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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 12
Israel to destroy Canaanitish gods and places of worship—The Lord
will designate where his people shall worship—Eating of blood
forbidden—Israel's worship must conform to divine standard.
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1 THESE are the
statutes and ajudgments, 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
aplaces, wherein the nations which ye shall
bpossess served their cgods, upon the
high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
3 And ye shall aoverthrow their
altars, and break their pillars, and burn their bgroves
with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy
the names of them out of that place.
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To Put His Name There: Shiloh
Shiloh is a sacred city of Palestine,
some 9 miles north of Bethel and some 11 miles south from Shechem in that
land of the tribe of Ephraim, which Ephraim was given the name/title of
Israel by the hand of Jacob (JST Genesis 48). The tabernacle/temple with
the Ark of the Covenant was located there my Joshua and remained there for
the greater part of the period of the Judges. It was the religious center of
the nation until after the loss of the Ark in the disastrous battle of
Ebenezer in the days of Eli and his sons as well as a young Samuel. The
Philistines captured and removed the Ark, desecrating the temple/tabernacle
in the process. Many Israelites, particularly the remaining Samaritans felt
that the proper place of worshipping God remained in Israel/Ephraim, though
King David would later remove the returned Ark and tabernacle to Jerusalem.
The name Shiloh as found in Jacob's blessing upon Judah is considered by many
bible scholars as a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah—Jehoshua/Jesus.
This perception and interpretation is confirmed by JST Genesis 50:24, and was
fulfilled in Jesus Christ's being literally of the lineage and the heir of
King David and his throne. "Shiloh" may also be read as a short form for
'He to whom it belongs'; in referring to the Messiah (Exekiel 21:27). The
name of David's legal and rightful ancestor of the covenant was Elimelech,
which means 'God is King'. And certain the true right to be the King of
Israel rests in our God, who is Jehovah, the same being Jesus Christ.
At the
time and age of Samuel, Israel was in rebellion and desired to have a king
like the other surrounding nations instead of judges who acted in the name of
God and God's law. Even before Samuel was first instructed to anoint Saul of
the tribe of Benjamin to be Israel's first king, the Lord had also been
planting and hiding the 'seed' of the covenant within the ancestral linage of
of who would be the next anointed king of Israel. David was the son of Jesse,
that Ephrathite/Ephraim of Bethleham-Judah, who was the son of Obed, who in
turn was the surogate son of Boaz according to the Law of God in raising up
seed unto the dead. Ruth had been the wife of Mahlon and daughter-in-law of
Elimelech, Ephrathites/Ephraimites and heirs of the covenant birthright of
the firstborn of Israel (see: Messiah
ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph)
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4 Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.
5 But unto the aplace which
the LORD your God shall bchoose out of all your tribes to
put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye
seeka, and thither thou
shalt ccome:
6 And thither ye shall bring your burnt
aofferings, and your sacrifices, and your
btithes, and cheave offerings of your
hand, and your dvows, and your freewill offerings, and the
efirstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
7 And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and
ye shall arejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and
your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.
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5a 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 Though not a noticable part of the 'Jewish
Bible' from the Jewish perspective, the question of the proper and right place
to come to worship God has been a debate in Israel. The Samaritan woman at the
well stated to Jesus, 'Our fathers worshipped in this mountain [Mount Gerizim
(Deuteronomy 11:29; Judges 9:7)]; and ye [the Jews] say, that in Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship.' (John 4:20) It was King David who removed the
Ark to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6). Now the Ark and Tabernacle of the Lord had
been ever in Ephraim. Shiloh [his name see
Genesis 49:10], a
city in the Ephraim hill-country of Ramah, was the religious capital of
Israel and site of the tabernacle and ark of the covenant for 300 years
before Jerusalem. The
Philistines had captured and removed the ark in the days of Eli, but they
returned it as it proved a sorce of evil and fear to them. To where it was
returned, King David took it upon himself to remove it to Jerusalem as
described in 2 Samuel chapter 6. As David chose Judah over Israel, it became
a point of contention just where the true location of worshipping God was to
be.
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8 Ye shall not do after all the things that we
do here this day, every man whatsoever is aright 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.
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10 But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in
the land which the LORD your God giveth you to ainherit,
and when he giveth you brest 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 choice 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.
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13 Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:
14 But in the aplace 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
aflesh in all thy gates, bwhatsoever thy
soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he
hath given thee: the cunclean and the clean may eat thereof,
as of the droebuck, and as of the ehart.
16 Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
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17 ¶ Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the
tithe of thy acorn, 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
aLevite as long as thou livest upon the earth.
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20 ¶ When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy
aborder, 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.
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23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the
ablood 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
awell with thee, and with thy children after thee, when
thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
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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 aburnt
offerings, the bflesh 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 awell 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.
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29 ¶ When the LORD thy God shall
acut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest
to possess them, and thou bsucceedest them, and dwellest in
their land;
30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for
every aabomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they
done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have
bburnt in the cfire to their gods.
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it:
thou shalt not aadd thereto, nor
bdiminish from it.
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