Restrictions on Offering Whole Burnt Offerings (Deuteronomy 12:13-14).
At this point the narrative changes to ‘thou, thee'. What is required is required of the nation as a whole and of each individual.
‘ Take heed to yourself (thyself) that you do not offer your whole burnt offerings in every place that you see, but in the place which Yahweh shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your whole burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.'
Again the emphasis comes that they may not make their offerings ‘in every place that you shall see'. It was not for them to choose where they could approach Yahweh and make their offerings to Him. It was to be done in the place that He chose. The ritual was restricted to the place of Yahweh's choosing. For the ritual was important and therefore all whole burnt offerings, that most central of offerings which summed up all others, were to be offered only at the Central Sanctuary, and nowhere else. They were to ‘take heed' that this was so. They would all be responsible for any failures. ‘In every place that you see' might primarily indicate Canaanite sanctuaries. Under no circumstances were whole burnt offerings to be offered there. But it also indicates the fact that Israel could not use their own judgment in deciding on places in which to offer whole burnt offerings, but must only do so at the place that Yahweh Himself decided on. The whole burnt offering was the prime offering. It was totally offered to Yahweh in dedication and worship, and to make atonement, and included the daily offering. It could therefore only be offered at His ‘place' where His dwellingplace was by His own choice.
“And there you shall do all that I command you.” But at the place which was His choice they must ensure the carrying out of all that He commanded. Those commands had been given in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and they would be on tablets stored in the Sanctuary. It was important that they were carried out. They were what He commands them. But Moses does not go into any details about them in Deuteronomy.
“The place which Yahweh shall choose in one of your tribes.” This might, if it stood alone, be stretched to translate as ‘in each one of your tribes', but the history of the Central Sanctuary and the total lack of mention of such sanctuaries and the other use of ‘out of all your tribes' (Deuteronomy 12:5, compare Deuteronomy 18:5) is against it. The idea would seem to be of the one place and thus to be set in one of the tribal sections. The choosing might have been done by the Urim and Thummim.
Nothing is more important for all men than that they approach God through the true way. There are many false ways but only one true one. That is what is emphasised here. Today that is through Jesus Christ. As Peter said, ‘There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved' (Acts 4:12). Today He is the place which God has chosen and it is only through Him that we can offer acceptable worship.