Kommentar zu Bamidbar 33:52

והורשתם means, AND YE SHALL DRIVE OUT.

You shall oust. For if it was in the sense of inheritance, it should have said וירשתם ["you shall inherit"]. Alternatively if it meant inheritance, the Torah should not have said, “Before you” because the word “before you” is not appropriate for inheritance.

והורשתם את כל יושבי הארץ, "You are to drive out all the inhabitants of the land, etc." Even though the Torah says in Deut. 20, 16 that: "you must not allow a single soul (of these seven nations) to survive," in this instance the Torah does not speak of the seven Canaanite nations but about others who lived amongst them. This is the reason the Torah chose its words carefully, i.e. "all the ones who dwell in the land," that the Israelites were to drive out even those people who lived there who were not members of the seven nations.

V. 52. ”ירש“ .והורשתם — lautverwandt mit ”גרש“, vertreiben, wovon noch תירוש, der aus seiner Hülle getriebene Saft — heißt im קל: an jemandes Stelle Besitz nehmen, und hat zum Objekt sowohl den bisherigen Besitzer als dessen bisherigen Besitz, ein Gut erben und einen Besitzer beerben. So: Bereschit 15, 8 u. 3 במה אדע כי אירשנה בן ביתי יורש אותי. Im הפעיל heißt es einen solchen Besitzwechsel gewaltsam veranstalten, und zwar auch sowohl mit dem Besitzer, als dem Besitz als Objekt: והורשתם את יושבי הארץ und Vers 53: והורשתם את הארץ, die Bewohner aus dem Lande treiben und das Land aus dem Besitze der bisherigen Bewohner herausbringen, es von seinen Bewohnern säubern.

ואבדתם את כל צלמי משכיתם, “you are to destroy all their molten images.” According to Tanchuma 8 on this verse this is what is meant in Job 35,11 מלפנו מבהמות ארץ, “who gives us more knowledge than the beasts of the earth.” G–d told the Israelites to learn a lesson from Elijah at Mount Carmel who had asked the priests of the Baal to prepare one bullock as their sacrifice to the Baal and to wait if the Baal would respond in any manner at all. When almost the whole day had passed and no response from the Baal had been forthcoming, Elijah proceeded to dig a trench around an ancient altar that had been destroyed when the Temple in Jerusalem was built, and he filled the trench with water. He poured water over the bullock after it had been cut up three times and prayed to the Lord of Israel; fire descended from heaven and consumed the bullock and licked up all the water in the trench. (Kings I 18,32). I have heard that the size and shape of that trench was copied from what the Israelites constructed in front of the Tabernacle. The amount of water poured into that trench and over the bullock also was the same as had been used with the altar in front of the Tabernacle. How was he allowed to use jugs which had been used by the idolatrous priests of the Baal? In Kings II 3,11 Elisha, Elijah’s successor, is quoted as having been the one who poured the water on Mount Carmel for his mentor Elijah so that there is no problem of idolatrous vessels having been used. There is puzzling verse in Job 35,11: where one of Job’s friends tells him that “the Lord gives us more wisdom than the birds in the sky.” This was a reference to the ravens which had supplied Elijah with food and water when he was hiding out from King Achav. These birds did not want to enter the palace of the idolatrous king. Our author feels that this interpretation cannot be reconciled with the Talmud on that subject. (Chulin folio 5.) It is stated there that the ravens took that food from the kitchen of the King, which being under the supervision of Adoniah, (a prophet) was strictly kasher.

משכיתם — Understand this as the Targum does: THEIR SPOTS FOR WORSHIP; it is called משכית (connected with the root סכך = סכה “to cover”), because they used to cover the ground with marble stone to prostrate themselves upon it with hands and feet stretched forth, as it is said, (Leviticus 26:1): “And no stone of משכית, covering (no mosaic) shall ye put on your ground to prostrate yourself upon it” (because this is a heathen form of worship).

On which to prostrate themselves. Rashi wishes to prove that משכית is in the sense of a floor, since it is written in the verse ואבן משכית ["overlaid stones"]. He also wishes to prove his comment, “To prostrate themselves with arms and legs extended.” [He derives this from the fact that] it is written, “On which to prostrate yourselves,” and regarding Yosef it is written (Bereishis 37:10), “To prostrate to you upon the ground” which refers to extending the arms and legs.

Alternatively, the Torah refers again to a nation which the Israelites do not possess the strength to kill. At least they should ensure that they would leave the land and not remain in it.

משכיתם, dieser Plural weist ganz entschieden darauf hin, dass die Wurzel ”סכה“ ist und nicht ”סכת“, wie wir Wajikra 26, 1 als möglich ausgesprochen haben. Es heißt hier nicht אבני משכיתם, sondern משכיתם und umfasst dies wohl alle bestimmte Gedankenerregungen bezweckenden sinnlichen Darstellungen; wir haben es daher Symbole übersetzt, als das zunächst entsprechende. So auch משכיות לבב (Ps.73, 7). Die lautverwandten Wurzeln ”שׁגע“ ,”שׁגח“ ,”שׁגה“ ,”שׁכה“ bezeichnen alle eine intensive Gedankenrichtung auf etwas (siehe Bereschit 8, 1).

Destroy all their carved stones. This refers to their stone floors, and yet there were floors made from virgin stones that were originally attached to the ground that are not prohibited. In any case, Scripture commands that they should be damaged until they are no longer recognizable. Once they have been uprooted it is permitted to benefit from them, as stated in Avodah Zara (46): Stones from a (worshipped) mountain that rolled down from there and the hand of man has not altered them, are not forbidden.

מסכיתם — Understand this as the Targum does: their molten gods.

ואת כל צלמי מסכתם (siehe Wajikra 19, 4). משכיות sind wohl die öffentlichen Lehrmittel der polytheistischen Weltanschauungen, צלמי מסכתם die plastischen Darstellungen ihrer Götter, במות die Opferstätten des Naturkults.

Demolish all their cast metal idols. Scripture repeats the commandment of demolishing, because this destruction is not the same as the first. In the first case they only need to be removed from their place, and it is permitted to benefit from them. This is not the case with the cast metal idols, which are completely forbidden, and with which nullifying also has no effect — the same as Moshe’s commandment to burn the Asheirah tree when they entered the land. There is no solution for them except to be destroyed completely.

All their altars — that are not forbidden because of idol worship, since no worship was performed on them, nevertheless, they were an assembly point for those worshipping idols — tear down so that there will be no trace of idol worship in Eretz Yisroel.