Exodus 33:2

2 (And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.)

Exodus 33:2 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 33:2

And I will send an angel before thee
Not the angel before promised, ( Exodus 23:20 ) the Angel of his presence, the eternal Word and Son of God, but a created angel; and so Aben Ezra observes, he does not say the Angel that was known, that his name was in him; though even this was to be looked upon as a favour, and showed that he had not utterly cast them off:

and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite,
the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite;
who were now the inhabitants of the land, and these he promises drive out, to make way for their possession of it; and that "by his hand", as the Targum of Jonathan interprets it, by the hand of the angel. Only six nations are mentioned, though there were seven; the Girgashite is omitted, but added in the Septuagint version.

Exodus 33:2 In-Context

1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart and go up from here, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt unto the land which I swore unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it.

2 (And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.)

3 Unto the land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people lest I consume thee in the way.

4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and no one put on their ornaments.

5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the sons of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people; I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee; therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to do unto thee.