and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.
22. Neither shalt thou set thee up. Hence also it more clearly appears what is the meaning and tendency of the Second Commandment. God elsewhere commands, Deuteronomy 27:2-3. See vol. 1, p. 369. (as we have seen,) that statues A.V, image. Margin, statue, or pillar. should be erected on the borders of the land, on which the sum of the Law should be inscribed.
Here is, I. Care taken for the due administration of justice among them, that controversies might be determined, matters in variance adjusted, the injured redressed, and the injurious punished. While they were encamped in the wilderness, they had judges and officers according to their numbers, rulers of thousands and hundreds, Exo 18:25.
Commenting on Deuteronomy 16:18-22
Neither shalt thou set thee up any image--erroneously rendered so for "pillar"; pillars of various kinds, and materials of wood or stone were erected in the neighborhood of altars. Sometimes they were conical or oblong, at other times they served as pedestals for the statues of idols. A superstitious reverence was attached to them, and hence they were forbidden. Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 17