Deuteronomy 12:1–32 – Deuteronomy: Then You Shall Live
Baptism of the LORD – January 12, 2020 (am)
 

Israel is being instructed here to worship the Lord with an undivided heart, just as He prescribes. Clearly, that is instruction we also need to hear. And, surprisingly, we could actually benefit from hearing Moses’ instruction to Israel here, even though they were under the old covenant and preparing to enter the land of promise.

We encounter a significant transition point in today’s text. Since 4:44 we’ve been moving through the second and longest of Moses’ four speeches in this book (4:44-26:19), and 11:32 into 12:1 marks the most notable divide in that speech as he moves on from the general stipulations of covenant obedience into the specific stipulations. This is also a turning point in the ANE treaty outline of Deu. But the linkage is also clear as 12:1 repeats the charge of 11:32.

But there is also another way to understand how Moses has structured this general and specific stipulations section of his second speech. Some commentators see him as moving through the Ten Commandments one by one. Now, not everyone agrees on just where he begins or where he moves on from one to the next. Some think he begins this structure here at 12:1 as he moves into the specific stipulations. They see c.12 teaching Israel what it should look like to honor the first Commandment: 5:7 You shall have no other gods before me. But others think, and I agree, that the whole of the general stipulations section (cc.6-11) addresses the first Commandment, then c.12 takes up the second: 5:8 You shall not make for yourself a carved image…. Moses is teaching Israel what it will look like in the land to worship the Lord with an undivided heart, how to avoid the snare of Canaanite idolatry, which should be good for us!

Let’s ask two questions of this passage.

What Is Israel Being Told to Do, and Why?

Moses begins in v.1 with language we’ve heard many times: 1 These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess…. And this introduces not only c.12, but the long section of specific stipulations through 26:19. And following the vivid language of vv.2-3, we hear a negative charge from Moses that captures the essence of his instruction in c.12 on how to honor the second Commandment in the land: 4 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. You shall not enter into the worship of the Canaanite gods (2-4, 30, 31). You shall not imitate their worship (8, 13, 17, 30). You shall not even be curious about it: 30 take care… that you do not inquire…, saying, “How did these nations serve their gods? …” No: 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way—Moses brackets this section with this charge—for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. The way these people serve their gods is the reason they’re being judged! (cf. 9:4)

So, what do you do with their gods when you enter the land? 2 You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. There is no place for the name of these pretend gods alongside the name of the Lord. Plus, you’re not [destroying] a living thing here! You’re not [destroying] anything meaningful! You’re [destroying] the implements of pagan worship! You’re [destroying] the very things that have brought down the judgment of the true and living God on the heads of those who made use of them! 4 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. 5 [Rather] you shall seek the place that [He] will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go.

6 [A]nd there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. There you shall bring all that is devoted to the Lord and is set aside to be offered to Him at a gathering for corporate worship according to the law that He revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai. There will be a central sanctuary in the land, the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there (11, cf. 5, 14, 18, 21). And that’s where you will go to worship Him and make your blood sacrifices and offerings of praise and thanksgiving (Thompson 186) He designed to maintain the covenant. That’s how you worship the Lord, Israel!

13 Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, 14 but at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you. It’s not going to be like the Canaanites’ worship, or like your own worship while you lived in the wilderness (8), even though the Tabernacle was right there in your midst. 10 But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11 then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you, and he lists the offerings and sacrifices again.

So, this captures Moses’ instruction to Israel regarding what to do about Canaanite idolatry and Canaanite gods in honor of the second Commandment. But it doesn’t yet capture the flavor of Israelite worship in the land as Moses presents it here. It’s not just about hacking up Canaanite idols and [worshiping] at the central sanctuary that the Lord will establish. The Lord [their] God was not just a taskmaster! He established a loving, saving relationship with them for their good and for their [joy]. Speaking of the worship gatherings where the people would participate in a sort of covenant renewal ceremony (Merrill 223) by [eating] part of the sacrifice [offered] at the central sanctuary, three times Moses said: you shall rejoice! (7, 12, 18). And each time he mentioned the whole household. Ultimately: 18 … you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns, also mentioned three times (12, 18, 19). And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. (The godless nations they were about to dispossess were sacrificing their sons and daughters in the fire believing that would appease their gods (29-31)—death for the lifeless. And all the while the Lord was calling His people together, whole households, to celebrate life and relationship!)

And not only was that the flavor of the times of worship, but God’s covenant stipulations also made provision for them to enjoy meat, even from sacrificial animals, whenever you desire (20). The only thing He required there was that the blood be treated as sacred. They couldn’t eat it (16, 23, 24, 25). If it wasn’t being offered in sacrifice on the altar or being put on the horns of the altar or poured out at the base (Lev.4), it was to be irretrievable presented to God by being [poured] out on the earth like water (24). The blood is the life, Moses says here, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh (23). Lev.17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Blood is not for our consumption. Rather, it is set aside by God for our salvation. Even so, as long as it was treated appropriately by His people as they prepared meat to eat (24; cf. Act.15:20), they could eat it whenever [they desired].

So, Israel was supposed to enter the land, eradicate the idolatry of the nations that lived there, establish a central sanctuary as God revealed the place for it, then faithfully and [joyfully] engage in covenant worship and fellowship with Him according to the stipulations He set forth on Mt. Sinai, because they were His chosen people (7:6-8). This is how they would honor the second Commandment.

What Are the Implications for Us Today?

There are two points of contrast for Israel’s worship as they move into the land. (1) it’s going to differ from what they experienced as they wandered in the wilderness (8). And (2) it’s surely going to differ from what’s going on in the land as they prepare to cross the Jordan and begin their conquest. And all of this is tied together with their manifestation of allegiance to God as His old covenant people and their rejection of any form of idolatry in obedience to the second Commandment.

The implications for us today are quite similar. Just as the place and practice of worship adjusted for God’s old covenant people as they sought to avoid any form of idolatry in the land, even so the place and practice of worship has adjusted for us, as Jesus established the new covenant by His death and resurrection.

He spoke of the change in place to the woman at the well (Joh.4:1-42). As a Samaritan, she believed Mt. Gerazim was the place to worship God. Seeing that Jesus was a Jew, she knew that He believed Jerusalem was the place where God chose to put his name and make his habitation. But 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. … 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, …. The place of worship will spread out through all the earth to [wherever] two or three believers are gathered in [Jesus’] name! God, the eternal Son, has now come and dwelt with us! And when we’re joined to Him by faith, we, the church, become the place where God has [chosen] to put his name and make his habitation! (cf. Eph.2:22)

Right here, right now, this morning is an appointed place of worship where God is uniquely present. And His presence is not tied to this building so much as to us, His people. We are a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Eph.2:22). But it’s not like our geographic location is insignificant. We are Grace Church of DuPage. We occupy space and time and we are God’s appointed people at this time in this place. How we worship, how we minister, even to some degree who we are is shaped and formed by when and where we live such that, even though we may show similarities to other churches in other places, even in other countries, we’re a unique body, right here, right now.

The practice of worship has also changed—no more sacrificial system, for instance. But some things still remain. God’s new covenant people still need to be just as diligent to fight off the infectious idolatry that saturates this world today just like His old covenant people did. Paul tells us in 1Co.10 that the experiences of Israel in the wilderness took place as examples for us (6) and were written down for our instruction (11). And his straight-forward charge from that instruction was: 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were…. In fact, flee from idolatry (14). Run from it! Resist it like the plague! God’s new covenant people aren’t called to exercise ḥērem to destroy idolaters; that day will come. We’re called to flee idolatry, to resist the thought that we’re somehow immune to godlessness of our day.

The Corinthians were born and bred in Corinth, immersed in Corinthian culture, so infiltrated by the thinking of their day that here in c.10 they continued right on sitting at table in pagan temples eating food sacrificed to idols, and thinking (half-rightly): an idol is nothing (cf. 19); he who is in [me] is greater than he who is in the world (1Jo.4:4). Meanwhile, what was really happening was—not wanting to break away from the world that was so familiar to them, including eating at pagan temples as though they were restaurants—they rationalized the danger and were actually participating at the table of demons at the same time that, over at church, they were participating at the table of the Lord. Paul wrote: 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

On to most fundamental levels, our culture, our battle, is no different than theirs. It’s no easier to flee from idolatry today than it was in first-century Corinth. Our culture is saturated with just as many alternatives to undivided allegiance to God as theirs. There are just as many godless strategies to increase or wealth or improve our career or protect our health or pacify our fear. There are just as many go-to tactics available, and probably more, to seize control of our life and circumstances, tactics that lure us away from unrivaled trust in God and dull our ear for His Spirit and His Word.

We’re going to dig into that topic a bit more this evening: Pondering Present-Day Idolatry is the title. But first we need to finish this morning well.

Conclusion

And the very activity that is given to us by Jesus Himself to remind us of who we are (the new covenant people of God) and of Who He is (our Savior, Lord, and King) is what remains for us this morning.

In Deu.12, Israel was being instructed to worship the Lord with an undivided heart in the land, just as He prescribed. And Moses talked to them about the adjusted place and practice of their worship there—that it would happen at the location where God chose to place His name, and that it would involve all-out war to defeat the demonic opposition that was already entrench in the Canaanite culture.

Today we hear the same call, my friends, to worship the Lord with an undivided heart as we prepare to enter the land. We gather here Sunday by Sunday in response to the invitation of our loving, saving, covenant-making, -keeping God to be strengthened in our worship of Him and equipped for our battle against the insidious forms of self-sufficiency and false security that saturate our culture.

As we come to the table of the Lord today, we come to receive God’s grace and His gracious affirmation of who we are. We come to be reminded that every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is ours in Christ (Eph.1:3), and that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2Pe.1:3) in this world. We can trust that. We can rest in it. All these blessings are just further confirmation that our God is worthy of our worship with undivided hearts, and that He is more than able to meet us in any need, any challenge, with precisely the resources that we need to prevail.

Let’s come to the table of the Lord.