Exodus 33:2

2 I will send an angel ahead of you; and I will drive out the Kena'ani, Emori, Hitti, P'rizi, Hivi and Y'vusi.

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 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Leave, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt; and move on from here toward the land of which I swore to Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov, 'I will give it to your descendants.'

2 I will send an angel ahead of you; and I will drive out the Kena'ani, Emori, Hitti, P'rizi, Hivi and Y'vusi.

3 You will go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I myself will not go with you, because you are such a stiffnecked people that I might destroy you on the way."

4 When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning; and no one wore his ornaments.

5 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'You are a stiffnecked people! If I were to go up with you for even one moment, I would exterminate you! Now, keep your ornaments off; then I will decide what to do to you.'"