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Deuteronomy 12

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The Command to Destroy Idolatry 1–4

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 possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: ​
3
And ye shall overthrow 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. ​

Worship Only at the Chosen Place 5–14

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 choice 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.

Regulations for Eating Meat and Blood 15–28

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.

Warning Against Syncretism and Idolatry 29–32

29
When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest 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. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 12

Verse 1

statutes and judgments — The pair is choq, an appointed decree, and mishpat, a judicial decision. Moses set it before Israel in Deut 4:1 and uses it again as the section closes: ‘this day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments’ (Deut 26:16). The laws between 12:1 and 26:16 are framed by it.

Verse 2

under every green tree — ‘Utterly destroy’ doubles the verb abad, to perish, for emphasis. The sites listed, mountains, hills and trees, are the places the nations served their gods, and Israel’s later kings are judged by them: Ahaz ‘sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree’ (2 Kings 16:4).

Verse 4

Ye shall not do so — ‘So’ looks back to the altars, pillars, groves and images of v.3, which Israel is to overthrow, the apparatus of the nations’ worship. The sentence returns in v.31 with its ground: ‘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.’

Verse 5

the place which the LORD your God shall choose — The place is not named. ‘Choose’ (bachar) recurs in vv.11, 14, 18, 21 and 26, and the LORD puts his name there. Solomon’s temple was that place: ‘have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice’ (2 Chr 7:12); ‘the mount Zion which he loved’ (Ps 78:68).

Verse 6

burnt offerings, and your sacrifices — Seven gifts are named: burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, heave offerings (terumah, from lifting up), vows, freewill offerings (nedabah) and firstlings. All are to be brought to the chosen place, and the firstlings are eaten there ‘year by year’ (Deut 15:20).

Verse 7

ye shall eat before the LORD — The household eats its share of the offerings at the chosen place and rejoices ‘in all that ye put your hand unto’, because ‘the LORD thy God hath blessed thee’. The verb for rejoicing (samach) returns in vv.12 and 18 and in 16:11, so the meal at the sanctuary is also a feast of thanksgiving for the year’s work.

Verse 8

right in his own eyes — Moses sets what Israel does ‘here this day’ against the life in the land. ‘Right’ (yashar) is the word of v.25 and v.28, ‘right in the sight of the LORD’, so the chapter sets the LORD’s judgment of what is right against the man’s own. Judges closes on it: ‘every man did that which was right in his own eyes’ (Judg 21:25).

Verse 11

to cause his name to dwell there — The verb shakan means to settle or abide. The promise looks past v.10, ‘rest from all your enemies round about’, and Solomon states its fulfilment: ‘the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side’ (1 Kings 5:4), before he built the house. God ‘chose David’ (1 Kings 8:16) as well as the place.

Verse 12

the Levite that is within your gates — The Levite is named with the sons, daughters and servants because ‘he hath no part nor inheritance with you’. The words come from Deut 10:9, ‘the LORD is his inheritance’, and are repeated in 14:29 where he eats with the stranger, fatherless and widow. In the land he received only ‘cities to dwell in’ (Josh 14:4).

Verse 15

kill and eat flesh in all thy gates — ‘Kill’ is zabach, the verb translated ‘sacrifice’ in 16:2 and 16:6. Lev 17:3–5 had required an animal to be brought to the tabernacle door; here ordinary meat may be slaughtered at home, and ‘the unclean and the clean’ eat it, as of the roebuck and the hart, wild animals listed in Deut 14:5.

Verse 16

pour it upon the earth as water — The ban on eating blood goes back to Noah, ‘flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat’ (Gen 9:4). Lev 17:13 gives the same rule for game: ‘he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.’ Ordinary slaughter at home follows the same rule.

Verse 17

within thy gates — Though ordinary meat may be eaten at home (v.15), these holy gifts may not: the tithe of grain (dagan), new wine (tirosh) and oil, the firstlings, vows, freewill offerings and heave offering. They are eaten only ‘before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose’ (v.18).

Verse 19

forsake not the Levite — The Levites had received ‘all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service’ (Num 18:21), and the command ties the people to bringing it. ‘Forsake’ is azab. Hezekiah acted on it when he ‘commanded the people… to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD’ (2 Chr 31:4).

Verse 23

the blood is the life — ‘Life’ is nephesh, the word for ‘soul’ in v.15, ‘whatsoever thy soul lusteth after’. The reason behind the ban was given at Lev 17:11: ‘the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.’ Eating the blood would treat as food what God had set apart for atonement.

Verse 25

that it may go well with thee — The promise attached to refusing blood is that it will go well ‘with thee, and with thy children after thee’, the line of Deut 4:40 and v.28. ‘Go well’ is yatab. ‘Right’ is again yashar (see v.8), now of what is right ‘in the sight of the LORD’.

Verse 29

cut off the nations — ‘Cut off’ is karat. ‘Possess’ and ‘succeedest’ are one verb, yarash, to take over what another held. The warning of vv.30–31 is set after the conquest has succeeded, when Israel is dwelling ‘in their land’.

Verse 30

that thou enquire not after their gods — ‘Enquire’ is darash, the verb translated ‘seek’ in v.5. Israel is to seek the LORD’s chosen place and to ask nothing of the nations’ gods. ‘Snared’ (naqash) is the language of a trap. The error named is the thought, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.’

Verse 31

burnt in the fire to their gods — The ‘abomination’ (to’ebah) is named: ‘their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire’. Israel later did it. ‘They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire’ (2 Kings 17:17), and at Tophet ‘which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart’ (Jer 7:31). Deut 18:10 forbids it.

Verse 32

thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish — The verbs are yasaph, to add, and gara, to take away. Moses first gave this charge at Deut 4:2. The same warning closes the Bible: ‘If any man shall add unto these things… If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy’ (Rev 22:18–19); also Prov 30:6.