DEFEATED, DEVOTED, DESTROYED

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When the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.
Deuteronomy 7:2‭, ‬5 ESV

¶God's purpose in the land which He is to give unto them is to remove any temptation, any excuse they might have had to wander, to become like the nations, to worship their gods. Otherwise, there would remain an excuse, someone else to blame for their wanderings. They would be responsible for their own sin. Having a policy of complete destruction meant that they could expect their own destruction should they fail in their resolve, no mercy from their enemies should they surrender.

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