if the command is irrelevant or the people will not comply; the command to wipe out the peoples seems superfluous in light of what follows. Why specify a series of actions designed to keep the Israelites at a distance from the peoples if Israel is to annihilate those people when it enters the land? The command to wipe out the peoples, in other words, does not appear to be concerned with eliminating them so much as keeping Israel at a distance from them. The passage centers on the distinct practices