Deuteronomy 12:1-14 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 12:1-14. Let’s go!
Deuteronomy 12:1-3 (NIV)
1 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess–as long as you live in the land.
2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods.
3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.
On verses 1-3: Moses tells the Israelites that when they oust out the nations occupying the Promised Land, they are to completely destroy their altars and places of worship. This sounds harsh and is certainly not a politically correct statement in Western culture today. The lesson for us here is this: we are to give God uncompromising worship. Later in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 23, we read of King Josiah who does exactly what Deuteronomy 12:3 is talking about. With all the breaking, smashing and tearing down that Josiah does in 2 Kings 23, you’d think that Josiah was a playable character in a Super Mario Bros. video game.
How are we to apply verse 3 to our lives today? Does that mean we are to act like terrorists and destroy every religious monument in our city that does not honour Jesus? No. Remember that ancient Israel was a theocratic nation where the laws of the land informed the faith of the people and vice versa. Living in a secular society, we are to abide by the laws of the land, treat those who ascribe to a different faith with respect, and do our best to win them over not through violence and destruction but through loving relationship, humble service, prayer and intelligent dialogue, just as Jesus did.
When it comes to our own personal lives, applying Deuteronomy 12:3 means having a take-no-prisoners approach toward destroying idols in our own lives. We need to be careful not to worship anything other than God Himself. For if we try to protect and maintain idols in our lives, they will end up being our downfall.
Deuteronomy 12:4-14 (NIV)
4 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.
5 But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go;
6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit,
9 since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you.
10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.
11 Then to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name–there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD.
12 And there rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns, who have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please.
14 Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.
On verse 4-14: Moses tells the Israelites to “seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put His name there for His dwelling” (v5). Again in verse 11 Moses emphasizes that place, telling the Israelites to bring their offerings and sacrifices “to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name”. What is that “place”?
In the New Testament, we know that ultimately the place which God has chosen as a dwelling place for His name is you and me. When we trust that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the grave, the Bible says that God sends His Holy Spirit to live in all of us who place our faith in Jesus. So WE become the place that God has chosen as a dwelling for His name.
To think that your life is holy ground which God’s Spirit calls home. That is why in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, telling us to use our bodies and our lives in ways that honour God. For we are God’s dwelling place, and His Spirit and His name live in us.
Thank You, Lord, for choosing me as a dwelling place for Your name and for Your Holy Spirit. Thank You that I am chosen by You and that my life is Your holy ground. May I not worship anything or anyone else other than You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
