Deuteronomy 12:1-32
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.
2 Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possessa served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
3 And ye shall overthrowb their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
4 Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.
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:
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 freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
7 And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.
8 Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
9 For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.
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;
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 offering of your hand, and all your choicec vows which ye vow unto the LORD:
12 And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
13 Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:
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.
15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
16 Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
17 Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:
18 But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.
19 Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.
20 When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
21 If the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
22 Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.
23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
24 Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.
25 Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
26 Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and go unto the place which the LORD shall choose:
27 And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.
28 Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedestd them, and dwellest in their land;
30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
ONE CENTER OF WORSHIP
(vs.1-28)
To prepare for proper worship in the land, Israel must utterly destroy those in which the nations before them served their idols. This was commonly done in high places, in mountains and hills and in lovely wooded areas (v.2-3), just as many people today tell us they need no gathering of saints to the name of the Lord Jesus in order to worship, but feel closer to God when they are outside enjoying the beauties of nature. But this kind of worship was to be totally destroyed by Israel, by breaking down their pillars, burning their wooden images and cutting down their carved images. No vestige of these things was to be left, for Israel was not to adopt any such thing as part of their worship (v.4).
They had no choice even as regards where they were to worship. Rather, God had decided this matter and Israel was to seek only the place God had chosen (v.5). When they entered the land, God would leave no doubt as to where that center of worship was. Their worship in that place would require "burnt offerings, your sacrifices of your tithes, freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks." Notice that all of these things speak of Christ in some way, and emphatically Christ crucified. This must always be the prominent theme of worship. Worshiping the beauties of nature is an insult to God, for nature is under God's curse because of sin. Worshiping Christian worshiping the One who has borne the curse of our guilt on Calvary.
On such a basis too they were privileged to eat before the Lord and rejoice in the blessing the Lord had given them (v.2). The Lord expects this spirit of thankfulness and rejoicing before Him when people have been blessed, rather than an attitude of each person independently doing what is right in his own eyes (v.8). This too frequently happens when people are prosperous. If they have difficulties and hardship, usually people are drawn more together, to help one another.
Israel was yet traveling when Moses spoke, but when the Lord would settle them in the land beyond Jordan, then He would designate the place where His name would abide (vs.9-l1). To that place they were to bring their burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, heave offerings and all choice offerings, and all choice offerings, and in that center they were to rejoice before the Lord, together with their families, their servants and the Levite who resided in the area, since the Levites did not have a distinct inheritance (v.12). For us today, Christ and Him crucified is the Center of our worship, not a geographical location, but a living Person.
Only God's choice was to be allowed as a place of worship for Israel (v.13). We know from later history that Jerusalem was that center, its name meaning "the foundation of peace." In the New Testament the center for the Church of God is not a physical location, but Christ in resurrection is the Center, as He Himself declares, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them"
(Matthew 18:20). Thus, it is opposing Scripture to be gathered to a denominational name or to gather to a certain doctrine or doctrines. God has chosen His Son to be the only allowable Center. May we deeply value this and show our appreciation in gathering to Him alone, apart from the party names or party doctrines so popular today.
However, when animals were not offered as sacrifices, it was permissible for Israel to slaughter these at their homes and eat the meat. In this case even those who were unclean could eat (v.15). Thus the Lord Jesus received sinners and eat with them (Luke 15:2). But He ate the Passover only with His disciples (Luke 22:14). Scripture does not forbid a believer to eat a common meal with an unbeliever (1 Corinthians 10:27), but it does forbid any yoke with an unbeliever (1 Corinthians 6:14). But in any case, the blood of the animal was never to be eaten (v.16).
Verse 17 insists that none of those things that were offered to God were to be eaten "within your gates," that is, in their home circumstances: they were to be given a marked distinction and eaten only in the place the Lord would choose. Thus their worship was to be totally sanctified from their ordinary home life, and their entire family and servants were included in this, when they could rejoice exclusively before the Lord (v.18).
Neither must they forsake the Levite, for Levites were servants to the priests and had no specified inheritance because they were God's servants to care for the spiritual needs of the people (v.19).
Verses 20-22 reiterate the permission of God for Israel to eat meat in their homes, so long as the animal was not offered as a sacrifice to God, but with the restriction added as to eating no blood (vs.23-25). The repetition of such things was necessary in order that Israel might take to heart the truth of the Word of God.
The holy things, all that were to be offered to God, were to be taken to God's center of worship. There they were to be offered to God, with the blood of the animals poured out on the altar, while the offerers were permitted to eat the meat (v.27). These were peace offerings of which they were allowed to eat after God was given His portion, the fat, the entrails and kidneys (Leviticus 3:3); and the high priest and his sons also being given the breast and the thigh (Leviticus 7:31).
This section is ended by another pressing insistence from God that Israel should obey what He commands, that they and their children might reap favorable benefits from this (v.28).
WARNINGS AGAINST FALSE WORSHIP
(vs.29-32)
In view of Israel's being planted in their land by God's dispossessing their enemies, Moses strongly warns them of the danger of Satan's temptation to snare Israel into adopting and following the false gods of the land (vs.29-30). Israel might foolishly think that their enemies had prospered because of their particular worship, just as today some Christians think the ungodly prosper because of their attractive forms of professed worship and adopt such forms that are actually idolatrous.
People may think this only another way of really serving God (v.31), as though Confucianism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Shintoism, Mormonism, Christian Science, etc. are only alternative styles of worshiping the same God. but all of these are absolutely false and opposed to the worship of God as revealed in His beloved Son Jesus Christ. Such religions can sink into such a low state that people dare to even burn their children in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. Though some of these do not go that far literally today, yet by teaching unholy doctrines to their children, they are virtually sacrificing them to the flames of hell!
The only real protection we have from such evil is in obedience to the Word of God (v.32). How vital it is that we should take to heart the words of this verse: "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it: you shall not add to it nor take away from it." This verse is found in the history of Scripture. In that history there is no slightest error. It provides all that is necessary for us to know as regards what is past, and nothing must be taken from it. Another similar warning is found in the poetry of Scripture (Proverbs 30:5); and another in the prophecy of Scripture (Revelation 22:18). Whether in its history, poetry or prophecy, the Word of God is absolute and full in its truth. We must not dare to add to it nor subtract from it, but treat it with utmost reverence.