Exodus by Elder Vernon Johnson

Exodus Chapter 23 Verses 20-33

:20 “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. 2 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. 23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. 25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. 27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. 30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.”

This section of scripture could properly be called the blessings of God that are predicated on obedience to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. It begins with God promising to send his angel before the children of Israel into the land of promise: “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.” The promise is that the Angel will go before them, and will keep them in the way and ultimately bring them into the place which God had prepared and promised to them. The meaning of the word, “Angel,” is “messenger.” However, this angel is doing more than just delivering messages to the children of Israel, but is actively engaged in their efforts to reach the promised land of Canaan and to possess that land. In our day we have the Holy Spirit to go before us and to bring us the messages of God and to keep us in the way and ultimately lead us into and within the promised church (kingdom of God) on earth.

“Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.” The statement, “beware of him,” told the children of Israel not to ignore and not take notice of the one who would go before them, and keep them in the way, and bring them into the land of Canaan. It would be a great mistake on their part not to beware of this Angel. Likewise, we are to beware of the Holy Spirit and his workings in our lives and in the body of the church. If we are watching, we can see his working in our lives and in the church and that in itself is a great blessing. If we ignore him, then we generally struggle with the affairs of life and often fall into hurtful circumstances.

The children of Israel were also commanded to “obey his voice.” The voice of this Angel would give them instruction and guidance and warning for their lives and journeys. Failure to obey would lead to serious circumstances and to much destruction in their lives and in their efforts to reach the promised land of Canaan. Likewise, we today should obey the voice of the Holy Spirit who gives us good instruction and guides us in His service and gives us good warning to deliver us from many foolish and hurtful lusts.

“Provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.” God is holy and this Angel had the name of the Lord in him. This is strongly suggestive that the Angel is indeed the same as the Holy Spirit. There is a New Testament admonition: Gal. 6:7 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” There is a price we pay for our transgressions. That price is that we reap what we sow. We shall suffer the chastening rod of God for our transgressions. Eternally, we are delivered by the blood of Christ and subsequently are given eternal life by the grace of God. Here in time, we will suffer for our transgressions by reaping what we sow and feeling the chastening rod of God.

“But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.” Here the children of Israel had the promised blessings of God based on their obedience to the voice of the Angel. That promise was that he would be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries. Moreover, that he would go before them and bring them into the land of their enemies and cut their enemies off.

“Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.” Among the commands placed on the children of Israel was that they would not worship nor serve the gods of the people of the land nor do after their works, but overthrow their works and break down their images. God is a jealous God and he is jealous of the worship and service of his people that that worship and service be given to Him alone.

“And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.” The riches of God’s blessings upon his obedient people are partially spelled out in this passage. He promises that if they will serve him then he would bring upon them the following promises:

1. He would bless their bread and their water.

2. He would take sickness away from the midst of them.

3. Their young would come forth from the womb and the mothers would not be barren and they would fulfill the number of their days.

4. He would send His fear before them and destroy all the people to whom they would come and would make their enemies turn their backs unto them.

“And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.”

The same God would created the world has control over his creatures. He can command the hornet and use them to drive out the enemies of the people. This is what the Lord told the children of Israel that he would send hornets before them and drive out the enemies from before them.

Moreover, the Lord told the children of Israel that their enemies would be driven out little by little until the children of Israel be increased and inherit (possess) the land. A sudden possession would result in another set of problems for the children of Israel, i.e., wild beasts of the field multiplying against them. The wisdom of God is far greater than man’s wisdom.

“And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.” Here the Lord established the boundaries of the habitation of the children of Israel and promised them he would deliver the current inhabitants and drive them out before the people. Certainly there were a multitude of blessings that God made to the children of Israel predicated upon their obedience to him.

“Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.” The Lord warned the children of Israel not to make a covenant with the current inhabitants of the land. Yet that is one of the first thing that the children of Israel did.

“They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.” Those to whom the children of Israel made a covenant with did indeed lead the children of Israel to sin against God and to serve their gods and it did indeed become a snare unto them.