Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. The requirement to destroy the religious infrastructure of the conquered nations is the covenant's most confrontational provision. The alternative — tolerance of other worship systems within the land — would undermine the exclusive devotion the covenant requires. Deuteronomy 7:5 repeats this command with the same comprehensiveness: break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in fire. The failure to carry out this command becomes the source of Israel's greatest recurring sin — the worship of the very gods they failed to destroy. Judges 2:1–3 records God's warning when Israel made covenants with the nations instead of demolishing their altars.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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