“I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along
the way and to bring you to a place I have prepared.” (Exodus23:20)
Jehovah would send an angel before them, who should
guard them on the way from injury and destruction, and bring them to the place prepared
for them, i.e., to Canaan. The name of Jehovah was in this angel (Exodus 23:21), that is to say,
Jehovah revealed Himself in him; and hence he is called in Exodus 33:15-16, the face of
Jehovah, because the essential nature of Jehovah was manifested in him. This
angel was not a created spirit, therefore, but the manifestation of Jehovah
Himself, who went before them in the pillar of cloud and fire, to guide and to
defend them (Exodus 13:21). But because it
was Jehovah who was guiding His people in the person of the angel, He demanded
unconditional obedience (Exodus 23:21), and if they
provoked Him (תּמּר for תּמר, see Exodus 13:18) by disobedience,
He would not pardon their transgression; but if they followed Him and hearkened
to His voice, He would be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary to their
adversaries (Exodus 23:22). And when the
angel of the Lord had brought them to the Canaanites and exterminated the
latter, Israel was still to yield the same obedience, by not serving the gods
of the Canaanites, or doing after their works, i.e., by not making any
idolatrous images, but destroying them (these works), and smiting to pieces the
pillars of their idolatrous worship (מצבת does not mean statues erected as
idols, but memorial stones or columns dedicated to idols: see my Comm. on 1 Kings 14:23), and serving
Jehovah alone. Then would He bless them in the land with bountiful provision,
health, fruitfulness, and length of life (Exodus 23:23-26). "Bread and
water" are named, as being the provisions which are indispensable to the
maintenance of life, as in Isaiah 3:1; Isaiah 30:20; Isaiah 33:16. The taking away
of "sickness" (cf. Exodus 15:26) implied the
removal of everything that could endanger life. The absence of anything that
miscarried, or was barren, insured the continuance and increase of the nation;
and the promise that their days should be fulfilled, i.e., that they should not
be liable to a premature death (cf. Isaiah 65:20), was a pledge of
their well-being.
I claim an hedge of protection, by the
Precious Blood of Jesus, around myself and my loved ones throughout this day
and night. I ask You God, in the name of Jesus, to send angels to surround us
today and everyday, and to put them throughout my house and around our cars,
souls, bodies, wills and emotions. I call on Your holy angels to protect my
house from any intrusion and to protect me and my family and those I've named
from any harmful demonic or other physical or mental attacks. I ask all of this
in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“God’s help is nearer than the door.” (William G Benham)
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