Deuteronomy 12:3

3. Their groves More properly, their images of Asherah. Comp. Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 16:21; also Exodus 34:13.

And destroy the names of them This close connexion of names and places is found in Phoenician and Canaanite mythology, which is remarkable for the number of its local divinities: and it helps to explain why Moses, not content with ordering the destruction of the pagan sanctuaries, insisted upon the abolition of the names. The Israelites were to destroy all that might suggest idol-worship. The Puritans claimed to be carrying out the spirit of this command when, in their iconoclastic zeal, they almost despoiled the churches and cathedrals of works of art in the form of statues and paintings.