Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ramban · Torah
Ramban on Genesis 35:4/רמב"ן על בראשית ל״ה:ד׳
אוַיִּטְמֹן אֹתָם יַעֲקֹב עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה וּמְשַׁמְּשֶׁיהָ אֵינָן מִן הַנִּקְבָּרִים, אֲבָל צָרִיךְ שֶׁיְּהֵא מְפָרֵר וְזוֹרֶה לָרוּחַ אוֹ מַטִּיל לַיָּם (ע"ז מג). וְהַנִּרְאֶה אֵלַי כִּי בְּנֵי יַעֲקֹב לֹא לָקְחוּ עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה וּמְשַׁמְּשֶׁיהָ מִשְּׁכֶם עַד שֶׁנִּתְבַּטְּלָה וְהֻתְּרָה לָהֶם, שֶׁהַגּוֹי מְבַטֵּל עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה בְּעַל כָּרְחוֹ (שם מג), וְהִנֵּה הִיא מֻתֶּרֶת לָהֶם, אֲבָל יַעֲקֹב צִוָּה לְהָסִיר אוֹתָהּ לְטַהֲרַת הַקֹּדֶשׁ, שֶׁיִּהְיוּ רְאוּיִים לַעֲבֹד אֶת הַשֵּׁם וּלְהַקְרִיב לְפָנָיו קָרְבָּן, כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה לָהֶם בִּטְבִילָה וְחִלּוּף הַבְּגָדִים, וְהָיָה דַּי לָהֶם בִּקְבוּרָה, וְלָכֵן טָמַן אוֹתָם תַּחַת הָאֵלָה בְּמָקוֹם שֶׁלֹּא יֵעָבֵד בּוֹ וְלֹא יִזָּרֵעַ:
1AND JACOB HID THEM. An idol and the things that pertain to it are not in the category of objects that require burial and for which burial suffices, but instead they are to be crumbled up and scattered to the wind or thrown into the sea.180 It appears to me that the sons of Jacob did not take the idols and the things that pertain to them from Shechem until they had been nullified and had thus become permissible to them, for a heathen can nullify an idol against its worshipper’s will,181, 52b. thus making it permissible to them. Jacob, however, for the sake of the purity of holy things, commanded that they remove it so that they should be fit to worship G-d and sacrifice before Him, just as He had commanded them concerning immersion and the changing of garments.182 Burial was thus sufficient for the idols, and therefore he hid them under the terebinth in a location which will neither be tilled nor sown.