Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall dispossess have served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree;
Moses tells Israel what to do the moment they cross into the land God is giving them. The first job is not building but demolishing. Why must every trace of another religion go — and what will God put in its place?
The command sounds harsh until you ask who owns the ground. Israel entered as tenants, not owners. One commentator meets the charge of intolerance head-on.
The land was Jehovah's. They were to hold it as tenants under Him. So their very first duty on taking possession was to demolish every trace of the old idolatry. This was essential. To human reason it might look very intolerant to treat other people's religion this way. We reply without any hesitation: Yes, it was intolerant. How could the one true and living God be anything but intolerant of all false gods and false worship? To suppose for a moment that He could permit the worship of idols in His land is to suppose that He could deny Himself. That is simply blasphemy.
The clean-up was to reach past the altars and shrines. There was a reason for going that far.
Israel existed as a nation to keep the pure worship of God alive among the idolatry all around them. So here, as a first necessity, He insists again on rooting idolatry completely out of the land. Every sign, every memorial of it, they were to destroy: the very names of the false gods were to be forgotten. Pagan worship had taken over the land. Hills, groves, everywhere had been stained by impure and cruel rites.
Why leave nothing? Because evil travels in only one direction between neighbours.
The chapter ends on the same note: idolatrous evil is very infectious, while spiritual good is not. Even in natural things you can see this principle. A good apple put among rotten ones will not take away any rottenness. But a rotten apple put among good ones will soon spread its rottenness.
The locations were not accidental. Height and shade worked on the worshipper's imagination — and that is the danger.
A high place was only a pagan habit. It played on the imagination with a worship in which the heart has no part. Men still try to satisfy themselves the same way, with music, architecture, drapery and that very typical "dim religious light," in which to worship a God who is Light itself, and in whom there is no darkness. Such things work on nature and produce a feeling that many mistake for the reality it lacks. So on the mountain tops a man could imagine himself nearer to God than in the valleys. The depths of groves and forests helped too. Along with the beauty of nature, they made him think he was nearer the God of nature than he really was.
Pulling down was only half the instruction. Israel could not keep the old sites and rename them for God. The choice of place was never theirs.
Their enemies had "places" where they "served their gods." For Israel there was to be only "the place that the Lord will choose." They were not to choose for themselves. The Lord was to choose for them. The place He chose was to be the place of "His habitation" (verse 5). In other words, His house would be there, His Name would be there, and there He was to be known.
Later history shows how far this reached. Even high places meant for the true God offended Him.
The time soon came, sadly, when Israel chose high places for themselves. Some of these were for idolatrous worship, and some for the worship of Jehovah. But all the high places offended Him, whatever the motives of those who set them up. They were the expression of self-will, of hearts not subject to His commandments.
The pull of hilltop and woodland has not gone away. One writer draws a line from these verses to a familiar claim today.
The nations served their idols in high places, in mountains and hills and in lovely wooded areas (v.2-3). In the same way, many people today tell us they need no gathering of saints to the name of the Lord Jesus to worship, but feel closer to God when they are outside enjoying the beauties of nature. Israel had to destroy this kind of worship completely: breaking down their pillars, burning their wooden images and cutting down their carved images. No trace of these things was to be left, for Israel was not to take up any such thing as part of their worship (v.4).
- Owner — The land was God's; Israel held it as tenants, and a tenant does not house rival gods on the owner's property.
- Erase — Pillars, images, groves and even the names of the gods were to go. Israel was to leave nothing that could be reused later.
- Why — Idolatry spreads like rot through a basket of fruit. The hills and groves worked on the imagination, making a man feel nearer to God than he was.
- Replace — God gave one place of His own choosing in place of man's many "places" — His house, His Name, and there He would be known.
- Warning — Even high places kept for the true God offended Him. Choosing the spot yourself is self-will.
and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place.
Moses is telling Israel how to live once they cross into Canaan, and the first job there is demolition, not building. Why treat another people's religion this way, and what were these objects?
The command makes sense once you see who owns the ground. One commentator meets the charge of intolerance head-on.
The land was Jehovah's. They were to hold it as tenants under Him. So their very first duty on entering it was to demolish every trace of the old idolatry. This was absolutely necessary. To human reason it might seem very intolerant to treat other people's religion this way. We answer without any hesitation: yes, it was intolerant. How could the one true and living God be anything but intolerant of all false gods and false worship? To suppose for a moment that He could allow the worship of idols in His land would be to suppose that He could deny Himself, which would be simple blasphemy.
The objects named have exact meanings. Start with the pillar.
The word comes from a root meaning "to set, put, place," so it means anything that is set up. It is used of the stone Jacob had for a pillow, which he set up and poured oil on. From Deuteronomy 12:3 it would appear that pillars of some sort were also connected with idolatry. These may resemble the cairns often found in what were idolatrous lands.
Next come the Asherim, which older translations call "groves."
The word "grove" suggests a row of trees, but that cannot be the meaning, since groves were set up "under every green tree." On the whole it seems most probable that they were wooden symbols of a goddess: images or pillars, or plain tree stems set in the earth. In 2 Kings 23:7 we read that women wove "hangings" for the groves, but the word is literally "houses" or "tents." That implies they enclosed the groves, probably for impure purposes, since immorality was almost always tied to idolatry.
The demolition reaches past the objects to the words themselves.
All signs, every memorial of it, they were to destroy: the very names of the false gods were to be forgotten. Pagan worship had taken over the land. Hills, groves, everywhere carried the filth of impure and cruel rites. God would call Israel's eyes away from all of this to the one place He had chosen. There Jehovah lived among them, with no visible image or likeness taken from anything He had made.
A single surviving relic would not stay harmless.
The chapter begins with the demand that they utterly destroy the nations then in the land, and uproot every trace of their idolatrous practices. It ends on the same note, since idolatrous evil is very infectious, while spiritual good is not. You can see the same principle in natural things. A good apple placed among rotten ones will not remove any rottenness, but a rotten apple placed among good ones will soon spread its rottenness. We must never forget this: as born of God we have a new nature, yet the old nature we inherit from Adam is still in us. If we do not judge it, it responds at once to all the evil in front of it.
Israel's own history proved the point. When the kingdom split, "Jeroboam disobeyed this, and the infection of it persisted through all the kings of the ten tribes, and hastened their captivity."
Verse 2 places this worship on mountains, hills, and under every green tree. One writer draws a line from there to a familiar modern instinct.
This was commonly done in high places, in mountains and hills and in lovely wooded areas. In the same way, many people today tell us they need no gathering of saints to the name of the Lord Jesus to worship. They feel closer to God when they are outside enjoying the beauties of nature. But Israel was to destroy this worship completely, breaking down their pillars, burning their wooden images and cutting down their carved images. No trace of these things was to be left.
Centuries later one king carried out this command without half measures.
Nowhere was idolatry ever rooted out so thoroughly as Josiah rooted it out across the whole land of Israel. He killed all the priests, burned their bones on their altars, and then destroyed the altars themselves, grinding them to powder. Such thoroughness God loves. The Corinthian believers were very slow to deal with wickedness in the church. Yet they were active in avenging their personal wrongs, even taking one another into the world's courts.
- Ownership. The land was God's, and Israel held it as tenants. Clearing out idolatry was their first duty, not an optional reform.
- Objects. Pillars were stones set up. The Asherim were wooden symbols of a goddess, tied to the immorality that went with idolatry.
- Names. Destruction went as far as memory: signs, memorials, and the very names of the false gods were to be forgotten.
- Infection. Evil spreads and good does not. One rotten apple spoils the good ones, never the reverse. So nothing could be left standing.
- Thoroughness. Josiah's complete clearance shows the standard God loves. Anything less leaves the old nature something to respond to.
Ye shall not do so unto Jehovah your God;
Chapter 12 orders Israel to destroy every place where the nations served their gods. Verse 4 then adds a line that is easy to skim past: God refuses that way of worship — so is sincerity enough, or does God set the terms?
The natural instinct is to keep the shrines and change the name over the door. One writer follows that thought to God's answer:
Israel had to destroy all the places where the nations had worshipped their gods. They were under a solemn duty to do it. But there was more than this. The heart might easily think of doing away with idolatry in those places and setting up the altar of the true God instead. That might seem the right thing to do. But God thought differently.
One writer hears a modern echo of this today:
This was commonly done in high places, in mountains and hills and in lovely wooded areas (v.2-3). In the same way, many people today tell us they need no gathering of saints to the name of the Lord Jesus to worship, but feel closer to God outside, enjoying the beauties of nature. Israel had to destroy this worship completely, breaking down their pillars, burning their wooden images and cutting down their carved images. Not a trace was to be left, for Israel was not to adopt any such thing as part of their worship (v.4).
Verse 5 puts God's own choice in place of the people's, and the chapter repeats that choice again and again. One writer draws the sharp conclusion:
God must and does choose for Himself — a simple but very important point (ver. 5, 11, 14, 18, 21, 26). Worship that people invent by their own will cannot be allowed. It ought to shock the Christian most of all. In merely human matters, nobody would think of choosing for another person. So what an awful delusion it is to choose for God — to let your own will rule in matters of religion!
Israel's offerings were voluntary; the place and the manner were not:
A person is not to decide his own ways as a worshipper. Willingness in worship is right; self-will destroys it all. They brought their offerings of their own free will (Lev. 1:3; 7:16), but they had to bring them as and where the Lord willed. It is the same with us. We are to worship "in spirit" — that is true — in the grace and liberty of the Holy Spirit He gives us. But we are to worship "in truth" also, according to God's revelation of Himself and of His worship.
Later generations built high places for the God of Israel, not for idols:
Human nature is no better in those who are near to God than in those who are far from Him. The time soon came, sadly, when Israel chose high places for themselves. Some were for idol worship, and some for the worship of the LORD. But all the high places offended Him, whatever the motives of those who set them up. They came from a self-will that invents its own ways, from hearts not subject to His commandments.
Commentators differ about the time before the temple stood. After the ark was lost, some high places did serve the true worship of God. One writer notes that God "in grace recognized the need and met with His people, though not according to the due order which He Himself had provided" (Samuel Ridout).
This instruction then dropped out of sight, even among the best men:
Turn to Deuteronomy 12 and read it. Notice three things in it. It commands worship in one place (Deut. 12:5-11). It strictly forbids setting up high places for the worship of the Lord their God (Deut. 12:4). It warns against doing what was right in their own eyes (Deut. 12:8, 32). Now follow their later history, from the Judges to the captivity. Notice how completely they seem to have forgotten that such a chapter even existed in the word — even the best men among them.
The place God chose then points to where He meets His people now:
Deuteronomy 12 also says they were to bring their offerings to the place where He would choose to set His name... But now God is known in the blessedness of His presence, where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus. There Jesus Himself has said He would be in the midst of them. Sweet encouragement for the feebleness of His people!
- Sincerity isn't the test. Israel could have kept the shrines and changed the name over them. God refuses the way the nations served their gods.
- God chooses. Verse 5 gives the alternative: a place God Himself selects. The chapter names that choice six times.
- Self-will, not just idols. High places built for the true God still offended Him. They came from hearts not subject to His commandments.
- Willing, not self-willed. Israel gave offerings freely, but gave them where and as the Lord willed. Worship is "in spirit" and "in truth."
- Forgotten, then costly. From the Judges to the captivity, even good men left this chapter unread. Today the centre is the name of Jesus, where two or three gather.