Old Testament Commentary - Deuteronomy 12

by Don R. Hender


Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
Commentary & Explanation
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
            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.

  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.

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)

  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.
 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.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  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.