Exodus 3:7-8

"And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, and unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

God's "coming down" to deliver His people and other such expressions in which the emotions and actions of men are ascribed to God are called anthropomorphisms, of which there are almost countless examples in the Bible."

"Unto the place of the Canaanite ..." The Jews found it very difficult to remember that it was the sensual wickedness of the Canaanites that caused God to dispossess them and give their land to the Jews, with the definite understanding that if the Jews followed wickedness as had the Canaanites that the same fate awaited Israel.

"The first movement of God toward Moses was to outline in words what God proposed to do."[16]

The "Canaanites" mentioned here are sometimes called the "seven nations." All of them were settled in Canaan (Palestine) centuries before Israel.

1. The word "Canaanite" applied to all of these related groups, and also to one of the specific divisions. They were in Canaan 1900 years B.C.
   
2. The Hittites came much later during the era of 1800-1450 B.C. (Genesis 23:10).
   
3. The Amorites were the most numerous of these nations, having been in the area from 2300 B.C. (Numbers 21:26).
   
4. The Perizzites are not identifiable.
   
5. The Hivites dwelt around Shechem, Gibeon, and the region about 5 miles northwest of Jerusalem (Joshua 9:3-7; 11:19; Genesis 34:2). They were in Canaan by 2000 B.C.
   
6. The Jebusites occupied Jerusalem (Judges 1:21; 2 Samuel 5:6; Joshua 15:63).
   
7. The Girgashites (Joshua 24:11; Deuteronomy 7:1) are obscure.[17]
   

"Land flowing with milk and honey ..." This was a metaphor widely used in antiquity with the meaning of a land rich in natural resources, with plenty of water and abundance of fruit trees.