Deuteronomy 12:1-28 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

The Law of One Sanctuary. The local sanctuaries (originally Canaanite) with everything belonging to them, are to be destroyed, and all sacrifices are to be offered at the place which Yahweh should choose. Yet (Deuteronomy 12:15 f.) animals intended for food alone may be killed and eaten locally. Though the name Jerusalem does not occur in D, it is fairly evident that no other place can be intended by the place which Yahweh. shall choose, etc., though A. Duff holds that the Deut. code originated in the Northern Kingdom before its fall, and that it aimed at making Shechem the one worship centre for both kingdoms (see his OT Theology, ii. 24ff.). Jer. and Dt. have so much in common (see Introd.) that one may be used to interpret the other. In Jeremiah 7:4-9; Jeremiah 31:6-12 Zion is distinctly mentioned as the one sanctuary. In P and related writings (Ezek., Ch., etc.) centralisation of worship at Jerusalem is assumed as undisputed. If Shechem were intended it is strange that no hint of this occurs in any extant document. Besides, there is evidence to show that D was not written until after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in Deuteronomy 7:22 B.C. (see Introd.).

Deuteronomy 12:5. place: the Heb. word (maqom), as the cognate Arabic one, means a sacred place. Dt. does not use the word bamah, high place.

Deuteronomy 12:6. The sacred gifts (pp. 98- 100) to be brought to the one sanctuary are the following (note the translation): (a) Whole-offerings, - oloth (Genesis 8:20, Leviticus 1*); lit. that which goes (wholly) up (to Yahweh); burnt offerings (EV) is misleading since other offerings were in part burnt. The idea of pure worship is best seen in this species of sacrifice, since the whole was offered up to Yahweh in the form of sacrificial smoke. (b) Partial offerings (EV sacrifices). The Heb. word (zebaḥ? im) usually denotes animal sacrifices in general, in P as contrasted with the cereal (meal) offerings (see Numbers 28); but in Deuteronomy 12:6; Deuteronomy 12:11; Deuteronomy 12:27, etc., it represents shelamim (Leviticus 3*), compensation offerings (EV wrongly peace offerings), part of which was offered to Yahweh, the rest being reserved for the social meal (Deuteronomy 12:7). The latter Heb. term occurs in Dt. but once. Deuteronomy 27:7, which is dependent on Exodus 20:24 (E). (c) Tithes (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:21-24 *). (d) Contributions (EV, heave offerings of your hand (see on Exodus 25:2 (P)). (e) Votive offerings, and (f) voluntary offerings, i.e. such as were given in addition to the legal requirements with (e) or without (f) a preceding vow (Deuteronomy 23:21-23). Neither sin nor guilt (trespass) offerings are mentioned; sacrifice in D has a joyous character.

Deuteronomy 12:11. your choice vows: better, your chosen votive offerings, i.e, what you choose to vow.

Deuteronomy 12:12. the Levite: Deuteronomy 10:8. within your gates: i.e. in cities other than Jerusalem (see Deuteronomy 12:15).

Deuteronomy 12:15 f. is probably a marginal summary of Deuteronomy 12:20-25 and should be omitted.

Deuteronomy 12:15. the unclean and the clean: i.e. ceremonially so (1 Samuel 20:26); the law concerning sacrificial was more rigid than that concerning ordinary food.

Deuteronomy 12:17 continues Deuteronomy 12:14, but restores partial offerings (EV sacrifice).

Deuteronomy 12:20-22. This concession was due to the suppression of the local sanctuaries: animal food (formerly partaken of at sacrificial meals only) could under the Deuteronomic law be eaten at Jerusalem alone. Animals killed and eaten locally came now under the category of food and not sacrifice, the regulation being less stringent (Deuteronomy 14:4 ff.).

Deuteronomy 12:23-25. The prohibition of blood (because containing the soul not life is common to many peoples (see Genesis 9:4 *, Leviticus 3:17, and cf. Frazer, Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 239- 251).

Deuteronomy 12:26. Holy things. and. vows = obligatory and voluntary altar gifts.

Related Commentaries of Deuteronomy 12:1

Deuteronomy 12:1-28

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 possessa served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

3 And ye shall overthrowb 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.

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 choicec 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.

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.