Numbers 33:50

And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Numbers 33:50-52. Ye shall drive out all the inhabitants — They were to be entirely rooted out, that the Israelites might not be seduced by their abominable idolatries, Exodus 23:33; Deuteronomy 20:16-18. And destroy all their pictures — Which seem to have been stones curiously engraven and set up for worship, Deuteronomy 16:22. Destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places — The chapels, altars, groves, or other means of worship here set up.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:50-56 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Exodus 26:53-55. But the solemn warning of Numbers 33:55-56 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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

50-53. ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you—not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (De 7:1).

and destroy all their pictures—obelisks for idolatrous worship (see on [106]Le 26:1).

and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places—by metonymy for all their groves and altars, and materials of worship on the tops of hills.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho,.... See Gill on Numbers 33:48; see Gill on Numbers 22:1,

saying; as follows.

Geneva Study Bible

And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

50–56. 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 Numbers 33:54 is an insertion by a writer of the P school. It deals with the division of the land by lot, and is expressed in the language and redundant style of P . It should be compared with Numbers 26:52-56.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 50. - And the Lord spake. It is quite obvious that a new section begins here, closely connected, not with the Itinerary which precedes it, but with the delimitation which follows. The formula which introduces the present command is repeated in Numbers 35:1, and again in the last verse of chapter 36, thus giving a character of its own to this concluding portion of the Book, and to some extent isolating it from the rest. Numbers 33:50

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

These instructions, with which the eyes of the Israelites were directed to the end of all their wandering, viz., the possession of the promised land, are arranged in two sections by longer introductory formulas (Numbers 33:50 and Numbers 35:1). The former contains the divine commands (a) with regard to the extermination of the Canaanites and their idolatry, and the division of the land among the tribes of Israel (Numbers 33:50-56); (b) concerning the boundaries of Canaan (Numbers 34:1-15); (c) concerning the men who were to divide the land (Numbers 34:16-29). The second contains commands (a) respecting the towns to be given up to the Levites (Numbers 35:1-8); (b) as to the setting apart of cities of refuge for unintentional manslayers, and the course to be adopted in relation to such manslayers (Numbers 35:9-34); and (c) a law concerning the marrying of heiresses within their own tribes (Numbers 36:1-13). - The careful dovetailing of all these legal regulations by separate introductory formulas, is a distinct proof that the section Numbers 33:50-56 is not to be regarded, as Baumgarten, Knobel, and others suppose, in accordance with the traditional division of the chapters, as an appendix or admonitory conclusion to the list of stations, but as the general legal foundation for the more minute instructions in Numbers 34-36.

Numbers 33:50-56

Command to Exterminate the Canaanites, and Divide their Land among the Families of Israel.