Deuteronomy 12:1-14

The central sanctuary 12:1-14

When Israel entered the land the people were to destroy all the places and objects used in pagan worship by the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 12:2-4). Pagan peoples generally have felt that worshipping on elevated sites brings them into closer contact with their gods than is the case when they worship in low-lying places, unless those places had been the sites of supernatural events. The Canaanites typically visualized their gods as being above them.

"’Places’ (hammeqomot) is a quasi-technical term referring to sites thought to be holy because of a special visitation by deity. These were usually in groves of trees (representing fertility) and on high hills, esteemed by the very height to be in closer proximity to the gods. In contrast to such ’places’ would be the ’place’ where the Lord must be worshipped. Seven times (Deuteronomy 12:5; Deuteronomy 12:11; Deuteronomy 12:13-14; Deuteronomy 12:18; Deuteronomy 12:21; Deuteronomy 12:26) this single place (maqom) is mentioned in this passage in which the exclusiveness of the Lord is emphasized." [Note: Merrill, Deuteronomy, p. 220.]

"The centralization requirement must also be understood in terms of Deuteronomy’s nature as a suzerainty treaty. Such treaties prohibited the vassal’s engaging in any independent diplomacy with a foreign power other than the covenant suzerain. In particular, the vassal must not pay tribute to any other lord. Similarly, all the requirements and prohibitions of Deuteronomy 12 were calculated to secure for the Lord all Israel’s tributary sacrifice and offering. Israel must not pay any sacrificial tribute to other gods, for such an impossible attempt to serve two masters would be rebellion against the great commandment of God’s covenant." [Note: Kline, "Deuteronomy," p. 171.]

Israel was only to worship Yahweh at the one central sanctuary that He had appointed, the tabernacle, and later the temple (Deuteronomy 12:5-14).

"The emphasis is not upon one place so much as it is upon the place the Lord chooses. . . . The central activity of Israel’s life, the worship of the Lord, is fully shaped and determined by the Lord." [Note: Miller, pp. 131-32.]

This law governed public worship. Israelites could, of course, pray to God anywhere. This restriction distinguished Yahweh worship from Canaanite worship that was polytheistic and pantheistic. Later in Israel’s history the people broke this law and worshipped God at various "high places." The "high places" were sites of pagan worship or places modeled after them (1 Kings 14:23; 1 Kings 15:14; 1 Kings 22:43; et al.).

"The contrast with Canaanite worship, with its multitude of temples and open-air shrines (Deuteronomy 12:2), is enormous. It is a very common pattern for conquerors and invaders of a country to take over old shrines for their own forms of worship . . ." [Note: David F. Payne, Deuteronomy, p. 79.]

The tabernacle was to be the place of Israel’s national worship because God’s name was there (Deuteronomy 12:5). That is, God manifested His immediate presence there as nowhere else in Israel. When the Israelites came to the tabernacle, they came to God. The Israelites erected the tabernacle first in the land at Gilgal (Joshua 4:19; Joshua 5:10; Joshua 9:6; et al.). [Note: See Daniel I. Block, "The Joy of Worship: The Mosaic Invitation to the Presence of God (Deuteronomy 12:1-14)," Bibliotheca Sacra 162:646 (April-June 2005):131-49.]