9344. 'You shall not make a covenant with them and their gods' means no contact with evils and falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'making a covenant' as being joined together, dealt with in 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, thus also being in contact with, for people who communicate with one another are joined to one another; from the meaning of the inhabitants of the land, to whom 'those with whom they were not to make a covenant' refers here, as evils, dealt with just above in 9342; and from the meaning of 'their gods' as falsities, dealt with in 4402 (end), 4544, 7873, 8867, 8941.

4401. 'And he set up an altar there' means interior worship. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting up an altar' as worship, for the altar was the chief representative of the Lord, 921, 2777, 2811, and therefore the chief feature of worship. By worship here is meant interior worship originating in the Divine Spiritual, dealt with in the paragraph following this.