Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy 12:2/אור החיים על דברים י״ב:ב׳

1 אבד תאבדון את כל המקמזת, "You shall utterly destroy all the sites, etc." We can understand this verse in conjunction with the Mishnah 7 chapter 3 in tractate Avodah Zarah. We are taught there: "there are three categories of houses; 1) a house which was constructed in order to serve as a place of worship. Such a house is (totally) forbidden. 2) A house which originally was not used or intended for such worship but has been redecorated in order to serve as a house of worship. 3) The Gentile made an addition to the existing house which was intended and used as a residence. In the latter two instances the Jew has to demolish all the new decorations or additions and he may have use of the rest of such a house." The Talmud elaborates on this Mishnah saying that if someone prostrates himself in front of any house (indicating he worships it) he has thereby made it completely forbidden to every Jew. From this we deduce that even if someone had only joined together individual stones and attached them to the ground they are still considered as if they were separate and the house is not forbidden until it was used for the purpose for which it has been designated! The Talmud queries why this should be so seeing the Mishnah had forbidden such a house even if the entire house had been built for an idolatrous purpose before anyone had prostrated himself! The Talmud answers that the Mishnah taught us the law that even if the house had only been built for a purpose for which it had not yet been used it is already totally forbidden. Thus far the Talmud on the subject. Maimonides accepts this ruling in his treatise Hilchot Avodah Zarah chapter 8. This ruling is reflected in what our verse says: "all the sites where the Canaanites used to serve idols." The meaning is that it is irrelevant if the place had originally been built for the purpose or not. If idolatrous practices had been performed there the Israelites must destroy it even if only an addition to such a house had been used for idolatry.

2אשר אתם יורשים אתם, "which you are about to inherit." These words are best understood by reference to Hilchot Avodah Zarah 7,1 by Maimonides. He writes: "in the land of Israel it is one of the positive commandments to pursue (seek out) all places where idolatry is practiced until we have succeeded in eliminating it, whereas in the diaspora or in the countries adjacent to the land of Israel we need to destroy such places only as and when we come across them." Maimonides quotes our verse as proof that only in the land of Israel must we seek out such places. The operative clause is clearly: "which you are about to inherit." Once something is ours, the law applies universally.

3The reason Moses repeats the word אבד may be understood in conjunction with the statement in Avodah Zarah 43 that in order to cancel or revoke the idolatrous character of an object two conditions have to be met. The object has to be ground into small pieces and scattered into the wind or into the sea. If only one of these conditions has been met, one did not fulfil one's obligation. This is alluded to when Moses said the word אבד twice.

4את אלוהיהם על ההרים, "their gods on the mountains, etc." Seeing that Moses had said that the various places we mentioned are all forbidden because they have served as places where idolatry has been practiced, Moses had to tell the people that there are sites where idolatry was practiced which have not thereby become subject to destruction. One such example are the mountains. In Avodah Zarah 45 the sages read the words אלוהיהם על ההרים, as a contrast to ההרים אלוהיהם. This means that legally speaking the mountains cannot be declared as deities. If the idolators declare a certain mountain as a deity such a declaration is invalid and does not affect the status of such a mountain in Jewish law. [One reason advanced for this concept is that mountains are an integral part of the universe, cannot be owned by individuals. We have a rule that an individual cannot legally preclude another from using something which does not personally belong to the person who wishes to deny its use to another. Ed.] In Avodah Zarah 51 the Talmud determines that when a certain verse appears superfluous in its own context it may be applied exegetically to another context. If, for instance, the verse was not needed in connection with the subject of what is ritually impure as a result of buildings connected to the ground which hve been used for idolatry, it may be used in connection with whether certain vessels are ritually impure or not if they have been used for idolatrous purposes. The underlying concept there is that we do not need a special verse to tell us that if something was a separate body and was attached to some building which served idolatrous purpose that it becomes ritually impure and cannot be purified.

5We may also understand the words את אלוהיהם by paying attention to its peculiar position in the verse. It is placed between mention of the worshipers and mention of the objects worshiped. The normal syntax of the verse should have been: עבדו שם הגוים את אלוהיהם אשר אתם יורשים אתם, "where the Gentiles worshiped their deities… which you are about to inherit." The reason the Torah departed from its normal syntax may be understood in light of Avodah Zarah 44 where Rav Hunna poses a question about two contradictory verses in Scripture. We read in Chronicles I 14,12 that David burned the idols the Philistines left behind. In Samuel II 5,21 David and his men are reported to have "carried these idols." The Talmud answers that there is no contradiction. In the description in Samuel the prophet refers to what David did after the arrival of Ittai Hagitti, whereas in the description in Chronicles Ezra reported about what was done before the arrival of Ittai Hagitti. [a loyal non-Jewish battalion commander of David, compare Samuel II 15,19-22. Ed.] We are told in Samuel II 12,30 that David took the crown of the king of the Ammonites (after Yoav defeated him) and put it on his own head. How could he do this seeing it had served idolatrous purposes? Rav Nachman answered that Ittai Hagitti had first annulled whatever idolatrous character the crown possessed. From this episode it appears that it is possible even to inherit (make use of) the idol itself! This is possible only when the former adherents of such an idol have themselves deprived it of their original function. Only in such cases may the Israelites subsequently derive benefit from erstwhile idols. This is what Moses had in mind when he wrote אשר יורשים אתם את אלוהיהם, "whom you inherit when their idols are present." Moses alluded to a situation similar to that when Ittai Hagitti annulled the idol's significance as an idol.

6A moral/ethical approach to our verse sees in it a promise that even the unseen, mystical power of the idolatrous images, will be totally destroyed when the Israelites make every effort to destroy every visible evidence of idolatry in the land of Israel. This is why the Torah emphasises כל המקומות אשר עבדו שם, "all the places where they worshiped." This is a reference to the throne of Satan. Israel's effort will be crowned by success and G'd will become enthroned as the sole ruler over the entire globe.