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Exodus 34:12 Commentaries: "Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst.
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id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../exodus/34-11.htm" title="Exodus 34:11">◄</a> Exodus 34:12 <a href="../exodus/34-13.htm" title="Exodus 34:13">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/exodus/34.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/exodus/34.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/exodus/34.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/exodus/34.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/exodus/34.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/exodus/34.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/exodus/34.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/exodus/34.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/exodus/34.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/exodus/34.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/exodus/34.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/exodus/34.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/exodus/34.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/exodus/34.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/exodus/34.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/exodus/34.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/exodus/33-14.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/exodus/34.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/exodus/34.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kad/exodus/34.htm" title="Keil and Delitzsch OT">KD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/exodus/34.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/exodus/34.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/exodus/34.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/exodus/34.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/exodus/34.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/exodus/34.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/exodus/34.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/exodus/34.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/exodus/34.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/exodus/34.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/exodus/34.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/exodus/34.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/exodus/34.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(12-16) This passage may be compared with <a href="/context/exodus/23-24.htm" title="You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but you shall utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.">Exodus 23:24-25</a>; <a href="/context/exodus/23-32.htm" title="You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.">Exodus 23:32-33</a>. It repeats, with some enlargements, the enactments there made, and traces in detail the evil consequences which would follow from a neglect of the enactments.<p>(12) <span class= "bld">A snare.</span>—Comp. <a href="/exodus/23-33.htm" title="They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me: for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.">Exodus 23:33</a>; and for the nature of the snare, see <a href="/context/exodus/34-15.htm" title="Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice to their gods, and one call you, and you eat of his sacrifice;">Exodus 34:15-16</a> of the present chapter.<p><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/benson/exodus/34.htm">Benson Commentary</a></div><span class="bld"><a href="/exodus/34-12.htm" title="Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you go, lest it be for a snare in the middle of you:">Exodus 34:12</a></span>. <span class="ital">Take heed to thyself — </span>It is a sin thou art prone to, and that will easily beset thee; carefully abstain from all advances toward it; <span class="ital">make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land — </span>If God, in kindness to them, drove out the Canaanites, they ought, in duty to God, not to harbour them: If they espoused their children, they would be in danger of espousing their gods. That they might not be tempted to <span class="ital">make molten gods, </span>they must utterly destroy those they found, and all that belonged to them, the altars and groves, lest, if they were left standing, they should be brought in process of time either to use them, or to take pattern by them.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/exodus/34.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>34:10-17 The Israelites are commanded to destroy every monument of idolatry, however curious or costly; to refuse all alliance, friendship, or marriage with idolaters, and all idolatrous feasts; and they were reminded not with idolaters, and all idolatrous feats; and they were reminded not to repeat the crime of making molten images. Jealously is called the rage of a man, Pr 6:34; but in God it is holy and just displeasure. Those cannot worship God aright, who do not worship him only.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/exodus/34.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>The precepts contained in these verses are, for the most part, identical in substance with some of those which follow the Ten Commandments and are recorded in "the Book of the covenant" (<a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/20.htm">Exodus 20-23</a>; see <a href="/exodus/24-7.htm">Exodus 24:7</a>).<a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/exodus/34.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>9, 10. he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us—On this proclamation, he, in the overflowing benevolence of s heart, founded an earnest petition for the Divine Presence being continued with the people; and God was pleased to give His favorable answer to Moses' intercession by a renewal of His promise under the form of a covenant, repeating the leading points that formed the conditions of the former national compact.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/exodus/34.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/exodus/34.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>Take heed to thyself,.... This is said not to Moses, but to the people of Israel, as a caution to them when they should enter the land of Canaan, and possess it: <p>lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest: enter into a league and alliance, to live friendly and amicably, and support and assist each other against the common enemy; whereas they were to smite the seven nations and destroy them, and show them no mercy, <a href="/deuteronomy/7-1.htm">Deuteronomy 7:1</a>. <p>lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee; be the means of drawing them into the same sinful practices with themselves, especially into idolatrous ones, and so of bringing ruin and destruction on them. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/exodus/34.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a <span class="cverse3">{c}</span> snare in the midst of thee:</span><p>(c) If you follow their wickedness, and pollute yourself with their idolatry.</div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/exodus/34.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">12</span>. <span class="ital">Take heed to thyself</span>] Also a phrase common in Dt. (<a href="/deuteronomy/4-9.htm" title="Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life: but teach them your sons, and your sons' sons;">Deuteronomy 4:9</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/4-23.htm" title="Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD your God has forbidden you.">Deuteronomy 4:23</a>, <a href="/deuteronomy/6-12.htm" title="Then beware lest you forget the LORD, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.">Deuteronomy 6:12</a> Heb., <a href="/deuteronomy/8-11.htm" title="Beware that you forget not the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command you this day:">Deuteronomy 8:11</a> Heb., <a href="/deuteronomy/11-16.htm" title="Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;">Deuteronomy 11:16</a> <span class="ital">al.</span>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">lest thou make</span>, &c.] Cf. <a href="/exodus/23-32.htm" title="You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.">Exodus 23:32</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">a snare</span>] i.e. an allurement to ruin: cf. <a href="/exodus/23-33.htm" title="They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me: for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.">Exodus 23:33</a> b with the note.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/exodus/34.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Take</span> <span class="cmt_word">heed to thyself lest thou make a covenant</span>. See above, <a href="/exodus/23-32.htm">Exodus 23:32</a> <span class="cmt_word">A snare</span>. See <a href="/exodus/23-33.htm">Exodus 23:33</a>. Exodus 34:12<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/exodus/34.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>To recall the duties of the covenant once more to the minds of the people, the Lord repeats from among the rights of Israel, upon the basis of which the covenant had been established (ch. 21-23), two of the leading points which determined the attitude of the nation towards Him, and which constituted, as it were, the main pillars that were to support the covenant about to be renewed. These were, first, the warning against every kind of league with the Canaanites, who were to be driven out before the Israelites (<a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/34-11.htm">Exodus 34:11-16</a>); and, secondly, the instructions concerning the true worship of Jehovah (<a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/34-17.htm">Exodus 34:17-26</a>). The warning against friendship with the idolatrous Canaanites (<a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/34-11.htm">Exodus 34:11-16</a>) is more fully developed and more strongly enforced than in <a href="/exodus/23-23.htm">Exodus 23:23</a>. The Israelites, when received into the covenant with Jehovah, were not only to beware of forming any covenant with the inhabitants of Canaan (cf. <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/23-32.htm">Exodus 23:32-33</a>), but were to destroy all the signs of their idolatrous worship, such as altars, monuments (see <a href="/exodus/23-24.htm">Exodus 23:24</a>), and asherim, the idols of Astarte, the Canaanitish goddess of nature, which consisted for the most part of wooden pillars (see my Comm. on <a href="/1_kings/14-23.htm">1 Kings 14:23</a>), and to worship no other god, because Jehovah was called jealous, i.e., had revealed Himself as jealous (see at <a href="/exodus/20-5.htm">Exodus 20:5</a>), and was a jealous God. This was commanded, that the Israelites might not suffer themselves to be led astray by such an alliance; to go a whoring after their gods, and sacrifice to them, to take part in their sacrificial festivals, or to marry their sons to the daughters of the Canaanites, by whom they would be persuaded to join in the worship of idols. The use of the expression "go a whoring" in a spiritual sense, in relation to idolatry, is to be accounted for on the ground, that the religious fellowship of Israel with Jehovah was a covenant resembling the marriage tie; and we meet with it for the first time, here, immediately after the formation of this covenant between Israel and Jehovah. The phrase is all the more expressive on account of the literal prostitution that was frequently associated with the worship of Baal and Astarte (cf. <a href="/leviticus/17-7.htm">Leviticus 17:7</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/leviticus/20-5.htm">Leviticus 20:5-6</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/14-33.htm">Numbers 14:33</a>, etc.). We may see from <a href="/numbers/25-1.htm">Numbers 25:1</a>. how Israel was led astray by this temptation in the wilderness. <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/exodus/34-12.htm">Exodus 34:12 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-728x90-ATF --> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-300x250-ATF --> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-728x90-BTF --> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-300x250-BTF --> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-728x90-BTF2 --> <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../exodus/34-11.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Exodus 34:11"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Exodus 34:11" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../exodus/34-13.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Exodus 34:13"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Exodus 34:13" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>