_A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451._ A command to destroy all relics of idolatry, Deuteronomy 12:1. To worship God in his own place, and according to his own appointment, Deuteronomy 12:4. A permission to eat flesh, but not blood, Deuteronomy 12:15; Deuteronomy 12:16. Directions to eat the tithe in the holy pla... [ Continue Reading ]
_These are the statutes_ Moses, being still deeply impressed with a sense of the great danger his nation would be in of falling into idolatrous practices, after their settlement in the promised land, in the neighbourhood of so many superstitious nations, begins here a new exhortation to them, remind... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall destroy all the places_ Temples, chapels, altars, groves, as appears from other scriptures. _Green tree_ As the Gentiles consecrated divers trees to their false gods, so they worshipped these under them. _Pillars_ Upon which their images were set. _Names_ That is, all the memorials of them... [ Continue Reading ]
_To put his name there_ That is, to set up his worship there, and which he shall call by his name, as his house, or his dwelling-place; namely, where the ark should be, the tabernacle, or temple: which was first Shiloh, and then Jerusalem. There is not one precept in all the law of Moses so largely... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thither bring your burnt-offerings_ Which were wisely appropriated to that one place, for the security of the true religion, and for the prevention of idolatry and superstition, which might otherwise more easily have crept in; and to signify that their sacrifices were not accepted for their own wor... [ Continue Reading ]
_There_ Not in the tabernacle or temple, where only the priests might eat the most holy things, (Numbers 18:10,) but in the court of the tabernacle, or in some place adjacent to the sanctuary. _Ye shall eat_ Your part of the things mentioned Deuteronomy 12:6; _before the Lord_ In the place of his pe... [ Continue Reading ]
_That we do here_ Where the inconvenience of the place, and the uncertainty of their abode, would not permit exact order in sacrifices, and feasts, and ceremonies, which therefore God was then pleased to dispense with; but, saith he, he will not do so there. _Right in his own eyes_ Not that universa... [ Continue Reading ]
_His name_ His majesty and glory, his worship and service, his special and gracious presence. _Your choice vows_ Hebrew, _the choice of your vows;_ that is, your select or chosen vows; so called, because things offered for vows were to be perfect, whereas defective creatures were accepted in free-wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy burnt-offerings_ Nor the other things mentioned above, this one and most eminent kind being put for all the rest.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Within thy gates_ That is, in your private habitations, here opposed to the place of God's worship.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Enlarge thy border_ Which will make it impossible to bring all the cattle thou usest to the tabernacle. _If the place be too far_ Being obliged to carry their sacrifices to the place of worship, they might think themselves obliged to carry their other cattle thither to be killed. They are therefore... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the roe-buck_ As common or unhallowed food. They might eat of such cattle as were appointed for sacrifices, no less than of those not so appointed. _The unclean_ Because there was no holiness in such meat for which the unclean might be excluded from it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt eat the flesh_ Excepting what shall be burned to God's honour, and given to the priest, according to his appointment.... [ Continue Reading ]
_By following them_ By following the example they left, when their persons are destroyed.... [ Continue Reading ]