Exodus 23:20-24

"Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Take ye heed before him, and hearken unto his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto 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 Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but thou shalt surely overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars."

"An angel before thee ..." This can be none other than the Angel of Jehovah, not Moses, or the Ark of the Covenant, or any such thing. This Angel: (1) would bring them into Canaan, which Moses did not; and (2) he had the power to withhold forgiveness of sins, which Moses could not do. He is that same glorious Being who came to Joshua as the Captain of the hosts of Jehovah, and the one who was "among the myrtle trees" of Zechariah 1:8.

"The Hittite ... etc." These were the more comprehensive groupings of the nations of Canaan, which, of course, included some thirty-two little kingdoms in all.

"I will cut them off ..." The quibble that it is God who here will destroy the Canaanites, and that it is Israel who will do so, "thou shalt drive them out," in Exodus 23:34, is an excellent measure of the blindness of critical interpretations. Of course, God would remove the Canaanites by the strength of and through the efforts of Israel. What one does through his servants is legitimately held to be what he himself did.

"And break in pieces their pillars ..." "These were idolatrous stones carved with some heathenish symbol."[22] Some, if not all of these were phallic, great orthostatic symbols, some relics of which may still be seen in Japan. They were intimately associated with the licentious worship of Baal, later incorporated into the worship of Jehovah in Northern Israel, as a number of the minor prophets charged. This commandment to destroy all signs, instruments, symbols, and artifacts connected with paganism was intended to protect the Iraelites against the encroachments of paganism upon their religious beliefs and practices. The great sorrow was that lsrael failed to do this.

Regarding those pagan gods, Israel was commanded: (1) not to bow down to them (Exodus 23:24); (2) to destroy them (Exodus 23:24); (3) to drive them out (Exodus 23:31); and (4) to make no covenant with them (Exodus 23:32).