[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Sonist

I respectfully disagree. "You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles..." is hardly directed internally, and while I quoted this because it is considered part of the "Ten Commandments," it is a pretty mild instance of what the Lord directs against the believers of competing deities.

I'm afraid you're mistaken, Sonist, or at least focusing so narrowly that you're missing the point of the passage. The "Ten Commandments" themselves are listed in Exodus 20, a full 14 chapters earlier than the passage you quote, which is in Exodus 34, this passage is in no way part of them.

The passage you're referencing is something God said to Moses on the occasion of the making of the second set of stone tablets. Here it is in context:

Then the LORD said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

"Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.

Exodus 34:10-15

Note that the passage you're focusing on, "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." comes after these words: "Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you." (emphasis added, if it needs to be said)

The context makes it clear that the directive to "break down altars," etc., was something that was to be done by the Israelites after the promised driving out. At that point the driven out people would no longer be resident, and their altars, etc. would have been spoils of conquest, just like their cities, lands, and so on. Anything that was done in those lands at that point would then be directed at those currently living there, in other words, the Israelites, thus the instructions are directed internally to the Israelites.

I don't see any reasonable way to interpret that in context as an effort to enforce a belief system on anyone who wasn't already part of the Israelite people. The former residents weren't killed and driven out in order to make them convert, they were simply killed and driven out. The removal of the physical manifestations of their religions happened after the fact of their death and departure, and couldn't possibly have been intended to convert anyone, but rather to remove the physical manifestations of those religions. The purpose of doing so is pretty obviously to remove the potential influence those things might have on the Israelites after they took possession of the land.