The Reason for the Extermination of the Canaanites in Deuteronomy

The reason given is so that the Israelites would not be led astray to worship false gods, the gods of Canaan. The motive for the annihilation of the Canaanites is not a theological mystery in Deuteronomy. Kill them to prevent the Israelites from being tempted to worship other gods and therefore break the treaty. If they're here, you can't be faithful to this treaty. In addition to the big theme that we've been talking about of covenant fidelity or treaty fidelity, the other core theme of Deuteronomistic history is the centralization of worship.