Numbers 33:50

_AND THEY REMOVED FROM DIBONGAD, AND ENCAMPED IN ALMON-DIBLATHA'IM._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

50._And the Lord spake unto Moses. _The end and design of God in willing that these nations should be expelled, I have elsewhere explained, (226) viz, lest they should adulterate the pure worship of God by their admixtures, should corrupt the people by their bad examples, and thus be pollutions to the Holy Land. But Moses now refers to another point, for, when about to speak of the division of the land, he begins by saying that it must be emptied of its inhabitants, that its free and full enjoyment may remain for the children of Israel. We must remark the connection here, for else this passage would have been a supplement of the First Commandment, to which I have indeed appended the latter part of the verse: but, since God declares connectedly, “Ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein, for I have given you the land to possess it,” it would have been absurd that...

50-56 Now that they were to pass over Jordan, they were entering again into temptation to follow idols; and they are threatened that, if they spared either the idols or the idolaters, their sin would certainly be their punishment. They would foster vipers in their own bosoms. The remnant of the Canaanites, if they made any peace with them, though but for a time, would be pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides. We must expect trouble and affliction from whatever sin we indulge; that which we are willing should tempt us, will vex us. It was intended that the Canaanites should be put out of the land; but if the Israelites learned their wicked ways, they also would be put out. Let us hear this and fear. If we do not drive out sin, sin will drive us out. If we are not the death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our souls....

The expulsion of the Canaanites and the destruction of their monuments of idolatry had been already enjoined (see the marginal references); and Numbers 33:54 is substantially a repetition from Exo. 26:53-55. But the solemn warning of Numbers 33:55 is new. A call for it had been furnished by their past transgressions in the matter of Baal-peor, and by their imperfect fulfillment, at the first, of Moses’ orders in the Midianite war....

AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB BY JORDAN, NEAR JERICHO,.... Numbers 33:48, Numbers 22:1, SAYING; as follows....

10. INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE CONQUEST AND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE LAND Chapter S 33:50-34 _ 1. Command to drive out the inhabitants of the land (Numbers 33:50)_ 2. The division of the land (Numbers 34:1) 3. The names of the men who shall divide the land (Numbers 34:16) The extermination of the Canaanites is first of all demanded. Everything of idolatry was to be destroyed. The land was to belong to a holy people who belong to Jehovah, therefore the Canaanite with his abominations had to be driven out of the land. “If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, those that ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and shal

A COMMAND TO DESTROY THE OBJECTS OF CANAANITE WORSHIP. The substance of this is given also in Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 12:2 f. With Numbers 33:55 _cf._ Joshua 23:13; Judges 2:3. NUMBERS 33:52. FIGURED STONES: stones covered with idolatrous emblems HIGH PLACES: since these could be demolished, the expression must here mean not natural heights ...

_Commands with regard to the settlement in Canaan_. With the exception of Numbers 33:54 the passage is derived from D. In it is enjoined the destruction of the Canaanite objects of worship, a command which is peculiarly characteristic of Deuteronomic portions of the Pentateuch; cf. Exodus 23:24; Exodus 23:31-33; Exodus 34:11-16; Deuteronomy 7:1-6; Deuteronomy 12:2 f. On the other hand...

THE LORD SPAKE—YE SHALL DRIVE OUT— i.e. Entirely root out and destroy the inhabitants, for their idolatry and abominable vices, Exodus 23:33.Deuteronomy 20:16; Deuteronomy 20:20. As they were shortly to pass into the promised land, God commands Moses to give the Israelites a general but strict notice, how they should treat the inhabitants of that land, as the instruments of his just providence in the punishment of their long and incurable course of wickedness; and for preventing themselves from being tainted and misled, by their vicious example, into any superstitious practices. See this command, delivered by Moses, Deuter

VI. FINAL INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING THE SETTLEMENT OF CANAAN (NUMBERS 33:50-56; NUMBERS 34; NUMBERS 35; NUMBERS 36) A. ON CLEARING THE LAND (Numbers 33:50-56) TEXT Numbers 33:50. And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, 51. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; 52. Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and dest