Exodus 33:2

2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite and 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 hence, thou and the people whom thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to 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, and the Hittite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite"

3 unto a 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 on the way."

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

5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, "Say unto the children 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.'"