http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5766/mishpatim.htmlSEUDOS SHLISHIS:
"I will send hornets ahead of you, which will drive out the Chivites, the Canaanites, and the Hitites, from before you. I will not drive them out before you in one year, which would make the land desolate, and cause the animals of the field to multiply against you." (Shemos 23:28-29)Imagine being taken out to dinner to an expensive restaurant and after a great meal, not having to pay for anything. Imagine going to a book store next, and the same friend buying you an expensive set of books, at no cost to you. Next, imagine that your friend has taken you to an expensive clothing store in order to buy you a new suit, as a gift. Now, imagine, after being overwhelmed by all the unexpected generosity, being asked by the same friend if you wouldn't mind sharing the cost of the gas!
"Huh?"
It would probably throw you for a loop, wouldn't it? I mean, after spending hundreds of dollars on you, you probably wouldn't mind chipping in your share of the transportation costs. But, why? It can't be because your friend can't afford to shoulder the burden of the traveling expenses, because he just spent hundreds of dollars on you without batting an eye. Obviously $15.00 for gas is no sweat off his nose.
"Ah . . . sure . . ." you say, confused, and not wanting to sound ungrateful.
Well, that was kind of what it was like for the Jewish people in this week's parshah. Egypt had been destroyed by ten plagues that did not physically involve a single Jew to make them happen. The sea was split for them, clearing a path to freedom where, under normal circumstances, they should have drowned. Hunger was solved with bread from Heaven, and clothing did not wear away.
Now, close to the border of Eretz Canaan, G-d has informed the newly freed Jewish nation of the upcoming miracle and military victory against nations far more powerful than they were. G-d Himself will wage the war, and drive out the corrupt Canaanite nations in a completely miraculous fashion.
"However," G-d says, "we're not going to do this too fast. You see," He continues, "if we do this too fast, then we'll have a technical problem. With all the people gone, wild animals will move into the cities, and you'll have to deal with them."
"Ah, right," we wonder to ourselves. "Ah, G-d, why don't you just tell the animals not to come? Or, just make them go away, You know, poof! . . . Kind of like the way you made the Egyptians go away . . . You're G-d! Can't You make the world do whatever you want it to?"
Of course He can. That's never the issue. The issue is, do we deserve such perfect miracles? Leave Egypt? We had to; G-d had promised Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov that we would. Get to Canaan? That too was part of the deal made with our Forefathers. However, how we got there and what we would have to contribute to take the land depended upon the people at the time. "I don't care how you get my son back here," the father tells his son's redeemer, "just as long as you get him back here in one piece, and alive."
Likewise, get to the Final Redemption? We must. But just how many technical details we will have to overcome along the way will depend upon the merit of the Jewish people at the moment of truth. Thus, even though THE moment of truth may not be far away, and great miracles may be occurring for us, still, we may have to deal with some "wild elements" along the way while taking the land, once and for all.