50 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, 'near' Jericho, saying, 51 'Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, When ye are passing over the Jordan unto the land of Canaan, 52 then ye have dispossessed all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and have destroyed all their imagery, yea, all their molten images ye destroy, and all their high places ye lay waste, 53 and ye have possessed the land, and dwelt in it, for to you I have given the land—to possess it. 54 'And ye have inherited the land by lot, by your families; to the many ye increase their inheritance, and to the few ye diminish their inheritance; whither the lot goeth out to him, it is his; by the tribes of your fathers ye inherit. 55 'And if ye do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it hath been, those whom ye let remain of them, 'are' for pricks in your eyes, and for thorns in your sides, and they have distressed you on the land in which ye are dwelling, 56 and it hath come to pass, as I thought to do to them—I do to you.'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 33:50-56
Commentary on Numbers 33:50-56
(Read Numbers 33:50-56)
Now that they were to pass over Jordan, they were entering again into temptation to follow idols; and they are threatened that, if they spared either the idols or the idolaters, their sin would certainly be their punishment. They would foster vipers in their own bosoms. The remnant of the Canaanites, if they made any peace with them, though but for a time, would be pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides. We must expect trouble and affliction from whatever sin we indulge; that which we are willing should tempt us, will vex us. It was intended that the Canaanites should be put out of the land; but if the Israelites learned their wicked ways, they also would be put out. Let us hear this and fear. If we do not drive out sin, sin will drive us out. If we are not the death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our souls.