“ That you come not among these nations, those who remain among you, nor make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, nor serve them, nor bow yourselves down to them.”
This was the negative side. They must avoid contact and fraternisation with these nations, they must totally reject them and have nothing to do with their gods (Deuteronomy 4:15; Deuteronomy 4:19), neither naming them (Exodus 23:13), nor swearing by them, nor bowing down to them (Deuteronomy 5:9). It was here that they would later fail, for they would allow the Canaanites to remain, then they would be tempted by what they were told these gods could do for them. And when things went wrong, and rain was sparse, and YHWH seemed far away, it would be easy to make use of local knowledge, and of the gods of the land, looking to them to do for them what YHWH seemed to have failed to do.