But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
Thus shall ye deal with them. It is deserving of notice that Moses, in enjoining the destruction of all the appendages of idolatry, does not specify their sacred edifices. Temples built of solid materials are met with at a later period of Jewish history. In the age of Moses the houses of the pagan deities were only groves-sequestered places formed by an enclosure of trees-consecrated ground, such as the Greeks called temenos.
And break down their images, х uwmatseebotaam (H4676) tªshabeeruw (H7665)] - ye shall shiver their upright statues. [Septuagint, tas steelas].
And cut down their groves, х wa-'Asheeyreehem (H842) tªgadee`uwn (H1438)] - ye shall hew down their asherahs, either the symbol of Ashtoreth (Astarte) a wooden erection of great height fixed in the ground (Deuteronomy 16:21; (Gesenius, sub voce; Selden 'De Diis Syris,' 2:2; Spencer, 'De Leg. Hebraeor.,' 1. 2:, 16) [Septuagint, ta alsee], or cippi, wooden columns consecrated to Baal (see the note at Exodus 34:13).
And burn their graven images with fire, х uwpciyleeyhem (H6456)] - their carved images (see the note at Exodus 20:4). [Septuagint, ta glupta.] The removal of the temples, altars, and everything that had been enlisted in the service, or might tend to perpetuate the remembrance, of Canaanite idolatry, was likewise highly expedient for preserving the Israelites from all risk of contamination. It was imitated by our Scottish reformers; and although many ardent lovers of architecture and the fine arts have anathematized their proceedings as vandalism, yet there was profound wisdom in the favourite maxim of Knox-`Pull down the nests, and the rooks will disappear.'