Deuteronomy 12:20-28

Practical Corollary to the Law of the One Altar

Originally among the Semites as among some other races all slaughter of domestic animals was sacramental 1 [132] : cp. the Heb. and Arab. word -for altar, lit. slaughter-place(see on Deuteronomy 12:3). But if this law was still to prevail when sacrifice was limited to one altar the flesh of these animals could only be enjoyed at it, and the lawful or -clean" enjoyment of flesh became impossible to all who lived out of reach of the altar. Compare the analogy in Hosea 9:3 f. where it is said that when Israel are exiled and cease to dwell in Jehovah's land, where alone sacrifice is legal for them, they must eat uncleanfood, and become polluted for their food has not first come into a house of Jehovah(cp. Amos 7:17). The confinement of sacrifice to one place therefore rendered it necessary to sanction non-ritual slaughter and eating of animals. This is done in the following verses but on two conditions, (1) that God shall have enlarged Israel's territory, and (2) that the eaters do not live in the neighbourhood of the altar. On these conditions the eating of domestic animals shall be as that of game, in need of no ritual sanction (Deuteronomy 12:22). Only their blood must be poured on the ground (Deuteronomy 12:23). And all holy things, specially consecrated, must be brought to the one altar, and the -olôthand the blood of the zebaḥimput upon it (Deuteronomy 12:26 f.). The section closes with a general injunction of obedience (Deuteronomy 12:28). There appears no reason to doubt the unity of this supplement to the law of the one sanctuary (apart from small, possibly editorial, insertions). It is throughout in the Sg. address, and logical in its arrangement. The return to the keynote of the law is natural. Note the religious advance which it involves. By separating the enjoyment of animal food from religious rites (as well as by directing the blood of the animals to be poured on the ground), the law cut off the ancient primitive superstitions of the physical kinship of a tribe and their god with their animals, and rendered less possible the animal idolatry which these engendered.

[132] For the argument that this practice was due to belief in the kinship of the tribe (and its god) with its animals and that in consequence these were too sacred to be slain except with solemn rites and in the presence and with the consent of the whole family, clan or tribe, who all partook of the flesh and set apart certain portions and the blood for their god, see W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem.Lects. viii., ix.

Deuteronomy 12:20. shall enlarge thy border So Deuteronomy 19:8, also Exodus 34:24, probably editorial.

as he hath promised thee Heb. has said. To regard this as an editorial addition, on the ground that it anticipates 21 b(Steuern., Berth.), is precarious. The spirit of such a promise is in several previous passages: e.g. Deuteronomy 1:21.

thy soul desireth On the soul as seat of the appetite see Deuteronomy 14:26; Deuteronomy 24:15; Genesis 27:9; Proverbs 27:7. The frankness of this statement is noteworthy.

after all the(or every) desire of thy soul The utmost freedom is granted. But the whole passage implies that flesh was eaten only seldom in early Israel, which is confirmed by Nathan's parable and the Book of Ruth (W. R. Smith, OTJC2, 249 n.).

Deuteronomy 12:21. If Rather, Because.

the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 12:5.

thou shalt kill The same vb. as is used of sacrifice but here in a non-ritual sense.

as I have commanded thee Can only refer to Deuteronomy 12:15 and if that, as we have seen probable, is a later insertion, this must be of the same character (Steuern., Bertholet).

within thy gates See on Deuteronomy 12:17.

Deuteronomy 12:22. Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten Gazelle. Heb. Ṣebî, and Ar. ẓabyor thobby(Doughty, Ar. Des.ii. 468) are both properly the gazella Dorcas, a horned animal about the size of a roebuck, but more graceful, numerous in Arabia and Syria; but as ẓabywas used as the more general term for ghazâlor gazelle (Lane), so ṣebîprobably covered several species of gazelle and antelope. Hart, Heb. "ayyal, from "ulto precede, as leader of the herd, perhaps the fallow deer cervus dama; but Ar. "iyyalis mountain-goat (Lane). The two names occurring together here, Deuteronomy 12:15; Deuteronomy 14:5; Deuteronomy 15:22, are not to be taken specifically, but generally of many kinds of gazelle, antelope and deer eaten by Israel and the Arabs, but not allowed for sacrifice (except in certain cases among the Arabs, Wellh. Reste d. Arab. Heid.112). The reason was that wild animals taken in hunting were not akin to man, and therefore needed not to be eaten sacramentally. Hence the following clause

unclean and clean shall eat thereof alike Both adj., used also in physical and ethical sense, here mean ritually unclean and clean: the injunction is found elsewhere in D, Deuteronomy 12:15; Deuteronomy 15:22, and in P. Sam., LXX add among thee. Alike, Heb. together, the one as well as the other.

so thou shalt eat thereof i.e. of domestic animals: out of reach of the sanctuary they may be slain and eaten without rites. What freedom the deuteronomic law thus effected, in contrast to petty and embarrassing scrupulousness engendered by the legislation of P and its elaboration in later Judaism, can be appreciated only by a study of the N.T. texts on the question of meats. Cp. Acts 10:15, what God hath cleansed make not thou common; 1 Corinthians 10:25; 1 Corinthians 11:20 ff.; Romans 14:20; 1 Timothy 4:4, and for the expression of a still higher principle Matthew 15:11.

Deuteronomy 12:23. Only Heb. raḳ, see on Deuteronomy 10:15, and Deuteronomy 12:15-16.

be sure Lit. be firmor strong: usually in D with another verb be strong and courageous; see on Deuteronomy 1:38; Deuteronomy 3:28.

that thou eat not the blood That there was at once a strong temptation to partake of the blood and from the earliest times a national conscience against doing so, is seen in 1 Samuel 14:32 ff., according to which the people flew upon the spoilsheep, oxen and calves and slew them on the ground, without altar or rites, and ate them with the blood.… So the people sin against Jehovah in that they eat with the blood, and he said, Ye have transgressed. For a similar conscience, and violation of it, among the Arabs, see Doughty, Ar. Des.ii. 238.

for the blood is the life The identification of blood and life was a matter of ordinary observation; as the one ebbed so did the other. As life, the blood belonged to the Deity. Cp. P (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11; Leviticus 17:14), in which, however, the belief was strengthened by the stress that P lays on the expiatory value of sacrifice. Other Semitic peoples shared the same belief. -In all Arabian sacrifices, except the holocaust … the godward side of the ritual is summed up in the shedding of the victim's blood, so that it flows over the sacred symbol, or gathers in a pit (ghabghab) at the foot of the altar idol.… What enters the pit is held to be conveyed to the deity" (W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem.321). The same authority points out that the practice existed also in some Syrian sanctuaries. That it was still older than the Semites is proved by Mr R. A. S. Macalister's discovery of the neolithic sanctuary at Gezer. Note, however, that D (unlike P) sets no atoning value on the shedding of the blood or life, nor any ritual significance on the slaughter of animals apart from the one altar, but simply states

Deuteronomy 12:24. Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water It shall have no other significance than that!

Deuteronomy 12:26. The return to the fact that solemn sacrifices shall nevertheless be made at the one altar is natural. On holy thingscp. Numbers 5:9 f., Deuteronomy 18:19. On burnt offeringswhich, of course, included the blood, and on sacrificessee on Deuteronomy 12:6. Of both the blood had a religious significance.

Deuteronomy 12:28. A closing injunction to keep the whole law of the One Sanctuary.

Observe and hear See on Deuteronomy 6:3; Deuteronomy 7:12.

that it may go well with thee Deuteronomy 4:40.