Driving out those in Canaan

The plan was:

Exodus 23:

27 “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.

But then the Israelites rebelled when they sent the 12 spies into the land, and so they had to spend time (40 years) in the wilderness before they could enter the land.

jackflash101 said:

I wonder if God would have allowed the Canaanites, Jebusites, etc. to just up and leave, being forced out of the promised land. Or if the Israelites were specifically instructed to wipe them out....since God promises, in Exodus, to "drive them out" before you, as He was instructing Moses.

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I think they were wiped out as punishment for their sins. I dont know if they were also wiped out to give room for the Israelites.

It appears that all the land promised and given to Israel required any dwellers there to leave; however, if they were ungodly souls and/or fought against Israel, they were to be destroyed. God is always just and justice requires judgments.

We know also that God always knows the end from the beginning, and that is the thought of "election". God elects in every age those who He foreknows will honor and bow to Him, and preserves (predestinates) them as "chosen" for life and blessings. Many souls are allowed and blessed to live in this world to have liberty to choose God, I see. He will ALWAYS do the right thing and we should NEVER attribute evil or unjust ways to God.

"But then the Israelites rebelled when they sent the 12 spies into the land, and so they had to spend time (40 years) in the wilderness before they could enter the land."

Sorry, I mis-spoke, the Israelites rebelled after they sent the 12 spies, they did not rebel by sending the 12 spies. I know it might be a "noticim triviatim" yet as I think about the OP sometimes responding to the will of God positively without "putting it off" can be the least painful option. Just a thought.