Exodus 23 Study Notes

23:20-23 The Lord’s sending of an angel (cp. 13:21; 14:19) continues the picture of Israel’s relationship with the Lord as that of a vassal with a suzerain. The vassal must understand that the envoy came with the king’s authority behind him (my name is in him).

23:24 Sacred pillars could be set up as monuments for various purposes (24:4; Gn 28:18,22; 31:13,45,51-52; 35:20; Lv 26:1; Is 19:19).

23:25 The Lord had already shown his ability in the areas of bread . . . water, and illnesses (cp. 15:22-26; 16:4-5; 17:1-7).

23:26 The Lord referred to provision and preservation of life at both ends of the spectrum—for infants and the elderly—having already spoken about what was needed in between (vv. 22,25). He was concerned about all aspects of life.

23:27-30 While the military battles of Joshua may be more typical of the era of conquest in Canaan, this passage focuses on what might be called psychological warfare and on the departure of the previous inhabitants. The Lord may have intended to use a plague of hornets to drive . . . out the groups living in the land (Dt 7:20; Jos 24:12). It may also be a figure of speech referring to the image of people running away from a place as if chased by swarming hornets (cp. Dt 1:44; Ps 118:12; Is 7:18-19).

Because of the terror and confusion that the Lord would instigate (Jos 2:9-11; 1Sm 5:6-8,11-12), many people would leave gradually rather than stay to engage in combat. Joshua noted that the Israelites had taken possession of cities, olive groves, and vineyards that they did not build or plant (Dt 6:10-11; Jos 24:11-13). It seems that major portions of the land were intact and not destroyed by protracted warfare. I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror is literally, “My terror I will send before you.” God may be interpreted as either the source or the object of the terror. In the events that followed, both took place: the Lord caused fear/confusion and was also the object of fear as his reputation spread. Rahab’s report in Jos 2:9 of what was happening among people in Canaan uses the same rare word for “terror” as does Ex 15:16.

Garash has related words in Ugaritic and Moabite. It means drive (Jdg 9:41), drive out (Gn 3:24), or drive away (Ex 2:17). It connotes banish (Gn 4:14; Jb 30:5) and force out (Mc 2:9). Garash usually involves driving out of a location, but can indicate loss of a ministry position (1Kg 2:27). It suggests rejection and often is accomplished through military force. The passive participle was standard terminology for a divorced woman (Lv 21:14). Three times garash, either as a homonym or a variant of drive out, characterizes water as tossing, churning up, or surging (Is 57:20; Am 8:8).

23:30-31 I will drive them out and you will drive them out assume the involvement of both divine and human effort. Borders from the Red Sea refers to the portion of the Red Sea known as the Gulf of Aqaba (cp. 1Kg 9:26). The Mediterranean Sea, as it is called now, is in Hebrew literally “the sea of the Philistines,” since they lived along the coast (cp. 13:17).

23:32-33 It will be a snare for you uses the word that 10:7 used to express what Pharaoh’s men thought about Moses as they surveyed the damage caused by the plagues. Snares were naturally associated with death (1Sm 18:21; Ps 18:5; Pr 13:14; 14:27; 18:7). Idolatry as a snare to the Israelites pictured serious trouble, not a minor inconvenience (Ex 34:12; Dt 7:16; Jos 23:13; Jdg 2:3; Ps 106:36).