“The graven images of their gods shall you burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to YHWH your God. And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is a devoted thing.” (Deut. 7:25–26)

That is the translation of these verses in the “American Literary Version” (the bespoke revision of the ASV produced for Bibliotheca). The underlying term is kherem, which usually denotes “under the ban,” i.e., absolutely incompatible with the sole worship of God and therefore to be destroyed.* Accordingly, the ESV and other contemporary translations here (and elsewhere) renders it more expansively as “devoted to destruction,” for quite understandable contextual reasons: “You shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it…”

Now, kherem and its derivatives can also carry a more general meaning, which the ALV’s “devoted thing” evokes: roughly speaking, something committed exclusively to sacred use, wholly dedicated to g/God, such that if it is misused the wrath of God falls on the one who misuses it. These meanings are of course compatible: a thing “under the ban” must not be stolen for personal gain (cf. Achan) or used according to one’s own inclinations (cf. Saul), but in many cases must be completely destroyed — as with the idols in view here, and as is threatened to the Israelite who brings such an idol into his home.

But the ALV’s rendering here suggests a multi-layered meaning, and an insight into the nature of idolatry. An idol is “under the ban” because it is “a devoted thing” — devoted, that is, to another god: a false god, whose claim to godhood violates the true God’s preeminence, and whose worship by the children of Israel breaches the exclusivity of their covenant with the true God. It cannot be “rescued” for the worship of the true God — unlike, say, the Egyptian gold and silver which is used to beautify the Tabernacle. It is permanently corrupted and corrupting. Once a thing has been consecrated to one god, for good or for ill, it cannot be re-consecrated to another. The golden calf, though made from that same Egyptian gold, cannot be melted down or repurposed once the people repent; its elements must be completely, permanently destroyed.

Thus one who brings a “devoted thing” into his house, rather than “utterly abhorring and detesting it” — viz. smashing it to pieces — has already in a way given himself over to the god to whom the idol is dedicated, via the power of covetousness by which the false god rules (and is not covetousness always the way?). The idol reshapes his devotion. He himself also becomes a “devoted thing.”

This is is precisely what the psalmist says about idols: “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” (Ps. 115:8)

*Note: the name of the Nigerian Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram uses the Arabic cognate of this term; while Western media usually translates this name as “Western education is forbidden,” the group has claimed that it actually should be rendered “Western civilization is sacrilege.” Loath as I am to take exegetical advice from self-proclaimed jihadists, the latter rendering is a far more plausible explication of their motives, and one which resonates more strongly with the biblical use of kherem.