Deuteronomy 12:2

2 Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines where the nations that you're driving out worship their gods - wherever you find them, on hills and mountains or in groves of green trees.

Deuteronomy 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:2

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations
which ye shall possess served their gods
The temples erected for the worship of them by the Canaanites, of which there were many, as appears by the various names of places given them from the temples in them, as Bethshemesh, Bethbaalmeon, Bethpeor, and others:

upon the high mountains and upon the hills:
which they chose to worship on, being nearer the heavens, and which they thought most acceptable to their gods; and some of them had their names from hence, as Baalpeor, in like manner as Jupiter Olympius was called by the Greeks; see ( Jeremiah 2:20 ) ( 3:6 ) ,

and under every green tree;
which being shady and solitary, and pleasant to the sight, they fancied their gods delighted in, and this notion prevailed among other nations; and there is scarcely any deity but what had some tree or another devoted to it; as the oak to Jupiter, the laurel to Apollo, the ivy to Bacchus, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus see ( Jeremiah 2:20 ) ( 3:6 ) .

Deuteronomy 12:2 In-Context

1 These are the rules and regulations that you must diligently observe for as long as you live in this country that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, has given you to possess.

2 Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines where the nations that you're driving out worship their gods - wherever you find them, on hills and mountains or in groves of green trees.

3 Tear apart their altars. Smash their phallic pillars. Burn their sex-and-religion Asherah shrines. Break up their carved gods. Obliterate the names of those god sites.

4 Stay clear of those places - don't let what went on there contaminate the worship of God, your God.

5 Instead find the site that God, your God, will choose and mark it with his name as a common center for all the tribes of Israel. Assemble there.