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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:1 - 12:16
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Concerning the Place of Worship and Sacrifices
v. 1. These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth, Deu_4:10. The ordinances now following are intended to govern the ecclesiastical and the civil life of Israel in the land of Canaan.
v. 2. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess, whose land they would make their own by conquest, served their gods, upon the high mountains and upon the hills, for the idea was that the worshipers were nearer to the Deity at these places, and under every green tree, for the heathen loved groves, whose mysterious shadows furnished them the religious thrill which they felt to be essential;
v. 3. and ye shall overthrow, tear down, their altars, upon which the sacrifices of idolatry were made, and break their pillars, the statues of their idols, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images, demolish the pictures carved from wood, of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place, the very names which reminded them of the former idolatrous practices should be abolished.
v. 4. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord, your God, that is, not select any place that pleased their fancy for His worship.
v. 5. But unto the place which the Lord, your God, shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come, the Sanctuary where He would reveal His presence in the midst of His people;
v. 6. and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave-offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your free-will offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks, as it had been prescribed by the Lord in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Lev_17:8; Exo_10:25; Num_15:3;
v. 7. and there ye shall eat before the Lord, your God, especially the sacrificial meals connected with peace-offerings, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, Lev_23:40, ye and your households, wherein the Lord, thy God, hath blessed thee. "The author takes for granted here that his hearers were familiar with what had been said by him in the earlier parts of his work, and what had become a usage among them, and does not repeat it. "
v. 8. Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, for in the wilderness the regularity of an ordered existence was impossible, for which reason many of the most sacred rites, such as that of circumcision, were not practiced, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes, he acted according to his individual understanding of the Law, applying it to the extent he thought possible in the conditions under which he lived.
v. 9. For Ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, to the Land of Promise, where they would be able to live in peace and security, which the Lord, your God, giveth you. The Lord implied that He expected every Israelite to follow the objective rule of the divine Law just as soon as the people would occupy their inheritance in Canaan.
v. 10. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord, your God, giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety,
v. 11. then there shall be a place which the Lord, your God, shall choose to cause His name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offerings of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord; because the offerings which were made to the Lord as the result of vows were distinguished for excellence;
v. 12. and ye shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and the Levite that is within your gates, who was to be invited to such sacrificial meals, forasmuch as he hath no part nor in heritance with you, Deu_10:9; Deu_14:29.
v. 13. take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest, which might just happen to strike the worshiper's fancy;
v. 14. but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee, everything connected with the cultus, with the external worship of Jehovah.
v. 15. Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, or, wherever they might choose, according to the blessing of the Lord, thy God, which He hath given thee, as His rich bounty has provided; the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck and as of the hart. This precept superseded and annulled the ordinance which had been observed in the wilderness, where all animals that were to be slaughtered had to be brought to the door of the Tabernacle, Lev_17:3-6.
v. 16. Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. Cf Gen_9:4; Lev_7:26; Lev_17:10. The Lord thus changed the provisions of the Civil or Ceremonial Law to suit the needs and circumstances, whereas the ordinances of the Moral Law are in force for all time.