Mattot-Masaei: Destroying Images

This week’s parshiot bring us to the end of a forty year long journey through the wilderness. Israel is preparing for the next stage in its journey to settle its divinely ordained home, and receives some important instructions regarding its settlement. Much can be said about the details of these instructions,  but my focus will be on two words in a phrase that seem redundant, and to attempt some understanding of them. After all, every word of the Torah has its place and its meaning; nothing is superfluous.

Towards the end of chapter 33 we read that pagan cult objects are to be destroyed:

וְהוֹרַשְׁתֶּם אֶת־כָּל־ישְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ מִפְּנֵיכֶם וְאִבַּדְתֶּם אֵת כָּל־מַשְׂכִּיֹּתָם וְאֵת כָּל־צַלְמֵי מַסֵּכֹתָם תְּאַבֵּדוּ וְאֵת כָּל־בָּמוֹתָם תַּשְׁמִידוּ

You shall take possession of all the inhabitants of the land before you, and you shall destroy their cultic handiwork, all the images of their molten images destroy, and all their altars destroy. (v. 52)

The translation seems awkward only because some of the words used here are not exactly clear. We do know that the verse is very clear about one thing in particular: ridding the land of any pagan influence.
What is striking is the phrase צלמי מסכתם, the images of their molten images. We are talking about idols, images of false deities. It would have been sufficient to say מסכתם, their molten images. What is gained by the seemingly superfluous צלמי?

When hearing the word צלם, one verse instantly comes to mind:

וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹקִים | אֶת־הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמו,ֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹקִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם

God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him, male and female he created them. (Gn 1:27)

Clearly, we are not physical representations of Hashem. When we use anthropomorphisms, it is for the purpose of giving some substance to the unimaginable nature of Hashem, who is beyond the ken of human understanding. And yet, this verse is not something that we are saying about ourselves; it is what Hashem is saying about His creation.

Without going into the ramifications of this verse in any great detail, let us say that there is some scintilla of connection here, that the human being possesses some quality that is supposed to remind one of Godliness, of the nature of Hashem, as it were...

Looking back at our lemma, the verse in question, we might derive the following. It is not enough to destroy the symbols of paganism. Demolishing altars and idols does not do enough to eradicate the reality of paganism. It will take much more to rid the land of its pervasive idolatry. The challenge to Israel is to overcome the culture, the mindset, the ideologies the underlie the paganism of those in the land. The culture of the Torah is supposed to replace that culture, and when it is properly lived, it will offer an incentive in the form of a better, more meaningful life, to those who are there.

The consequences of failure to realize this will be seen in verse 55:

וְאִם־לֹא תוֹרִישׁוּ אֶת־יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ מִפְּנֵיכֶם וְהָיָה אֲשֶׁר תּוֹתִירוּ מֵהֶם לְשִׂכִּים בְּעֵינֵיכֶם וְלִצְנִינִם בְּצִדֵּיכֶם וְצָרְרוּ אֶתְכֶם עַל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם ישְׁבִים בָּהּ 

And if you do not possess the inhabitants of the land before you, that which remains of them will be like stingers in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land where you dwell.

Allowing for the remnant of that culture to remain, not conquering the hearts and minds of the other, will make it impossible Israel to make for itself the home that Hashem had intended through the covenants. It was a challenge to Israel in the days of the First and Second Temples, a challenge that our ancestors have largely failed. The challenge remains in our generation; how to meet it may be a matter of debate, but remains a matter that we should consider with great care.