Numbers 33:50-53

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 33:50-56

While the children of Israel were in the wilderness their total separation from all other people kept them out of the way of temptation to idolatry, and perhaps this was one thing intended by their long confinement in the wilderness, that thereby the idols of Egypt might be forgotten, and the people aired (as it were) and purified from that infection, and the generation that entered Canaan might be such as never knew those depths of Satan. But now that they were to pass over Jordan they were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 33:50

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. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 33:51

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them ,.... What was to be said, being what concerned the whole body of the people: when ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan ; near to which they now were, and Moses was about to leave them; and therefore it was the more necessary to give them some instructions and directions what they should do, when they were come into it. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 33:52

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 33:53

And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein ,.... Turn them out of their cities, towns, and houses, and inhabit them: for I have given you the land to possess it ; who had a right to dispose of it, and a better title they needed not desire than the Lord could and did make them. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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 מסכתם צלמי tsalmey massechotham , metallic talismanical figures, made under certain constellations, and supposed in consequence to be possessed of some extraordinary influences and virtues. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 33:50

Verse 50 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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Numbers 33:50

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 Numbers 36:1-13 , thus giving a character of its own to this concluding portion of the Book, and to some extent isolating it from the rest. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Numbers 33:51

When ye are passed over Jordan. Previous legislation had anticipated the time when they should have come into their own land (cf. Numbers 15:2 ; Le Numbers 23:10 ), but now the crossing of the river is spoken of as the last step on their journey home. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Numbers 33:52

Ye shall drive out. The Hebrew word (from יָרַשׁ ) is the same which is translated "dispossess" in the next verse. The Septuagint has in both eases ἀπολεῖτε , supplying (like the A.V.) the word "inhabitants" in Numbers 33:53 . 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... read more

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