Exodus 23

Introduction

Exodus 23 concludes the Book of the Covenant, the collection of laws that began in Exodus 21:1 following the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20. This chapter moves from case law (the detailed statutes of chapters 21-22) to a set of broader moral and liturgical commands that together paint a picture of what life in the covenant community is supposed to look like. The opening nine verses address justice and compassion in legal proceedings and daily life, with a remarkable emphasis on fairness even toward enemies. Then the chapter establishes the rhythm of Israel's sacred calendar: the sabbatical year for the land, the weekly Sabbath for people and animals, and the three annual pilgrimage feasts that will structure Israelite worship for centuries.

The chapter closes with a remarkable passage in which God promises to send his angel before Israel to guard them on the journey and to bring them into the promised land. This angel bears God's own name and has the authority to forgive or withhold forgiveness of sin — a description that raises profound theological questions about the angel's identity. God promises to drive out the nations of Canaan gradually, not all at once, and warns Israel against making covenants with those nations or worshiping their gods. The final warning — "if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you" — anticipates the central struggle of the entire Old Testament: Israel's repeated temptation to idolatry. The chapter thus forms a fitting conclusion to the Book of the Covenant, moving from daily ethics to worship to the grand vision of conquest, settlement, and the ever-present danger of unfaithfulness.

Laws of Justice and Compassion (vv. 1-9)

Notes

• שֵׁ֣מַע שָׁ֑וְא ("a false report") — The noun שֵׁמַע means "report, rumor, what is heard," and שָׁוְא means "emptiness, falsehood, deception" — the same word used in the ninth commandment ("You shall not bear false witness," Exodus 20:16) and the third commandment ("You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain," Exodus 20:7). The verb תִשָּׂא ("carry, lift up, bear") is the same root used in the commandment about God's name. The parallel is deliberate: carrying false reports and misusing God's name are related offenses against truth. The KJV renders this "raise a false report," emphasizing the active spreading of falsehood.

• עֵ֥ד חָמָֽס ("a witness of violence") — The word חָמָס means "violence, injustice, wrongdoing." A "witness of violence" is someone whose testimony causes harm — a malicious witness who uses the legal system as a weapon. The BSB renders it "malicious witness," which captures the intent well. The prohibition addresses not just perjury but the weaponization of legal proceedings.

• אַחֲרֵי רַבִּים ("after a majority/the many") — Verse 2 is one of the most syntactically difficult verses in the Torah. The basic command is clear: do not follow a mob to do evil. But the second half of the verse — about not testifying in a dispute so as to "turn aside after a majority to pervert" — has generated extensive discussion. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 2a) famously derives from this verse the principle that legal decisions follow the majority, but the plain sense of the text is a warning against being swept along by crowd pressure to bend justice. The repetition of רַבִּים ("many") underscores the danger: popular opinion is not the same as justice.

• Verse 3 is surprising. While verse 6 prohibits perverting justice against the poor (as expected), verse 3 prohibits showing favoritism to the poor: וְדָל לֹא תֶהְדַּר בְּרִיבוֹ — "you shall not show favor to a poor person in his dispute." The verb הָדַר means "to honor, show respect, adorn." Justice must be impartial in both directions. Leviticus 19:15 makes the same point explicitly: "You shall not be partial to the poor or show deference to the great." Sympathy for the disadvantaged must not corrupt judicial proceedings. The two commands together (vv. 3 and 6) form a frame around the intervening laws: justice is blind to social status, whether high or low.

• שׁ֧וֹר אֹֽיִבְךָ ("your enemy's ox") — Verses 4-5 are among the most ethically striking commands in the Torah. The obligation to return a straying animal or help an overburdened donkey extends even to one's personal enemy (אֹיֵב, "enemy") or one who hates you (שֹׂנֵא, "the one hating you"). The infinitive absolute construction הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ ("you must surely return it") and עָזֹב תַּעֲזֹב ("you must surely help") emphasize that this is not optional. These verses anticipate Jesus' teaching on loving one's enemies (Matthew 5:44) and Paul's quotation of Proverbs 25:21-22 in Romans 12:20. The principle is that covenant obligation overrides personal animosity.

• Verse 5 is particularly difficult in Hebrew. The verb עָזַב normally means "to abandon, leave," but here it appears to mean "to release, set free" (i.e., release the animal from its burden). The ESV renders it "you shall rescue it with him." The command envisions a situation where your natural inclination is to walk past (וְחָדַלְתָּ מֵעֲזֹב לוֹ — "and you would refrain from helping him"), but you are required to overcome that impulse and assist even someone you dislike.

• מִדְּבַר שֶׁקֶר תִּרְחָק ("Keep far from a false matter") — The verb רָחַק means "to be distant, keep far away." This is not merely "do not lie" but "distance yourself from falsehood." The command is uniquely phrased in the Torah — most prohibitions say "do not do X," but this one says "stay far from X," implying that even proximity to falsehood is dangerous. The false matter in view is particularly a false legal charge that could lead to the death of an innocent person, as the next clause makes clear.

• כִּי לֹא אַצְדִּיק רָשָׁע ("for I will not declare the guilty righteous") — God himself speaks in the first person, inserting a divine guarantee into the legal code. The Hiphil of צָדַק means "to declare righteous, to acquit." God will not acquit the wicked, even if a corrupt court does. This functions as both a warning to corrupt judges and a comfort to victims of injustice: human courts may fail, but the divine court will not.

• הַשֹּׁחַד יְעַוֵּר פִּקְחִים ("a bribe blinds the clear-sighted") — The word פִּקְחִים means "those who can see, the clear-eyed, the perceptive." The KJV has "the wise," following a different reading. The point is devastating: a bribe does not merely influence the biased — it blinds even the most perceptive and upright. The parallel command in Deuteronomy 16:19 uses חֲכָמִים ("the wise") instead, which is the reading the KJV follows. Both versions make the same theological point: bribery corrupts judgment at its root.

• נֶפֶשׁ הַגֵּר ("the soul of the sojourner") — The word נֶפֶשׁ here means "inner life, experience, feelings" — you know what it is like, from the inside, to be a foreigner. This is one of the most frequently repeated motivations in the Torah: Israel must treat the sojourner justly because they were sojourners in Egypt (cf. Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 10:19). The experience of suffering is not merely to be endured but to produce empathy. The גֵּר ("sojourner, resident alien") is someone living outside their homeland, without the protections of kinship or citizenship — precisely what Israel was in Egypt.

The Sabbath Year and the Sabbath Day (vv. 10-13)

Notes

• תִּשְׁמְטֶנָּה וּנְטַשְׁתָּהּ ("you shall release it and abandon it") — Two verbs describe what happens in the seventh year. The first, שָׁמַט, means "to let drop, release, let go," and is the root behind the term שְׁמִטָּה, the technical name for the sabbatical year. The second, נָטַשׁ, means "to abandon, leave untended." Together they describe a deliberate act of relinquishing control: the farmer must stop cultivating, stop harvesting, and allow the land to rest. This is an act of faith — trusting that God will provide even when the land lies fallow. The fuller legislation for the sabbatical year appears in Leviticus 25:1-7, where God promises that the sixth year's harvest will be sufficient for three years.

• The social purpose is explicit: אֶבְיֹנֵי עַמֶּךָ ("the poor of your people") are given access to whatever the land produces on its own during the fallow year. The word אֶבְיוֹן ("needy, destitute") describes someone in acute need, more desperate than the general term עָנִי ("poor, afflicted"). What the poor do not consume goes to חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה ("the wild animals of the field") — even the animal kingdom benefits from the sabbatical principle. The sabbatical year thus embodies a theology of the land: the land belongs to God, not to the farmer, and its produce is meant to sustain all creatures.

• תִּשְׁבֹּת ("you shall cease") — The weekly Sabbath command in verse 12 uses the verb שָׁבַת, from which "Sabbath" derives. It means "to stop, cease, desist." The motivation given here differs from the two versions of the Decalogue: in Exodus 20:11 the Sabbath is grounded in creation (God rested on the seventh day), and in Deuteronomy 5:15 it is grounded in liberation (remember that you were slaves in Egypt). Here the motivation is compassion for the vulnerable: the ox, the donkey, the son of the female servant, and the sojourner need rest. The verb יִנָּפֵשׁ ("may be refreshed") is a Niphal of נָפַשׁ, related to נֶפֶשׁ ("soul, life"). It literally means "to get one's soul back," to recover one's vitality. Even animals have a נֶפֶשׁ that needs restoration.

• Verse 13 serves as both a conclusion to the preceding laws and a transition to the festival calendar. The command תִּשָּׁמֵרוּ (Niphal of שָׁמַר, "guard, keep, watch") has the sense of "be on your guard, be careful." The prohibition against invoking the names of other gods uses תַזְכִּירוּ (Hiphil of זָכַר, "remember"), which in the Hiphil means "to cause to be remembered, to invoke, to mention." Even speaking the names of foreign gods is forbidden — not merely worshiping them but giving them any place in Israel's speech or thought. This absolute exclusivity prepares for the festival calendar that follows: Israel's worship belongs to the LORD alone.

The Three Annual Feasts (vv. 14-19)

Notes

• שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים ("three times" or literally "three feet") — The word רֶגֶל means "foot" and by extension "time" or "occasion," but it also carries the connotation of a pilgrimage journey made on foot. This is the origin of the later rabbinic term שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים for the three pilgrimage festivals. The verb תָּחֹג ("you shall celebrate a feast") comes from חָגַג, which implies a festal dance or procession — these are not somber observances but joyful celebrations.

• חַג הַמַּצּוֹת ("the Feast of Unleavened Bread") — The first feast is connected to the exodus itself. מַצָּה ("unleavened bread") commemorates the haste of Israel's departure from Egypt — they left so quickly that their bread had no time to rise (Exodus 12:39). The feast takes place in the month of אָבִיב, which means "fresh ears of grain, spring." This is the first month of the Hebrew calendar (later called Nisan). The seven-day observance is closely connected to the Passover, though technically the Passover (the 14th of the month) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the 15th-21st) are distinct events that together form a unified celebration. The fuller instructions appear in Exodus 12:14-20.

• וְלֹא יֵרָאוּ פָנַי רֵיקָם ("and none shall appear before my face empty-handed") — The Niphal of רָאָה ("to see") can mean either "to be seen" or "to appear." The worshiper comes to "appear before the face of God" — the language of presenting oneself before a king. Coming empty-handed would be disrespectful, like approaching a sovereign without an offering. This command applies to all three feasts (cf. Deuteronomy 16:16-17).

• חַג הַקָּצִיר ("the Feast of the Harvest") — The second feast celebrates the wheat harvest, roughly seven weeks after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is later called the Feast of Weeks (חַג הַשָּׁבֻעוֹת, Exodus 34:22) and eventually Pentecost (from the Greek for "fiftieth," since it falls fifty days after Passover). The offering of בִּכּוּרֵי מַעֲשֶׂיךָ ("the firstfruits of your labor") acknowledges that the harvest belongs to God before it belongs to the farmer. In the New Testament, Pentecost becomes the occasion for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), and Paul calls Christ "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).

• חַג הָאָסִף ("the Feast of the Ingathering") — The third feast comes בְּצֵאת הַשָּׁנָה ("at the going out of the year"), meaning the autumn, when the agricultural year ends and the final harvest of grapes, olives, and other crops is gathered in. This is later called the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (סֻכּוֹת, Leviticus 23:34), because Israel dwells in temporary shelters to remember the wilderness period. It was the most joyful and elaborate of the three feasts, lasting seven days with an eighth-day assembly (Leviticus 23:36). Jesus attended this feast and on its last day declared, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37-38).

• כָּל זְכוּרְךָ ("every male among you") — The obligation to appear before the LORD three times a year falls specifically on males. The term זָכוּר means "male" (from זָכָר, "male"). Women and children were not excluded from attending (cf. Hannah at Shiloh, 1 Samuel 1:3-7) but were not under the same obligation. The phrase אֶל פְּנֵי הָאָדֹן יְהוָה ("before the face of the Lord, the LORD") uses the rare title אָדוֹן ("Lord, sovereign") alongside the divine name, emphasizing God's sovereignty over his people.

• לֹא תִזְבַּח עַל חָמֵץ דַּם זִבְחִי ("You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened") — Leaven (חָמֵץ) represents fermentation, decay, and corruption. The Passover sacrifice in particular must be free of leaven (Exodus 12:8). The prohibition against allowing the חֵלֶב ("fat") of the festival offering to remain until morning ensures that the sacred portions are consumed on the altar promptly — nothing holy is to be left to decompose. These instructions maintain the purity and dignity of the sacrificial system.

• לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ ("You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk") — This enigmatic command appears three times in the Torah (Exodus 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21) and has generated more discussion than almost any other single verse. The Hebrew is straightforward: גְּדִי is a young goat (a kid), חֲלֵב is milk, and בָּשַׁל in the Piel means "to boil, cook." The simplest reading is a prohibition against a specific culinary practice. Many scholars have connected it to a Canaanite fertility ritual, though direct evidence for such a ritual remains debated (a text from Ugarit was once cited but its interpretation is disputed). Rabbinic tradition expanded this prohibition into the comprehensive kosher separation of meat and dairy products. In its literary context here, placed immediately after the firstfruits command, the prohibition may express a principle against perverting a life-giving substance (mother's milk) into an instrument of death — a violation of the natural order, similar in spirit to the command not to take a mother bird along with her young (Deuteronomy 22:6-7).

Interpretations

The "kid in its mother's milk" prohibition has been interpreted very differently across traditions. (1) The rabbinic interpretation, codified in the Talmud and followed in all branches of traditional Judaism, understands the threefold repetition of the command as establishing three distinct prohibitions: you may not cook meat and dairy together, eat them together, or derive benefit from the mixture. This became the foundation for the entire kosher system of separating meat and dairy, including separate dishes, utensils, and waiting periods between consuming meat and dairy. (2) The Canaanite ritual interpretation, held by many evangelical and critical scholars, sees the prohibition as targeting a specific pagan cultic practice. On this reading, the command is about avoiding idolatrous worship practices rather than establishing a general dietary law. (3) A humanitarian/ethical interpretation views the command as expressing a moral principle: it is cruel or unnatural to use a mother's milk — meant to nourish her young — as the medium for cooking her offspring. This reading connects the command to other Torah laws that show sensitivity to the parent-offspring bond in the animal world. Protestant interpreters generally follow options (2) or (3) and do not derive a general prohibition on mixing meat and dairy.

The Angel Who Goes Before Israel (vv. 20-26)

Notes

• הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ מַלְאָךְ לְפָנֶיךָ ("Behold, I am sending an angel before you") — The word מַלְאָךְ means "messenger, angel" and is the same word used for the angel of the LORD at the burning bush (Exodus 3:2). The angel's role is twofold: לִשְׁמָרְךָ ("to guard you") on the journey, and לַהֲבִיאֲךָ ("to bring you") to the prepared place. The language of preparation (הֲכִנֹתִי, from כּוּן, "to establish, prepare") implies that the land has been made ready by God in advance — the conquest is not an open question but a prepared destination.

• כִּי שְׁמִי בְּקִרְבּוֹ ("because my name is within him") — This is the most theologically remarkable statement about the angel. God's שֵׁם ("name") represents his character, authority, and presence. For God's name to be "within" the angel means the angel carries God's own identity and authority. The angel can forgive or withhold forgiveness of sin — a divine prerogative — precisely because God's name indwells him. This goes far beyond a typical angelic messenger. The verb תַּמֵּר (Hiphil of מָרָה, "to be rebellious") means "to rebel, to be bitter/defiant against." Israel is warned not to rebel against this angel with the same gravity that would attend rebellion against God himself.

• שָׁמֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ ("if you will truly obey his voice") — The infinitive absolute construction emphasizes the quality of obedience required: attentive, wholehearted listening. Notice the shift in verse 22: Israel is to obey the angel's voice, but God says "do all that I say" (כֹּל אֲשֶׁר אֲדַבֵּר). The angel's voice and God's speech are treated as identical. This interchangeability between the angel's commands and God's commands reinforces the extraordinary nature of this figure.

• וְאָיַבְתִּי אֶת אֹיְבֶיךָ וְצַרְתִּי אֶת צֹרְרֶיךָ ("I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries") — The wordplay is striking: God will "enemy" your enemies and "adversary" your adversaries. The verb אָיַב is a denominative from אֹיֵב ("enemy"), and צָרַר means "to be hostile, to afflict" (from the same root as צַר, "adversary, distress"). God does not merely assist against enemies — he takes their enmity personally.

• וְהִכְחַדְתִּיו ("and I will cut them off/annihilate them") — The verb כָּחַד in the Hiphil means "to destroy, annihilate, exterminate." The BSB renders it "annihilate," which captures the force. The six nations listed (Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, Jebusites) are the standard list of the inhabitants of the promised land (cf. Exodus 3:8, Deuteronomy 7:1).

• הָרֵס תְּהָרְסֵם וְשַׁבֵּר תְּשַׁבֵּר מַצֵּבֹתֵיהֶם ("you shall utterly tear them down and completely shatter their sacred pillars") — Two infinitive absolute constructions in a row intensify the commands. The verb הָרַס means "to tear down, demolish," and שָׁבַר means "to break, shatter." The מַצֵּבוֹת ("standing stones, pillars") were upright stones used in Canaanite worship as representations of deities or sacred markers. The command is total: not merely abandoning Canaanite worship practices but physically destroying the infrastructure of pagan religion. The contrast with verse 25 is stark: instead of serving Canaanite gods, Israel is to serve (עָבַד) the LORD alone.

• וּבֵרַךְ אֶת לַחְמְךָ וְאֶת מֵימֶיךָ ("and he will bless your bread and your water") — The blessings of obedience are physical and tangible: food, water, health, fertility, long life. לֶחֶם ("bread, food") and מַיִם ("water") represent the basic necessities of life. God promises to remove מַחֲלָה ("sickness, disease") from among them and to prevent miscarriage (מְשַׁכֵּלָה, a Piel participle of שָׁכַל, "to be bereaved of children") and barrenness (עֲקָרָה, "barren"). The phrase אֶת מִסְפַּר יָמֶיךָ אֲמַלֵּא ("I will fill the number of your days") means a full lifespan — no one will die prematurely. These promises are covenantal blessings conditioned on obedience, expanded more fully in Deuteronomy 28:1-14.

Interpretations

The identity of the angel in verse 20 has been debated extensively. (1) Many patristic and Reformed interpreters (Justin Martyr, Calvin, and others) identify this angel as the pre-incarnate Christ, the second person of the Trinity. They point to the facts that God's name is "in" the angel, that the angel has the authority to forgive sins (a divine prerogative, cf. Mark 2:7), and that obedience to the angel's voice is equated with obedience to God. This reading connects the angel to the "angel of the LORD" theophanies throughout the Old Testament (cf. Exodus 3:2, Genesis 22:11, Judges 13:18). (2) Other interpreters understand the angel as a created angelic being — a supreme angel appointed to lead Israel, perhaps the same angel who later appears to Joshua as the "commander of the LORD's army" (Joshua 5:13-15). On this view, the angel carries God's delegated authority and name but is not himself divine. (3) Some scholars understand the "angel" as a way of describing God's own presence going with Israel — the angel is God-in-action, God as he relates to Israel on the march, without being a distinct person. Jewish interpreters have generally preferred options (2) or (3). The statement "my name is in him" remains the crux of the debate, as it suggests an intimacy of identity between God and the angel that goes beyond mere agency.

The Promise of Gradual Conquest (vv. 27-33)

Notes

• אֶת אֵימָתִי אֲשַׁלַּח לְפָנֶיךָ ("I will send my terror before you") — The noun אֵימָה means "dread, terror, fear." It is not merely a psychological state but a supernatural weapon — God sends terror ahead of Israel like an advance army. The same word describes the "dread" that fell on the nations after the exodus (Exodus 15:16) and the "great terror" (הַמּוֹרָא הַגָּדֹל) Moses recounts in Deuteronomy 4:34. The verb הָמַם ("to throw into confusion, to rout") in וְהַמֹּתִי describes the panic and disorientation God will inflict on the Canaanite nations. This same verb describes what God did to the Egyptians at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:24).

• עֹרֶף ("back of the neck, back") — The phrase וְנָתַתִּי אֶת כָּל אֹיְבֶיךָ אֵלֶיךָ עֹרֶף literally means "I will give all your enemies to you — a back," meaning "I will make them turn their backs to you" in flight. The עֹרֶף ("back of the neck") represents retreat and vulnerability. The "stiff-necked" (קְשֵׁה עֹרֶף) quality later attributed to Israel (Exodus 32:9) uses the same word — a people who turn the back of their neck to God rather than their face.

• הַצִּרְעָה ("the hornet") — This is one of the more mysterious terms in the passage. The word צִרְעָה appears only here, in Deuteronomy 7:20, and in Joshua 24:12. Some interpret it literally as a swarm of hornets or wasps that God sends as a natural weapon to drive out the inhabitants. Others take it metaphorically as a reference to the "sting" of panic, plague, or military defeat. The Septuagint translates it as "wasps" (sphekia). Still others have connected it to Egypt itself — the hornet was a symbol associated with the pharaohs of Lower Egypt — suggesting God would use Egypt as an instrument to weaken the Canaanite nations before Israel's arrival. The literal reading remains the most natural in context.

• מְעַט מְעַט אֲגָרְשֶׁנּוּ ("little by little I will drive them out") — The doubling of מְעַט ("a little") creates the adverbial phrase "little by little, gradually." This is a remarkable admission embedded in the promise: the conquest will not be instantaneous. God gives two reasons for the gradual pace. First, פֶּן תִּהְיֶה הָאָרֶץ שְׁמָמָה — "lest the land become desolate." If the current inhabitants were removed all at once, the land would revert to wilderness, with wild animals filling the ecological vacuum. Second, Israel needs time to תִּפְרֶה ("be fruitful") — to grow in population sufficient to settle the land. The verb פָּרָה ("to be fruitful") echoes the creation mandate (Genesis 1:28) and the promise to the patriarchs. God's timing accounts for ecological and demographic realities — divine sovereignty works through natural processes.

• מִיַּם סוּף וְעַד יָם פְּלִשְׁתִּים וּמִמִּדְבָּר עַד הַנָּהָר ("from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River") — This verse defines the ideal boundaries of the promised land at their greatest extent. The יַם סוּף ("Sea of Reeds," often rendered "Red Sea") marks the southeastern boundary. The יָם פְּלִשְׁתִּים ("Sea of the Philistines") is the Mediterranean, the western boundary. The מִדְבָּר ("wilderness") is the southern desert (the Negev and Sinai). The נָהָר ("River") is the Euphrates, the northeastern boundary. This vast territory — from the Sinai peninsula to the Euphrates — was promised to Abraham in Genesis 15:18 and was briefly achieved under Solomon (1 Kings 4:21). The translation "Red Sea" for יַם סוּף follows the traditional rendering via the Septuagint; the Hebrew literally means "Sea of Reeds."

• לֹא תִכְרֹת לָהֶם וְלֵאלֹהֵיהֶם בְּרִית ("You shall not make a covenant with them or with their gods") — The verb כָּרַת ("to cut") is the standard term for making a covenant (literally "cutting a covenant," from the practice of cutting animals in the ratification ceremony, cf. Genesis 15:9-18). Israel already has a covenant with the LORD; making a covenant with the Canaanites or their gods would constitute a competing loyalty. The warning is not merely political (no treaties) but theological (no religious accommodation).

• כִּי יִהְיֶה לְךָ לְמוֹקֵשׁ ("for it will surely become a snare to you") — The word מוֹקֵשׁ means "snare, trap" — specifically a bird-trap or bait-stick. Serving the gods of the Canaanites is not presented as a viable alternative but as a trap that ensnares and destroys. The entire subsequent history of Israel validates this warning: from the golden calf (Exodus 32) to the Baal worship under Ahab (1 Kings 16:31-33) to the syncretism that led to exile (2 Kings 17:7-18), the worship of other gods proved to be exactly the snare God said it would be. The verb יַחֲטִיאוּ אֹתְךָ לִי ("they will cause you to sin against me") uses the Hiphil of חָטָא ("to sin, miss the mark") — the Canaanites will actively lead Israel into sin, not merely provide a passive temptation.

Interpretations

The promises of conquest and the command to "annihilate" the Canaanite nations have been among the most debated passages in the Old Testament. (1) Traditional-historical interpreters understand these commands as specific, historically bounded instructions for the particular situation of Israel entering the promised land. The Canaanite nations practiced child sacrifice, ritual prostitution, and other practices considered abhorrent, and their destruction is presented as divine judgment on their sin (cf. Genesis 15:16, where God tells Abraham the "iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete"). On this view, the commands do not establish a general principle for how God's people should relate to other nations. (2) Dispensational interpreters emphasize the distinction between Israel as a theocratic nation-state with a unique land promise and the church as a spiritual community with no territorial mandate. The conquest commands belong to a specific dispensation and have no application beyond it. (3) Some scholars emphasize the rhetorical and idealized nature of the conquest language, noting that "annihilate" in ancient Near Eastern warfare rhetoric was conventional hyperbole (similar language appears in Moabite and Assyrian inscriptions) and that the text itself envisions a gradual process with ongoing coexistence (vv. 29-30). (4) The New Testament reinterprets conquest language in spiritual terms: believers wage war not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces (Ephesians 6:12), and the weapons of warfare are not carnal (2 Corinthians 10:4).