CHAPTER 12

(1451 B.C.)

DESTROY IDOL WORSHIP

¹These are the Statutes and Judgments, which you shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of your fathers gives you to possess it, all the days that you live upon the Earth.

²You shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which you shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree (all places of idol worship, wherever they were found, were to be totally and completely destroyed, when Israel entered the land):

³And you shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and you shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place (they were to utterly destroy everything having even a remote connection with idolatry).

⁴You shall not do so unto the LORD your God (Israel was not to build altars, as did the heathen, but was to have one designated place).

ONE PLACE OF SACRIFICE

⁵But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your Tribes to put His Name there, even unto His habitation shall you seek, and there you shall come (the one center for national worship foreshadowed Calvary, to which, in spirit, all must go in order to meet God, and worship Him; one center for worship secured purity of doctrine and national unity):

⁶And there you shall bring your Burnt Offerings, and your Sacrifices, and your Tithes, and Heave Offerings of your hand, and your Vows, and your Freewill Offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

⁷And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand unto, you and your households, wherein the LORD your God has blessed you (if it is to be noticed, the Lord, at this time, did not tell Israel as to where that place would be).

⁸You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.

⁹For you are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God gives you (upon entering Canaan, the Lord would bring about a more structured government, all based on the Law).

¹⁰But when you go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit, and when He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety;

¹¹Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause His Name to dwell there; there shall you bring all that I command you; your Burnt Offerings, and your Sacrifices, your Tithes, and the Heave Offering of your hand, and all your choice Vows which you vow unto the LORD:

¹²And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he has no part nor inheritance with you (all of this is repeatedly presented as a scene of rejoicing; even slaves were to have their share in the joy).

¹³Take heed to yourself that you offer not your Burnt Offerings in every place that you see:

¹⁴But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of your Tribes, there you shall offer your Burnt Offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you (while there were definitely set places in Israel where the Tabernacle was pitched, still, it was not until the Temple was built by Solomon that a permanent place was established, which was about 500 years from the time of Moses).

¹⁵Notwithstanding you may kill and eat flesh in all your gates, whatsoever your soul does lust after, according to the Blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart (they could feel free to kill and eat that which they desired, but it must not be a Sacrifice).

¹⁶Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it upon the earth as water (the life of the flesh is in the blood; Jesus would shed His Blood in order to obtain Salvation for Adams fallen race; consequently, the blood is never to be eaten, and is to be handled in a certain way, as proclaimed here).

HOLY THINGS

¹⁷You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your corn, or of your wine, or of your oil, or the firstlings of your herds or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vowed, nor your Freewill Offerings, or Heave Offering of your hand (these had to do with the Peace Offerings and such, or anything dedicated to the Lord):

¹⁸But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you put your hands unto. (The Lord would appoint a place, which would be where the Tabernacle was located, and then, later on, the Temple, which would be situated in Jerusalem. If the Offering entailed a feast, which all Peace Offerings did, then it must be eaten at the designated place. That place was where the Altar was, typifying Calvary. This tells us that all restoration, all fellowship, all rejoicing, in fact, all things which come from the Lord, are made possible by Christ, of which the Sacrifices typified, and the means is the Cross, typified by the Altar.)

¹⁹Take heed to yourself that you forsake not the Levite as long as you live upon the Earth (the Levites tended the things of the Lord, without which the people could not approach God; in a sense, the fivefold Ministry presently serves in that capacity [Eph. 4:11-13]).

²⁰When the LORD your God shall enlarge your border, as He has promised you, and you shall say, I will eat flesh, because your soul longs to eat flesh; you may eat flesh, whatsoever your soul lusteth after (desires).

²¹If the place which the LORD your God has chosen to put His Name there be too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which the LORD has given you (all prosperity for the Believer is made possible solely by the Lord), as I have commanded you, and you shall eat in your gates whatsoever your soul lusts (seeks) after.

²²Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so you shall eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike (pertains to animals not offered in Sacrifice).

²³Only be sure that you eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and you may not eat the life with the flesh. (Concerning this, Expositors say, The Hebrew word used is nephesh. By this word, the Hebrews designated the animal life-principle in men and in beasts; and as without this the body was a mere inert mass, the word came to be used for life generally. Of this life the blood was believed to be the seat, and was regarded as the symbol, so that to shed blood was tantamount to the taking away of life. As the blood, moreover, was the life, in it was supposed to lie the propitiatory [satisfying] power the power, when shed, of atoning for sin, as the giving of life for life.

The prohibition of eating it doubtless had respect to this. It was not merely to prevent ferocity in men towards the lower animals that the eating of blood was interdicted, but specially because there was in this a sort of profanation, a putting to a common use of what appertained to a sacred rite.)

²⁴You shall not eat it; you shall pour it upon the Earth as water.

²⁵You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

²⁶Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go unto the place which the LORD shall choose:

²⁷And you shall offer your Burnt Offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the Altar of the LORD your God: and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out upon the Altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the flesh. (This Scripture points to the fact as to why the blood is so sacred. The Altar represented the Cross, and the blood typified the poured out Life of the Son of God, Who would give Himself for the Redemption of humanity. Original sin passes down to man through the blood, which is the life of the flesh; consequently, the entirety of the human race is polluted and sick with sin. The only remedy, and thank God there is a remedy, is the shed Blood of Jesus Christ, Whose Blood was Perfect, because He was not born of natural procreation, but was conceived in the womb of Mary by the decree of the Holy Spirit; as well, He lived a Perfect, unsullied, unspotted Life, totally without sin. Therefore, He could go to the Cross as a Perfect Sacrifice, and when His Blood was shed, it atoned for all sin, past, present, and future, at least for all who will believe [Eph. 2:13-18].)

²⁸Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you for ever, when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God (the Lord required obedience).

²⁹When the LORD your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go to possess them, and you succeed them, and dwell in their land;

³⁰Take heed to yourself that you be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before you; and that you enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise (dont emulate the heathen and, as well, we presently are not to emulate the world).

³¹You shall not do so unto the LORD your God: for every abomination to the LORD, which He hates, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods (human sacrifices).

³²What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it (dont add to My Word, or take from My Word).