' refer to the gods of the Canaanites. Yet the driving out of the Canaanites in ‘b' parallels the fact that in the parallel ‘b' they must make no covenant with them, and the reason for ‘a' is found in the parallel ‘a'.
“I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals grow in large numbers against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you until you have grown in numbers and inherit the land.”
This confirms that ‘the hornet' which will drive them out is not to be seen as representing one particular short series of events. It is something that will work over the longer period. This would confirm the picture of the Angel of Yahweh as a buzzing hornet, continuing His work through the years as the land is taken over.
Thus the promise was that they would enter the land and establish themselves, removing the inhabitants and purifying the land, and then gradually expand until the whole land as depicted in Exodus 23:31 was theirs. Then would they be a holy people and become a kingdom of priests to take His message to the world.
God's purpose in the delay is stated. It is so that the land will not revert to wilderness and so that wild animals might not take over. This in itself emphasises that while the Israelites entered in comparatively large numbers they were not so large a number as some have thought (see on Exodus 12:37). Once their numbers grew sufficiently they would be able to enter into their inheritance (Exodus 6:6; Exodus 15:16).
Of course the ideal was never achieved. Israel failed to enter the land and conquer it as they should have (Numbers 14), and when they did enter and multiply they did not wholly rid the land of its inhabitants (Judges 1:27). Because of their unbelief the great vision never came to fruition. Even the successes of David and Solomon could not hide this (1 Kings 4:21). While they were glorious they did not fulfil the conditions or the promises. They never entered into the new Eden. They never became the kingdom of priests in the fullest sense.
But it was partially fulfilled, for the later history in Joshua and Judges does partially follow this picture. While their first triumphant entry into the hill country was rapid and widespread, pictured as a great series of victories (as indeed they were) so that they were established in the land (Joshua 11:23 - but that this was partial in terms of the full picture comes out in the previous verse), it was also seen as partial and leaving much to be done. The land was divided up, but its full possession was another thing (Joshua 13:1). This would occur gradually until the claim in 1 Kings 4:21 could be made. ‘And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms, from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt'. But they would still only be second best. The result would not a be ‘holy' people totally dedicated to Yahweh.
Later too they would be scattered among the nations in the Dispersion and become among them bearers of God's ‘law', and their ministry would be carried on by the new Israel, the early church.
All this reminds us that the promises of God are dependent on the obedience of His people. They will, of course, finally be achieved in ways far beyond our imagining, with a new heaven and a new earth. But man's disobedience would cause these purposes partially to fail on earth just as Adam's had previously. In the end man's only hope would be in divine intervention of an unprecedented kind when the great Man of Sorrows called a people to Himself to take over the vision. But even they have failed. In the end He must do it all Himself.
“And I will set your border from the Sea of Reeds even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness even to the River, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out from before you.
The future boundaries of the promised land are set out and they are natural boundaries. The wilderness was the land of the South north of Egypt, and the River was the Euphrates. The sea of the Philistines was the Mediterranean, and the Sea of Reeds here represents the Gulf of Aqabah, the tongue of the Red Sea leading up to the rift valley containing the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Thus the promised land reached from the Euphrates to Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Rift Valley. This was the land promised by Yahweh in the covenant on condition that the covenant conditions were fulfilled. But they never were. God's terms were rejected and partial obedience could only result in partial fulfilment.
“Sea of the Philistines.” This description of the Mediterranean Sea (or part of it) is found nowhere else suggesting that it was a very ancient title and superseded. This would serve to confirm the presence of some who bore a name which could be translated into Hebrew like this in Palestine before the time of Moses, as Genesis indicates. It shortly becomes ‘the Great Sea' (Numbers 34:6; Joshua 1:4; Joshua 9:1; Joshua 15:12; Joshua 15:47; Joshua 23:4). To use the Reed Sea as the eastern border would be unlikely once they were in the land.
“You will make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in the land lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods it will surely be a snare to you.”
So the Book of the Covenant ends as it begins, with the reminder that He was Yahweh their God (Exodus 20:2; Exodus 23:25) Who would act on their behalf (Exodus 23:25) as He had already acted in Egypt (Exodus 20:2), and the reminder also that He would brook no rivals (Exodus 20:3; Exodus 23:32). Thus the land must be rid of all evil influences. Neither they nor their gods must be allowed place in ‘the land'. There must be no treaties made with them. They must be totally driven out. The land and the people must be holy to Yahweh.
“For if you serve their gods they will surely be a snare to you.” How true this would prove to be. Syncretism with the Canaanite worship of Baal and Asherah would plague them right up to the Exile.
Note for Christians.
Just as God would send His angel before His people as they approached the land where they were to set up the Kingly Rule of God, so does He go before us as we seek to set up the Kingly Rule of God here on earth (Matthew 28:21), that Kingly Rule which stretches to all His true people (Colossians 1:13). Those who are His are those who genuinely see themselves as under His Kingly Rule and bound by all His requirements, not in order to be saved, but because they have been saved. And they gladly seek to do His will.
It may be asked, are we required to keep the feasts as laid down in this chapter? And again the answer is clear. We do not keep the feasts because we do not possess the land. We owe no ‘rent'. We do not offer the sacrifices because they have been superseded in the one Sacrifice made for all for all time. But we should and do give thanks for our harvests and bring to Him of our produce in gratitude for all His goodness.
End of note.