Exodus 23:20-33

²⁰ “See, I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. ²¹ Listen carefully to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, because he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. ²² “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. ²³ “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I get rid of them, ²⁴ you should not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you should utterly destroy them and break their pillars in pieces. ²⁵ You should serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. ²⁶ No one will miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. ²⁷ I will send my fear before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you will come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs from you. ²⁸ And I am sending hornets before you, which will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. ²⁹ I will not drive them out from before you in one year, so the land does not become desolate and the wild animals increase against you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have multiplied and possess the land. ³¹ And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates, because I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. ³² You shall make no agreement with them and their gods. ³³ They should not live in your land, or they would make you sin against me; because if you serve their gods, it will definitely be a trap to you.”

following the angel

The LORD had placed his guardian angel in the presence of his people, and he would lead them to victory against their enemies. The Israelites had two responsibilities – one positive and the other negative. They had to follow the leading of the angel, who would lead them every step of the way through the desert and into the promised land. But they were also responsible to avoid making any agreement (or covenant) with the present inhabitants of the land.

The LORD provided both direction and protection. He only asked that his people stay away from the very people who were already cursed, and on the LORD’s hit list. The idolatrous lifestyles of these people would be a trap for the Israelites, so the LORD put them off limits.

Today, the LORD has provided his Holy Spirit to give guidance to his church, and we will prosper if we follow his direction. But he has put no people “off limits” for us. Instead, this same Holy Spirit who is within us to guide us, urges us to seek the lost and bring them into the Son’s kingdom.

LORD, we seek to follow your Holy Spirit’s guidance, and obey his promptings to witness to the lost all around us.