1Voici les statuts et les ordonnances que vous prendrez garde de pratiquer, dans le pays que YEHOVAH, le Dieu de tes pères, t'a donné pour le posséder, pendant tout le temps que vous vivrez sur la terre. 2Vous détruirez tous les lieux où les nations que vous allez déposséder auront servi leurs dieux, sur les hautes montagnes, et sur les coteaux et sous tout arbre vert. 3Vous démolirez aussi leurs autels, vous briserez leurs statues, vous brûlerez leurs emblèmes d'Ashéra; vous mettrez en pièces les images taillées de leurs dieux, et vous ferez disparaître leur nom de ce lieu-là. 4Vous ne ferez pas ainsi à l'égard de YEHOVAH votre Dieu; 5Mais vous rechercherez sa demeure, au lieu que YEHOVAH votre Dieu aura choisi d'entre toutes vos tribus pour y mettre son nom; et c'est là que tu iras. 6Et vous apporterez là vos offrandes à brûler, vos sacrifices, vos dîmes, et l'oblation de vos mains, vos vœux, vos offrandes volontaires, et les premiers-nés de votre gros et de votre menu bétail; 7Et vous mangerez là devant YEHOVAH votre Dieu, et vous vous réjouirez, vous et vos familles, de toutes les choses auxquelles vous aurez mis la main et dans lesquelles YEHOVAH ton Dieu t'aura béni. 8Vous ne ferez pas comme nous faisons ici aujourd'hui, chacun selon ce qui lui semble bon; 9Car vous n'êtes point encore parvenus au repos et à l'héritage que YEHOVAH ton Dieu te donne. 10Vous passerez donc le Jourdain, et vous habiterez au pays que YEHOVAH votre Dieu vous donne en héritage. Et il vous donnera du repos, en vous garantissant de tous vos ennemis, tout autour; et vous habiterez en sécurité. 11Alors, il y aura un lieu que YEHOVAH votre Dieu choisira pour y faire habiter son nom; c'est là que vous apporterez tout ce que je vous commande, vos offrandes à brûler, vos sacrifices, vos dîmes, l'oblation de vos mains, et toute offrande de choix pour les vœux que vous aurez voués à YEHOVAH; 12Et vous vous réjouirez devant YEHOVAH votre Dieu, vous, vos fils, vos filles, vos serviteurs et vos servantes, ainsi que le Lévite qui sera dans vos portes, car il n'a point de portion ni d'héritage avec vous. 13Prends bien garde de ne point offrir tes offrandes à brûler dans tous les lieux que tu verras; 14Mais tu offriras tes offrandes à brûler dans le lieu que YEHOVAH choisira dans l'une de tes tribus, et tu y feras tout ce que je te commande. 15Toutefois, tu pourras tuer et manger de la chair, selon tous tes désirs, dans toutes tes portes, selon la bénédiction que YEHOVAH ton Dieu t'aura donnée; celui qui sera souillé et celui qui sera pur en mangeront, comme on mange du daim et du cerf. 16Seulement vous ne mangerez point le sang: tu le répandras sur la terre comme de l'eau. 17Tu ne pourras point manger dans tes portes, la dîme de ton froment, ni de ton moût, ni de ton huile, ni les premiers-nés de ton gros et de ton menu bétail, ni ce que tu auras voué, ni tes offrandes volontaires, ni l'oblation de tes mains. 18Mais tu les mangeras devant YEHOVAH ton Dieu, au lieu que YEHOVAH ton Dieu choisira, toi, ton fils, ta fille, ton serviteur et ta servante, et le Lévite qui est dans tes portes, et tu te réjouiras devant YEHOVAH ton Dieu de tout ce à quoi tu auras mis la main. 19Garde-toi, tout le temps que tu vivras sur la terre, d'abandonner le Lévite. 20Quand YEHOVAH ton Dieu aura élargi ta frontière, comme il t'en a parlé, et que tu diras: Je voudrais manger de la chair! parce que ton âme souhaitera de manger de la chair, tu pourras en manger selon tous tes désirs. 21Si le lieu que YEHOVAH ton Dieu aura choisi pour y mettre son nom, est loin de toi, tu pourras tuer de ton gros ou de ton menu bétail que YEHOVAH ton Dieu t'aura donné, comme je te l'ai commandé, et tu en mangeras dans tes portes, selon tous tes désirs. 22Tu en mangeras simplement comme on mange du daim et du cerf; celui qui sera souillé et celui qui sera pur en mangeront également. 23Seulement garde-toi de manger le sang; car le sang c'est l'âme, et tu ne mangeras point l'âme avec la chair. 24Tu ne le mangeras point; tu le répandras sur la terre comme de l'eau. 25Tu ne le mangeras point, afin que tu sois heureux, toi et tes enfants après toi, parce que tu auras fait ce qui est droit aux yeux de YEHOVAH. 26Seulement tu prendras les choses consacrées qui t'appartiendront, et ce que tu auras voué, et tu viendras au lieu que YEHOVAH aura choisi; 27Et tu offriras tes offrandes à brûler, la chair et le sang, sur l'autel de YEHOVAH ton Dieu; mais le sang de tes autres sacrifices sera répandu sur l'autel de YEHOVAH ton Dieu, et tu en mangeras la chair. 28Garde et écoute toutes ces choses que je te commande, afin que tu sois heureux, toi et tes enfants après toi, à jamais, parce que tu feras ce qui est bon et droit aux yeux de YEHOVAH ton Dieu. 29Quand YEHOVAH ton Dieu aura exterminé de devant toi les nations, vers lesquelles tu vas pour les déposséder, et que tu les auras dépossédées, et que tu habiteras dans leur pays, 30Prends garde à toi, de peur que tu ne tombes dans le piège en les suivant, quand elles auront été détruites de devant toi, et que tu ne recherches leurs dieux, en disant: Comment ces nations servaient-elles leurs dieux? que je fasse de même, moi aussi. 31Tu n'agiras point ainsi à l'égard de YEHOVAH ton Dieu; car elles ont fait à leurs dieux tout ce qui est en abomination à YEHOVAH, et qu'il déteste; et même elles ont brûlé au feu leurs fils et leurs filles en l'honneur de leurs dieux. 32Vous aurez soin de faire tout ce que je vous commande: Tu n'y ajouteras rien, et tu n'en retrancheras rien.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 MONUMENTS OF IDOLATRY TO BE DESTROYED. (
Deut 12:1-
Deut 12:15)
These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe--Having in the preceding chapter inculcated upon the Israelites the general obligation to fear and love God, Moses here enters into a detail of some special duties they were to practise on their obtaining possession of the promised land.
2 Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods--This divine command was founded on the tendencies of human nature; for to remove out of sight everything that had been associated with idolatry, that it might never be spoken of and no vestige of it remain, was the only effectual way to keep the Israelites from temptations to it. It is observable that Moses does not make any mention of temples, for such buildings were not in existence at that early period. The "places" chosen as the scene of heathen worship were situated either on the summit of a lofty mountain, or on some artificial mound, or in a grove, planted with particular trees, such as oaks, poplars, and elms (
Isa 57:5-
Isa 57:7;
Hos 4:13). The reason for the selection of such sites was both to secure retirement and to direct the attention upward to heaven; and the "place" was nothing else than a consecrated enclosure, or at most, a canopy or screen from the weather.
3 And ye shall overthrow their altars--piles of turf or small stones.
and break their pillars--Before the art of sculpture was known, the statues of idols were only rude blocks of colored stones.
5 unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose . . . to put his name there . . . thou shalt come--They were forbidden to worship either in the impure superstitious manner of the heathen, or in any of the places frequented by them. A particular place for the general rendezvous of all the tribes would be chosen by God Himself; and the choice of one common place for the solemn rites of religion was an act of divine wisdom, for the security of the true religion. It was admirably calculated to prevent the corruption which would otherwise have crept in from their frequenting groves and high hills--to preserve uniformity of worship and keep alive their faith in Him to whom all their sacrifices pointed. The place was successively Mizpeh, Shiloh, and especially Jerusalem. But in all the references made to it by Moses, the name is never mentioned. This studied silence was maintained partly lest the Canaanites within whose territories it lay might have concentrated their forces to frustrate all hopes of obtaining it; partly lest the desire of possessing a place of such importance might have become a cause of strife or rivalry amongst the Hebrew tribes, as about the appointment to the priesthood (Num. 16:1-30).
7 there ye shall eat before the Lord--of the things mentioned (
Deut 12:6); but of course, none of the parts assigned to the priests before the Lord--in the place where the sanctuary should be established, and in those parts of the Holy City which the people were at liberty to frequent and inhabit.
12 ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, &c.--Hence it appears that, although males only were commanded to appear before God at the annual solemn feasts (
Exod 23:17), the women were allowed to accompany them (1Sa. 1:3-23).
15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates--Every animal designed for food, whether ox, goat, or lamb, was during the abode in the wilderness ordered to be slain as a peace offering at the door of the tabernacle; its blood to be sprinkled, and its fat burnt upon the altar by the priest. The encampment, being then round about the altar, made this practice, appointed to prevent idolatry, easy and practicable. But on the settlement in the promised land, the obligation to slay at the tabernacle was dispensed with. The people were left at liberty to prepare their meat in their cities or homes.
according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee--The style of living should be accommodated to one's condition and means--profuse and riotous indulgence can never secure the divine blessing.
the unclean and the clean may eat thereof--The unclean here are those who were under some slight defilement, which, without excluding them from society, yet debarred them from eating any of the sacred meats (
Lev 7:20). They were at liberty freely to partake of common articles of food.
of the roebuck--the gazelle.
and as of the hart--The Syrian deer (Cervus barbatus) is a species between our red and fallow deer, distinguished by the want of a bis-antler, or second branch on the horns, reckoning from below, and for a spotted livery which is effaced only in the third or fourth year.
16 BLOOD PROHIBITED. (
Deut 12:16-
Deut 12:25)
ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water--The prohibition against eating or drinking blood as an unnatural custom accompanied the announcement of the divine grant of animal flesh for food (
Gen 9:4), and the prohibition was repeatedly renewed by Moses with reference to the great objects of the law (
Lev 17:12), the prevention of idolatry, and the consecration of the sacrificial blood to God. In regard, however, to the blood of animals slain for food, it might be shed without ceremony and poured on the ground as a common thing like water--only for the sake of decency, as well as for preventing all risk of idolatry, it was to be covered over with earth (
Lev 17:13), in opposition to the practice of heathen sportsmen, who left it exposed as an offering to the god of the chase.
22 Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them, &c.--Game when procured in the wilderness had not been required to be brought to the door of the tabernacle. The people were now to be as free in the killing of domestic cattle as of wild animals. The permission to hunt and use venison for food was doubtless a great boon to the Israelites, not only in the wilderness, but on their settlement in Canaan, as the mountainous ranges of Lebanon, Carmel, and Gilead, on which deer abounded in vast numbers, would thus furnish them with a plentiful and luxuriant repast.
26 HOLY THINGS TO BE EATEN IN THE HOLY PLACE. (
Deut 12:26-
Deut 12:32)
Only thy holy things which thou hast--The tithes mentioned (
Deut 12:17) are not to be considered ordinary tithes, which belonged to the Levites, and of which private Israelites had a right to eat; but they are other extraordinary tithes or gifts, which the people carried to the sanctuary to be presented as peace offerings, and on which, after being offered and the allotted portion given to the priest, they feasted with their families and friends (
Lev 27:30).
29 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them . . . saying, How did these nations serve their gods?--The Israelites, influenced by superstitious fear, too often endeavored to propitiate the deities of Canaan. Their Egyptian education had early impressed that bugbear notion of a set of local deities, who expected their dues of all who came to inhabit the country which they honored with their protection, and severely resented the neglect of payment in all newcomers [WARBURTON]. Taking into consideration the prevalence of this idea among them, we see that against an Egyptian influence was directed the full force of the wholesome caution with which this chapter closes.