Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy new wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy kine or of thy sheep, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy voluntary-offerings, nor the heave-offering of thy hand;
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but before Jehovah thy God shalt thou eat them in the place which Jehovah thy God will choose, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is within thy gates; and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all the business of thy hand.
What Israel set apart for God could not be eaten at home. It had to be carried to the one place He chose and eaten there in gladness — which raises two questions: why one place, and why a law about offerings ends in a command to rejoice.
A restless heart always wants a change of scene. One writer weighs that wish against what the chosen place really was:
Here was the one grand and all-important point. The dwelling-place of Jehovah was dear to the heart of every true Israelite. Restless self-will might want to run here and there. The poor wandering heart might long for some change. But for the heart that loved God, any change away from the place of His presence — the place where He had recorded His blessed Name — could only be a change for the worse.
"Before the LORD your God" is the key phrase. The food is not simply handed over; God takes it from their hands and shares the meal with them:
God wants His people to bring everything they consecrate to Him, out of willing, thankful and obedient hearts, to that place where He Himself is. He wants, so to speak, to receive it personally from their hands and collectively enjoy it with them. Part of the sacrifices was to be His "food" (or "bread", as it can also be translated) (Leviticus 3:11 and 16). The rest was for His people — their sons and daughters, menservants and maidservants and the Levites — as they gathered with a glad heart before His face.
Earlier instructions gave the firstlings — the firstborn of the herds and flocks — to the priests. Here the family that brings them eats them. One writer faces the change and shows what stayed the same:
In Numbers 18:17-18 He gave them to the priests to eat. In Deuteronomy 12:6, 17-18; 14:23; 15:19-20, He told the people who brought them to share in them with their families and the Levites who were within their gates. They were to do this at the place where He would choose to put His name. Now it is clear that there is a change made in the law. But the principle remains the same throughout: God claimed the firstlings as His, to dispose of as He would. In the wilderness God gave them to the priests. In the land the people were to eat of them too. God, of course, had the right to change His law, and no doubt there was a good reason for it.
Leaving home to eat before God might look like a loss to family life. One writer raises that objection and answers it:
And oh, what an unspeakable privilege for all who loved God and loved one another to gather at the place where He recorded His Name! And what touching grace shines in the fact that He desired to gather His people round Himself from time to time! Did that fact infringe their personal rights and domestic privileges? No — it enhanced them immensely.
The line ran the other way too. Their offerings "were to be given a marked distinction and eaten only in the place the Lord would choose. So their worship was to be completely set apart from their ordinary home life, and their whole family and servants were included in this, when they could rejoice only before the Lord" (Leslie M. Grant).
The list of guests runs wider than the worshipper's own family:
So the worshipper, his son and his daughter, his manservant and his maidservant, the Levite within his gates, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, were to rejoice together in the place where Jehovah had set His name. God surrounded Himself with joy, the fruit of grace and of His blessing.
Thankful joy before God has an opposite. One writer names it:
The Lord expects this spirit of thankfulness and rejoicing before Him when people have been blessed, rather than an attitude of each person independently doing what is right in his own eyes (verse 8). That attitude often shows up when people are prosperous. If they have difficulties and hardship, people usually draw closer together to help one another.
What answers to that chosen place today? One writer points to a Person: "For us today, Christ and Him crucified is the Center of our worship, not a geographical location, but a living Person" (Leslie M. Grant).
- Chosen — God names the place. He recorded His Name there, so the loving heart wants no other; any change is a change for the worse.
- Shared — The gift is not handed over and lost. God takes it from their hands and enjoys it with them.
- Widened — The joy takes in sons, daughters, servants and the Levite. God surrounds Himself with joy, the fruit of His grace.
- Guarded — These portions stay out of ordinary meals. Worship keeps its own place and never blurs into daily life.
- Directed — Joy before God replaces every man doing what is right in his own eyes. For us the center is Christ, not a place.