Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Leviticus 26:30
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
And I will destroy your high places, etc.] Which Jarchi interprets of towers and palaces; but Aben Ezra of the place of sacrifices; for on high places, hills and mountains, they used to build altars, and there offer sacrifices, in imitation of the Heathens; (see Gill on “<260613>Ezekiel 6:13”); and cut down your images; called Chammanim, either from Ham, the son of Noah, the first introducer of idolatrous worship after the flood, as some have thought; or from Jupiter Ammon, worshipped in Egypt, from whence the Jews might have these images; or rather from Chammah, the sun, so called from its heat; so Jarchi says, there were a sort of idols placed on the roofs of houses, and because they were set in the sun, they were called by this name; and Kimchi f912 observes they were made of wood, and made by the worshippers of the sun, (see <122311>2 Kings 23:11); but Aben Ezra is of opinion that these were temples built for the worship of the sun, which is the most early sort of idolatry that appeared in the world, to which Job may be thought to refer, (<183126>Job 31:26,27). Some take these to be the puraiyeia, or “fire hearths”, which Strabo f913 described as large enclosures, in the midst of which was an altar, where the (Persian) Magi kept their fire that never went out, which was an emblem of the sun they worshipped; and these, he says, were in the temples of Anaitis and Omanus, and where the statue of the latter was in great pomp; which idol seems to have its name from the word in the text; and these are fitly added to the high places, because on such, as Herodotus f914 says, the Persians used to worship: and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols; or “dunghill gods” f915; such as the beetle, the Egyptians worshipped, signifying that they and their idols should be destroyed together: and my soul shall abhor you; the reverse of (<032606>Leviticus 26:6); and by comparing it with that, this may signify the removal of the divine Presence from them, as a token of his abhorrence of them; and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it.
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