Chapters 12-13

 

LITV

Deu 12:1  These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall take heed to do in the land which Jehovah the God of your fathers has given to you, to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth: 

Deu 12:2  Destroying you shall destroy all the places where the nations which you are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every leafy tree. 

Deu 12:3  And you shall break down their altars, and shatter their standing pillars. And you shall burn their Asherahs with fire. And you shall cut down the carved images of their gods, and shall destroy their names out of that place. 

Deu 12:4  You shall not do so to Jehovah your God. 

Deu 12:5  But you shall seek to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes; for you shall seek His dwelling, to put His name there. And you shall go there. 

Deu 12:6  And you shall bring your burnt offerings there, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offering, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock. 

Deu 12:7  And you shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, with which Jehovah your God has blessed you. 

Deu 12:8  You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, each doing all that is right in his own eyes. 

Deu 12:9  For you have not come to the rest and to the inheritance which Jehovah your God is giving to you. 

Deu 12:10  And you shall cross over the Jordan, and shall live in the land which Jehovah your God is causing you to inherit. And He shall give you rest from all your enemies all around; and you shall live securely. 

Deu 12:11  And it shall be the place which Jehovah your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I am commanding you, your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice freewill offerings which you vow to Jehovah. 

Deu 12:12  And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, you and your sons, and your daughters, and your male slaves, and your female slaves, and the Levite within your gates because he has no portion or inheritance with you. 

Deu 12:13  Take heed to yourself that you not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 

Deu 12:14  but in the place which Jehovah shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command. 

Deu 12:15  Only with all the desire of your soul you shall sacrifice and shall eat flesh within all your gates according to the blessing of Jehovah your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean one may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the hart. 

Deu 12:16  Only, you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it as water on the earth. 

Deu 12:17  You are not able to eat the tithe of your grain within your gates, and of your new wine, and your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock, and any of your vows which you vow, and your freewill offering, and the heave offering of your hand. 

Deu 12:18  But you shall eat it before Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah your God shall choose, you and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates. And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God in all that you put your hand to. 

Deu 12:19  Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live on the land. 

Deu 12:20  Then Jehovah your God shall enlarge your border, as He has promised you, and you shall say, I will eat flesh, because your soul desires to eat flesh, you may eat flesh according to all the desire of your soul. 

Deu 12:21  If the place which Jehovah your God shall choose to put His name there is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock which Jehovah has given you, as I have commanded you; and you shall eat within your gates according to all the desire of your soul. 

Deu 12:22  Only, as the gazelle and the hart are eaten, so you shall eat of it; the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. 

Deu 12:23  Only, be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh; 

Deu 12:24  You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth as water. 

Deu 12:25  You shall not eat it in order that it may be well with you and with your sons after you, when you do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah. 

Deu 12:26  Only, your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take up and shall go to the place which Jehovah shall choose. 

Deu 12:27  And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Jehovah your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out by the altar of Jehovah your God; and you shall eat the flesh. 

Deu 12:28  Take heed to listen to all these Words which I am commanding you, in order that it may be well with you and with your sons after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of Jehovah your God. 

Deu 12:29  When Jehovah your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you are going in to possess them, and you shall possess them, and shall live in their land, 

Deu 12:30  take heed to yourself that you not be snared to follow them after they have been destroyed before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? And I shall do so, even I. 

Deu 12:31  You shall not do so to Jehovah your God; for everything hateful to Jehovah, which He detests, they have done to their gods. For they have even burned their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. 

Deu 12:32  All the things that I command you, take heed to do them and you shall not add to it, nor take away from it. 

Deu 13:1  If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams rises among you, and gives you a sign or a wonder, 

Deu 13:2  and the sign or the wonder which he spoke to you occurs, saying, Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them, 

Deu 13:3  you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams. For Jehovah your God is testing you, to know if you love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 

Deu 13:4  You shall walk after Jehovah your God, and you shall fear Him. And you shall keep His commandments, and you shall hear His voice, and you shall serve Him, and you shall cleave to Him. 

Deu 13:5  And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall die, because he has spoken apostasy against Jehovah your God, who is bringing you out of the land of Egypt, and has redeemed you out of the house of slaves, to thrust you out of the way in which Jehovah your God has commanded you to walk. And you shall put away evil from among you. 

Deu 13:6  If your brother, your mother's son, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, shall entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, you and your fathers, 

Deu 13:7  of the gods of the people around you, those near you or far off from you, from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth, 

Deu 13:8  you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him, nor shall your eye have pity on him, nor shall you spare nor hide him. 

Deu 13:9  But killing you shall kill him; your hand shall be first upon him to cause him to die, and the hand of all the people last. 

Deu 13:10  And you shall stone him with stones, and he shall die, for he has sought to thrust you out from Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. 

Deu 13:11  And all Israel shall hear and fear, and shall not again do any such wicked thing as this among you. 

Deu 13:12  If, in one of your cities which Jehovah your God is giving you to live in, you hear one saying, 

Deu 13:13  Certain men, sons of Belial, have gone out from among you and have drawn away those who live in their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known; 

Deu 13:14  then you shall inquire and make search, and ask carefully; and, behold, if the thing is truly established, that this abominable thing has been done among you, 

Deu 13:15  striking you shall strike those who live in that city by the mouth of the sword, destroying it completely, and all that is in it, and its livestock, with the mouth of the sword. 

Deu 13:16  And you shall gather all its spoil into the middle of its open place, and shall burn the city with fire, and all its spoil, completely, before Jehovah your God. And it shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built any more. 

Deu 13:17  And not any of the cursed thing shall cleave to your hand, so that Jehovah shall turn from the fierceness of His anger, and shall give mercies to you, and shall love you, and shall multiply you, as He has sworn to your fathers, 

Deu 13:18  when you listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, to keep all His commandments which I am commanding you today, to do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah your God. 

 

Main Point(s): Note: Chapter 12 is a pivotal chapter. There will be less rehashing of history and more focus on DIRECTIVES concerning law and other contingency matters. In these chapters God is dispensing His requirements for the PLACE of worship. He also dispenses contingency directives for how to handle false prophets and actions against anyone looking to lead Israel into idolatry.

 

1.    What are the people to do when they come into the land? (1-7) – The first order is to completely demolish and remove the places of idol worship and their implements. The second order is to go to the place that God establishes and set up a place of worship for Jehovah. That will be the approved place of worship. Note: The foreshadowing of “eating” before God. How important is this for us today?

 

2.    What can worship NOT be (8-11)? What MUST worship be (8-14)? Deu 12:8  You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, each doing all that is right in his own eyes. This is an interesting statement when we consider that the tabernacle was set up and should have been where they brought their offerings. The big question is “what were they doing?” They are directed to only sacrifice in the place approved by God and they are to “rejoice” before Jehovah (12). How can we fulfill the requirement to rejoice? (See description Below)
How can Jehovah COMMAND love and joy? From a human perspective this may appear arrogant, but understanding the goodness of God is the key to understanding His love and concern (care) for His people. As humans, we can quickly forget these truths.

3.    What other rules were to govern the peoples’ worship (15-28)? What do we learn from this? Within the gates:They may eat meat, but not blood (15-16). Vowed offerings must be eaten before God in specified places, not “within the gates” (17-18). The Levites were to be supported (they did not inherit regions, just cities) (19). Feel free to eat whatever meat you desire. For sacrifices, if you live too far from the designated place of worship, you may eat within the gates of your city. Don’t eat blood, our it onto the ground (20-25). For specific offerings and vows, ONLY do these at the place specified by God (26-28).
These instructions indicate that offering sacrifices were to be a constant in their lives. Even in daily activity eating was to be in the context as something received by God.

4.    What warning is given to the people (29-32)? The warning is against the desire to learn about the defeated nations’ gods with the intent to serve those gods. The warning includes reasoning of the horrible practice of child sacrifice (burning). So what is interesting here is that people can fall into such dire practices. How does this happen?

 

5.    What were the people to do with a false prophet (13:1-5)? How would the people know if the prophet was false? What do we learn from this? In this instance, the prophet is advising the people to “go after” other gods. Jehovah is making it clear that anyone who tries this needs to be executed. The interesting part is that this person has the ability to perform a miracle, or something that may just look like a miracle. Don’t be fooled by what you see but what they ask is the main message. It is also interesting that Moses says “Jehovah your God is testing you.” This is a direct contradiction to James’ clarification that God does not test us 1:13. So how do we reconcile these two statements?
(apostasy means “to turn away”)

 

6.    What are the people to do with the family members who rebel against the Lord (6-11)? What do we learn from this? Again this offence requires execution. The brutality of this does not go unnoticed, but we must understand the conditions under which Jehovah is looking to bring the messiah. At this point, this is a great army. Any subordination will cause a breakdown in effectiveness and strength to stay focused on God. Of course, today we do not practice this, but the severity of watching for those who lead away from God is still relevant!

 

 

 

7.    What are the people to do with a city that rebels against the Lord (12-18)? What do we learn from this? Note: The children of BELIAL –The word denoted “worthlessness” meaning NO good can come of it. This describes the persons looking to lead anyone away from God to another idol. If/when an entire city does this, they were all to be executed. All of their livestock were to executed. All of their belongings and the bodies were to be heaped up and burned. The city was to be destroyed and left as a reminder and never rebuilt. The teaching here is more than just what to do and what not to do. It highlights the severity of becoming Godless. We tend to focus on this severity of judgment. The resulting absolute calamity(s) that result from becoming Godless were (are) far worse than the judgment to purge idolatry.

 

 

Additional:

You: There are instances where “you” is indicated in the original language, but sometimes it is not used because the context dictates its use. The Hebrew language apparently didn’t bother with the personal pronoun in some instances. The context was sufficient to the reader as to who the words were addressing.

Shall: Note that in the original language, the word shall does not exist. It is an adverb that denotes will and intent. It is either a positive or negative actionable item based on the context.

Rejoice- H8055: śâmach saw-makh' A primitive root; probably to brighten up, that is, (figuratively) be (causatively make) blithe or gleesome: - cheer up, be (make) glad, (have make) joy (-ful), be (make) merry, (cause to, make to) rejoice, X very.