What is the context?
The warning looks beyond conquest to the temptation to imitate the defeated nations’ service to their gods. Israel must not ask how to adopt those practices for its own worship of the Lord.
The passage names burning sons and daughters as an example of what the Lord hates. It closes by requiring the people to keep what He commands without adding or subtracting. Religious curiosity is condemned here as a path into imitation of forbidden worship, not as a ban on understanding what a historical text says.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley explains following the nations as following the example left by their worship. The point is that dedication to the Lord does not make an abhorrent borrowed practice acceptable. The warning should retain its explicit reference to the killing of children rather than reduce the issue to a difference of musical taste or harmless local style.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.
Where can I study this further?
No deeper study linked yet.