But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the
land
before you
Should be remiss and careless about it, and indifferent to it,
and not make use of the proper means to get rid of them, but, on
the contrary, make covenants with them, and intermarry among
them; or, however, become friendly to them, and suffer them to
dwell among them:
then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain
of them;
sparing their lives, and permitting them to dwell among them:
shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your
sides;
which figurative expressions show that they should be very
troublesome and distressing to them, even in their most tender
and nearest concerns, and dearest relations, and which are
explained and more properly expressed as follows:
and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell;
among other things by their wicked conversation, and by drawing
them into sin through their ill examples, and so bring the
displeasure of God upon them, and punishment for their evil
doings.