Deuteronomy 12 No Secondhand Temples

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 12:These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, 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.

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.​

Here's what I found at bibletrack.org.

Here we have a monotheistic nation (Israel) moving into a land that has been dominated by polytheistic culture. Since the Hebrews will come across many heathen places of worship, God establishes in this passage that the Hebrews will have only one place for making sacrifices. Those Canaanites had some interesting ways of worshiping their many gods. Steer clear of those heathen practices. Rid the land of those outdoor shrines, sacred stones and Asherah poles; it's all very, very evil. "Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:" When they get to Canaan, God will appoint a place to worship. That place will be at the tabernacle itself; it was placed in Shiloh in Joshua 18:1-10 after the Hebrews moved into Canaan and remained there for the next 200 years or so. Take special note of what God is doing among the Jews here. By centralizing worship at the Tabernacle in a single place, God heads off the temptation of the Israelites to adopt the polytheistic practices of the heathen they are ejecting from the land. If those widely distributed pagan altars are not destroyed, the Israelites will start using them - hard to believe, but true. Through the centuries on many occasions we see the Israelites picking up worship of the pagan idols worshipped by the heathen people around them.

God wanted all the pagan places of worship totally destroyed. It was't because He only wanted newly constructed temples. It was because He didn't want His chosen tribes to pick up abhorrent practices from the pagans. He freed them from Pharaoh [who required people to worship Pharaoh as a god] and after all that those humans had put Him through in the past 40 years [including requiring Him to change the apparent time table to enter this Promised Land] He sure didn't want them to get addicted to pagan worship all over again.

Yesterday it was 118 in Apache Junction, AZ. There was a little breeze created by the updraft at the Superstition Mountains. Walking outside to water the bushes [to keep them moist in case of a forest fire], empty the trash, or get the mail, was like walking into a convection oven. Still, the landscapers arrived and worked for hours. The mail still ran, the grocery stores were open, the Walmart parking lot was still half full and the McDonalds was packed. You would think the outside temp climbing to 118 degrees would require some kind of major emergency plan. The plan in most cases, however, is stay hydrated, stay in a cool place if possible and if not stay in the shade and try not to exert yourself.

In Apache Junction, AZ young and old went on with life. They put on sunscreen, carried water and parasols, and limited their time outside. It's normal in the desert to see these temps. It's a dry temp but it still feels like we are in a convection oven. Funny the things we can get use to.

God didn't want the Israelites to get use to having idols around. It's too easy for humans to get use to something..... first thing you know what was abhorrent becomes normal. Think about it today..... is there an idol laying in your house anywhere? Don't be too quick to respond... I found one in my house not too long ago.

:coffee:
 
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