Deuteronomy 17:1

There is a brief reminder in Deuteronomy 17:1 that only perfect sacrifices without spot or blemish are acceptable in the worship of God. There follows a paragraph (Deuteronomy 17:2-7) on what to do with idolaters. Back in Deuteronomy 13, Moses had told what to do with persons who seduced others into idolatry; this tells what to do with the ones who were seduced! Deuteronomy 17:8-13 announce the provisions for a high court at the place of the central Sanctuary. Rules for the election of a king are set forth in Deuteronomy 17:14-17, and instructions regarding the religious life of the king are laid down in Deuteronomy 17:18-20.

"Thou shalt not sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God an ox, or a sheep, wherein is a blemish, or anything evil; for that is an abomination unto Jehovah thy God."

This rule is repeated dozens of times throughout the previous books of Leviticus and Numbers, but Israel needed it to be stressed frequently. Malachi has the sordid record of how the priests were offering the blind and the lame and the crippled sacrifices to God, and this among other sins, resulted in Jehovah's cursing the Jewish priesthood (Malachi 2:2).

The lesson for all people today in such a passage as this is simply that God is entitled to receive our very best, and that nothing short of that can be pleasing to him. "There is always the temptation to offer the second best to Jehovah, which is the common abiding temptation to cheapen religion."[1]

"Or anything evil ..." "This is a reference to the maims or faults enumerated in Leviticus 22:22-24."[2]