Deuteronomy 12:29-32

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:1-32

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:6-29

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:29-30

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:29-32

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:29-32

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:31

For even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their gods. Elsewhere the phrase used is "make to pass through the fire "( Deuteronomy 18:10 ), or simply "make to pass through to Molech" (Le Deuteronomy 18:21 ; Jeremiah 32:35 ). This has led some to maintain that the ceremony described was merely a februation, a lustration by fire, and not an actual burning alive of these victims; but there can be no doubt that both among the Ammonites and the Phoenicians, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:32

The admonition in this verse is best regarded as forming an intermediate link between this chapter and the following, "closing what goes before and introductory to what follows" (Keil). HOMILETICS read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 12:30

This caution is based upon the notion generally entertained in the ancient pagan world, that each country had its own tutelary deities whom it would be perilous to neglect; compare 1 Kings 20:23; 2 Kings 17:26. Israel was to shun such superstitions as unworthy of the elect people of God. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Deuteronomy 12:30

Deuteronomy 12:30. By following them By following the example they left, when their persons are destroyed. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 12:29-32

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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