Deuteronomy 12:8-12

Second Statement of the Law of the Single Sanctuary

With a different preface from the first, contrasting Israel's duty after settlement to concentrate on the one altar, not with the practice of the Canaanites, but with that of Israel itself in the time of the wanderings: for the rest substantially the same as the first statement, and like it in the Pl. address, with one doubtful transition to Sg.: see on Deuteronomy 12:9.

Deuteronomy 12:8. Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day That is in the time of Moses the speaker, and in Moab; but with reference (as the following vv. indicate) to the ritual practice of Israel during the whole forty years preceding their settlement. There may, however, be also here a reflection of the religious practice of the writer's own time (Oettli).

every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes So with regard to the multiplication of local shrines after the settlement in Canaan, Judges 17:6, cp. Judges 21:25.

But if Israel and even Moses we! worshipped, where every man thought good, what are we to make of P's account of the institution of the Tabernacle at Sinai, and of its use during the rest of the forty years and of P's rigorous and exact laws (e.g. Leviticus 17) concerning the ritual? Obviously P either did not exist when D's law of the one altar was written, or was unknown to its author. Amos agrees with D. His challenge to Israel (Deuteronomy 5:25), did ye bring unto Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years? expects a negative answer in support of his polemic against all sacrifice. Jeremiah's report of a word of God (Deuteronomy 7:22): I spake not unto your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrificesis also indicative of the non-existence of P in the 7th century; and though it continues to give expression to the essential contents of the deuteronomic covenant in deuteronomic language it is difficult to reconcile it with such a law as is now before us.

Deuteronomy 12:9. for ye are not as yet come to the rest, etc.] The present irregular form of Israel's worship is excused by their unsettled, wandering condition. It was then inevitable, but if so what becomes of P's central sanctuary in the wilderness and his rigorous laws for the ritual? To the rest, 1 Kings 8:56 (deuteronomic); there the erection of the Temple marks the close of Israel's struggles for possession of the land: cp. Deuteronomy 5:10 b.

the inheritance which the Lord your God is about to give you] See on Deuteronomy 4:21. Heb. thyand thee. But probably yourand youshould be read with Sam. and some LXX codd. (most read our God giveth you). At the same time inheritanceis elsewhere used with passages in the Sg. address: if the Sg. be retained here the clause must be a later insertion.

Deuteronomy 12:10. when ye go over Jordan The usual phrase with the Pl., see on Deuteronomy 3:18; Deuteronomy 4:21; but Deuteronomy 9:1 is Sg.

causeth you to inherit See on Deuteronomy 1:38.

giveth you rest, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 12:9.

Deuteronomy 12:11. See on Deuteronomy 12:5 f. where the expressions are the same or similar; only cause his name to dwell therefor put his name there(Deuteronomy 12:5,); all I am about to command you (cp. Deuteronomy 12:14); firstlingsand freewill offeringsare omitted; and for vowsthere is choice vows, Heb. all the choice of your vowsambiguous, and either only the choicest of the things you have vowed(cp. Exodus 14:7; Exodus 15:4) in which case the form of the law is a modification of the other, or the choice things, your vows. More probable is the former. Of the contrary opinion is Bertholet.

Deuteronomy 12:12. See on Deuteronomy 12:7: eatfound there is here omitted; and your householdsis defined as sons, daughters, bondmenand bondmaids, and the Levite within your gates. So Deuteronomy 12:18; Deuteronomy 16:11; Deuteronomy 16:14 (+ stranger, fatherless, widow, cp. Deuteronomy 14:29), Deuteronomy 5:14 (strangerinstead of Levite), Deuteronomy 14:26 f. (householdand Levite), Deuteronomy 26:11 (thou, Levite and stranger). Wives are not mentioned, for they are included in those to whom the law is addressed; a significant fact. The Levite within your gates(the only instance of the phrase with the Pl. address, see on Deuteronomy 12:17) is the family or local minister of the ritual, who is deprived of the means of subsistence by the disestablishment of the rural shrines, and hath no portion nor inheritance with you, no land of his own: see on Deuteronomy 10:9 and further under Deuteronomy 18:1-8.