23:28 hornets. The Palestinian hornet, or wasp, was a vicious stinging insect, but it might seem unlikely that swarms of literal hornets could really drive the Canaanites out of the land. On the other hand, Joshua 24:12 says that hornets sent by God did drive out the kings of the Amorites. Some have suggested that the term “hornets” was a symbolic name for the Egyptian armies, but there is no evidence that the Egyptians drove out the Amorites, either. In actuality this was done by the Israelites themselves, under Moses and Joshua. The probable implication is that the Amorite and Canaanite armies had, indeed, been attacked by swarms of these stinging insects for some years before the Israelites reached them, thus becoming so traumatized and demoralized that they could not offer adequate resistance when the Israelites finally attacked.