Deuteronomium 7:5

5 Maar alzo zult gij hun doen: hun altaren zult gij afwerpen, en hun opgerichte beelden verbreken, en hun bossen zult gij afhouwen, en hun gesnedene beelden met vuur verbranden.

Deuteronomium 7:5 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 7:5

But thus shall ye deal with them
The inhabitants of the land of Canaan:

ye shall destroy their altars;
on which they sacrificed to their idols:

and break down their images;
of their gods, and the statues and pillars erected to the honour of them:

and cut down their groves;
sacred to idols, which were usually planted on hills, and about Heathen temples, and under which idols were placed to be worshipped. The Targum of Jonathan calls them trees of their adoration, under which they worshipped; though there was a worship paid to them, not indeed directly to them, or for their sakes, but for the sake of the idols they were sacred to, or were placed under them; so Maimonides ^F5 says, a tree which at first was planted to be worshipped is forbidden of any use (or profit); and this is the (hrva) , or "grove", spoken of in the law, a tree planted and lopped, of which a graven image is made for an idol; and so the tree that has been worshipped, though the body of it is, not forbidden, all the shoots and leaves, and the branches, and the fruits it produces all the time it is worshipped, are forbidden to be used: though the word here used sometimes seems to signify, not a grove of trees, but some image itself, since we read of it in the temple, ( 2 Kings 21:7 ) ( 23:6 ) ,

and burn their graven images with fire;
distinguished from their molten images, which may be meant in a preceding clause, and which are particularly mentioned as to be destroyed as well as these, ( Numbers 33:52 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Hilchot Obede Cochabim, c. 8. sect. 3, 4. Vid. Misn. Avodah Zarah, c. 3. sect. 7.

Deuteronomium 7:5 In-Context

3 Gij zult u ook met hen niet vermaagschappen; gij zult uw dochters niet geven aan hun zonen, en hun dochters niet nemen voor uw zonen.

4 Want zij zouden uw zonen van Mij doen afwijken, dat zij andere goden zouden dienen; en de toorn des HEEREN zou tegen ulieden ontsteken, en u haast verdelgen.

5 Maar alzo zult gij hun doen: hun altaren zult gij afwerpen, en hun opgerichte beelden verbreken, en hun bossen zult gij afhouwen, en hun gesnedene beelden met vuur verbranden.

6 Want gij zijt een heilig volk den HEERE, uw God; u heeft de HEERE, uw God, verkoren, dat gij Hem tot een volk des eigendoms zoudt zijn uit alle volken, die op den aardbodem zijn.

7 De HEERE heeft geen lust tot u gehad, noch u verkoren, om uw veelheid boven alle andere volken; want gij waart het weinigste van alle volken.