Exodus 23:24

Thou shalt not worship their idols, nor serve them, nor do after their evil works; but thou shalt utterly demolish the house of their worship, and break the statues of their images.

THOU SHALT NOT BOW DOWN TO THEIR GODS, NOR SERVE THEM. The Torah has warned against idolatry in many places, and even though there are excessive verses on this subject, the redundancy is not a matter to be concerned about, for because the matter is so stringent — since he who acknowledges the divine nature of the idols, thereby denies the whole Torah, 54. — therefore the Torah warns against it again and again, like one who says to his servant: “remember continually and do not forget the great principle which I have commanded you, since everything depends on it.” It is possible that in the Ten Commandments He warned against making an idol and worshipping it, and now He warned that if they find a ready-made idol which is worshipped by the nations in the land, that they should not worship it at all, but they should uproot it from the land.

NOR DO AFTER THEIR DEEDS. This may possibly be an admonition against adopting the “ways of the Amorites” [i.e., superstitious practices] which the Sages have enumerated, just as He warned against them in another place, saying, Neither shall ye walk in their statutes, on which the Rabbis commented:. “These statutes refer to the ‘ways of the Amorites’ which the Sages have enumerated.” A more all acceptable interpretation is that He is warning here against worshipping an idol in the particular manner in which it is ordinarily worshipped, even if it is a disgraceful act [such as excreting to Baal Peor], just as the Rabbis have interpreted the verse, Take heed… that thou enquire not after their gods, saying: ‘How used these nations to serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.’ Thus the meaning of the verse here is as follows: He said, [in the Ten Commandments 20:5], Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, “serving” usually being an act of honor that a servant does to his master, and then He said, additionally that even if that act is not one of honor but is disgusting, such as in connection with Baal Peor which one worships by excreting before it, or throwing a stone at Merkulis, nonetheless if that is the customary manner of worshipping them, you may not do such acts at all. Similarly the Rabbis have said: “Even if he intends to worship Peor in this ignominious way, and even if he intends to throw a stone to Merkulis in a contemptible manner [he is still liable].”

כי הרס תהרסם, the author discusses the version taharssem or the version tehorssem, as we have it in our versions of the Torah, different, according to him from versions in France extant in his time, but different from the versions circulating in Germany and Spain. The difference in pronunciation derives from if the conjugation is strong (the author calls it with dagesh) or “weak (without such a dagesh) We have similar parallels in Deuteronomy 13,10 where the word tahargenu has a dagesh in the letter ג. Similar differences would also be shabber teshabber. The author argues that the correct vocalisation is the one based on the “strong” conjugation with the dagesh.

לא תשתחוה לאלוהיהם, do not do what King Amatziah is reported to have done after he had conquered the land of Se-ir. It is reported in Chronicles II 25,14 that after having defeated the Edomites he installed their deities in Jerusalem bowed to them and offered sacrifices to them. He may have wanted to appease their feelings for having defeated the Edomites.