When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee ,.... The seven nations of the land of Canaan, Deuteronomy 7:1 , whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land ; or to inherit them, and thou dost inherit them, by dwelling in their land. read more
Verse 29 29.When the Lord thy God shall cut off. This passage has some affinity to that in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, which we have already remarked on. For inasmuch as it was easy for the people to lapse into the imitation of the Gentiles, and to worship their false gods, under whose protection the inhabitants boasted their land to be, all inquiry respecting them is also strictly forbidden. (305) For this is the origin of idolatry, when the genuine simplicity of God’s worship is... read more
EXPOSITION Deuteronomy 12:1-32 . PLACES AND MONUMENTS OF IDOLATRY TO BE DESTROYED ; JEHOVAH TO BE WORSHIPPED IN THE ONE PLACE WHICH HE SHALL CHOOSE ; INSTRUCTIONS AS TO THE USE OF FLESH FOR FOOD ; AND CAUTIONS AGAINST BEING ENSNARED INTO FOLLOWING THE HEATHEN IN THEIR MANNER OF SERVICE . read more
Regulations for Divine worship: specific rules embodying permanent principles. With this twelfth chapter an entirely new set of instructions begins. Up to this point the exhortations have been for the most part moral: now they are positive. Hitherto the precepts have been, speaking generally, concerning duties which God commanded because they were right; but from this point they concern duties which became right because God had commanded them. Of all specific directions which Moses gave to... read more
The central sanctuary. There are difficulties connected with this law from which conclusions have been drawn adverse to the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy. These arise: 1. From the lack of evidence that the law was in force in the days of the judges and earlier kings. 2. From the practice of judges, kings, prophets, and other good men in offering sacrifices elsewhere than at the prescribed center. 3. From the mention of other sanctuaries in the history ( e . g . Joshua... read more
Here the speaker reverts to the admonition with which he began this part of his address ( Deuteronomy 12:2 ); and warns the people against having any intercourse with the Canaanites in their idolatrous practices. That thou enquire not after their gods. It was a general belief among the heathen that to ignore or neglect the deities of a country was sure to bring calamity (cf. 2 Kings 17:26 ); hence the need of cautioning the Israelites against inquiring after the gods of the Canaanites... read more
Unworthy inquiries. We have here— I. BALEFUL SUPERSTITION . The ground of these inquiries about the gods of the place was a lurking belief in their reality. There was a superstitious feeling that the woods, hills, streams, etc; must have their deities, whom it would be well to propitiate and worship. The country as a whole, and special districts of it, had gods, and, Jehovah notwithstanding, the superstitious part of the community stood in dread of them. Superstitions are hard to... read more
The subtle ensnarements of idolatry. A spirit of vain curiosity is to be repressed at its beginning. So weak is human nature, and so subtle is the working of sin, that prying curiosity into evil customs works practical mischief. Human life, to be a success, must be a perpetual battle with moral evil. We cannot afford to parley with the enemy nor give him a single advantage. Incessant watchfulness is our safety. I. IDOLATRY HAS GREAT FASCINATIONS FOR MAN 'S SENSUOUS ... read more
Warnings against idolatry (12:29-13:18)In Canaan the Israelites would meet many new temptations. Moses therefore warned them not to be curious about the religious practices of the former inhabitants, lest they copy them and corrupt their own religion (29-32). They were also to beware of the person who could apparently perform miracles and predict events. The test of the genuineness of the person was not whether his predictions came true, but whether he led people in the ways of God... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:5-32
There is not any one particular precept (as I remember) in all the law of Moses so largely pressed and inculcated as this, by which they are all tied to bring their sacrifices to that one altar which was set up in the court of the tabernacle, and there to perform all the rituals of their religion; for, as to moral services, then, no doubt, as now, men might pray every where, as they did in their synagogues. The command to do this, and the prohibition of the contrary, are here repeated again... read more