What Does Exodus 33:2 Mean in the King James?
And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse opens a way through two different movements: shalach sends a messenger ahead, while garash forcibly expels the six peoples named.
THE MEANING
You hear God’s promise that a messenger goes ahead of you and that six named peoples are driven out. The second action is expulsion, not a gentle clearing; the verse holds guidance and dispossession in the same sentence. Its opened way comes through the removal of people already in the land.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁלַחְתִּי
veshalachti
GROWS FROM
שׁלח
sh-l-ḥ
Send, release, or stretch out.
“send” in this verse is veshalachti. The messenger is sent ahead, and the root carries the sense of something released outward. That movement reaches beyond dispatch: it can also describe sending away and extending what is set out for another.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: Sending away or dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch makes the root’s releasing sense explicit: what is sent can also be let go.
shulchan: A table, with the sense of provision set out.
שֻׁלְחָן
The root’s movement reaches provision extended toward someone: a table is where what is given is laid out.
Shiloach: The name associated with the sent waters of Shiloah.
שִׁלֹחַ
John 9:7 renders Siloam as “Sent”; there, the sent water is where sight returns.
וְגֵרַשְׁתִּי
vegerashti
GROWS FROM
גרש
g-r-sh
Drive away or expel.
“drive out” in this verse is vegerashti. This is a different root from the messenger’s sending: garash carries the force of expulsion. The verse therefore holds advance guidance alongside the violent displacement of people from their land.
ALSO GROWS
geresh: Drive away or banish.
גֵּרֵשׁ
This is the force of the action in the verse: the peoples are made to leave.
gerushah: A woman sent away from a marriage.
גְּרוּשָׁה
The same root can describe expulsion from a place or a relationship, preserving the sense of being made to leave.
לְפָנֶיךָ
lefanekha
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
Turn or face toward; the related noun panim means face or presence.
“Before thee” carries the image of being before your face or presence. The messenger’s advance is directed toward you, not merely toward a place ahead on a map.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face or presence.
פָּנִים
The messenger is sent before the addressee’s face: the verse describes presence as well as position.
panah: Turn or direct oneself toward.
פָּנָה
This branch gives “before thee” a relational direction: the messenger is placed ahead in relation to the one addressed.
THE PATTERN
A messenger sent ahead marks or prepares the way before arrival.
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 will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.THE THREAD
And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.John gives Siloam the meaning “Sent,” carrying the shalach image into the pool where sight returns. The sent messenger in Exodus goes ahead; here, what is sent becomes the setting where perception opens.
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