Deuteronomy 7:25-26
The Lord’s people must refuse to profit from what He has judged, because coveted idolatry becomes a snare and brings destruction into the house.
25 You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
The LORD’s people must refuse to profit from what He has judged, because coveted idolatry becomes a snare and brings destruction into the house.
Moses commands Israel to destroy the carved images of the defeated nations, reject the silver and gold attached to them, and refuse to bring any devoted detestable thing into the household so that Israel will not be ensnared by idolatry or share the fate of what the LORD has marked for destruction.
Moses addresses Israel before entry into Canaan, where the nations’ religious objects would be encountered not as museum pieces but as active symbols of rival worship. The command assumes conquest, the destruction of idolatrous images, and the temptation to salvage valuable silver and gold from those images for personal benefit.
A Holy People Set Apart: Election, Separation, and the Logic of Covenant Love
The LORD's command to destroy the Canaanite nations and refuse all covenant with them is grounded not in Israel's superiority but in the logic of holy love: because the LORD set his affection on the fathers and chose their offspring out of all peoples, Israel must be what it has been declared — a holy people wholly separated from every rival claim on their devotion, trusting the faithful God who will drive out opponents greater than themselves.