Exodus 23:21

21 Keep thyself before him and hear his voice, grieve him not; for he will not pardon your rebellion, for my name is in him.

Exodus 23:21 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 23:21

Beware of him
Of his face or countenance; observe his looks towards you in a providential way, whether frowning or smiling; observe his directions and instructions, laws and commands:

and obey his voice;
hearken to what he says, and cheerfully, readily, and punctually do as he orders:

provoke him not;
by unbelief, by murmurings and complaints, by unbecoming words and actions, by transgressing his commands, and acting contrary to his will;

for he will not pardon your transgressions:
or suffer them to pass unchastised and uncorrected, but will, as he did, take vengeance on their inventions, and on them because of them, though he forgave their iniquities; for that he was such an Angel as could forgive sin, which none but God can do, is evident; because it would be absurd to say he will not pardon, if he could not pardon their transgressions, see ( Matthew 9:6 ) ,

for my name is in him;
the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father; the nature and perfections of God are in the Word and Son of God, and so his name Jehovah, which is peculiar to him; Christ is Jehovah our righteousness: or "though my name is in him" F13; as Abendana and others, his name the Lord God, gracious and merciful, pardoning iniquity, transgression and sin, as afterwards proclaimed in him; and yet, notwithstanding this, he would not clear the guilty, or suffer the Israelites to go unpunished, if they offended him: the Targum of Onkelos is,

``or in my name is his word,''

he is my ambassador and speaks in my name.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (ymv yk) "quamvis nomen menum", Drusius.

Exodus 23:21 In-Context

19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in his mother’s milk.
20 Behold, I send the Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
21 Keep thyself before him and hear his voice, grieve him not; for he will not pardon your rebellion, for my name is in him.
22 But if thou shalt indeed hear his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary unto those that afflict thee.
23 For my Angel shall go before thee and bring thee in unto the land of the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite the Hivite and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010