Deuteronomy · chapter 12 of 34
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Deuteronomy 12 opens the specific laws with the command to destroy the places of worship in Canaan and to worship the Lord only at the place he will choose to put his name. There they will bring their sacrifices, tithes and offerings and rejoice before him. Elsewhere they may eat meat in their towns, but without eating the blood, and they must beware of imitating the practices of the nations.
After the chapters that call Israel to love the Lord, Deuteronomy 12 begins the part of the laws Israel must keep in the land. The first concerns how and where to worship. The people come from a wilderness with a tabernacle and are about to enter a land full of altars to other gods. Moses warns them that worship is not invented to suit each person, but ordered by God.
Moses commands them to destroy completely the places where the nations worship their gods, on the mountains, on the hills and under every green tree, and to tear down their altars, pillars and images. Israel must not worship the Lord as they worship their gods. Instead, they will seek the place the Lord will choose out of all the tribes to put his name, and there they will bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, gifts and the firstborn.
In that place they will eat and rejoice before the Lord with their families, servants and the Levites, who have no inheritance. Until now each one did what seemed right to him, but when the Lord gives them rest in the land, they will have one place of worship. Moses allows them to eat meat in their towns, as one eats gazelle or deer, but without eating the blood, which must be poured out on the ground like water, because the blood is the life.
Holy gifts and vows are to be brought to the chosen place. When the Lord enlarges their territory, they may eat meat as they desire, and they must take care not to forsake the Levite. The chapter ends with a warning: they must not ask how the nations served their gods in order to do the same, nor offer their children in the fire, for the Lord hates such things. They are to do only what he commands, adding nothing and taking nothing away.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord will choose a place among the tribes to put his name, and Israel must go there to worship him. Worship centers on God and not on each person's preference, which protects the unity of the people and the purity of faith.
There they will eat before the Lord and rejoice with their families over all God has blessed them with. Worship includes food, joy and fellowship, not only solemn rites.
The people must not eat the blood, because the blood is the life. That rule taught respect for life and prepared the way for understanding sacrifice, in which blood covers sin.
Moses ends by saying they must do everything he commands, adding nothing and taking nothing away. God defines how he wishes to be worshiped, and the people must not replace his word with customs of their own.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Destroy them completely, with their altars, pillars and images. — Deuteronomy 12:2-3
Answer: At the place the Lord would choose among the tribes to put his name. — Deuteronomy 12:5
Answer: Present their offerings and eat and rejoice together with their families. — Deuteronomy 12:6-7
Answer: Eating the blood, which had to be poured out on the ground like water. — Deuteronomy 12:16
Answer: Because the blood is the life. — Deuteronomy 12:23
Answer: Burning their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. — Deuteronomy 12:31
The chapter asks how we worship: according to what God says, or according to what pleases us and what others do? Every church should examine its customs in the light of Scripture, without confusing tradition with command. In a small group you can talk about which parts of our worship are essential and which are forms that can change.
The text also insists on joy. The worship God asks for includes eating, celebrating with family and remembering the Levite and the needy. A healthy church combines reverence with gladness and generosity toward those who depend on the community's care.
Deuteronomy 12 establishes that Israel must worship the Lord his way and in his place, far from the idols of Canaan. The next chapter shows the most serious threat to that worship: those who, from inside or from nearby, try to draw the people to follow other gods.
To protect the people from mixing the worship of the Lord with the practices of Canaan and to keep Israel united as one people. The place was first Shiloh and finally Jerusalem, where Solomon built the temple. The New Testament teaches that worship is no longer tied to a place but to Christ.
The text says the blood is the life. So it was poured out on the ground and not eaten, as a sign of respect for the life God gives. In the sacrificial system blood had a special role in atonement, and the New Testament sees in it a shadow of the death of Christ.
That the people must obey God's word as it was given, without altering it to their preferences. The same principle appears in Deuteronomy 4:2, and it applies today to how Scripture is read and preached.