Deuteronomy 12

The Covenant Stipulations, Covenant Making at Shechem, Blessings and Cursings (Deuteronomy 12:1 to Deuteronomy 29:1 ).

In this section of Deuteronomy we first have a description of specific requirements that Yahweh laid down for His people. These make up the second part of the covenant stipulations for the covenant expressed in Deuteronomy 4:45 to Deuteronomy 29:1 and also for the covenant which makes up the whole book. They are found in chapters 12-26. As we have seen Deuteronomy 1:1 to Deuteronomy 4:44 provide the preamble and historical prologue for the overall covenant, followed by the general stipulations in chapters 5-11. There now, therefore, in 12-26 follow the detailed stipulations which complete the main body of the covenant. These also continue the second speech of Moses which began in Deuteronomy 5:1.

Overall in this speech Moses is concerned to connect with the people. It is to the people that his words are spoken rather than the priests so that much of the priestly legislation is simply assumed. Indeed it is remarkably absent in Deuteronomy except where it directly touches on the people. Anyone who read Deuteronomy on its own would wonder at the lack of cultic material it contained, and at how much the people were involved. It concentrates on their interests, and not those of the priests and Levites, while acknowledging the responsibility that they had towards both priests and Levites.

And even where the cultic legislation more specifically connects with the people, necessary detail is not given, simply because he was aware that they already had it in writing elsewhere. Their knowledge of it is assumed. Deuteronomy is building on a foundation already laid. In it Moses was more concerned to get over special aspects of the legislation as it was specifically affected by entry into the land, with the interests of the people especially in mind. The suggestion that it was later written in order to bring home a new law connected with the Temple does not fit in with the facts. Without the remainder of the covenant legislation in Exodus/Leviticus/Numbers to back it up, its presentation often does not make sense from a cultic point of view.

This is especially brought home by the fact that when he refers to their approach to God he speaks of it in terms of where they themselves stood or will stand when they do approach Him. They stand not on Sinai but in Horeb. They stand not in the Sanctuary but in ‘the place’, the site of the Sanctuary. That is why he emphasises Horeb, which included the area before the Mount, and not just Sinai itself (which he does not mention). And why he speaks of ‘the place’ which Yahweh chose, which includes where the Tabernacle is sited and where they gather together around the Tabernacle, and not of the Sanctuary itself. He wants them to feel that they have their full part in the whole.

These detailed stipulations in chapters 12-26 will then be followed by the details of the covenant ceremony to take place at the place which Yahweh has chosen at Shechem (Deuteronomy 27:0), followed by blessings and cursings to do with the observance or breach of the covenant (Deuteronomy 28:0).

I. INSTRUCTION WITH REGARD TO WORSHIP AND RIGHTNESS BEFORE YAHWEH (Deuteronomy 12:1 to Deuteronomy 16:17 ).

In this first group of regulations in Deuteronomy 12:1 to Deuteronomy 16:7 emphasis is laid on proper worship and rightness before Yahweh, looked at from the people’s point of view. They include:

· Regulations with regard to the Central Sanctuary as the one place where Yahweh is to be officially worshipped with emphasis on the people’s side of things and their participation. They are to worship there joyfully (Deuteronomy 12:0).

· Regulations with regard to avoidance of idolatry as it affects the people lest they lose their cause for joy (Deuteronomy 13:0).

· Regulations for the people with regard to ritual wholeness and cleanness so that they might reveal themselves as suited to worship joyfully in the place which Yahweh would choose (Deuteronomy 14:1-21).

· Regulations for the people with regard to tithing mainly ignoring levitical aspects (Deuteronomy 14:22-27). Here they were to share their joy with others who would thus be able to rejoice with them.

· Regulations with regard to poverty as a slur on Yahweh (Deuteronomy 14:28 to Deuteronomy 15:11). This was to be allayed by a special use of the tithe every third year and a release from debt every seventh year. To allow unrelieved poverty in the land would prevent their being able to approach Yahweh with joy and to enjoy His prosperity.

· Regulations with regard to Israelite Habiru bondsmen and bondswomen and how they were to be their treated (Deuteronomy 15:12-18). Again the emphasis is on generosity towards those whose need was greatest.

· Regulations with regard to firstlings, who represented their own relief from bondage, with the emphasis on their being Yahweh’s and thus to be royally treated, and to be eaten joyfully in the place which Yahweh would choose. The emphasis is on the people’s participation (Deuteronomy 15:19-23).

· Regulations with regard to the three main feasts, with emphasis on the fact that they must be eaten at the place which Yahweh will choose and that the last two of them must be celebrated joyfully, again with the emphasis on the people’s participation throughout (Deuteronomy 16:1-17).

But central to it all is the Central Sanctuary, the place where Yahweh sets His name. The place where He meets with His people, and they with Him, and the need for them to be in the right spirit so as to do so joyfully.

Chapter 12 One Place of Worship To Be Chosen By Yahweh Himself - The Central Sanctuary.

The contents of this chapter are crucial. It basically deals with the fact that Israel was to worship at one sanctuary, and one sanctuary only, in contrast with the many altars and the many sanctuaries of the Canaanites. For Yahweh was One and could not be divided up (Deuteronomy 6:4). As we have seen in the introduction, the only legitimate exception to this was when the Ark left the tabernacle for specific purposes, and thus Yahweh was seen as travelling with it, or when Yahweh actually appeared in a theophany, and was thus clearly there in the place where the offering was offered.

And even more importantly (and constantly emphasised) was that the place in which that sanctuary would be set up was to be one chosen by Yahweh. Unlike the gods of the nations He controlled His own destiny. He was not subject to the will of men or of priests, but brought about all in accordance with His own will, and chose where He would reveal Himself and where He should be officially worshipped. While He was over all He could not be found on every high hill and in every green tree. He could not be so limited. He was not a part of nature but above it.

The concept of ‘the place which He shall choose’ is a magnificent one. All was to be seen as under His sovereign control and when He dwelt among men it was because He chose to do so, and where He chose to do so. And He revealed Himself as He chose to do so. The glory went not to the place but to the One Who chose it.

This dwelling among men did not in any way limit Yahweh. Moses has shown earlier, especially in Egypt and in the wilderness, that He could act where He would, He could speak where He would, and He knew all that happened everywhere even to the extent of knowing people’s minds. Thus men could pray to Him wherever they were and He would hear them. But it stressed that there was only one physical place of approach to Him by men, not through nature but in the place that He chose, where He came to them in His invisible presence, the heavenly coming in contact with the earthly. This emphasised His distinctiveness. We could see this chapter as based on the first commandment, ‘you shall have no other gods before My face’.

That is one reason why Moses here speaks of ‘the place which Yahweh your God will choose’. The term ‘the place (maqom)’ was sanctified by ancient usage for the site at which worship took place. When Abraham himself came to Canaan he set up an altar in ‘the place (maqom) of Shechem’ (Deuteronomy 12:6). It is surely from this no coincidence that in Deuteronomy, on entering the land, Israel were to gather at Shechem (Deuteronomy 27:0). Later in Genesis 13:0 Abraham returned to ‘the place (maqom) of the altar which he had made there (at Bethel) at the first’ (Deuteronomy 13:4). It was in ‘the place (maqom) of which Yahweh had told him’ (the place of Yahweh’s choice) that Abraham prepared to offer Isaac (Genesis 22:3), a ‘place’ which became known as Yahweh yireh, ‘in the Mount of Yahweh it will be provided’ (Genesis 22:14). And Jacob when he had had his first awesome experience of Yahweh could say, ‘Yahweh is in this place (maqom), and I knew it not -- how awesome is this place (maqom)’ (Genesis 28:16-17). Again it was a place that Yahweh had chosen. Compare also Genesis 32:2; Genesis 32:30; Genesis 35:7; Genesis 35:14. The word ‘place’ (maqom) thus had a firm and sacred connection with patriarchal ‘holy places’ and with treasured experiences of Yahweh and the idea of a place chosen by Yahweh. That was why it was a very suitable term to use in connection with the site of His ‘dwellingplace’ (of His mishkan, often translated ‘Tabernacle’) in the land which was being given to their descendants for their sakes. Like the patriarchs they would have a ‘place’ which Yahweh their God had chosen. The court of the Tabernacle was also regularly described as a holy ‘place’ (Leviticus 6:16; Leviticus 6:25 and often).

Thus the people who were fully familiar with these ancient traditions would tie themselves in with their fathers in recognition of the chosen ‘place’ as a holy place of worship. And they would in the light of Deuteronomy 11:0 and Deuteronomy 27:0 see themselves as following in Abraham’s footsteps to ‘the place (maqom) of Shechem’. Yet Moses does not mention Shechem here (although he does later by inference), for here it was not necessarily Shechem that was in mind but ‘the place’ that Yahweh would choose, wherever it might be, which might vary from time to time, and was dependent on His will.

We should note with regard to this that what follows was not just guidance given. Note the constant repetition of ‘you shall’ and ‘you shall not’. It was apodictic law. It was imperative that it be obeyed.

That there was one and one only ‘place’ for worship signified the Oneness of God. We too worship One God, although we do not come through one place but through One Lord Jesus Christ, the One Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), our One Lord. As the sanctuary united Israel, so does Christ today unite His people as one. We may therefore apply the teaching about the one sanctuary to our One Saviour. It is to Him, and to Him alone that we must look, and we all find our unity in His oneness.

This chapter is carefully constructed on a chiastic pattern, (a to e then e to a), stressing its unity:

a These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall observe to do (Deuteronomy 12:1).

b All idolatrous places to be destroyed - shall not do so to Yahweh my God (Deuteronomy 12:2-4).

c Must seek to the place ‘which Yahweh your God will choose’ and bring whole burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes etc. (Deuteronomy 12:5-6).

d Shall eat before Yahweh and rejoice in all they put their hand to in which Yahweh has blessed them, not doing what they do now, doing what is right in their own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:7-9).

e When they go over Jordan and dwell in the land which ‘Yahweh your God’ causes them to inherit -- they shall bring whole burnt offering and sacrifices etc. to ‘the place which Yahweh your God shall choose’ and rejoice before Yahweh (Deuteronomy 12:10-12).

f Must ‘take heed’ not to offer whole burnt offerings anywhere but only in the place which Yahweh their God chooses (Deuteronomy 12:13-14).

g May kill and eat flesh within their gates as they desire but must not eat the blood (15-16).

g Must eat their tithes before Yahweh their God in the place which Yahweh their God chooses and rejoice befor Him (Deuteronomy 12:17-18). (Note how g is the reversal of e).

f Must ‘take heed’ that they do not forsake the Levite as long as they live (Deuteronomy 12:19).

e When ‘Yahweh your God’ enlarges their borders as He has promised -- if ‘the place which Yahweh your God shall choose’ be too far they may eat within their gates all that they desire (Deuteronomy 12:20-22).

d Must not eat the blood but must pour it on the ground (Deuteronomy 12:23-25)

c Must take holy things and vows to the place ‘which Yahweh your God will choose’ and offer whole burnt offerings and pour out blood before altar, and observe His commandments (Deuteronomy 12:26-28).

b Idols not to be sought to once they have been destroyed - shall not do so to Yahweh your God (Deuteronomy 12:29-31).

a Whatever I command, you will observe to do (Deuteronomy 12:32).

In ‘a’ and its parallel they must ‘observe to do’ what He commands. In ‘b’ and its parallel all idolatrous places to be destroyed and not sought for - they shall not do so to Yahweh their God. In ‘c’ and its parallel they are to offer whole burnt offerings etc. at the place which Yahweh chooses. In ‘d’ they must eat before Yahweh and not do what is right in their own eyes, and in the parallel they must not eat the blood but must pour it on the ground. In ‘e’ when they inherit they must offer whole burnt offerings and rejoice (and therefore eat) before Yahweh at the place which He will choose, but in the parallel when their borders are enlarged they may eat within their gates if the place which Yahweh has chosen is too far off. In ‘f’ they must ‘take heed’ that they only make offerings at the place which Yahweh chooses, and in the parallel they must ‘take heed’ that they do not forsake the Levites as long as they live. Thus they must centralise their worship and look to the Levites constantly for guidance. In ‘g’ we have a reversal of ‘e’.