EXOD903 Do not make a covenant with the seven Canaanite nations or other idol worshippers. The Torah forbids any treaty or covenant with the seven Canaanite nations that dwelled in the Jewish homeland when the Jewish nation arrived there from Egypt. Do not make peace with them and do not allow them to continue to practice idol worship in the Jewish homeland. Key concept: Rid the world of idols and idol worship. The seven Canaanite nations were the world's most ardent worshippers of idols and were the prime founders of this evil. Therefore, the Torah commands us to search them out everywhere and eliminate them. The command also forbids us to make a covenant with any nation that worships idols. Regarding other idol worshipping nations, however, we are not commanded to make war against them and kill them if they do not attack us. Rather, such peoples are simply not allowed to dwell in our homeland as long as they worship idols. As to the seven Canaanite nations, we must search them out everywhere and wage constant war against them until no trace of them remains, unless they renounce idol worship--for as noted, these nations are the world's main idol worshippers and are the source of this evil.