Drive Out : Part 1

This phrase appears often in the Hebrew Scriptures.


Garash Strong’s Concordance #H1644: to thrust out, cast away, expel, to drive out from a possession, to expatriate or divorce, dislodge

So He drove out (expel, drive out from a possession) the man…Gen 3:24

Behold, You have driven (expel, drive out from a possession) me this day from the face of the earth; and from Your face I will be hidden. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth… Genesis 4:14

Notice it doesn’t mean Cain will be killed.

So she said to Abraham, “Banish (drive out, divorce, expel) that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!” Gen 21:10

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out (expel, thrust out) of his land.” Exodus 6:1 
  
Not so! Go now, the men among you, and serve the LORD, for that is what you desire.” So they were driven out (thrust out, expelled) from Pharaoh’s presence. Exodus 10:11  

They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become  leavened, since they were driven out (expel, drive out from a possession,expatriate) of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. Exodus 12:39

Again, none of these people were killed. Was it possible that they might have died or have an increased risk of death because they were driven out?  Certainly.  We read in Genesis 4:14 that Cain feared someone might kill him because he was a homeless wanderer; and in Genesis 21, Hagar and Ishmael appear to be near death because of their banishment.  In both these cases it’s important to note that they were not in a group, they were alone, and it’s their ‘aloneness’ that’s a factor in the increased risk.