Introduction
‘These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you. You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you. But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.’ Deuteronomy 12:1-10
The One Place Of Worship
Third Sermon, Deuteronomy 12:1-33:29
Moses now begins his third sermon in which the Lord commands Israel to destroy all the places of pagan worship, Deuteronomy 11:16-17.
The reason for this was to keep them from being deceived and turning away from the Lord to serve the gods of Canaan, Exodus 20:24. If they did turn away from the Lord they would be on the receiving end of the Lord’s anger.
This destroying of the pagan gods also included destroying all their altars, which could be found in the high mountains, hills, and under the green trees.
The Canaanites thought that they were closer to their god on high mountains and hills, hence, why they set their places of worship in high places. The Canaanites also created plantations of trees as places of worship, Romans 1:25.
Sadly, the Israelites didn’t totally destroy these tree plantations when they entered the land, and so, they became a snare to Israel, Jeremiah 2:20 / Ezekiel 18:6 / Hosea 4:13.
They are commanded to burn and cut them to down the ground and they were to also totally destroy the names of these pagan gods out of the land. The reason for destroying the names of these gods, was simply so that they could establish the Name of the Lord in Canaan.
Notice that while the Canaanite gods were scattered everywhere, the Lord, however, would be worshipped and served at one location of the Lord’s choosing, John 4:24.
Israel wasn’t to worship God in the way the Canaanites worshipped their gods, that is Israel wasn’t to build shrines, plant trees or make idols in reference to their worship of God.
God once again tells Israel of the great blessings of Canaan, it’s the land flowing with milk and honey, and it will be Israel’s inheritance and Israel will experience peace from their enemies.
‘Then to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD. And there rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you. Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the LORD your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns—and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to. Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land. When the LORD your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, “I would like some meat,” then you may eat as much of it as you want.’ Deuteronomy 12:11-20
Moses, once again, reminds Israel that God would choose a place ‘as a dwelling for his Name’. And once again, Israel is warned, not to make sacrifices to the Lord God in places other than the ‘the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes.’
God enabled Israel to eat the good of the land in their homelands, however, when they made vows or offerings of thanksgiving to the Lord they were to eat it before Him in the one place of God’s choosing. In other words, all the acts of worship done by Israel were to be done at the one place for the one God.
When Israel came together for worship, it would be a time of great rejoicing, but notice, that the rejoicing is actually commanded. The New Testament commands exactly the same for Christians, Philippians 4:41 / Thessalonians 5:16.
Some commentators believe that this one place was to be a permanent place, that is, Jerusalem, however, notice that the one place isn’t mentioned.
The place was probably revealed and announced once a year by God to be in the area of a different tribe. Every year the place would be moved, to show no favouritism among the tribes.
What appears to be implied here, is an annual gathering together of all the tribes to demonstrate their unit, a time when they can all come together to offer their sacrifices to the Lord as one. The men of the nation were to appear there three times a year at the Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles, Exodus 23:14-17 / Exodus 34:18-23.
All that God was commanding was the place where the offerings were to take place, not the construction of a facility, such as a temple. Since the tabernacle was to be a mobile sanctuary that could and would be moved among the tribal territories in order to maintain the work of the priests among all the tribes, no official permanent sanctuary was to be built.
Moses reminds Israel not to forget the Levites in that they had no inheritance of land and so because they had no inheritance, they were dependent upon the offerings of the people for food as they labour at the tabernacle.
‘If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD. But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give and go to the place the LORD will choose. Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God. The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.’ Deuteronomy 12:21-32
Notice again, Moses alludes to the ‘the place where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name’. Notice also, that God uses the word, ‘if’, which implies that the establishment of the place would be different on each occasion it was established, Deuteronomy 14:24.
If the place for the annual offerings was in the tribal area of an extreme southern or northern area, then they could kill and eat their offerings at the gates of villages near to them, Leviticus 17:3.
God’s people were to be a distinctive and holy people, Deuteronomy 7:6, and they must hear and obey God’s will only. They weren’t to submit to their own will or the will of the Canaanites, hence why Moses warns them to ‘be careful’, Deuteronomy 11:16, they can’t worship God as the Canaanites worshipped their gods, 1 Kings 20:23 / 2 Kings 17:26 / John 4:24.
Moses points out one big difference between the way the Israelites are to worship and the way the Canaanites worshipped, that is, the Canaanites had no problem sacrificing their own children in fire to their supposed deities, this particular god was named Molech, Leviticus 18:21 / Deuteronomy 18:10 / Jeremiah 32:35.
Sadly, Israel in the future would now only worship this god called Molech, but they would also promote the worship of this god. Solomon indorsed the worship of Molech by building a temple to this idol, 1 Kings 11:7. King Ahaz sacrificed his own son to Molech, 2 Kings 16:3.
The northern tribes of Israel worshipped Molech, 2 Kings 17:17, King Manasseh sacrificed his son to Molech, 2 Kings 21:6. Molech worship continued right up until King Josiah destroyed the idol, 2 Kings 23:10.
This act was an abomination to God and so, Moses commands Israel that they should do everything God has commanded, they should not add or take away anything from God’s commands, Deuteronomy 4:2.
