Nation Lists in Exodus

Exodus lists the nations of the land of Canaan seven times, and the lists shift through the book. The lists are:

Exodus 3:8: give land of 6 nations (Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite).

Exodus 3:17: give land of 6 nations (same as in 3:8).

Exodus 13:5: give land of 5 nations (Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Hivite, Jebusite).

Exodus 23:23: angel goes before to land of 6 nations (Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, Canaanite, Hivite, Jebusite).

Exodus 23:28: send hornets to drive out 3 nations (Hivite, Canaanite, Hittite).

Exodus 33:2: angel goes before to drive out 6 nations (Canaanite, Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite)

Exodus 34:11: I go before to drive out 5 nations (Canaanite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite).

Never does Exodus list 7 nations (cf. Deuteronomy 7:1). The Girgashites are never mentioned in Exodus. Never does Exodus list 10 nations, as Genesis 15:19-21 does.

There are several patterns evident in these Exodus lists.

First, the seven lists break into a 3 + 4 pattern. The first three lists simply say that the Lord is going to give the land to Israel. With Exodus 23, however, Yahweh promises to send something ahead of the Israelites – the Angel of Yahweh or hornets. Second, that splitting of the seven lists into 3 +4 is also evident in the placement of the 5-nation lists at the third and the seventh positions. Third, the last 4 lists show an overall progression: Yahweh promises to send an angel ahead, and reiterates that promise while Moses is interceding for Israel after the golden calf incident (33:2). Moses is not satisfied with this promise: “Thou thyself has not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me” (33:12). Yahweh responds by promising “My presence (‘face’)” (33:14), and after revealing His glory, Moses asks for forgiveness for the people (34:9) and Yahweh promises to go before Israel to drive out the 5 nations of Canaan. This seventh, Sabbatical list is given at the time when Moses is finally satisfied with Yahweh’s promise.

Finally, the two 5-nations lists are perhaps linked. The first occurs in the instructions about Unleavened Bread, a feast memorializing the departure from Egypt. It is linked with Passover. The second 5-nation list occurs in the context just discussed, and thus is linked with Yahweh’s revelation on Sinai and with Israel’s conquest of the land. The two lists thus bring out the intimate link between Passover and conquest, between deliverance from Egypt and triumphant entry into the land flowing with milk and honey.