Exodus 23:20

_BEHOLD, I SEND AN ANGEL BEFORE THEE, TO KEEP THEE IN THE WAY, AND TO BRING THEE INTO THE PLACE WHICH I HAVE PREPARED._ Behold, I send an Angel before thee. The word "Behold" introduces a new paragraph or division. The communication of these ordinances and judgments, made to him in private, and by him publicly rehearsed to the people, was concluded by the addition of an animating promise of the presence and protection of Yahweh during their journey to the promised land, intermingled with several solemn warnings, that lapses into sin and idolatry would not be tolerated or passed with impunity. The angel promised was, in the judgment of some commentators following Tertullian, Joshua; in that of others, the column of smoke and fire; and of a third class, a mere figure of speech, in accommodation to the gross conceptions of a rude and ignorant people: but according to the vast majority of a...

20._Behold, I send an Angel before thee. _God here reminds the Israelites that their wellbeing is so connected with the keeping of the Law, that, by neglecting it, they would sorely suffer. For He says that He will be their leader by the hand of an angel, which was a token of His fatherly love for them; but, on the other hand, He threatens that they would not be unpunished if they should despise such great mercy and follow their own lusts, because they will not escape the sight of the angel whom He had appointed to be their guardian. Almost all the Hebrew rabbins, (267) with whom many others agree, too hastily think that this is spoken of Joshua, but the statements, which we shall consider more fully just beyond, by no means are reconcilable with his person. But their mistake is more than sufficiently refuted by this, first of all, that if we understand it of Joshua, the people would hav...

20-33 It is here promised that they should be guided and kept in their way through the wilderness to the land of promise, Behold, I send an angel before thee, mine angel. The precept joined with this promise is, that they be obedient to this angel whom God would send before them. Christ is the Angel of Jehovah; this is plainly taught by St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:9. They should have a comfortable settlement in the land of Canaan. How reasonable are the conditions of this promise; that they should serve the only true God; not the gods of the nations, which are no gods at all. How rich are the particulars of this promise! The comfort of their food, the continuance of their health, the increase of their wealth, the prolonging their lives to old age. Thus hath godliness the promise of the life that now is. It is promised that they should subdue their enemies. Hosts of hornets made way for t...

Verse Exodus 23:20. _BEHOLD, I SEND AN ANGEL BEFORE THEE_] Some have thought that this was _Moses_, others _Joshua_, because the word מלאך _malach_ signifies an _angel_ or _messenger_; but as it is said, Exodus 23:21, _My name is in him_, (בקרבו bekirbo, intimately, _essentially in_ _him_,) it is more likely that the great Angel of the Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, is meant, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. We have had already much reason to believe that this glorious personage often appeared in a human form to the patriarchs, c. and of him Joshua was a very expressive type, the names _Joshua_ and _Jesus_, in Hebrew and Greek, being of exactly the same signification, because radically the same, from ישע _yasha_, he saved,...

AN ANGEL - See Exodus 3:2, Exodus 3:8; Joshua 5:13; Isaiah 63:9....

THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT.—_Continued_. EXPOSITION EXODUS 23:1 MISCELLANEOUS LAWS—_continued_. The same want of logical arrangement appears in this chapter as in the preceding one. The first nine verses contain some twelve laws, of which not more than two that are consecutive can be said to be on the same subject. There is perhaps in the section a predominant idea of warning against sins and errors connected with the trial of causes before a court, but Exodus 23:4 and Exodus 23:5, at any rate, lie quite outside this idea. From...

BEHOLD, I SEND AN ANGEL BEFORE THEE,.... Not a created angel, but the uncreated one, the Angel of God's presence, that was with the Israelites at Sinai, and in the wilderness; who saved, redeemed, bore, and carried them all the days of old, whom they rebelled against and tempted in the wilderness; as appears by all the characters after given of him, which by no means agree with a created angel: Aben Ezra observes, that some say this is the book of the law, because it is said, "my name is in him", or "in the midst of it"; others say, the ark of the covenant; but he says this angel is Michael; and if indeed by Michael is intended the uncreated angel, as he always is in Scripture, he is right: Jarchi remarks, that their Rabbins say, this is Metatron, whose name is as the name of his master; Metatron, by gematry, is Shaddai, which signifies almighty or all-sufficient, and is an epithet of th...

ANGEL (_ See Scofield) - (Hebrews 1:4). _...

CHAPTER 23 FURTHER JUDGMENTS AND DIRECTIONS _ 1. Concerning unrighteous dealings of various kinds (Exodus 23:1)_ 2. Concerning the seventh year (Exodus 23:10) 3. Concerning the three feasts (Exodus 23:14) 4. Promises concerning the possession of the land (Exodus 23:20) We call attention to the words concerning the seventh year. The seventh day was the day of rest. The seventh year was to give the land rest; it was to rest and lie still. Besides this there was the jubilee year, which occurred every seven times seven years, that is, the fiftieth year was the year of jubilee, in which liberty was pro

EXODUS 23:20 E. CLOSING DISCOURSE (Exodus 23:23 a, Exodus 23:27, and Exodus 23:31 b - Exodus 23:33 Rd). This passage is highly complex. The verses just noted bear marks of the school of D; they condemn pillare, which E approves (Exodus 24:4 and elsewhere); their warning tone is inconsistent with the dominant tone of promise; and they reflect the view of the Conquest as a clean sweep, which Rd expresses throughout Jos. E's Covenant Book has its epilogue (cf