Deuteronomy/Davarim 12: "How do these foreign nations serve their gods?"

[In time and culture and religious practices, we are so far removed from the ‘idolatrous’ foreign nations being referred to in the Hebrew Scriptures: we don’t offer our children and young virgins at the altar of the gods of our creation or imagination, we do not indulge in the ‘abominations’ that Israel’s God YHWH wanted His people to not only NOT embrace but also to purge from the land they would yet occupy. However, idolatry is idolatry in whatever form it manifests in this world at any time, culture or world religion. If YHWH is the Eternal Who does not change in what He loves or hates in the world of men, just think:  how would He react to the modern religions of the world, most of which have replaced Him, do not know His Name, and one major dominant religion even declares His Torah as obsolete, passe and only for Israel?  

As we Sinaites have repeatedly emphasized in our articles, there is no more reason to be or remain ignorant of the True God and all that He has declared from Sinai. Ignorance in itself is a choice:  ‘choose today whom you will serve’; admonishes Mosheh, ‘choose life’.  

 

The commentary here comes from the best of Jewish minds as collected in one excellent resource book we’ve been quoting from verbatim because it has helped us understand the last three books of the Torah: Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H Hertz; the translation we use is EF/Everett Fox The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

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Deuteronomy/Davarim12

At this point we pass to the Code of Laws.  All that has gone before may be regarded as the religious and historical prelude to the rehearsal of the statutes and judgments which now follow.  So far Moses had been speaking in general terms of the necessity of obedience to the laws of God, reminding them of the Covenant of Horeb, and the fundamental principles of Israel’s Religion.  He now proceed to give detailed laws and precepts that were to govern their lives in the Land of Promise.

 

These laws deal with

1. Religious institutions and worship (XII,1-XVI,17);
2. Government of the people (XVI,18-XVIII);
3. Criminal law (XIX-XXI,109); and
4. Domestic life (XXI,10-XXV).
5. Conclusion of Code: First-fruits, tithes, and accompanying prayers. (XXVI,1-15).

Some commentators detect in all these chapters an elaboration of the basic laws contained in the Decalogue.  Thus XII-XIV deal with the worship of God, and are an expansion of the first three of the Ten Commandments.  In XV-XVI, 17 we have an enumeration of the Holy Festivals analogous to the Sacred Day of the week.  Chaps XVI-XVIII deal with civil and religious government, which plays the same part in the national life as the authority of parents plays in the life of the family.  The remainder of the section corresponds generally to the second half of the Decalogue, and treats of the relationship of man to his fellowman.

 

1.  RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND WORSHIP

(a)  concerning the Central Sanctuary;

(b)  distinctiveness in worship;

(c) against heathen rites and religious seducers;

(d) of Holiness (concerning clean and unclean tithes, year of release, firstlings); and

(e) the Three Feasts.

(a)  THE LAW OF THE CENTRAL SANCTUARY

XII-XVI,1-28

When Israel is settled in the Land, sacrifices shall be offered only in the spot to be chosen by God.

 

1 These are the laws and the regulations that you are to take-care to observe

in the land that YHVH the God of your fathers has given you to possess, 

all the days that you live on the soil:

in the Land. ‘Laws that relate to the Land need to be observed only in the Land; all other laws must be observed everywhere, in Palestine or out of Palestine’ (Sifri).

2 You are to demolish, yes, demolish, all the (sacred) places 

where the nations that you are dispossessing served their gods,

on the high hills and on the mountains 

and beneath every luxuriant tree;

ye shall surely destroy. Better, ye shall utterly destroy.  ‘There first duty would be the eradication of every trace of heathenism.

hills . . . tree. Worship at these places was accompanied by licentious rites; see v. 31 and Hosea IV,13.

3 you are to wreck their slaughter-sites, 

you are to smash their standing-pillars,

their Asherot/Sacred-poles you are to burn with fire, 

and the carved-images of their gods, you are to cut-to-shreds- 

so that you cause their name to perish from that place!

destroy their name. The very memory of the local Baals is to cease.

out of that place. ‘The injunction to destroy idolatrous images applies only to the Holy Land, and not to those places outside it where Jews reside’ (Sifri).

4 You are not to do thus with YHVH your God;

nor so so. The Israelites were not, like the Canaanites, to worship God on the ‘high mountains and under every green tree’, but were to do so in a Central Sanctuary, as stated in the following v.  Some Rabbis, however, connected this v. with the one immediately preceding, and deduced therefrom the prohibition to obliterate in any way the Divine Name in a scroll or book.  In later ages, it became customary to bury disused Hebrew books, so as not to dispose of them in any way that would involve destroy something containing a Divine Name.  Hence the institution of the Gemizah in Eastern Jewish Communities, and the periodic burial of disused, tattered, and fragmentary books of Scripture and devotion in Russo-Polish Jewries.

5 rather, to the place that YHVH your God chooses from among all your tribes

to put his name there, to have it dwell,

you are to inquire and are to come there,

but unto the place.  This insistence upon the eventual establishment of one Central Sanctuary for all Israel was for the purpose of ensuring unity in national life.  The Central Altar was to form a rallying-point to the Israelites wherever they resided, and prove a strong factor in welding the tribes into one compact body. When Jeroboam desired to strengthen the schism in Israel and separate the Ten Tribes from Judah, he set up two new centres of worship.

which the LORD your God. Though Jerusalem was the ultimate place chosen, it is not here in view.  God might from time to time designate different places were offerings were to be brought.  Thus, in XXVII,5, Israel is commanded to build an altar on Mount Ebal and sacrifice burnt-offerings upon it.  Thereafter Shiloh was for centuries the home of God’s choice; see Jeremiah VII,12.  Israel was to be guided on this matter by the Prophets.  The Prophet Gad tells David to erect an altar in the threshing floor of Araunah in Jerusalem (II Sam. XXIV,18); and other instances are found in Judges VI,26; XIII,16-20; I Kings XVIII,32.  There is no contradiction between the law of the Central Sanctuary and Exod. XX,21 (XX,24 in the English Bible).

shall choose.  Not the place which the worshipper chooses, but the place chosen by God.  This is the same truth proclaimed in Exod. XX,21, which should be translated.  ‘In whatever place that I cause my name to be mentioned, I will come unto thee and bless thee.’

even unto His habitation. Heb. leschichno,which expresses the same thought–the Divine Presence–as the later term, shechinah (Hoffmann).

6 you are to bring there your offerings-up and your slaughter-offerings,

your tithings and the contributions of your hands,

your vow-offerings and your freewill-offerings, 

the firstborn of your herds and of your flocks.

tithes. The duty of tithing is expounded in XIV,22.

7 And you are to eat there, before the presence of YHVH your God,

you are to rejoice in all the enterprises of your hand, 

you and your households, 

with which YHVH your God has blessed you.
8 You are not to do-according to all that we are doing here today-

each-man, whatever is right in his (own) eyes,
9 for you have not come until now

to the resting-place, to the inheritance that YHVH your God is giving you.
10 When you cross the Jordan

and settle in the land that YHVH your God is causing you to inherit, 

and he gives-rest to you from all your enemies round about, 

and you settle (in it) in security:

he giveth you rest. This did not occur until the reign of David.  Hence the statement in II Sam. VII,1, ‘when the king (David) dwelt in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies round about ‘that the desire to build a Temple arose in his heart.  Before that final resting-place in Jerusalem was available, a temporary abode was found in Shiloh; Josh. XVIII,1.

11 it shall be, in the place

that YHVH your God chooses to have his name dwell,

there you are to bring all that I command you:

your offerings-up and your slaughter-offerings,

your tithings and the contribution of your hands, 

and all your choicest vow-offerings that you vow to YHVH.

then it shall come to pass. In other words, the law of the Central Altar was not meant to come into operation till the time was ripe for building the Temple (I Kings III,2).

your choice vows. If a man brings an offering, voluntary or otherwise, he must select for that purpose the choicest that he can obtain (Sifri).

12 And you are to rejoice before the presence of YHVH your God, 

you, your sons and your daughters, 

your servants and your maids, 

and the Levite who is within your gates,

for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
13 Take-you-care, 

lest you offer-up your offerings-up

in any place you might see.

thy burnt offerings. All the various sacrifices enumerated in v. 11.

thou seest. i.e. not that thou seest as suitable for that purpose, but only as a Prophet sees (i.e. selects) for thee, as Elijah did at Mount Carmel (Sifri); see on v. 5 above.

14 Rather, in the place that YHVH chooses in one of your tribal-districts,

there you are to offer-up your offerings-up,

there you are to observe all that I command you.

15-19. EXTENSION OF PROHIBITION OF PRIVATE SANCTUARY

Even the mere eating of sacrificial foods is forbidden outside the city of the Central Sanctuary.

15 Only: in all your appetite’s craving you may slaughter (animals)

and may eat meat according to the blessing of YHVH your God

that he has given you within all your gates;

the tamei and the pure (alike) may eat it,

as (of) the deer, so (of) the gazelle.

mayest eat flesh. See on v. 20.

16 Only: the blood you are not to eat, 

on the earth you are to pour it out, like water.

not eat the blood. See on v. 23.

17 You may not eat within your gates

the tithe of your grain, your new-wine or your shining-oil,

or the firstlings of your herd or of your flock,

or any of the vow-offerings that you vow, 

or your freewill-offerings or the contribution of your hand;

thou mayest not eat. Mention of burnt-offerings and sacrifices is omitted from the list, because these could only be eaten by the priests within the Temple precincts (Lev. VI,19, VII,6); whereas the other sacred foods could be eaten anywhere within the limits of the Holy City.

18 rather, before the presence of YHVH your God you are to eat it,

in the place that YHVH your God chooses: 

you, your son and your daughter, 

your servant and your maid, 

and the Levite that is within your gates;

you are to rejoice before the presence of YHVH your God, in all the enterprises of your hand.
19 Take-you-care, 

lest you abandon the Levite, 

all your days on your soil.

as long as thou livest. lit. ‘all thy days;.’

upon thy land. The Levite is to be supported even in the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee, as long as he is resident in the Holy Land.  Outside its border, he is to be treated as merely a poor man in need of assistance (Sifri).

20-22.  THE SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS FOR FOOD

In Lev. XVII it is laid down that every animal, even for ordinary consumption, must be slain at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.  This was a temporary precept for the period of the Israelites’ sojourn in the Wilderness; see on Lev. XVII,3. This precept is replaced by another in this chapter of Deuteronomy. Israel was now about to settle in Canaan, and the individual Israelite could not be expected to go to the Central Sanctuary in Shiloh or Jerusalem whenever he wished to partake of meat food.

20 When YHVH your God broadens your territory, 

as he promised you, 

and you say: I want to eat meat,

because your appetite craves eating meat,

according to all your appetite’s craving you may eat meat.

the desire of thy soul. In Heb. the ‘soul’ is conceived as the seat of emotion and appetite.

21 If it is too far-away from you, the place that YHVH your God chooses to put his name there, you may slaughter (animals) from among your herds and your flocks

that YHVH has given you, as I have commanded you, 

and you may eat within your gates, according to all your appetite’s craving.

as I have commanded thee. This cannot refer to v. 15, as in that case the verb would not be in the perfect tense, but the participle would be used (XI,18,13,22,27,28; XII,11, etc).  Tradition connects as I have commanded thee with the words thou shalt kill.  We have thus an indication that Moses had previously taught the people a method of slaughtering animals.  Since this is nowhere mentioned in the Pentateuch, it follows that Shechitah, the Jewish method of slaughter, must have been communicated orally to Israel.

22 Mark, 

as the gazelle and the deer are eaten,

thus you may eat it, 

the tamei and the pure,

together they may eat it.

gazelle. . . . hart. ‘These were ‘clean’ animals, but were not acceptable as offerings on the Altar, not being domestic animals; Lev. I,2

may eat thereof alike A person ritually unclean could not partake of the flesh of a sacrificial animal, but could join in a non-sacrificial meal.

23-28.  WARNING AGAINST BLOOD

This law is mentioned as early as Gen. IX,4 and repeated Lev. XVII, 11,14; XIX,26. The Jewish method of slaughter and the salting of meat, have as one of their main purposes the draining away of the blood.

23 Only: be strong not to eat the blood,

for the blood is the life;

you are not to eat the life along with the meat!

the blood is the life. See on Le. XVII,11.

thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh. The Rabbis understood this as meaning that it is forbidden to eat a limb torn from a living animal; see on Gen. IX,4.

24 You are not to eat it, 

on the earth you are to pour it out, like water.

thou shalt not eat it. The Rabbis understood this and the following apparently superfluous v. to signify that even the blood which remains in the animal after the flow of blood has ceased, is prohibited.

pour it out upon the earth. In contrast to the blood of a sacrificial animal (see v.27), or to that of a bird or a hunted animal, which blood is covered over; Lev. XVII,13.

25 You are not to eat it,

in order that it may go-well with you and with your children after you;

indeed, you are to do what is right in the eyes of YHVH!

that it may go well with thee.  Ibn Ezra suggests that the use of blood would have a demoralizing effect upon the moral and physical nature, and pass on a hereditary taint to future generations.

26 Only: your holy-offerings that you have, and your vow-offerings, you are to lift-up 

and are to come to the place that YHVH chooses.

which thou hast. i.e. which are obligatory upon thee.

the place which the LORD shall choose. Notwithstanding the permission granted (v.20-22) in the case of meat for food, solemn offerings of every kind should be brought only at the Central Sanctuary.

27 You are to sacrifice your offerings-up, the meat and the blood 

on the slaughter-site of YHVH your God:

the blood of your slaughter-offerings you are to pour out on the slaughter-site of YHVH your God, but the meat, you may eat.
28 Take-care to hearken to these words that I command you, 

in order that it may go-well with you and with your children after you, into the ages,

that you may do what is good and what is right in the eyes of YHVH your God.
29 When YHVH your God cuts off the nations where you are entering, to dispossess them from before you, 

so that you dispossess them and settle in their land,

(b) DISTINCTIVENESS IN WORSHIP  29-31

Not only in regard to the place of sacrifice, but in regard to the mode of Divine Worship, shall the Israelites be distinguished from their heathen neighbours.  Israel shall especially beware of the hideous abominations—such as human sacrifice—that accompany their worship.  This is one of the many exhortations of this nature that, ‘like a chorus, break in upon both the narratives and laws throughout Deuteronomy’ (G.A. Smith).

30 take-you-care,

lest you be ensnared (to go) after them,

after they have been destroyed from before you, 

lest you inquire about their gods, saying:

How (exactly) do these nations serve their gods?

I will do thus, I too!

how used these nations serve. Better, used to worship. The meaning of this warning is strikingly illustrated by the narrative in II Kings XVII,25.  Just as these foreign settlers in N. Palestine wished to follow the way of the former inhabitants in regard to worship, so the Israelites might be tempted to inquire after and follow, the minhag of the peoples whose land they would soon inhabit.  There would be fatal danger in such a course, even if the imitation confined itself to forms of worship.  With the alien form, the alien idea would soon find entrance.

30 take-you-care,

lest you be ensnared (to go) after them,

after they have been destroyed from before you, 

lest you inquire about their gods, saying:

How (exactly) do these nations serve their gods?

I will do thus, I too!

every abomination.  It was the immorality and inhumanity of the Canaanite religion that rendered it abominable in the eyes of god, and imposed upon the Israelites the duty of exterminating it.

even their sons. To say nothing of ordinary human sacrifices, including the killing of aged parents.  R. Akiba cites a particularly loathsome instance of such a murder, which he himself had witnessed.

 

they burn in the fire to their gods. Human sacrifice was the practice among the primeval Greeks and Romans, Celts, Slavs, and Scandinavians.  It was in use among the Germans down to late Roman times; and was widespread among the ancient Semites, especially in times of national danger or disaster.  Recent excavations in Palestine at Gezer, Taanach, and Megiddo, have revealed regular cemeteries round the heathen altars, in which skeletons of scores of infants have been found, showing traces of slaughter and partial consumption by sacrificial fire.

 

Israel’s fight against this hideous aberration of the religious sense began with the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, and was continued throughout the centuries.  It is one of the better ironies of history, that the one People which for a thousand years fought this horror, and whose religion forbids its followers the eating of any blood in the most rigorous way, should itself have to suffer from the libelous accusation of ritual murder and the use of human blood for religious purposes.  Even in the 20th century, this foul and Satanic lie was officially levelled against Israel in the Beilis trial at Kieff in1913; and only in 1935 it was broadcast by Nazi leaders in their campaign of ruin against the Jewish population of Germany.  In regard to the Nazi resurrection of the fable of ritual murder, it is well to recall that in 1912 no less than 215 non-Jewish leaders in German public life, learning, literature, theology, science, and the arts, issued a protest against this cruel and utterly baseless libel on Judaism.  They wrote: ‘This unscrupulous fiction, spread among the people, has from the Middle Ages until recent times led to terrible consequences.  It has incited the ignorant masses to outrage and massacre, and has driven misguided crowds to pollute themselves with the innocent blood of their Jewish fellowmen.  And yet not a shadow of proof has ever been adduced to justify this crazy belief.’  Se Cecil Roth, The Ritual Murder Libel and the Jew, London, 1935: and A Book of Jewish Thoughts, Oxford edition, p. 181.