Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of
silver
Images made of solid silver, covered with rich and costly garments; or images covered and decorated with plates of silver; see ( Jeremiah 10:4 Jeremiah 10:8 ) these they not only pulled down and defaced, but defiled, to show their contempt and abhorrence of them: and the ornament of thy molten images of gold;
images made of solid gold, covered with an ephod, as the word here used signifies; such an one as the high priest wore, and Micah made for his house of idolatry, ( Exodus 28:6 ) ( Judges 17:5 ) : thou shall cast them away as a menstruous cloth;
which is not only filthy and loathsome, but defiling; whoever touched it were unclean by the law for a while; or as a woman in her monthly courses, who, during that time, was to be separate from her husband, ( Leviticus 15:19 ) ; this is used to express the pollution and nauseousness of idols, and of the utter rejection of them: thou shall say unto it, Get thee hence;
Kimchi observes that some say the word signifies "dung; thou shall say to it, thou art dung", and only fit for the dunghill, and to it thou shall go; at the same time cast it out, declaring abhorrence of idols, repentance for worshipping them, and signifying that they would have nothing more to do with them. This shows the efficacy of the word of God when it comes not in word only, but with the power and Spirit of God; it was fulfilled in some measure in Hezekiah's time; see ( 2 Kings 18:4 ) ( 2 Chronicles 29:16 ) ( 31:1 ) , and after the Babylonish captivity, when the Jews left off idolatry, and never more returned to it; and when the Gospel prevailed in the Roman Pagan empire, and at the time of the Reformation, and will be more largely accomplished when Popery shall be utterly destroyed through the powerful ministration of the Gospel.