Deuteronomy 12

Deuteronomy 12:1

F. Statutes for Worship (Chap. 12)12:1-3 When they entered the land, the people of God were to destroy all idols and idol shrines, all places where a false worship had been carried on. The wooden images (Heb. ashreem) were symbols of a female deity. The pillars were symbolic of Baal, the male deity. 12:4-14 God would set apart a place for worship, a place where sacrifices and offerings should be brought. This place was where the tabernacle was pitched at first (ShilohJos_18:1) and later where the temple was erected (Jerusalem). Only in this appointed place was worship approved. The Christian’s center of worship is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the visible manifestation of the invisible Godhead. . . . God had overlooked certain irregularities in the wilderness that must not be practiced in the land of Canaan (vv. 8, 9). 12:15-28 In Lev_17:3-4, God had commanded that when any sacrificial animal such as an ox, sheep, or goat was slain, it had to be brought to the tabernacle. Now that the people were about to settle in Canaan, the law must be changed. Henceforth the Jews could kill and eat domestic animals commonly used for sacrifices, just as they would eat the gazelle and the deer (clean animals that were not used for sacrifices). This permission was granted to those who were ceremonially unclean as well as to those who were clean. However, they were repeatedly warned not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life of the flesh, and the life belongs to God. 12:29-32 The Israelites were solemnly warned not even to investigate the idolatrous practices of the heathen, lest they be tempted to introduce these wicked practices into the worship of the true God. Verse 31 refers to the horrible practices associated with the worship of Molech and Chemosh. In the NT, Paul tells us that the motivating force behind idolatry is demonic (1Co_10:20). Should we marvel at the cruelty and degradation of idolatry when we realize its true nature? That the human heart gravitates toward this kind of darkness more readily than it seeks the light of the true God is illustrated by the nation to whom Deuteronomy is addressed. Solomon, Israel’s third king, actually did build an altar for Chemosh and Molech right in Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had put His Name (1Ki_11:7).