What does God command Israel to do with the inhabitants of the land in Exodus 23:31-32?
God commands Israel to drive the inhabitants of the land out before them and to make no covenant with them. He does not permit those peoples to dwell in the land, lest they cause Israel to sin against Him. This is part of His promise to deliver those inhabitants into their hand.
Les teaches from this passage that God would not drive the inhabitants out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the beasts of the field would multiply against Israel. Instead, He would drive them out little by little until Israel increased and inherited the land. God promised boundaries from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, from the desert to the Euphrates River. He would deliver the inhabitants into Israel’s hand, and Israel was to drive them out and make no covenant with them, so they would not dwell in the land and cause Israel to sin against Him.
And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.