Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 33:50
ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you--not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (Deu 7:1).
and destroy all their pictures--obelisks for idolatrous worship (see on Lev 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.
John Gill on Numbers 33:53
And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein,.... Turn them out of their cities, towns, and houses, and inhabit them:
for I have given you the land to possess it; who had a right to dispose of it, and a better title they needed not desire than the Lord could and did make them.
John Calvin on Numbers 33:52–end
Numbers 33:52
52. ... destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
52. Destruite omnes statues earum, et omnes imagines confiatiles destruite, et omnes aras eorum dissipate.
Keil & Delitzsch on Numbers 33:50–end
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 (Num 33:50 and Num 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 (Num 33:50-56); (b) concerning the boundaries of Canaan (Num 34:1-15); (c) concerning the men who were to divide the land (Num 34:16-29). The second contains commands (a) respecting the towns to be given up to the Levites (Num 35:1-8); (b) as to the setting apart of cities of refuge for unin…
Read the whole note in the consoleTyndale Open Study Notes on Numbers 33:50-56
After the Israelites reached the plains of Moab opposite Jericho (22:1), they camped there for the rest of the period covered in Numbers (see 36:13) and Deuteronomy (Deut 34:8). While they were camped there, God gave Israel specific instructions for dealing with the population of Canaan. The Lord commanded his people to destroy the people groups that occupied Canaan and to obliterate all vestiges of their religious practices (cp. Exod 23:23-33; 34:11-17; Deut 7:1-6; 12:2-4; Josh 23:4-8). Moses’ commands included the destruction of their carved and molten images (cp. Lev 26:1) and the demolition of their pagan shrines (see Deut 12:2-3).