Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.
The warning was that if Israel failed to drive out the Canaanites, God would deal with Israel as He had intended to deal with them. Mingling with those who were left would estrange Israel from God and draw the people into following the same sinful course that had brought judgment upon the Canaanites. Israel obeyed only in part, and the affliction afterward caused by the remaining idolatrous people fulfilled the warning.
The warning was that if Israel failed to drive out the Canaanites, God would deal with Israel as He had intended to deal with them. Mingling with those who were left would estrange Israel from God and draw the people into following the same sinful course that had brought judgment upon the Canaanites. Israel obeyed only in part, and the affliction afterward caused by the remaining idolatrous people fulfilled the warning.