Exodus 23:30

30 By little I will cast them out from before thee, until thou shalt be increased and inherit the earth.

Exodus 23:30 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 23:30

By little and little I will drive them out from before thee,
&c.] Not the beasts of the field, but the inhabitants of Canaan, who were left partly to keep up the cities and towns, that they might not fall to ruin, and to till the land, that it might not be desolate; and partly to be trials and exercises to the people of Israel, and to prove whether they would serve the Lord or not. Just as the corruptions of human nature remain with the people of God when converted, for the trial and exercise of their graces, and that they may have their dependence not on themselves, but on the grace of God to keep them in his ways, and to preserve them safe to eternal glory; and by completing the work of grace, which is gradually done, they might be made meet for it:

until thou be increased, and inherit the land;
for as their enemies were driven out gradually, by little and little, so they multiplied gradually, until at length they became a sufficient number to fill all the cities and towns in all the nations of Canaan, and take an entire possession of it, as their inheritance given unto them by God.

Exodus 23:30 In-Context

28 And I will send hornets before thee, and thou shalt cast out the Amorites and the Evites, and the Chananites and the Chettites from thee.

29 I will not cast them out in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee.

30 By little I will cast them out from before thee, until thou shalt be increased and inherit the earth.

31 And I will set thy borders from the Red Sea, to the sea of the Phylistines, and from the wilderness to the great river Euphrates; and I will give into your hand those that dwell in the land, and will cast them out from thee.

32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them and their gods.