Deuteronomy 12

The exhortations of Deuteronomy 5–11 conclude at the end of Deuteronomy 11 with a charge to observe "the statutes and judgments," and the specific provisions of the law follow from this chapter through chapter 26. Chapter 12 opens that section and deals with the centralization of worship in a single place.

Outline

• Verses 1–4 Israel is commanded to tear down all the altars on the mountains and under the trees where the nations to be driven out served their gods, along with their pillars (standing stones) and Asherah images. The LORD is not to be worshiped in that manner.
• Verses 5–7 Burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, and offerings are to be brought to the place the LORD chooses to put His name, and there the people are to eat and rejoice before Him with their households.
• Verses 8–14 The practice of doing "every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes" is to cease. Once Israel has crossed the Jordan and obtained rest, burnt offerings are to be offered only at the chosen place, and the people are to rejoice together with the Levites.
• Verses 15–16 Meat that is not a sacrifice may be slaughtered and eaten in any town. The blood, however, must be poured out on the ground.
• Verses 17–19 Tithes, firstlings, and vowed offerings must be eaten at the chosen place, and the Levite must not be forsaken.
• Verses 20–25 When the territory is enlarged and the chosen place is far away, meat may be eaten in the towns. Because "the blood is the life," the command not to eat blood is repeated.
• Verses 26–28 Holy things and vowed offerings are to be brought to the chosen place. The blood of burnt offerings and other sacrifices is to be presented on the altar.
• Verses 29–32 Israel must not inquire into or imitate the ways the destroyed nations served their gods; those nations burned their children as offerings. The chapter closes with the command neither to add to nor to take away from what has been commanded.

Key Verses

• Deuteronomy 12:5 "the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there" — the chapter's central provision, requiring that worship be centralized in one place.
• Deuteronomy 12:23 "for the blood is the life" — gives the rationale for the prohibition against eating blood.
• Deuteronomy 12:32 "thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" — a warning in the same spirit as Deuteronomy 4:2. In the Hebrew Bible this verse is numbered 13:1.

People and Places

• The LORD — the One who gives the commands.
• The Levites — the tribe without an inheritance (a share of the land), repeatedly named among those with whom the people are to eat and rejoice.
• The Jordan River — crossing it brings Israel to the land of rest and inheritance.

Points for Reflection

• The place He will choose: The text does not name the place. Later tradition understood it first as Shiloh (Jeremiah 7:12) and afterward as the temple in Jerusalem. Some critical scholars connect this chapter with the reform of Josiah (2 Kings 22–23). Conservative scholars who maintain Mosaic authorship do not accept this view.
• The prohibition of blood: This connects with Genesis 9:4 and Leviticus 17 and is also mentioned in the New Testament in Acts 15:28–29. Most Protestants regard it as an Old Testament dietary regulation or a temporary directive of the early church. Jehovah's Witnesses cite this provision as grounds for refusing blood transfusions.
• The tithe: In verses 6 and 17–18, the tithe is presented as something the offerer eats personally at the chosen place. For this reason these verses are frequently cited in the tithing debate.
• Connection to the New Testament: Jesus says that worship is not bound to a particular place (John 4:20–23). Many denominations read this teaching as the fulfillment of the single-sanctuary provision.