Exodus 23:22
But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
God sent His Son before Israel as the unseen Leader in cloud and fire to guide and guard them into the place He had prepared. That Leader bears God's name and speaks with God's authority, so His voice must be fully obeyed without defiance. If they indeed listened and did all God commanded, He pledged to oppose their opposers, keep them in the way, fight for them with heaven's armies, and bring them safely into the land to cut off its idolatrous nations. In giving those detailed statutes He did not set aside the law but spelled out love to God and love to neighbor contained in the commandments given from Sinai. The same Guide still leads His people today, so faithfulness brings protection and blessing while distrust, complaint, and rebellion bring affliction and ruin.
Angel and Promised Protection
The Angel sent ahead of Israel is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the invisible Leader who went before Moses and the people from Egypt to Sinai and through the wilderness to guide, guard, lead and protect them into the prepared place. He led the travels of the children of Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire, extending His care and guardianship over the church in the wilderness toward the land and bringing judgment on its inhabitants as they entered Canaan.
He bears God's name and speaks with God's authority as God's agent in revealing His will, and therefore He must be obeyed without provocation, for He will not pardon transgression. His voice spoke the law from Sinai when He conducted Israel from Egypt to Sinai, and He stands between sinful people and God as Advocate with the Father, claiming erring Israel as purchased by His own blood, though Israel in terror did not discern Him nor recognize His voice.
God's opposition to Israel's enemies is strictly conditional on indeed obeying the Angel's voice and doing all that God speaks, a condition belonging to His covenant with Israel as the church in the wilderness redeemed from Egypt. Obedience to His commandments is the condition for His promised favor and blessing, and the same condition applies to those who seek His reward.
When the condition is met God pledges to be an enemy to enemies and an adversary to adversaries, to keep Israel in the way, bring them safely into the promised land, go before them and fight for them. The armies of heaven would fight their battles, and hornets would be sent to drive out the inhabitants of the land. While they remained faithful they would not know defeat, for their safety and victory depended on obeying His voice and doing what He commanded.
The promise was given on the mount as part of the instruction in Exodus 19-24 after the law was proclaimed from Sinai and after Israel pledged to do all God said and be obedient. Moses was told to explain the law more fully so the people would have no excuse for disobeying its precepts, and that instruction must be presented before the people now just as verily as the children of Israel needed it in the days of Moses.
The promise pointed to bringing Israel to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites and Jebusites to cut them off. It required serving the Lord alone and rejecting idolatry by not bowing to their gods nor serving them nor following their works but utterly overthrowing them and breaking down their images, with service bringing blessing on bread and water and removal of sickness from among them. The first advance into Canaan would have been easier because enemies were then less alert and less prepared to resist.
Law and Continuing Covenant
The angel sent before Israel to keep them in the way and bring them into the prepared place was Christ Himself, who went before Moses and guided the travels of the children of Israel in the wilderness. His voice was to be obeyed without provocation, for He would not pardon transgression because God's name was in Him and He bore God's authority to require obedience. Obedience to His voice and doing all that God speaks carried the promise that God would be an enemy to enemies and an adversary to adversaries. This proves Jesus did not supplant the law or detract from its dignity or lessen its claims. He Himself gave Moses the ceremonies and ordinances of the Jewish law and the particular precepts to be repeated to the people, and His teachings and miracles and works were in strict accordance with both the moral and the ceremonial law.
Those particular precepts make the principles of morality and religion more clear by spelling out in detail the duty of man to God embraced in the first four commandments and the duty of man to his fellow man embraced in the last six. Together they express the two great principles of love to God and love to neighbor dating back to creation. These specific statutes protect life and guard God's sacred moral law so it would not be entirely forgotten in the midst of an apostate world. Rebellion against that law and authority brought destruction, and the honor of being conducted by God's Son increased Israel's sin.
The promise was given after Israel pledged at Mount Sinai to do all God said and be obedient, making God's opposition to their enemies strictly conditional on loyalty and obedience to the voice of the Angel and to all He spoke. In return God would bring them safely into the promised land and prosper them above all nations. The promise held true during the forty years of wilderness wandering, when those who were obedient received the promised blessings. The covenant is still in force, so through obedience people can still receive heaven's richest blessings.
Faithfulness and Present Application
The same Christ who led Israel through the wilderness still leads His people today, showing them where to labor and how to carry the work forward, even to giving the warning to Washington as the capital of the nation. Those joined to His work are to thank Him for His guidance and to show confidence in His keeping power. They are to remember that they are children of God and to live out the principles of truth in both word and deed.
The promise guards human dealings against injustice and directs how people are to treat one another, calling for all contention to cease and for loving as brethren with softened and subdued hearts. It requires cutting away from life all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, using privileges and all that God gives to glorify Him, and being on guard to rebuke every evil course. Professed children of God who do what He forbids aid the cause of the enemy and encourage the ungodly to continue in evil. Israel's later turn to idolatry after agreeing to obey stands as proof of the danger of breaking that commitment, for obedience to the commandments remains the condition of promised favor for all who seek His reward.
While Israel remained faithful God fought for them and they would know no defeat. The Angel who went before them sought to save them from destruction, so that if they responded to God's intervention and turned from rebellion they could be saved. When they failed to trust and obey, their complaints exposed unbelief and God permitted affliction to come upon them, as with the serpents in the wilderness. Disobedience and refusal to receive God's word instead brought ruin, even to the destruction of Jerusalem. Rebellion against that law and authority brought destruction, made greater by the honor of being conducted by God's own Son.