23:3 a poor man. Although believers are frequently exhorted to help the poor (e.g., I John 3:17), they are not to be favored judicially in a dispute merely because they are poor; justice is to be applied without any regard to the wealth or the poverty of the disputants.

23:12 may rest. Not only was the sabbath rest “made for man” (Mark 2:27), but even for the animals!

23:20 Angel before thee. This guiding Angel had also been with their father Israel (Genesis 48:16) and would now lead his children. That He was actually God Himself (that is, the Second Person of the Triune God, in a preincarnate theophany) is evident from the fact that He had the ability to pardon transgressions (Exodus 23:21).

23:23 the Jebusites. These tribes were evidently all descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Note Genesis 10:15-18; 15:18-21.

23:28 hornets. The Palestinian hornet, or wasp, was a vicious stinging insect, but it might seem unlikely that swarms of literal hornets could really drive the Canaanites out of the land. On the other hand, Joshua 24:12 says that hornets sent by God did drive out the kings of the Amorites. Some have suggested that the term “hornets” was a symbolic name for the Egyptian armies, but there is no evidence that the Egyptians drove out the Amorites, either. In actuality this was done by the Israelites themselves, under Moses and Joshua. The probable implication is that the Amorite and Canaanite armies had, indeed, been attacked by swarms of these stinging insects for some years before the Israelites reached them, thus becoming so traumatized and demoralized that they could not offer adequate resistance when the Israelites finally attacked.