Leviticus 26:30

30 I shall destroy your high things, and I shall break your simulacra (I shall destroy your high places, or your hill shrines, and I shall break your idols); ye shall fall betwixt the fallings of your idols, and my soul shall have you abominable,

Leviticus 26:30 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 26:30

And I will destroy your high places
Which Jarchi interprets of towers and palaces; but Aben Ezra of the place of sacrifices; for on high places, hills and mountains, they used to build altars, and there offer sacrifices, in imitation of the Heathens; (See Gill on Ezekiel 6:13); and cut down your images;
called Chammanim, either from Ham, the son of Noah, the first introducer of idolatrous worship after the flood, as some have thought; or from Jupiter Ammon, worshipped in Egypt, from whence the Jews might have these images; or rather from Chammah, the sun, so called from its heat; so Jarchi says, there were a sort of idols placed on the roofs of houses, and because they were set in the sun, they were called by this name; and Kimchi F19 observes they were made of wood, and made by the worshippers of the sun, see ( 2 Kings 23:11 ) ; but Aben Ezra is of opinion that these were temples built for the worship of the sun, which is the most early sort of idolatry that appeared in the world, to which Job may be thought to refer, ( Job 31:26 Job 31:27 ) . Some take these to be the (puraiyeia) , or "fire hearths", which Strabo F20 described as large enclosures, in the midst of which was an altar, where the (Persian) Magi kept their fire that never went out, which was an emblem of the sun they worshipped; and these, he says, were in the temples of Anaitis and Omanus, and where the statue of the latter was in great pomp; which idol seems to have its name from the word in the text; and these are fitly added to the high places, because on such, as Herodotus F21 says, the Persians used to worship: and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols;
or "dunghill gods" F23; such as the beetle, the Egyptians worshipped, signifying that they and their idols should be destroyed together: and my soul shall abhor you;
the reverse of ( Leviticus 26:6 ) ; and by comparing it with that, this may signify the removal of the divine Presence from them, as a token of his abhorrence of them; and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 Sepher Shorash. rad. (Mmx) & (Nmx) .
F20 Geograph. l. 15. p. 504.
F21 Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 131.
F23 (Mkylwlg) "stercoreorum deorum vestrorum", Junius & Trernellius, Piscator, Drusius.

Leviticus 26:30 In-Context

28 and I shall go against you in contrary strong vengeance, and I shall chastise you by seven vengeances for your sins, (then I also shall be contrary, and go against you with strong vengeance, and I shall chastise you seven times for your sins,)
29 so that ye (shall) eat the flesh of your sons, and of your daughters;
30 I shall destroy your high things, and I shall break your simulacra (I shall destroy your high places, or your hill shrines, and I shall break your idols); ye shall fall betwixt the fallings of your idols, and my soul shall have you abominable,
31 in so much that I shall turn your cities into wilderness, and make your saintuaries forsaken, neither I shall receive more the sweetest odour; (in so much that I shall turn your cities into wilderness, and make your sanctuaries forsaken, nor shall I receive from you any more the sweetest aroma;)
32 and I shall destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished thereon, when they shall be dwellers thereof; (and I shall destroy your land, and your enemies, when they become its inhabitants, shall be astonished at what hath happened there;)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.