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Exodus promises that hornets will go in front of Israel to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan, but only little by little so the land does not fall into ruin. Wisdom of Solomon says that the gradual removal of enemies was to give them a chance to repent.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 23:28
Hebrew Bible
26 No woman will miscarry her young or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 “I will send my terror before you, and I will alarm all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 I will send hornets before you that will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you. 29 I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Wisdom of Solomon 12:8
Deuterocanon
6 allies in an impious fellowship, and murderers of their own helpless babes, it was your counsel to destroy by the hands of our fathers; 7 that the land which in your sight is most precious of all might receive a worthy colony of God’s servants. 8 Nevertheless you even spared these as men, and you sent hornets as forerunners of your army, to cause them to perish little by little. 9 Not that you were unable to subdue the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle, or by terrible beasts or by a stern word to make away with them at once, 10 but judging them little by little you gave them a chance to repent, not being ignorant that their nature by birth was evil, their wickedness inborn, and that their manner of thought would never be changed.
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Wisdom of Solomon 11:15-12:27 ... The digression which begins at 11:17 appears to have two aims. One is to develop further the disciplinary explanation for suffering adumbrated in verses 9–10 in the context of the theological problems presented by the belief in Israel’s election; the other is to explain certain features of the text of Exodus. Why were there ten plagues, gradually escalating in seriousness, and not one knockout blow of which God was certainly capable (verses 17–20)? Why does Exodus 23:28–30 say that God sent hornets/wasps in advance of the Israelite invasion of Canaan and then only gradually expelled the Canaanites (12:8)? One immediate explanation for the first nine of the ten plagues is the author’s sophisticated version of the lex talionis (11:16; reprised in 12:23), but the real answer is that God was allowing these nations the same opportunity for repentance as was given to Israel ..."
A. Peter Hayman, Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Wisdom of Solomon (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2019), 58–59.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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