Deuteronomy 12:1 ¶ These are
the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the
LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live
upon the earth. 2 Ye shall utterly
destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their
gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
3 And ye shall overthrow their altars,
and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down
the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that
place. 4 Ye shall not do so unto the
LORD your God.
The Israelites are commanded to destroy the places of worship for
the heathen gods in Canaan. There was to be nothing left behind of that worship
of devils. Remember the command in Numbers and my comments on it.
“Numbers 33:50 ¶ And the
LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho,
saying, 51 Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
52 Then ye shall drive out all the
inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and
destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
Verse 52
reminds us of the way images and idols were worshipped as the Hebrews are
ordered to destroy the pictures of the Canaanites, defined by association as
molten images of their gods. See other usages of pictures, of course, not
referring to photographs or a child’s watercolor painting, or other relatively
modern things like a Rembrandt painting unless you are going to worship those
things as gods. Do not dumb down the commandments of God just because you don’t
like modern art. Fundamentalists do the same thing with persecution in the New
Testament when while those people were facing torture and death you gripe
because your boss won’t let you put up Leviticus 20:13 in your office booth.
Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly
spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Isaiah 2:16 And upon all
the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.”
The heathen
Canaanites worshipped their gods in high places on the tops of hills and
mountains and under trees and in groves of trees and Israel was seduced into
doing so also.
1Kings 14:22 And Judah did
evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their
sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built them high places, and
images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
Jeremiah 3:6 The LORD said
also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which
backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under
every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
There were
revivals, as in Hezekiah’s time, of sorts where right-minded Israelites
destroyed the work of heathenized Israelites.
2Chronicles 31:1 Now when
all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of
Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down
the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also
and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children
of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
That, of course,
does not justify you in burning down a Catholic church, a Jewish synagogue, or
a Muslim Mosque. To think that shows a total lack of understanding of who
Christians are as compared to who the ancient Israelites were. The weapons of
our warfare do not involve physical destruction on our part.
2Corinthians 10:1 ¶ Now I
Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in
presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: 2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold
when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against
some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds;) 5 Casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
The last part of that passage is about church discipline not your
going out into the world with a torch to burn down every church whose doctrine
you do not accept.
Regarding verse 4, I
think Matthew Henry explained it most clearly in his commentary which is free
online.
You shall not do so to
the Lord your God, that is, ‘you must not think to do honour to him
by offering sacrifices on mountains and hills, erecting pillars, planting
groves, and setting up images; no, you must not indulge a luxurious fancy in
your worship, nor think that whatever pleases that will please God: he
is above all gods, and will not be worshipped as other gods are.’
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