They shall not dwell in thy land,.... The land of Canaan, given by God for an inheritance, and now would be in the possession of the Israelites; and therefore were not to suffer the old inhabitants to dwell with them in it, at least no longer than they could help it; they were to do all they could to root them out:
lest they make thee sin against me; by their ill examples and persuasions, drawing them into idolatry, than which there is no greater sin against God, it being not only contrary to his law, his mind, and will, but directly against his nature, being, perfections, and glory:
for if thou serve their gods, or "for thou wilt serve" (t); this would be the consequence of their dwelling…
John Calvin on Exodus 23:31–end
Exodus 23:31-33
31. ... for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
31. Dabo in manum vestram habitatores terrae, et expelles cos a facie tua.
32. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
32. Non percuties cum ipsis foedus, nec cum diis eorum.
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.
33. Non habitabunt in terra tua: ne forte peccare faciant te contra me quando colueris deos eorum, quod erit tibi in offendiculum.
Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 23:20–end
Relation of Jehovah to Israel. - The declaration of the rights conferred by Jehovah upon His people is closed by promises, through which, on the one hand, God insured to the nation the gifts and benefits involved in their rights, and, on the other hand, sought to promote that willingness and love which were indispensable to the fulfilment of the duties incumbent upon every individual in consequence of the rights conferred upon them. These promises secured to the people not only the protection and help of God during their journey through the desert, and in the conquest of Canaan, but also preservation and prosperity when they had taken possession of the land.
Exo 23:20-27
Jehovah would send a…
Read the whole note in the consoleHenry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
