Exodus 23.20-33-Instructions To Obey God During And After The Conquest Of Canaan
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 11, 2012
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 23:20-33-Instructions To Obey God During And After The Conquest Of Canaan
Lesson # 26
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 23:20.
The epilogue of chapter twenty three of the book of Exodus is contained in verses 20-33.
This pericope contains instructions to obey God during and after the conquest of Canaan.
This section contains promises of cursing for disobedience and blessing for obedience.
In this sense, it is very similar to those sections in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
Verses 20-26 emphasize the need to obey God.
Verses 27-30 serve as encouragement since they have God promising to drive the occupants of Canaan from the land.
Then lastly, in verses 31-33, we have the Lord marking the borders of the Promised Land.
Exodus 23:20 “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him. 22 But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.” (NASB95)
Verse 20 contains a promise to the Israelites from God that He will send His angel before them to guard them along the way and bring them to the place which He has prepared for them, which is the land of Canaan.
So God is promising protection and guidance for the Israelites.
Now, the question arises as to who the angel is?
Is it Michael, the arch angel since Daniel 12:1 says that he stands watch over the nation of Israel or is it the preincarnate Christ?
“Angel” is the noun mǎl∙ʾāḵ (מַלְאָךְ) (mal-awk), which means, “messenger” and is used in the Old Testament with reference to “elect” angels (Gen. 19:1; Ps. 91:11) and men (Deut. 2:26; Josh. 6:17) and of the “preincarnate” Christ (Gen. 22:11; Zech. 3:1).
God’s statement in verse 21 makes clear that it is the preincarnate Christ and not Michael or any other elect angel.
Notice God says to the Israelites that the Israelites are to obey this angel and not be rebellious towards Him since He will not pardon their transgression.
This clearly implies that this angel has the ability to forgive sin, which is God’s prerogative alone.
Also, God says that He will not pardon the transgression of the Israelites because His name is in this angel.
Nowhere in Scripture is this said to be the case of any angel but only Jesus Christ.
“The name” is the noun šēm (שֵׁם) (shame), which has a four-fold sense: (1) It signifies the “personality” of God distinguishing Him from the heathen gods. (2) It signifies the “character” of God representing who He is. (3) It signifies God’s “work” in creation and for the salvation of men. (4) It signifies the “reputation” of God before men.
Furthermore, notice that God makes clear that the angel and Yahweh are one and the same since Yahweh says that to obey the angel’s voice is to do all that He says.
In other words, obedience to the angel is synonymous or equivalent to obeying Yahweh.
Therefore, here in Exodus 23:1-2, we have the promise that the preincarnate Christ will guide the Israelites to the Promised Land and protect them.
Consequently, since the angel being sent is a reference to the preincarnate Christ, the Father is the one who is making this promise to the Israelites.
In verse 22, the Father instructs the Israelites that obedience to the preincarnate Christ, the angel of the Lord will result in success but disobedience will result in failure for them.
The Father promises that if they obey Him, then He will be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to those who are their adversaries.
This verse is thus teaching the Israelites that their obedience to God’s Word will appropriate the omnipotence of God, which will result in the Israelites being victorious over their enemies and adversaries.
“The land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites” is a reference of course to the promise of land that is found in the Abrahamic covenant and is sometimes called by theologians the “Palestinian covenant.”
In other words, the “Palestinian” covenant is in fact an extension of the “Abrahamic” covenant, which is recorded in Genesis 12:1-3 and 13:14-16.
This promise of land echoes the promise of land in Exodus 3:8, 6:4 and 13:5.
Like the “Abrahamic” covenant, the “Palestinian” covenant that the Lord established with Abram denoted the Lord’s gracious undertaking for the benefit of Abram and his descendants.
Like the “Abrahamic” covenant, the “Palestinian” covenant was “unconditional” meaning that its fulfillment was totally and completely dependent upon the Lord’s faithfulness.
The Lord’s promise of land to Abram and his descendants in Genesis 13:14-17 is an “extension” upon His promise to Abram in Genesis 12:1 and is thus related to the “Abrahamic” covenant.
The “Palestinian” covenant was a confirmation and enlargement of the original “Abrahamic” covenant and amplified the land features of the “Abrahamic” covenant (Gen. 13:14-15; 15:18).
The “Palestinian” covenant was confirmed to Isaac (Gen. 26:3-4) and Jacob (Gen. 35:12), reiterated to Moses (Ex. 6:2-8) who described the geographical boundaries of the land in Numbers 34:1-12 and who prophesied the fulfillment of this covenant during the millennium in Deuteronomy 30:1-9.
Exodus 23:24 “You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their sacred pillars in pieces. 25 But you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst. 26 There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. 29 I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.” (NASB95)
In verse 24, the Father issues demands of the Israelites.
First they were prohibited from worshipping the gods of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites.
The second is that the Israelites were to destroy the places in which these people worship their gods.
They were to utterly destroy any kind of monuments to these gods or symbols portraying these pagan gods.
This command was essential because the Father knew that these pagan places of worship would serve as a temptation in taking the Israelites away from worshipping Him.
The stone pillars were to be broken in pieces.
These pillars are condemned throughout Old Testament (cf. Exodus 34:13; Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3; 16:22; 1 Kings 14:23). They marked pagan shrines and locations of worship.
Then, in Exodus 23:25-26 the Father promises the Israelites that if they worship and serve Him exclusively, then He will prosper them with bread and water and will remove all sickness from them.
He promises also that their women would not miscarry and none would go childless.
Furthermore, they will live long and fulfilling lives if they were loyal to Him.
In Exodus 23:27-30, the Father continues to present a list of things that He will do for the Israelites if they worship and serve Him exclusively and refuse to worship the gods of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites.
In these verses, He promises to give them military victory over these people.
However, in verses 29-30, He would not do it in a single year in order that the land would not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for them.
He would drive them out little by little.
The reason for this gradual overcoming of the heathen occupants of the Promised Land is that the Israelites were too small in number to cultivate the land and thus keep it from being desolate and wild animals overrunning the land.
So this gradual process would enable the Israelites to “grow” into the land.
However, the conquest of the land was not gradual but rather turned out to be partial because of the Israelites’ disobedience (Joshua 13:13; 23:13; Judges 1:27-36; 2:21-3:6).
They did not fully take possession of the land until the time of King David.
Exodus 23:31 “I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. 33 They shall not live in your land, because they will make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” (NASB95)
In verse 31, we have God fixing the boundaries of the Promised Land or in other words, its borders.
The Red Sea in this verse is the part of the Red Sea, which is now known as the Sea of Aqaba, which would form the southeastern boundary of the nation of Israel.
The sea of the Philistines would be the western boundary, which is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea.
The wilderness or desert was the Negev of Judah, which would serve as the southern boundary as well.
The Euphrates River would be the northeastern boundary.
These boundaries were occupied during the time of King Solomon (1 Kings 4:21) even though much of it was not fully under Israelite occupation.
In Genesis 15:18, God promises Abram the land “from the river of Egypt to the great River, the Euphrates,” thus from the southwest to the northeast, including by implication everything in between and the borders intended by the other compass points as well.
In Deuteronomy 11:24, the Lord promises the land “from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea.”
These (and others also found in the OT) are all somewhat imprecise generalizations akin to “from Maine to California” or “from Canada to Mexico” as ways of describing the United States.
The record of the actual boundaries for Israel is found in Joshua 11-20.
Exodus 23:31 presents what God was willing to do for Israel and Exodus 23:32-33 tells the Israelites what they must do in order for God to fulfill His promise of land and the various blessings described earlier in the chapter.
The Israelites are warned again by God that they must be totally and completely devoted to Him, worshipping and obeying Him exclusively.
They were to totally reject the gods of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites in order for them to secure the promised blessings.
Therefore, we can see that the Israelites were to exterminate these people and their religion.
They could not eliminate one and keep the other.
Both must be destroyed.
Of course, sadly, Israel failed.