Drive Out: Part 2

In the verses of Part One, ‘drive out’ absolutely does not mean to kill.  What is very evident is the possession by the ‘driver’ of an authourity that will accomplish the ‘driving out’.  There is NO hint of bloodshed, and the identical word is used in the following verses. Keep this in mind.                                                                                           

I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out (expatriate, expel, drive out from a possession) the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. Exodus 23:28

In any event, it is not the Israelites who will do the driving out; it is the ‘hornets’ who will accomplish this. This is confirmed after the fact:

Then I (God) sent the hornet before you and it (the ‘hornet’) drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, not by your sword or your bow. Joshua 24:12

Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you and perish. Deuteronomy 7:20

This verse is not usually rendered as a faithful translation of the Hebrew, which more literally says ‘God will send the ‘stinger’ against them (notice it is God doing this, not the Israelites), you will not see any who remain because they will all wander away (be like Cain in Genesis 4:14).