Deuteronomy 12:2

2 Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree:

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 precepts and judgments, that you must do in the land, which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth.

2 Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree:

3 Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places.

4 You shall not do so to the Lord your God:

5 But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and to dwell in it: