Numbers 33:52

Num 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:

Ver. 52. Destroy all the pictures.] Those Balaam’s blocks, those excellent instruments of idolatry; such as was the cross of Hailes, and Cockram cross, which, if it would not serve to make a god, yet with a pair of horns clapped on his head, might make an excellent devil, as the mayor of Doncaster persuaded the men of Cockram, who came to him to complain of the joiner that made it, and refused to pay him his money for the making of it. {a}

{a} Act. and Mon., 1340.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which were set up in their high places to worship.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(52) And destroy all their pictures.—The word which is here rendered “pictures” denotes “imagery,” or “engraved figures.” In Lev_26:1 the material named is stone—“a stone of imagery,” i.e., a stone which has been formed into an idol. (Comp. Exo_34:13, where, however, a different word is used for “ images.”)

All their high places.—Hebrew, bamoth. The reference here is probably to the altars which were frequently erected on the high places. (Comp. Num_22:41, where Balaam is brought by Balak “up into the high places of Baal.”)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

52. ye shall drive out] ye shall dispossess. The word הוֹריש in this sense is very frequent in Deut.

their figured stones] The literal meaning of the word seems to be ‘something to be looked at.’ It denotes the carved figures and symbols used in Canaanite idolatrous worship. Cf. Lev_26:1, Eze_8:12.

their high places] The Hebrews learnt from the Canaanites the practice of erecting altars and sanctuaries on hills and natural mounds, to which the technical term bâmôth was applied. But the word seems to have acquired a more general force, and to have been used for any sanctuaries, even in valleys and by the gates of cities (cf. Jer_7:31, 2Ki_23:8). In the present passage the word cannot refer to hills, for the Israelites are bidden to ‘demolish them.’ Some think that the bâmôth of later times may have been small artificial mounds, to represent the hills of the ancient worship; but there is no certain evidence of this.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pillars. Hebrew, stones placed on high "to be seen." Septuagint, "towers of the sentinels." Chaldean, "temples, where they adore their idols."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Ye shall drive out; not by banishing, but by destroying them, as it is explained, Deu 7:1,2, and elsewhere. Their pictures seem to have been stones curiously engraven, and set up for worship. See Deu 16:22.

Molten images. See Exo 23:24,32; Deu 7:5.

High places, i.e. by a metonymy, the chapels, altars, groves, or other means of worship there set up, for the hills themselves could not be destroyed by them. See Poole "Deu 12:2".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ye shall drive out. The Hebrew word (from vry) is the same which is translated "dispossess" in the next verse. The Septuagint has in both eases apoleite , supplying (like the A.V) the word "inhabitants" in verse 53. The Hebrew word, however, seems to have much the same sense as the English phrase "clear out," and is, therefore, equally applied to the land and the occupants of it. No doubt it implies extermination as a necessary condition of the clearance. Their pictures. Septuagint, ta , (their outlooks, or high places). The Targums of Onkelos and Palestine have "the houses of their worship;" the Targum of Jerusalem has "their idols." The same word occurs in Lev_26:1, in the phrase tyKicm bae, which is usually rendered "a stone image," i.e., a stone shaped into some likeness of man. If so, tyKicm by itself has probably the same meaning; at any rate it can hardly be "a picture," nor is there the least evidence that the art of painting was at all practiced among the rude tribes of" Canaan. The same word, maskith, is indeed found in Eze_8:12 in connection with "gravings" (from qqj; cf. Isa_22:16 Isa_49:18 with Eze_4:1 Eze_23:14) on a wall; but even this belonged to a very different age.

Their molten images, ymelx, "images cast of brass." Septuagint, ta eidwla ta coneuta . The word tselem is only elsewhere used in the Pentateuch for that "likeness" which is reproduced in Divine creation (Gen_1:26, 27 9:6) or in human generation; (Gen_5:3) in the later books, however (especially in Daniel), it is freely used for idols. On "massakah, see on Exo_32:4 Isa_30:22. Their high places See on Lev_26:30. The Septuagint translates Bamoth in both places by sthlai , and of course it was not the high places themselves, which were simply certain prominent elevations, but the monuments (of whatever kind) which superstition had erected upon them, which were to be plucked down. As a fact, it would seem that the Jews, instead of obeying this command, appropriated the Bamoth to their own religious uses. (cf. 1Sa_9:12 1Ki_3:2 Psa_78:58, &c.); The natural result was, as in all similar cases, that not only the Bamoth, but very many of the superstitions and idolatries connected with them, were taken over into the service of the Lord.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Drive out - Not by banishing, but by destroying them. Pictures - Which seem to have been stones curiously engraven, and set up for worship. High Places - Chapels, altars, groves, or other means of worship there set up.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

והורשתם means, AND YE SHALL DRIVE OUT.

משכיתם — Understand this as the Targum does: THEIR SPOTS FOR WORSHIP; it is called משכית (connected with the root סכך = סכה “to cover”), because they used to cover the ground with marble stone to prostrate themselves upon it with hands and feet stretched forth, as it is said, (Leviticus 26:1): “And no stone of משכית, covering (no mosaic) shall ye put on your ground to prostrate yourself upon it” (because this is a heathen form of worship).

מסכיתם — Understand this as the Targum does: their molten gods.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.