Exodus 23:29

29 (But) I shall not cast them out from thy face in one year, lest the land be turned into wilderness, and beasts increase against thee;

Exodus 23:29 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 23:29

I will not drive them out from before thee in one year
This is observed before hand, lest the Israelites should be discouraged, and fear they should never be rid of them; and it was so ordered in Providence for the following reason:

lest the land become desolate;
there being not a sufficient number of Israelites to replace in their stead, to repeople the land, and to cultivate it; and yet their number was very large, being, when they came out of Egypt, as is generally computed, about two millions and a half, besides the mixed multitude of Egyptians and others, and during their forty years in the wilderness must be greatly increased:

and the beast of the field multiply against thee;
there being so much waste ground for them to prowl about in, they would so increase as to make head against them, and be too many for them; or, however, it would be difficult to keep them under control: the Targum of Jonathan adds,

``when they shall come to eat their carcasses (the carcasses of the Canaanites slain in war), and may hurt thee.''

Exodus 23:29 In-Context

27 I shall send my dread into thy before-going (I shall send the fear of me before thee), and I shall slay all the people, to which thou shalt enter, and I shall turn the backs of all thine enemies before thee;

28 and I shall send out before thee crabrones, or stinging flies, that shall drive away (the) Hivite, and Canaanite, and Hittite, before that thou enter.

29 (But) I shall not cast them out from thy face in one year, lest the land be turned into wilderness, and beasts increase against thee;

30 little and little I shall cast them out from thy sight, till thou be increased, and wield the land.

31 Forsooth and I shall set thy terms from the Red Sea till to the sea of Palestines, and from the desert till to the flood (And I shall set thy borders from the Red Sea unto the Sea of the Philistines, or the Mediterranean Sea, and from the wilderness unto the Euphrates River). I shall give (in)to your hands the dwellers of the land, and I shall cast them out from your sight;