The expulsion of the Canaanites and the destruction of their monuments of idolatry had been already enjoined (see the marginal references); and Numbers 33:54 is substantially a repetition from Exodus 26:53-55. But the solemn warning of Numbers 33:55-56 is new. A call for it had been furnished by their past transgressions in the matter of Baal-peor, and by their imperfect fulfillment, at the first, of Moses' orders in the Midianite war.

And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho,.... See Gill on Numbers 33:48; see Gill on Numbers 22:1,

saying; as follows.

These instructions, with which the eyes of the Israelites were directed to the end of all their wandering, viz., the possession of the promised land, are arranged in two sections by longer introductory formulas (Numbers 33:50 and Numbers 35:1). The former contains the divine commands (a) with regard to the extermination of the Canaanites and their idolatry, and the division of the land among the tribes of Israel (Numbers 33:50-56); (b) concerning the boundaries of Canaan (Numbers 34:1-15); (c) concerning the men who were to divide the land (Numbers 34:16-29). The second contains commands (a) respecting the towns to be given up to the Levites (Numbers 35:1-8); (b) as to the setting apart of cities of refuge for unintentional manslayers, and the course to be adopted in relation to such manslayers (Numbers 35:9-34); and (c) a law concerning the marrying of heiresses within their own tribes (Numbers 36:1-13). - The careful dovetailing of all these legal regulations by separate introductory formulas, is a distinct proof that the section Numbers 33:50-56 is not to be regarded, as Baumgarten, Knobel, and others suppose, in accordance with the traditional division of the chapters, as an appendix or admonitory conclusion to the list of stations, but as the general legal foundation for the more minute instructions in Numbers 34-36.

Numbers 33:50-56

Command to Exterminate the Canaanites, and Divide their Land among the Families of Israel.

And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,

50-53. ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you-not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (De 7:1).

and destroy all their pictures-obelisks for idolatrous worship (see on [106]Le 26:1).

and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places-by metonymy for all their groves and altars, and materials of worship on the tops of hills.

33:50-56 Now that they were to pass over Jordan, they were entering again into temptation to follow idols; and they are threatened that, if they spared either the idols or the idolaters, their sin would certainly be their punishment. They would foster vipers in their own bosoms. The remnant of the Canaanites, if they made any peace with them, though but for a time, would be pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides. We must expect trouble and affliction from whatever sin we indulge; that which we are willing should tempt us, will vex us. It was intended that the Canaanites should be put out of the land; but if the Israelites learned their wicked ways, they also would be put out. Let us hear this and fear. If we do not drive out sin, sin will drive us out. If we are not the death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our souls.