idolaters.
Verse 21
“Thou shalt not plant thee as asherah any wood beside the altar of Jehovah.” נטע, to plant, used figuratively, to plant up or erect, as in Ecc 12:11; Dan 11:25; cf. Isa 51:16. Asherah, the symbol of Astarte (see at Exo 34:13), cannot mean either a green tree or a grove (as Movers, Relig. der Phönizier, p. 572, supposes), for the simple reason that in other passages we find the words עשׂה, make (1Ki 14:15; 1Ki 16:33; 2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ch 33:3), or הצּיב, set up (2Ki 17:10), העמיד, stand up (2Ch 33:19), and בּנה, build (1Ki 14:23), used to denote the erection of an asherah, not one of which is at all suitable to a tree or grove. But what is quite decisive is the fact that in 1Ki 14:23; 2Ki 17:10; Jer 17:2, the asherah is spoken of as being set up under, or by the side of, the green tree. This idol generally consisted of a wooden column; and a favourite place for setting it up was by the side of the altars of Baal.
Verse 22
They were also to abstain from setting up any mazzebah, i.e., any memorial stone, or stone pillar dedicated to Baal (see at Exo 23:24).
Chap. 17
Verse 1
Not only did the inclination to nature-worship, such as the setting up of the idols of Ashera and Baal, belong to the crimes which merited punishment, but also a manifest transgression of the laws concerning the worship of Jehovah, such as the offering of an ox or sheep that had some fault, which was an abomination in the sight of Jehovah (see at Lev 22:20.). “Any evil thing,” i.e., any of the faults enumerated in Lev 22:22-24.
verses 2-7
If such a case should occur, as that a man or woman transgressed the covenant of the Lord and went after other gods and worshipped them; when it was made known, the facts were to be carefully inquired into; and if the charge were substantiated, the criminal was to be led out to the gate and stoned. On the testimony of two or three witnesses, not of one only, he was to be put to death (see at Num 35:30); and the hand of the witnesses was to be against him first to put him to death, i.e., to throw the first stones at him, and all the people were to follow. With regard to the different kinds of idolatry in Deu 17:3, see Deu 4:19. (On Deu 17:4, see Deu 13:15.) “Bring him out to thy gates,” i.e., to one of the gates of the town in which the crime was committed. By the gates we are to understand the open space near the gates, where the judicial proceedings took place (cf. Neh 8:1, Neh 8:3; Job. Deu 29:7), the sentence itself being executed outside the town (cf. Deu 22:24; Act 7:58; Heb 13:12), just as it had been outside
