Deeper Commentary
Deu 12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances which you shall
observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given
you to possess all the days that you live on the earth-
The Hebrew mishpat, "ordinances", has a wide range of meaning.
The idea is of judgment, as if God and His Angels gave these laws as their
considered judgment after considering the human condition, and Israel were
to abide by them. But the word also the idea of a right or privilege; and
that is how we should see God's laws. They are only felt as a burden
because of human hardness of neck towards God's ways. His laws are not of
themselves burdensome, but rather a privilege and blessing. The law was
indeed "holy, just and good" (Rom. 7:12), designed to inculcate a holy,
just and good life (Tit. 1:8), a way in which a man should "walk" in daily
life (Lev. 18:4), a culture of kindness and grace to others which
reflected God's grace to man. If we dwell upon the idea of "rights"
carried within the word mishpat, we note that the law begins in
Ex. 21:1,2 (also Dt. 15:12-18) with the rights of a slave- those
considered to have no rights in the society of that day. The "rights" to
be afforded by us to others are the essence of God's rightness / justice.
Deu 12:2 You must surely destroy all the places in which the nations that
you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the
hills and under every green tree-
Israel were told to "throw down", "break in pieces" and "utterly
destroy" the idols and altars of Canaan. There were times during their
history when they obeyed this command by purging themselves from their
apostasy in this. The Hebrew words used scarcely occur elsewhere, except
very frequently in the context of how God "broke down", "threw down" and
"destroyed" Israel at the hands of their Babylonian and Assyrian invaders
as a result of their not 'breaking down' (etc.) the idols. "Throw down" in
Ex. 34:13; Dt. 7:5; 12:3; 2 Chron. 31:1 is the same word in 2 Chron.
36:19; Jer. 4:26; 31:28; 33:4; 39:8; 52:14; Ez. 16:39; Nah. 1:6. "Cut
down" in Dt. 7:5; 12:3; 2 Chron. 31:1 later occurs in Is. 10:33; Jer.
48;25; Lam. 2:3. So Israel faced the choice: either cut down your idols,
or you will be cut down in the day of God's judgment. Those who worshipped
idols were like unto them. The stone will either fall on us and destroy
us, or we must fall on it and become broken men and women (Mt. 21:44). For
the man untouched by the concept of living for God's glory, it's a hard
choice. God will conquer sin, ultimately. When a man dies, it isn't just a
biological, clockwork process. It is God's victory over sin in that
individual. Either we must be slain by God; or with His gracious help, we
must put sin to death in our members through association with the only One
who really did this- and thereby rise to life eternal.
Deu 12:3 and you must break down their altars and dash in pieces their
pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You must cut down the engraved
images of their gods-
The Lord's description of the rejected being cut down
and thrown into the fire (Mt. 7:19) is surely referring to these words
(cp. 7:5), where the idols of the world were to be hewn down and thrown
into the fire. The Lord understood that those who worship idols are like
unto them (Ps. 115:8; 135:18). Because all idols [of whatever kind] will
be destroyed in the last day, all who worship them will have to share
their destruction. And yet we can be hewn down by God's word now (Hos.
6:5) rather than wait for God to do it to us by the condemnation process.
We must cut off (s.w. hew down) our flesh now (Mt. 5:30; 18:8 cp.
7:19).
But when we read the later historical accounts of the place names in
the land, we find many cases of names with idolatrous associations not
being renamed. Especially we note the prevalence of the "Baal" prefix.
They didn't widely obey this.
Deu 12:4 You shall not do so to Yahweh your God-
Verse 3 has just spoken of the need to destroy the names of the idols
which were reflected in the place names in Canaan, and instead they were
to recognize that Yahweh had placed His Name in the land and
especially at the sanctuary (:5).
God placed His Name upon places in order to make them suitable places for
sacrifice to be offered to Him (Dt. 12:4-7,21; Jer. 7:12).
They were to call upon His Name alone,
and not allow anything else to tempt them to call upon the name of idols.
Commonly enough, the New Testament speaks of baptism as a calling upon the
Name of the Lord. This must be understood against its Hebrew background-
qara' beshem Yahweh, which originally referred to approaching God in
sacrifice (Gen. 12:7,8; Ps. 116:4,17). Baptism was thus seen as a sacrificial commitment to
Yahweh in solemn covenant.
Deu 12:5 But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all
your tribes to put His name there-
Worldly religion is made as convenient as possible for the worshipper
to come and participate in; the shrines of the Canaanite gods were
everywhere in the land, whereas Yahweh insisted that there was one
specific place to where His people should come to worship Him. This was
perhaps partly to inspire national unity within the family of God. The
pagan shrines were each different; they had no uniformity between them, as
archaeologists have demonstrated. But the one true God has principles of
worship and service which don’t vary geographically and are consistently
the same because truth is truth and in that sense doesn’t vary from place
to place nor context to context.
Yahweh cared for / sought after the land and Kingdom He had promised Israel (Dt. 11:12). The same word is used of how His people were to seek Him, to care for the things of His Kingdom above all else (Dt. 12:5). There thus develops a mutuality between God and man.
Deu 12:6 and bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the
wave offering of your hand, your vows, your freewill offerings and the
firstborn of your herd and of your flock-
Deu 12:7 There you shall eat before Yahweh your God and you shall rejoice
in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh
your God has blessed you-
LXX "And ye shall eat there before the Lord your God, and ye shall
rejoice in all the things on which ye shall lay your hand, ye and your
houses". The idea may be that what they laid their hands on was the
sacrifices which they offered. For that is the context. They were to
rejoice in sacrificing their blessings to God. "God loves a cheerful
giver" may refer to this (2 Cor. 9:7). And to this day, the only way to
"eat and enjoy the good things that you have worked for" (GNB) is by
offering them to Yahweh.
Deu 12:8 You shall not do all the things that we do here this day, every
man whatever is right in his own eyes-
This may refer to how the Mosaic laws were often intended for
obedience once settled in the land. During the 38 years journey, it seems
the people were not particularly obedient to God's laws and had just done
whatever was right in their own eyes. The lament of Judges is that Israel
in the land continued to do what was right in their own eyes (Jud. 17:6;
21:25). The moral anarchy sadly continued. Prov. 21:2 contrasts doing what
is right in our own eyes or mental perception, with God judging the hearts
/ minds. The fact something may appear morally right to us doesn't mean it
is. We may know nothing against ourselves in our own conscience, but this
doesn't mean we are thereby justified before God (1 Cor. 4:4). There is
one thing which will judge us at the end, and that is the word spoken to
us (Jn. 12:48)- not our own native sense of right or wrong. Our conscience
will not as it were jump out of us and stand there and judge us in the
last day.
Deu 12:9 for you haven’t yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which
Yahweh your God gives you-
The idea may simply be that in the wilderness, they had not been able
to obey all the commandments in the law because they were not yet in the
land, "the rest". But there may be a hint here at something deeper. For
Joshua didn't in fact lead the people to "the rest" in ultimate terms
(Heb. 4:8). That was to be the work of the Lord Jesus. There is a
connection between the ark and God's resting place:
- Num. 10:33 "The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them... to
search out a resting place"
- 1 Chron. 28:2 "An house of rest for the ark".
However, the real resting place of God's Name is not in the literal ark,
but in the hearts of people humble to God's Word. The exiles were told:
"Where is the house that you build unto Me? and where is the place of My
rest?... to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and trembles at My word" (Is. 66:1,2).
Deu 12:10 But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which
Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your
enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety-
Several times Moses describes Israel’s inheritance of the land as
entering “rest”, mindful of how God had sworn that they would not enter
into that rest, and yet he had pleaded with God to change His mind about
that (Ps. 95:11; Heb. 3:11), even though Israel at the time didn’t realize
the intensity of pleading and self-sacrifice for them which was going on
up in the mountain. Just as we don’t appreciate the extent of the Lord’s
mediation for us, that we might enter the final “rest” (Heb. 4:9).
Deu 12:11 then to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause
His name to dwell there, you must bring all that I command you: your burnt
offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the wave offering of your
hand and all your chosen vows which you vow to Yahweh-
The idea of a central place of worship was perhaps to stop the
Israelites just doing their own thing in their local areas when it came to
Yahweh worship. His desire for unity amongst His people was reflected in
this otherwise strange idea that they were to offer all sacrifices in only
one place in the land. No other legal code amongst the nations featured
this. But Israel didn't do this, and so it seems that He did accept
sacrifice in local sanctuaries; we think of acceptable offerings made in
other places, by Gideon, Manoah, David and others. We see reflected here
God's willingness to accept less than ideal sacrifices, so desirous is He
of relationship with His people.
Deu 12:12 Rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your sons, your
daughters, your male servants, your female servants and the Levite who is
within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you-
We see God's desire that male and female, slave and free, should
unite together in the joy which arises from acceptable sacrifice. Again we
see this as the basis of being a "cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7), for true
joy arise not from selfish hoarding but from sacrifice and giving as God
intended. If there were to be no local sacrifices, then the Levites would
have had to take their food from the sacrifices offered at the central
sanctuary, and transport it home. This would have required them to be in
regular contact with the sanctuary. This whole plan would have been
unworkable if Israel at this point had inherited as intended up to the
Euphrates river; but God had clearly recalculated their inheritance in
accordance with their possibilities and spiritual capacities.
Deu 12:13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in every place that
you see-
We can’t worship God any way we like, thinking that the fact we
accept His existence and even worship Him means that we are somehow free
to do it as we think. Israel didn't do this, and so it seems that He did
accept sacrifice in local sanctuaries; we think of acceptable offerings
made in other places, by Gideon, Manoah, David and others. We see
reflected here God's willingness to accept less than ideal sacrifices, so
desirous is He of relationship with His people.
Deu 12:14 but in the place which Yahweh shall choose in one of your
tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do
all that I command you-
It is hard to discern when exactly God named such a place. David and
Solomon were confident that God had chosen Zion, but it's unclear whether
this was their own preference which they then claimed was God's choice. At
any rate, these words of Moses imply God would choose such a place soon
after Israel entered Canaan. But there is no record of Him doing so, and
the sanctuary moved around to various places. Perhaps that was the idea-
that God would choose a place and then move it around, choosing another at
a later date. Or perhaps this simply didn't happen; because the people
showed themselves not sufficiently spiritual, and so He allowed them to
just use local shrines. In this case we see the flexibility of God, and
His ability to recalculate and downgrade His expectations of His people.
We must note that He alone has the prerogative to do so.
Deu 12:15 Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your
gates after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of
Yahweh your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat
of it, as of the gazelle and the hart-
They were allowed to kill animals for food for their own use, and
being ritually unclean was no barrier to eating such meat. The gazelle and
hart, GNB "deer or antelope", were given as examples of clean animals
which could be eaten, perhaps clarifying the question of whether they
could eat animals killed in hunting, who died from arrows at a distance
from the hunter, and whose blood could only be poured out some time after
killing them.
Deu 12:16 Only you must not eat the blood. Pour it out on the earth as
water-
The blood was understood as representing life (:23; Lev. 17:11). We
are not to take life to ourselves; not merely in that we aren’t to murder,
but we also aren’t to assume that our lives, or any life, is in fact ours
to use or dominate for ourselves. Our lives and those of others are God’s,
and we cannot take any life to ourselves.
Deu 12:17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new
wine or oil-
Perhaps this command was addressed specifically to the Levites.
Or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your
vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of
your hand-
The Israelites weren't allowed to eat the firstborn, but rather must
offer it to God, and the Levites ate part of it. But :18 speaks of them
eating these things before Yahweh along with the Levite. So the idea seems
to be that the Levites in each local area were to accompany the offerers
to the central sanctuary. This was intended to create a strong social bond
between the people and the Levites. But sadly this didn't seem to happen.
Deu 12:18 but you must eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which
Yahweh your God shall choose, you and your son, your daughter, your male
servant and your female servant and the Levite who is within your gates;
and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you put your hand
on-
Whatever they put their hand on to give to God they were to give with
joy; for God loves cheerful
giving, and hates reluctant or manipulated ‘giving’ (2 Cor. 9:7).
Deu 12:19 Take heed to yourself-
Paul warned the new Israel that after his death ("after my departing",
Acts 20:29) there would be serious apostasy. This is the spirit of his
very last words, in 2 Tim. 4. it is exactly the spirit of Moses' farewell
speech throughout the book of Deuteronomy, and throughout his final song
(Dt. 32) and Dt. 31:29: "After my death you will utterly corrupt
yourselves". Paul's "Take heed therefore unto yourselves" (Acts 20:28) is
quoted from many places in Deuteronomy (e.g. Dt. 2:4; 4:9,15,23; 11:16;
12:13,19,30; 24:8; 27:9).
That you don’t forsake the Levite as long
as you live in your land-
The implication is that they would no longer live in the land if they
forsook the Levite. But they clearly never really supported the Levites.
God's patience with them lasted many centuries. For they were not cast out
of the land for a long time.
Deu 12:20 When Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as He has promised
you, and you say I want to eat meat, because your soul desires to eat
meat, you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul-
Vegetarianism is a matter of personal choice, but it certainly isn’t
commanded by God- indeed, quite the opposite (1 Tim. 4:3).
Deu 12:21 If the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to put His name
there is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your
flock which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; you may eat
within your gates, after all the desire of your soul-
They were always allowed to kill animals and eat their meat for
personal use (:15). So the killing of animals here seems to refer to the
possibility of offering the sacrifices in their own "gates", but only once
the land was enlarged. We never read of the land being enlarged, indeed
their territory was progressively "cut short" (2 Kings 10:32) after
Solomon's time and frequently in the time of the Judges, immediately after
their entry into the land. There was never any signal from God that He had
now enlarged the land (:20) and therefore this change of the law was
allowed. We note that the law of Moses was flexible and open to change.
That it should later be abrogated is therefore no surprise. The argument
that each Mosaic law was eternal is therefore lacking in careful attention
to the text of the law itself.
Deu 12:22 As the gazelle and the hart is eaten, so you shall eat of it;
the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike-
As explained on :21, the context appears to be here about eating the
sacrificed animals at the time when the land had been enlarged, and such
animals didn't have to be sacrificed at the sanctuary. So we note that
unclean offerers could eat of the sacrifices in this case. It was not
allowed for unclean offerers to eat peace offerings (Lev. 7:20), nor could
Levites or priests approach to the sacrifices whilst unclean (Lev. 22:3).
But there is no statement that the offerer had to be clean, indeed Dt.
12:22 says that some sacrifices could be eaten by the offerer whilst
unclean. We see here God's willingness to by all means accept the offerer
of sacrifice.
Deu 12:23 Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood, for the blood is the
life; you shall not eat the life with the flesh-
"The life with the flesh" effectively means "the blood with the
flesh", i.e. the blood must be drained out of the meat. One practical
consequence of this was that obedience would have meant social separation
from the Canaanites; for none of them observed these positions on blood,
indeed eating blood or meat with much blood in it was a delicacy.
Deu 12:24 You must not eat it; pour it out on the earth as water-
We note the triple, laboured emphasis upon not eating blood in
:23-25. The blood was understood as representing life (:23; Lev. 17:11). We
are not to take life to ourselves; not merely in that we aren’t to murder,
but we also aren’t to assume that our lives, or any life, is in fact ours
to use or dominate for ourselves. Our lives and those of others are God’s,
and we cannot take any life to ourselves.
Deu 12:25 You must not eat it, that it may go well with you and with your
children after you, when you do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh-
The Lord Jesus specifically alluded to the major Jewish principle of
not eating blood- when He taught that unless His blood was drunk, then
they had no life in them. This alludes to another reason for not eating
blood, given in Lev. 17:11: "I have given it to you on the altar to make
atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by
reason of the life". The blood looked ahead to the blood which God would
give which would make atonement. The blood of animals couldn't take away
sins (Heb. 10:4). So the blood only 'made atonement' because it pointed
forward to that of the Lord Jesus. The whole structure of the laws about
blood required some blood of atonement which had to be shed in future, a
blood sacrifice of a representative human who was not an animal. That
blood was to be given to God, and not to man. Hence the stress upon not
eating blood.
Deu 12:26 Only your holy things which you have and your vows, you shall
take and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose-
The situation in view is hard to imagine; whether this speaks of when
the borders were enlarged, or whether this specifically applies to the
priests. The Rabbis like to think that this refers to an Israelite outside
the land.
Deu 12:27 and you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the
blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God. The blood of your sacrifices must
be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God, and you shall eat the
flesh-
For the situation in view, see on :26. It's unclear whether "the
flesh" refers to the meat, or to the literal skin of the animal. The blood
of hunted animals was to be covered with dust (Lev. 17:13), as if buried
in death. So the idea may have been that it drained from the altar onto
the dust upon which the altar stood. Or it may be that the altar
represented God's facility to accept the offering of life.
Deu 12:28 Observe and hear all these words which I command you-
Moses really wanted Israel's well-being, he saw so clearly how
obedience would result in blessing (e.g. Dt. 6:3; 12:28). This is a major
theme of Moses in Deuteronomy. There was therefore a real sense of
pleading behind his frequent appeal for Israel to "hear" or obey God's
words. "Hear,
O Israel" in Deuteronomy must have had a real passion behind it in his
voice, uncorrupted as it was by old age. He didn't rattle it off as some
kind of Sunday School proof. At least four times Moses interrupts the flow
of his speech with this appeal: "Hear
[‘be obedient’], O
Israel" (Dt. 5:1; 6:3,4; 9:1; 20:3). And a glance through a concordance
shows how often in Deuteronomy Moses pleads with them to hear God's voice.
So he was back to his favourite theme: Hear the word, love the word, make
it your life. For in this is your salvation. And the Lord Jesus (e.g. in
passages like Jn. 6) makes just the same urgent appeal.
Things 'going well / good' with Israel is the language of the Kingdom
of God in Dt. 8:16 "to do you good / well at your latter end". It is
associated with days being prolonged (Dt. 22:7) and the fulfilment of the
promises to Abraham (Dt. 30:5), and Israel and the children somehow
existing "forever" (Dt. 12:28). So I deduce in the wish "that it may go
well with you" a hint towards the eternal establishment of God's Kingdom
based around Israel, what Paul terms "the hope of Israel".
When you do
that which is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God-
Israel had been told by Moses that their doing what was "good and
right" was required for them to possess the land (Dt. 6:18; 12:28). The
Gibeonites use the same phrase in appealing for Joshua to do what was
"good and right" (Josh. 9:25) in not slaying them but accepting them into
covenant relationship with Yahweh. The people generally didn't want to do
this (Josh. 9:26). It seems God's providence used Joshua's initial
unwisdom in order to give Joshua a chance to do what was "good and right",
so that Israel could indeed possess Canaan. We marvel at how God works
through human unwisdom and dysfunction, in order to achieve His final
purpose of giving His people His Kingdom.
Dt. 12:28 AV "Observe and hear all these words...
that it may go well with thee... when thou doest that which is good and
right", is as if to say 'When you are obedient, you will be even more
obedient'. "You shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which
if a man do, he shall even live in them" (Lev. 18:5) seems to mean that if
we seriously try to be obedient, then obedience becomes a way of daily
life, and the individual acts of obedience are not so difficult. This was
undoubtedly the Lord's source of victory over the flesh. He lived a life
that was in harmony with an atmosphere of obedience.
Deu 12:29 When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations from before you, where
you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them and dwell in their
land-
"Drive out" is s.w. "possess". We must note the difference between the
Canaanite peoples and their kings being "struck" and their land "taken" by
Joshua-Jesus; and the people of Israel permanently taking possession. This
is the difference between the Lord's victory on the cross, and our taking
possession of the Kingdom. Even though that possession has been "given" to
us. The word used for "possession" is literally 'an inheritance'. The
allusion is to the people, like us, being the seed of Abraham. The Kingdom
was and is our possession, our inheritance- if we walk in the steps of
Abraham. But it is one thing to be the seed of Abraham, another to take
possession of the inheritance; and Israel generally did not take
possession of all the land (Josh.
11:23 13:1; 16:10; 18:3; 23:4). The language of inheritance / possession
is applied to us in the New Testament (Eph. 1:11,14; Col. 3:24; Acts
20:32; 26:18; 1 Pet. 1:4 etc.). Israel were promised: "You shall possess
it" (Dt. 30:5; 33:23). This was more of a command than a prophecy, for
sadly they were "given" the land but did not "possess" it. They were
constantly encouraged in the wilderness that they were on the path to
possessing the land (Dt. 30:16,18; 31:3,13; 32:47), but when they got
there they didn't possess it fully.
Deu 12:30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow
them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not
inquire after their gods saying, How do these nations serve their gods? I
will do likewise-
Deu 12:31 You must not do so to Yahweh your God, for every abomination to
Yahweh, which He hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons
and their daughters they burn in the fire to their gods-
The sacrifice of children to idols was clearly felt by God to be a
particularly great abomination. Israel's children were His- in that they
were to be raised for Him and to live lives devoted to Him. If we do not
raise our children as dedicated for Him [whether or not they accept that
path is of course their choice], then we have effectively done what we
would most recoil at- to offer our children to the gods of wealth, career
and secular success.
Deu 12:32 Whatever I command you, you must observe to do. You must not add
to it, nor take away from it-
As Moses very intensely manifested God to the people, so he
foreshadowed the supreme manifestation of the Father in the Son. The
commands of Moses were those of God (Dt. 7:11; 11:13,18; and 12:32
concerning Moses' words is quoted in Rev. 22:18,19 concerning God's
words); his voice was God's voice (Dt. 13;18; 15:5; 28:1), as with Christ.
Israel were to show their love of God by keeping Moses' commands (Dt.
11:13); as the new Israel do in their response to the word of Christ.
Indeed, the well known prophecy that God would raise up a prophet "like
unto" Moses to whom Israel would listen (Dt. 18:18) is in the context of Israel saying they did not want to hear God's voice directly. Therefore God said that he would raise up Christ, who would be another Moses in the sense that he too would speak forth God's word.
Pharaoh had insisted that nothing should be "diminished" from the quota of bricks he had set (Ex. 5:11), and the same word is later used of how Israel were not to "diminish" ["take away"] from obeying Yahweh's commandments (Dt. 4:2; 12:32). They were being reminded that they had changed masters when they crossed the Red Sea, just as Paul says happens when we are baptized (Rom. 6). And the Red Sea crossing represented baptism into Jesus (1 Cor. 10:1,2). Like us, Israel were not radically free to do as they pleased. What happened was that they changed masters; hence the appeal to Pharaoh to let God's people go, that they may serve Him rather than Pharaoh. We too will only find ultimate freedom through this servitude to God's ways, and will finally emerge into the radical liberty of the children of God in the Kingdom age (Rom. 8:21).
The Divine intention was that perfect obedience to the law of Moses
would lead to a perfect character, which is what we see in the Lord Jesus.
The laws were intended to confirm and strengthen the way of obedience. To
reduce or expand the corpus of commandments was therefore to take away
this self reinforcing nature of the law.
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