Chapter 12 of Devarim marks the transition between the
commandments about our relationship with God and those that mandate our
relationship with our neighbor…
Up until chapter 11, the commandments are mentioned (Heb. Mitzvot), and from chapter 12 to 26 the
statutes and rules are numbered (Heb. Chukim
v’Mishpatim).
(Deut. 12:1) These are the
statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the LORD,
the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live
on the earth.
If God gives the Promised Land to the Israelites, it is not
so that they do whatever they want there, but so that they live as God
commands.
(Deut. 12:8-10) You shall not
do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is
right in his own eyes, (9) for you have not as yet come to the rest and to
the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. (10) But
when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your
God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies
around, so that you live in safety
God will not only give them the Land, but He will also help
them keep it in prosperity and in security. That is the part God commits to do.
Now it is the people’s turn to do their part: keeping the instructions (Heb. Torah) that God has given them, in other
words, keeping the commandments, the statutes and the rules, etc.
DESTROY EVERY TRACE
OF IDOLATRY
As we’ve mentioned before, the Israelites would enter into a
land that had been inhabited already, so they would find built cities and
planted fields. The problem was that among all those good things, they would
also run into traces of idolatry. So the Lord asked them to make sure to
destroy everything related to the idols that the Canaanites left behind.
(Deut. 12:2-3) You shall
surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess
served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green
tree. (3) You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their
pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images
of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.
Some people might get the idea of using the altars and the
high places that the pagans left behind, to worship Yehovah on those same
places; but here they are clearly warned not to do that…
(Deut. 12:4-5) You shall not
worship the LORD your God in that way. (5) But you shall seek
the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put
his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go
Next we will see where that place was; where God chose to
put His Name…
AT THE PLACE WHERE
GOD CHOSE
Before entering Canaan, the patriarchs made sacrifices to
God in several places (for example: Shechem or Betel). They did that because
God still hadn’t revealed to them the special place that He had chosen.
The revelation began at the desert with the construction of
the Tabernacle, which would serve as a temporary model of what would eventually
become the Temple.
(Exodus 25:8-9) And let them
make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. (9) Exactly as I
show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so
you shall make it.
The tabernacle was portable and temporary; but there would
be a day in which a permanent Sanctuary would be built in the Promised Land.
This had already been revealed in the prophetic Song of the Red Sea:
(Ex. 15:17) You will bring
them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you
have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have
established.
At the time when Moses spoke the words of Devarim, they
still had not been revealed the exact place that God had chosen. That place
was: JERUSALEM (Heb. Yerushalayim).
The chosen place continued to be a mystery for many years to come… until the
time of David.
ONLY SACRIFICE IN
JERUSALEM
Although the
generation of Moses and Joshua didn’t know that Jerusalem was God’s chosen
place, they at least had to know that they couldn’t sacrifice anywhere but in
the Sanctuary.
(Deut. 12:6-7) and there you
shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the
contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and
the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. (7) And there you shall eat
before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your
households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has
blessed you.
The sacrifices had to be done only in Jerusalem. In the very
place where they also had to bring the offerings, tithes, and first fruits, as
well as celebrate the feasts. When it speaks about “eating there before
Yehovah”, it refers to the Passover Lamb as well as the peace sacrifices, which
were the only offerings that had to be partly eaten.
This instruction was so important, that Moses repeats it
several times in this chapter:
(Deut. 12:11) then to the
place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell
there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and
your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all
your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD.
The sacrifices were not to be done in just any place; and
the same applied to the tithes and the offerings, they were not to be done
wherever the people pleased, but they had to be brought to the Temple in
Jerusalem. While they had no Temple, they had to bring it to the Tabernacle
(Heb. Mishkan). This instruction
appears for the first time in Leviticus:
(Lev. 17:2-6) Speak to Aaron
and his sons and to all the people of Israel and say to them, This is the thing
that the LORD has commanded. (3) If any one of the house of
Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the
camp, (4) and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to
offer it as a gift to the LORD in front of the tabernacle of the
LORD, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man
shall be cut off from among his people. (5) This is to the end that the
people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice in the open
field, that they may bring them to the LORD, to the priest at the entrance
of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to
the LORD. (6) And the priest shall throw the blood on the altar of
the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat for
a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
This was the case for the clean animals, which were normally
used for the Temple sacrifices (oxen, lambs, goats). In biblical times, people
would not usually eat a lot of meat, and whenever they did, they would do it
for a feast or a celebration, because if they killed an animal, its meat would
have to be eaten in a matter of hours or days, since they didn’t have any
refrigeration to preserve it. Another reason for which they killed animals back
in that time was as a sacrifice to the gods. The pagan nations would offer
animals to their idols, and then they would eat the meat. They would do this
anywhere, but mainly in the high places. That is why it is written:
(Lev. 17:7) So they shall
no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This
shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
This is why during the time of the apostles, the gentile
believers were instructed not to eat “food sacrificed to idols” among other
things (Acts 15:29).
God instructed his people not to do the same thing that
other nations did. The only place where they could offer sacrifices to God was
in the Temple in Jerusalem.
(Deut. 12:13-14) Take care that
you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, (14) but
at the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, there
you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am
commanding you.
It is not just about going to the place where God indicates,
but doing it in the way that God commands (which is outlined in the book of
Leviticus).
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE
OTHER ANIMALS
The only instance where they were not required to take the
animal to the Temple was if it was about game animals or birds (which were
allowed to be eaten, but were not to be used as a sacrifice in the Temple, like
deer, chicken, etc.)
(Deut. 12:15) However, you
may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire,
according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.
The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer.
Interestingly, it also contemplates the issue of the
Israelites that lived far from Jerusalem…
(Deut. 12:20-21) When
the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you,
and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat
whenever you desire. (21) If the place that the LORD your God
will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of
your herd or your flock, which the LORD has given you, as I have
commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.
WITHOUT THE BLOOD
Those who wanted to eat meat at their homes had to comply
with one condition: the blood had to be spilled on the earth, just as it is
written in Leviticus…
(Lev. 17:13-14) Any one also of
the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in
hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover
it with earth. (14) For the life of every creature is its blood: its
blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You
shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its
blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.
The animals that were offered to Yehovah had to be eaten
only in Jerusalem (by the priests, according to their designated portion; and
the ones giving the offering, their portion of the peace offerings, Lev. 7).
Devarim also mentions the forbiddance of eating blood:
(Deut. 12:16) Only you shall
not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.
Later it says it again:
(Deut. 12:23-25) Only be sure
that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat
the life with the flesh. (24) You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on
the earth like water. (25) You shall not eat it, that all may go well with
you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of
the LORD.
The meat that came from the sacrifices in the Temple could
only be eaten by those who were in a state of ritual purity; but those who were
unclean could not eat it because they could not appear before the Temple. However,
if it was about eating meat at home, anyone could eat it, since it was not done
in the context of the sacrifices.
(Deut. 12:22) Just as the
gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean
alike may eat of it.
THE OFFERINGS IN
JERUSALEM
Further ahead, Moses explains that in the case of the
offerings, tithes, firstfruits and vows, either of animals or of grains, these
could only be eaten in Jerusalem…
(Deut. 12:17-18) You may not eat
within your towns the tithe of your
grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the
firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your
freewill offerings or the
contribution that you present, (18) but you shall eat them before the LORD your
God in the place that the LORD your God will choose, you and your son
and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite
who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your
God in all that you undertake.
Then again it emphasizes this message:
(Deut. 12:26-27) But the holy
things that are due from you, and your vow offerings, you shall take, and you
shall go to the place that the LORD will choose, (27) and offer your
burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your
God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your
God, but the flesh you may eat.
[Later on we will study about the tithes and offerings in more
detail]
DURING THE FEASTS
Generally, the time the Israelites would use to bring their
offerings and sacrifices was during the feasts (Lev. 23), when they would go to
Jerusalem to celebrate.
(Exodus 23:14-19) Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. (15) You shall keep
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I
commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed
time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear
before me empty-handed. (16) You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow
in the field. You shall keep the Feast
of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field
the fruit of your labor. (17) Three times in the year shall all your males
appear before the Lord GOD. (18) You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice
with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. (19)
The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of
the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
The three convocations to the feasts are linked with a harvest.
The Israelites would go to Jerusalem to celebrate and offer the firstfruits to
God.
This is why it is written in Devarim:
(Deut. 12:12) And you shall
rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your
daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is
within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.
THE LEVITE’S PORTION
Since the Levites had no land to cultivate, they could not
bring the tithe of the harvest. Instead, they would receive the tithes and the
offerings, which served as their sustenance. But even from what they received,
they were called to give “the tithe of the tithe” (Num. 18:26). Each one gave
from what they had, and everything was dedicated to God, but the Lord assigned
the portion of the offerings to the Levites.
(Deut. 12:19) Take care that
you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.
THAT ALL MAY GO WELL
WITH YOU
All these instructions are not to “limit” God’s people.
Although we don’t understand everything, the reality is that all the
commandments are to receive blessing…
(Deut. 12:28) Be careful to
obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with
your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the
sight of the LORD your God.
This way of life is very different from the way other
nations do things. The Lord knows that Israel will have the temptation of
imitating the other nations, but God warns them not to do it, for their own
good…
(Deut. 12:29-31) When the LORD your
God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you
dispossess them and dwell in their land, (30) take care that you be not
ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that
you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their
gods?—that I also may do the same.’ (31) You shall not worship the LORD your
God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they
have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in
the fire to their gods.
DO NOT ADD OR TAKE
AWAY
This chapter ends with a very important instruction:
(Deut. 12:32) Everything that
I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from
it.
Jesus clearly said that he did not come to take away, but to
fulfill the Law… and to teach us to also keep it… “so that all may go well with
us”.
(Matthew 5:17-19) Do not think
that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them. (18) For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth
pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is
accomplished. (19) Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these
commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the
kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great
in the kingdom of heaven.
More lessons on
Deuteronomy: DEVARIM (Deut.)
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