Jacob BURIED the idols under the oak at Shechem

NIV Genesis 35:

4 They gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.

Click to expand...

buried
וַיִּטְמֹ֤ן (way·yiṭ·mōn)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2934: To hide, conceal

At Biblehub, 15 versions translated it as "hid"; 12 used "buried".

This Hebrew word appears 31 times in the OT. The primary meaning is to hide.

NASB Translation: buries (2), concealed (2), discarded (1), held in reserve (1), hid (8), hidden (9), hide (5), hiding (1), laying...secretly (1), secretly laid (1).

It's almost as if he was putting them there for safekeeping. What's with that?

Probably not.

Pulpit Commentary:

Jacob hid them - having probably first destroyed them, since they do not appear to have been ever after sought for or resumed by the parties who gave them up

Click to expand...

Gill's comment was similar:

and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem; that is, the idols, which, after he had broke to pieces, perhaps, he dug a hole under an oak, and there buried them, that they might be no more made use of in an idolatrous way

Click to expand...

Jacob didn't just hide the idols; he buried them forever.