Numbers 33:52

_THEN YE SHALL DRIVE OUT ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND FROM BEFORE YOU, AND DESTROY ALL THEIR PICTURES, AND DESTROY ALL THEIR MOLTEN IMAGES, AND QUITE PLUCK DOWN ALL THEIR HIGH PLACES:_ Ye shall drive out - not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (Deuteronomy 7:1). DESTROY ALL THEIR PICTURES - obelisks for idolatrous worship (see the note at Leviticus 26:1). MOLTEN IMAGES - by metonymy for all their groves and altars, and materials of worship on the tops of hills. QUITE PLUCK DOWN ALL THEIR HIGH PLACES, х_ TASHMIYDUW_ (H8045)] - abolish, demolish utterly (cf. Leviticus 26:30;...

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....

Verse Numbers 33:52. _YE SHALL - DESTROY ALL THEIR PICTURES_] משכיתם _maskiyotham_, from שחה _sachah_, to be _like_, or _resemble_, either _pictures, carved_ work, or _embroidery_, as far as these things were employed to exhibit the abominations of idolatry. _Molten images_ צלמי מסכתם tsalmey massechotham, metallic _talismanical figures_, made under certain constellations, and supposed in consequence to be possessed of some extraordinary influences and virtues....

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....

THEN YE SHALL DRIVE OUT ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND FROM BEFORE YOU,.... Not at once, but gradually; and the sense is, that they should use their utmost endeavours wholly to extirpate them: AND DESTROY ALL THEIR PICTURES; their idolatrous ones; the pictures of their gods, or the statues and figured stones of them: the Targum of Jonathan interprets it, "all the temples of their worship;'' and the Jerusalem Targum, "all their idols;'' so called, as Jarchi notes, because they covered the floor with a pavement of marble stones, to worship upon them by the stretching out of their hands and feet, according to Leviticus 26:1, AND DESTROY ALL THEIR MOLTEN IMAGES; of gold, silver, c. AND QUITE PLUCK DOWN ALL THEIR HIGH PLACES their temples, groves, and altars built upon them....

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 ...

DRIVE OUT. This was one of the great purposes for which the sword of Israel was raised up. Compare Deuteronomy 7:1; Deuteronomy 7:2.Exodus 23:33. App-23 and App-25....

_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