Commentaire sur L’Exode 23:24

הרס תהרסם [BUT] THOU SHALT UTTERLY OVERTHROW THEM — those gods.

THOU SHALT NOT BOW DOWN TO THEIR GODS, NOR SERVE THEM. The Torah has warned against idolatry in many places, and even though there are excessive verses on this subject, the redundancy is not a matter to be concerned about, for because the matter is so stringent — since he who acknowledges the divine nature of the idols, thereby denies the whole Torah⁴²⁷Sifre R’ei, 54. — therefore the Torah warns against it again and again, like one who says to his servant: “remember continually and do not forget the great principle which I have commanded you, since everything depends on it.” It is possible that in the Ten Commandments He warned against making an idol and worshipping it, and now He warned that if they find a ready-made idol which is worshipped by the nations in the land, that they should not worship it at all, but they should uproot it from the land.

לא תשתחוה לאלוהיהם, do not do what King Amatziah is reported to have done after he had conquered the land of Se-ir. It is reported in Chronicles II 25,14 that after having defeated the Edomites he installed their deities in Jerusalem bowed to them and offered sacrifices to them. He may have wanted to appease their feelings for having defeated the Edomites.

לא תשתחוה לאלוהיהם, "Do not bow down to their deities, etc." Why did the Torah have to record this prohibition once more when it has already been recorded several times? Seeing that the Torah just forbade even mentioning the name of these deities why was there any need to state once more that one must not bow down to them? Nachmanides writes that the more serious a sin the more frequently the Torah warns us not to commit it. This is not very satisfactory in light of the fact that Nachmanides has himself equated the sin of idol worship as equivalent to a violation of all the commandments of the Torah both with respect to the punishment due, and for the reward due for rejecting such idol worship. Seeing a person who bowed down to idols has already been guilty of violating 613 commandments, what point is there in adding one more commandment for such a person to violate?

כי הרס תהרסם, the author discusses the version taharssem or the version tehorssem, as we have it in our versions of the Torah, different, according to him from versions in France extant in his time, but different from the versions circulating in Germany and Spain. The difference in pronunciation derives from if the conjugation is strong (the author calls it with dagesh) or “weak (without such a dagesh) We have similar parallels in Deuteronomy 13,10 where the word tahargenu has a dagesh in the letter ג. Similar differences would also be shabber teshabber. The author argues that the correct vocalisation is the one based on the “strong” conjugation with the dagesh.

לא תשתחוה לאלוהיהם, “do not prostrate yourselves before their deities.” The warning not to become guilty of any form of idolatry is repeated in the Torah again and again, in spite of the Torah’s refraining from any unnecessary verbiage. This only proves how seriously any form of idolatry is considered by G’d, so much so that He repeats such warnings again and again to impress us with His great concern that we not become victims of such philosophies. The Torah, representing our Master, does what any human master does when he warns a servant repeatedly not to forget some basic task that he has to perform. The human master also does not like to have to repeat himself constantly, but he does so in light of the importance of the message he conveys. Perhaps, in the Ten Commandments G’d issued a general command, but now that the Israelites are liable to come face to face with the idolaters in the land of Canaan, they need especial reminders not only not to copy any of their practices but to completely uproot any residue of such idolatry.

Their idols. [Rashi is saying that תהרסם refers to their idols] but not to those who worship them — just as כמעשיהם , written just before it [which refers to the people’s deeds but not the people themselves].

V. 24. לאלהיהם, die Götter, von denen sie bisher ihr und ihres Landes physisches Gedeihen bedingt glaubten. לא תשתחוה וגו׳, von diesen vermeintlichen physischen Göttergewalten sollst du weder deine Zukunft abhängig, noch dich ihnen für Vergangenheit und Gegenwart verpflichtet glauben (השתחויה ועבודה) und sollst ihrem Wahn daher keinen Einfluss auf deine Handlungen gestatten. הרס, von einer Höhe herabreißen: ihre Embleme, die sie als die Gebieter über Geschick und Gedeihen des Landes verkünden, sollst du niederstürzen, und מצבתיהם, und die Gedenksteine, die Dankbarkeit für vermeintlich erwiesene Wohltaten ihnen errichtet hat, sollst du zertrümmern.

לא תשתחוה, “Do not prostrate yourself, etc.” in Exodus 20,5 the Torah had warned the Israelites not to prostrate themselves to their own deities, whereas now it warns them not to do so to the deities of these other nations.

מצבתיהם THEIR MONUMENTS — stones which they set up (root נצב) before which to prostrate themselves.

NOR DO AFTER THEIR DEEDS. This may possibly be an admonition against adopting the “ways of the Amorites” [i.e., superstitious practices] which the Sages have enumerated,⁴²⁸Shabbath 67a. See “The Commandments,” Vol. II, pp. 28-29. just as He warned against them in another place, saying, Neither shall ye walk in their statutes,⁴²⁹Leviticus 18:3. on which the Rabbis commented:⁴³⁰Sifra ibid. “These statutes refer to the ‘ways of the Amorites’ which the Sages have enumerated.” A more all acceptable interpretation is that He is warning here against worshipping an idol in the particular manner in which it is ordinarily worshipped, even if it is a disgraceful act [such as excreting to Baal Peor], just as the Rabbis have interpreted⁴³¹Sanhedrin 61b. the verse, Take heed… that thou enquire not after their gods, saying: ‘How used these nations to serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.’⁴³²Deuteronomy 12:30. Thus the meaning of the verse here is as follows: He said, [in the Ten Commandments 20:5], Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, “serving” usually being an act of honor that a servant does to his master, and then He said, additionally that even if that act is not one of honor but is disgusting, such as in connection with Baal Peor which one worships by excreting before it, or throwing a stone at Merkulis,⁴³³I.e., Mercury, the Roman divinity, who was worshipped by throwing stones to his statue. nonetheless if that is the customary manner of worshipping them, you may not do such acts at all. Similarly the Rabbis have said:⁴³⁴Sanhedrin 64a. “Even if he intends to worship Peor in this ignominious way, and even if he intends to throw a stone to Merkulis in a contemptible manner [he is still liable].”

ולא תעשו כמעשיהם, “and do not act in accordance with any of their practices.” This is the basic law not to adopt symbols of any gentiles that identify the practitioners as idolaters, even if the practice does not appear to have a religious significance. Generally, these prohibitions are known as not to copy דרכי האמורי, “the customs of the Emorite.” Perhaps the Torah warns here not to copy these religious practices even if in our eyes the practice appears as the very opposite of an act of deference and worship, such as the custom of defecating in front of the “Baal Peor,” a revolting practice, in our eyes.

I believe there are three reasons why the Torah saw fit to write this verse. 1) The Torah warns us not to appear as comparable to the nations of the world in their deeds. Had the Torah not first mentioned that we must not bow down to and worship their deities, it would never have occurred to anyone that kneeling or prostrating oneself on the floor even for a perfectly secular activity would be forbidden. We would have been convinced that the Torah merely forbade a Jew to prostrate himself for idolatrous purposes. Now that the Torah writes: "Do not prostrate yourself and serve their deities" the Torah reveals what had been meant by the words: "do not act as they do." It refers to activities which were intended to be perfectly secular in character if such activities represented a religious rite for the pagans. We are not to wear the kind of garments idol worhipers wear (as a religious symbol) nor are we to sport the kind of haircut which they use in deference to some religious belief of theirs. The Torah here includes a variety of activities listed in Shabbat 67. The second reason why the words we have in verse 24 are necessary is because the Torah informs us that everything the pagans do contains an idolatrous element. G'd knows man's thoughts and the root of everything he does. If a Jew were to perform deeds which are exclusively the domain of the Gentiles he would unconsciously savour the taste of idol worship. The third reason why the Torah has to warn us here again is that G'd does not only want us not to practice any semblance of idol worship but He wants us to uproot its traces wherever and whenever we are able to do so. This is why He had to introduce the commandment to destroy all such deities by first forbidding us to prostrate ourselves in front of them. G'd implies that if a Jew does not prostrate himself in front of an idol but does not destroy it either, he is considered as if he had actually worshiped this idol. G'd is alert to our thinking, and He interprets the reasons for our not destroying such idols as a reluctance to uproot the philosophies symbolised by such deities from our hearts. You will find that the commandment to destroy such deities and their temples became operational only after the Israelites entered the Holy Land and began to conquer it. (compare Deuteronomy chapter 20).