but unto the place which Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to set his name there, his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come;
Israel was about to cross into the land, and the shrines of the nations had to go. This verse answers what comes next: where do you worship, and who decides?
A natural plan would be to keep the old sites and change the name over the door. One writer shows how God answered that idea.
The heart might readily conceive the thought of doing away with idolatry in the various places, and setting up the altar of the true God instead. This might seem to be the right course to adopt. But God thought differently.
God was not only correcting who they worshipped. He was taking the choice of place out of their hands.
The key word is "habitation." God was not naming an address. He was saying where He meant to live among His people.
They were not to choose for themselves; the Lord was to choose for them. The place which He should choose was to be the place of "His habitation" (verse 5). In other words, His house would be there, His Name would be there, and there He would be known.
Deuteronomy names this chosen place many times. One writer marks out what makes the first mention different.
The reference in chapter 12:5 is especially important. It is the only reference that speaks of God's habitation. As the first reference, it carries important features of Jehovah's Name and His presence. Deuteronomy never names the actual place.
The verse tells Israel to seek that place and go there. One writer shows what that one place meant to a heart that loved God.
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 from the place of His presence could only be a change for the worse. That was the place where He had recorded His blessed Name. The truly devout worshipper could find satisfaction and delight, blessing and rest, only in the place of God's presence. This rested on two things: the authority of His precious word, and the powerful attraction of His presence... There was only one altar, one habitation, one God, and that was the place for every right-minded, every true-hearted Israelite.
This command marks a change of era. In the wilderness, self-will could pass. Crossing the Jordan closed that chapter.
Self-pleasing, self-choosing and self-will were to end in the worship of God. That happened the moment they crossed the river of death. As a redeemed people, they set foot on the inheritance God had given them... Some things could pass in the wilderness that could never pass in Canaan. The higher the privilege, the higher the responsibility and the standard of action.
Deuteronomy leaves the location blank. God settled it generations later — not by a survey, but by mercy after failure.
God's mercy to David and Israel marked out "The Place", and so did the sacrifice David offered to Jehovah. David had made a serious mistake in numbering the nation of Israel. Because of his failure the nation came under God's chastening hand. David confessed his sin and obeyed the angel's command to go to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and build an altar there... God, in His great mercy, stopped the plague that had struck Israel so severely. David offered his sacrifice on Mount Moriah, and Solomon built the Temple there (2 Chr. 3:1. See Genesis 22:2). David then said these solemn words: "This is the house of Jehovah Elohim, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel" (1 Chr. 22:1).
One writer follows the line from Deuteronomy to Jerusalem, and then to where God is known now.
Deuteronomy 12 also says that they were to bring their offerings to the place where He would choose to set His name. This had its full accomplishment at Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:29). But now God is known in the blessedness of His presence, where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus. There Jesus Himself has said He would be in the midst of them. Sweet encouragement for the feebleness of His people!
- He chooses. Israel was not to pick the place or borrow it from the nations. The Lord would choose for them.
- He dwells. God calls the chosen place His habitation: His house there, His Name there, and there He would be known.
- He gathers. One altar, one habitation, one God — His word and the attraction of His presence drew every true-hearted Israelite there.
- He ends self-will. Some things passed in the wilderness that could never pass in the land. Greater privilege raises the standard.
- He is the centre. David's sacrifice named the place at Moriah, and Jerusalem fulfilled it. Now Christ Himself is the centre, present where two or three meet in His name.
and thither ye shall bring your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your voluntary-offerings, and the firstlings of your kine and of your sheep;
Israel could bring the offerings listed in this verse to one address only. Why did God insist on a single place, and what happened to the gifts once they arrived?
The command removes all choice about where worship happens. Commentators tie the appeal of that one spot to two things at once — what God had said, and who was there.
It was the dwelling place of the Lord that was dear to the heart of every true Israelite. Restless self-will might want to run here and there; the wandering heart might long for some change. But for the heart that loved God, leaving the place of His presence could only be a change for the worse. That was the place where He had recorded His blessed Name. The devoted worshipper could find satisfaction and delight, blessing and rest, only where God was present. Two things held him there: the authority of His precious word, and the powerful attraction of His presence.
The list is not random. Each item on it, read as a picture, points in one direction.
Their worship in that place would require the burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, freewill offerings, and firstborn of the herds and flocks named here. Notice that all of these things speak of Christ in some way, and above all Christ crucified. This must always be the main theme of worship. Worshipping the beauties of nature is an insult to God, for nature is under God's curse because of sin.
Most of what this verse lists was never demanded. God looked for gifts that came from thankful hearts.
God knew the richness of the inheritance He wanted to give His people. He expected and desired that His people, with thankful hearts, should return some of this wealth to the Giver. That is why this verse names so many freewill offerings. Only the tithes and the offering of the firstfruits were required sacrifices. God wants willing, thankful and obedient hearts to bring everything they set apart for Him to the place where He Himself is. He wants, so to speak, to receive it from their own hands and to enjoy it together with them.
The verse also names "vow offerings." A vow was a deliberate commitment, and no one had to make one.
A "vow" would have to do with some act of devotion. It means a definite commitment to God to do some work for His glory and for the blessing of His people... It may mean giving our time because we want the blessing of God's people; it may mean giving ourselves fully to the will of God... It is not required. It is a privilege, open to anyone who really wants to commit themselves to God so that He can use them.
What the worshipper handed over was not lost. Offered and enjoyed — that is the double movement here.
So the one who went up to the place the Lord had chosen ate there before the Lord. He ate with his family, and sometimes with the Levite, the stranger and others. He ate the tithes of each year (in the third year some were for the Levite and the poor), the firstling of the herd and of the flock, the vows, the freewill offerings and the heave offerings. But at the same time as they offered these to the Lord, the offerer shared in the enjoyment of them.
Earlier law gave the firstborn animals to the priests to eat; here the people eat them. One writer explains what changed and what did not.
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 with the Levites living in their towns. They were to do this at the place where He would choose to put His name. Now it is clear that the law changed here. The principle, however — that God claimed the firstlings as His, to dispose of as He would — remains the same throughout... God, of course, had the right to modify His law.
The verse names no city. It points to a place God will choose and a Name He will put there.
Does Matthew 18:20 not at once remind us of "the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make His Name dwell there" (Deuteronomy 12)? Here also we find "the Name" as the gathering place. The Son of the living God turns dead sinners into living stones and builds His Assembly with them. He wants His Assembly to gather to His Name, and He binds His presence to it.
- Chosen — the place was God's choice, not Israel's; its pull was both His word and His presence.
- Christ — every offering named in the verse pictures Christ, and worship keeps that as its theme.
- Freewill — apart from tithes and firstfruits, these gifts were voluntary. God wanted them from thankful hearts, and He wanted to receive them Himself.
- Shared — what was given to the Lord came back as a meal; the offerer enjoyed before Him what he had brought.
- The Name — the chosen place gives way to a Person: His people gather to His Name, and He is there.
and ye shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice, ye and your households, in all the business of your hand, wherein Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee.
Moses is preparing Israel for life in the land across the Jordan. Worship would no longer happen at any hilltop they liked. God would choose one place, and the whole nation would gather there. The verse ties three things together: a place God picks, a meal eaten in His presence, and a joy shared by the whole household.
Everything here depends on one word: "there." God fixed the spot. For a heart that loved Him, no other place could compete.
It was the dwelling-place of Jehovah which 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, that place was where He had recorded His blessed Name. Any change from the place of His presence could only be a change for the worse. The truly devout worshipper could find satisfaction and delight, blessing and rest only in the place of the divine presence. There were two reasons for this: the authority of His precious word, and the powerful attraction of His presence.
Limiting worship to one place sounds narrow-minded. One commentator answers that charge.
If then God has a right to command, is it narrowness or bigotry for His people to obey? This is just the point... The only true breadth of mind, largeness of heart and generosity of spirit is to obey the commandments of God. We are fully convinced of that.
The worshipper handed his offerings to God. Then he sat down and ate them. Giving and receiving happen in one act.
So the one who went up to the place which Jehovah had chosen ate before Jehovah with his family, and sometimes with the Levite, the stranger and others. He ate the tithes of each year, the firstling of the herd and of the flock, the vows, the freewill offerings and the heave offerings. But at the same time that they offered these to Jehovah, the offerer shared in the enjoyment of them.
Behind that meal stands the peace offering. The worshipper's portion is the sacrifice itself.
The burnt offerings were wholly consumed... they were wholly burnt to God. But the offerer ate part of the peace offerings, for in them he had communion with God. In them man had his portion to feed on. He ate of the victim that had been sacrificed. There is communion with God in proportion to what the soul feeds on of Christ by the Spirit. Then God's people rejoice before the Lord.
Rejoicing is not optional here. God asks for it, and Deuteronomy is where the note first sounds.
This same blessed feature of joy largely marks the Book of Deuteronomy. This is the first place in the Pentateuch where joy has any place... In this book there are seven occasions where God calls for joy from the people whom He loves to gather round Himself in this blessed way.
The verse names "you and your households." The circle at that table is wide, and God drew it round Himself.
So the worshipper was to rejoice with his son and his daughter, his manservant and his maidservant, the Levite within his gates, the stranger, the orphan and the widow. They were all 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.
The joy covers "all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you." Increase is meant to drive them toward Him, not away.
On such a basis too they were privileged to eat before the Lord and rejoice in the blessing the Lord had given them. The Lord expects this spirit of thankfulness and rejoicing before Him when people have been blessed. What He does not want is each person going his own way, doing what is right in his own eyes. That too often happens when people are prosperous. When people face difficulty and hardship, they are usually drawn more together, to help one another.
The place has changed. The principle of one centre has not.
God is careful to say that Israel might sacrifice only "at the place which the Lord your God shall choose to place His name in." This is a very great principle, beloved friends, as true now as in Israel's day. The Name of the Lord Jesus is the only gathering centre today. The believer who does not gather in that Name alone will lack the deep enjoyment of Christ that our God would have our souls taste.
- Place. God chose the spot; obeying His choice is not narrowness but the truest breadth of heart.
- Sacrifice. What the worshipper handed to God came back to him as food — he ate of the very victim offered.
- Table. Eating before the Lord is communion. Feeding on Christ turns that meal into gladness.
- Household. Sons, daughters, servants, the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow all sat inside one circle. God drew it round Himself.
- Joy. God blesses so that increase turns people toward Him in thanks, instead of each one doing what seems right to himself.