41. The Lord . . . Lord is one. The intent of these words was to give a clear
prohibited by the tenth commandment (cf. Rom. 7:7).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 5:22 and he added no more. These Ten Commandments alone were identified as direct quotations by God. The rest of the stipulations of the covenant were given to Moses, who in turn gave them to the Israelites. These basic rules, which reflect God's character, continue to be a means by which God reveals the sinful deeds of the flesh (cf. Rom. 7:7–14; Gal. 3:19–24; 5:13–26). They are also a holy standard for conduct that the saved live by through the Spirit's power, with the exception of keeping the Sabbath (cf. Col. 2:16–17). two tablets of stone. The tablets were written on both sides (see Ex. 32:15).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 5:22–27 The frightening circumstances of God's presence at Sinai caused the people to have enough fear to ask Moses to receive the words from God and communicate those words to them, after which they promised to obey all that God said (see v. 27).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 5:28–29 God affirmed that the pledge to be obedient was the right response (v. 28), and then expressed his loving passion for them to fulfill their promise so they and their children would prosper.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 5:30–33 They asked to be given all God's word (v. 27), so God dismissed the people and told Moses he was going to give the law to him to teach the people (v. 31). At stake was life and prosperity in the Land of Promise.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:1–3 days may be long. Moses' concern is that successive generations maintain the obedience to God's laws that ensures life and prosperity.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:3 a land flowing with milk and honey. A description that included the richness of the land which the Israelites were soon to possess (see 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; 31:20).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:4–5 Cf. Mark 12:29–33.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:4 Hear, O Israel! See 5:1. Deuteronomy 6:4–9, known as the Shema (Hebrew for "hear"), has become the Jewish confession of faith, recited twice daily by the devout, along with 11:13–21 and Num. 15:37– 41. The Lord . . . Lord is one. The intent of these words was to give a clear
statement of the truth of monotheism, that there is only one God. Thus, it has also been translated "the Lord is our God, the Lord alone." The word used for "one" in this passage does not mean "singleness," but "unity." The same word is used in Gen. 2:24, where the husband and wife were said to be "one flesh." Thus, while this verse was intended as a clear and concise statement of monotheism, it does not exclude the concept of the Trinity.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:5–9 You shall love the Lord your God. First in the list of all that was essential for the Jew was unreserved, wholehearted commitment expressed in love to God. Since this relationship of love for God could not be represented in any material way as with idols, it had to be demonstrated in obedience to God's law in daily life. Cf. 11:16–21; Matt. 22:37; Luke 10:27.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:6 these words . . . on your heart. The people were to think about these commandments and meditate on them so that obedience would not be a matter of formal legalism, but a response based upon understanding. The law written upon the heart would be an essential characteristic of the later New Covenant (see Jer. 31:33).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:7 teach them diligently to your children. The commandments were to be the subject of conversation, both inside and outside the home, from the beginning of the day to its end.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:8 hand . . . frontlets between your eyes. The Israelite was to continually meditate upon and be directed by the commandments that God had given to him. Later in Jewish history, this phrase was taken literally and the people tied phylacteries (boxes containing these verses) to their hands and foreheads with thongs of leather.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:10–11 the Lord your God brings you into the land. God reiterated that he was going to give Israel the land in fulfillment of the promises that he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, both with title and prosperity.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:13 by his name you shall swear. An oath was a solemn pledge to affirm something said as absolutely true. The invoking of the Lord's name in the oath meant that one was bound under obligation before God to fulfill that word (cf. Matt. 4:10; Luke 4:8).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:15 a jealous God. See note on 4:24.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:16 Massah. This name actually means "testing" (cf. Ex. 17:1–7; Matt. 4:7; Luke 4:12).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:20 When your son asks you in time to come. When a young son asked the meaning of the law, his father was to use the following pattern in explaining it to him. First, the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt (v. 21a). Second, God miraculously delivered the Israelites and judged the Egyptians (v. 21b). Third, this work was in accord with his promise to the patriarchs (v. 23). Fourth, God gave his law to Israel that his people might obey it (vv. 24–25).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 6:25 righteousness for us. A true and personal relationship with God that would be manifest in the lives of the people of God. There was no place for legalism or concern about the external since the compelling motive for this righteousness was to be love for God (v. 5).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:1–26 This section discusses how the Israelites should relate to the inhabitants of Canaan, including their destruction, the forbidding of intermarriage, and the elimination of all altars and idols. It was God's time for judgment on that land.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:1 seven nations. These seven groups controlled areas of land usually around one or more fortified cities. Together they had greater population and military strength than Israel. Six of these seven are mentioned elsewhere (see Ex. 3:8). The unique nation here is the Girgashites, who are referred to in Gen. 10:16; Josh. 3:10; 24:11; 1 Chron. 1:14, and in Ugaritic texts. They may have been tribal people living in the north of Palestine.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:2 devote them to complete destruction. All the men, women and children were to be put to death. Even though this action seems extreme, the following need to be kept in mind: 1) the Canaanites deserved to die for their sin (9:4–5; cf. Gen. 15:16); 2) the Canaanites persisted in their hatred of God (Deut. 7:10); and 3) the Canaanites constituted a moral cancer that had the potential of introducing idolatry and immorality that would spread rapidly among the Israelites (20:17–18).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:3 not intermarry. Because of the intimate nature of marriage, the idolatrous spouse could lead her mate astray (see 1 Kings 11:1–8
for the example of Solomon).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:5 break down their altars. This destructive action would remove any consequent temptation for the Israelites to follow the religious practices of the nations they were to displace from the land.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:6 a people holy to the Lord your God. The basis for the command to destroy the Canaanites is found in God's election of Israel. God had set apart Israel for his own special use and they were his treasured possession. As God's people, Israel needed to be separated from the moral pollution of the Canaanites.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:8 loves you . . . is keeping the oath. The choosing of Israel as a holy nation set apart for God was grounded in God's love and his faithfulness to the promises he had made to the patriarchs, not in any merit or intrinsic goodness in Israel.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:9 a thousand generations. See note on 1:11.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:12–15 The Lord promised Israel particular blessings for their obedience, which are further enumerated in 28:1–14.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:12 the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant. If Israel was obedient to the Lord, they would experience his covenantal mercy. However, the people could forfeit the blessings of the covenant through their own disobedience.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:13 grain . . . wine . . . oil. These were the three principal food products of Palestine. "Grain" included wheat and barley. "Wine" was the grape juice as it came from the presses. The "oil" was the olive oil used in cooking and in the lamps.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:15 the evil diseases of Egypt. Some virulent and malignant diseases such as elephantiasis, ophthalmia, and dysentery were common in Egypt.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:20 God will send hornets. The hornet or wasp was a large insect, common in Canaan, that may have had a potentially fatal sting. Here the reference was probably figurative in the sense of a great army sent into panic when the Lord would inflict his sting on them (see 11:25). See note on Ex.
23:28.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:22 little by little. Even though the Lord promised that the defeat of the people of the land would be quick (4:26; 9:3), the process of settlement would be more gradual to avoid the danger of the land returning to a primitive state of natural anarchy.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 7:26 You shall utterly detest it and abhor it. "Detest" and "abhor" were strong words of disapproval and rejection. Israel was to have the same attitude toward the idols of the Canaanites as did God himself. it is devoted to destruction. The images or idols were to be set aside for destruction.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:2 remember. The people were to recall what God had done for them (cf. 5:15; 7:18; 8:18; 9:7; 15:15; 16:3, 12; 24:9, 18; 25:17), and not forget (cf. 4:9, 23, 31; 6:12; 8:11, 14, 19; 9:7; 25:19; 26:13). to know what was in your heart. Israel's 40 years in the wilderness was a time of God's affliction and testing so that the basic attitude of the people toward God and his commandments could be made known. God chose to sustain his hungry people in the wilderness by a means previously unknown to them. Through this miraculous provision, God both humbled the people and tested their obedience.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:3 manna, which you did not know. God sustained the people in the wilderness with a food previously unknown to them. See Ex. 16:15 for the beginning of the giving of the manna and Josh. 5:12 for its cessation. man does not live by bread alone. Israel's food in the wilderness was decreed by the word of God. They had manna because it came by God's command; therefore, ultimately it was not bread that kept them alive, but God's word (cf. Matt. 4:4; Luke 4:4).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:4 Your clothing did not wear out. This miraculous provision is also mentioned in 29:5.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:5 the Lord your God disciplines you. Israel's sojourn in the wilderness was viewed as a time of God's discipline of his children. He was seeking to correct their wayward attitude so that they might be prepared to obediently go into the land.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:6–10 An extensive description of God's abundant blessings for Israel in the land (cf. 7:7–9).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:7 a good land. In contrast to the desolation of the wilderness, vv. 7–9 describe the abundance of Israel's new land.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:9 iron . . . copper. The mountains of southern Lebanon and the region east of the Sea of Galilee and south of the Dead Sea contained iron. Both copper and iron were found in the Rift Valley south of the Dead Sea.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:11 lest you forget the Lord your God. Sufficient food would lead to the satisfaction of Israel in the land (vv. 10, 12). This satisfaction and security could lead to Israel forgetting God. Forgetting God means no longer having him in the daily thoughts of one's life. This forgetfulness would lead to a disobedience of his commandments. Whereas, in the wilderness, Israel had to depend on God for the necessities of life, in the rich land there would be a tempting sense of self-sufficiency.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:14 then your heart be lifted up. Pride was viewed as the root of forgetfulness. In their prosperity, the people might claim that their power and strength had produced their wealth (v. 17).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:15 water out of the flinty rock. Cf. Num. 20:9–13.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:16 to do you good in the end. God designed the test of the wilderness so that Israel might be disciplined to obey him. Through her obedience, she received the blessing of the land. Thus, God's design was to do good for Israel at the end of the process.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:18–19 See note on 4:25–31.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 8:19 if you forget. Forgetting God would lead to worshiping other gods, which in turn would result in certain destruction. As God destroyed the Canaanites for their idolatry, so also would he judge Israel.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:1–10:11 This part of Moses' speech rehearses the sins of the Israelites at Horeb (cf. Ex. 32).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:2 the Anakim. Moses remembered the people's shock when they heard the original report of the 12 spies concerning the size, strength, and number of the inhabitants of Canaan (Num. 13:26–14:6). Therefore, he emphasized that from a purely military and human point of view,
their victory was impossible. The fear of the spies and the people focused on the Anakim, a tall, strong people who lived in the land of Canaan (see note on 1:28).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:3 a consuming fire. The Lord was pictured as a fire that burned everything in its path. So the Lord would go over into Canaan and exterminate Canaanites. make them perish quickly. Israel was to be the human agent of the Lord's destruction of the Canaanites. The military strength of the Canaanites would be destroyed quickly (see Josh. 6:1–11:23), though the complete subjugation of the land would take time (see Deut. 7:22; Josh. 13:1).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:4 because of my righteousness. Three times in vv. 4–6, Moses emphasized that the victory was not because of Israel's goodness, but was entirely the work of God. It was the wickedness of the Canaanites that led to their expulsion from the land (cf. Rom. 10:6).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:6 a stubborn people. Lit., "hard of neck." An expression for the stubborn, intractable, obdurate, and unbending attitude of Israel. In vv. 7–29, Moses illustrated Israel's rebellious attitude and actions toward the Lord.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:7 Remember. Moses challenged Israel to call to mind the long history of their stubbornness and provocation of God, which had extended from the time of the exodus from Egypt for 40 years until the present moment on the Plains of Moab.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:10 the finger of God. God himself had written the Ten Commandments on the two tablets of stone at Mount Sinai (see Ex. 31:18).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:14 blot out their name from under heaven. God threatened to destroy the people of Israel so completely that he pictured it as an obliteration of all memory of them from the world of men. This threat was taken by Moses as an invitation to intercede for the children of Israel (Num. 14:11– 19).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:19 Cf. Heb. 12:21.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:20 I prayed for Aaron. Moses interceded on behalf of Aaron, on whom the immediate responsibility for the Israelites' sin of the golden calf rested. Aaron had thus incurred the wrath of God, and his life was in danger (see Ex. 32:1–6). This is the only verse in the Pentateuch that specifically
states that Moses prayed for Aaron.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:22 Taberah . . . Massah . . . Kibroth-hattaavah. These three places were all associated with Israel's rebellion against the Lord. Taberah, "burning," was where the people had complained of their misfortunes (Num. 11:1–3). At Massah, "testing," they had found fault with everything and in presumption had put God to the test (Ex. 17:1–7). At Kibroth-hattaavah, "graves of craving," the people had again incurred God's anger by complaining about their food (Num. 11:31–35).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:23 Kadesh-barnea. There they sinned by both lack of faith in God and disobedience (cf. Num. 13–14).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:24 You have been rebellious against the Lord. Moses concluded that his dealings with Israel as God's mediator had been one of continual rebellion on Israel's part, which led to his intercession (vv. 25–29).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 9:28 he has brought them out. Moses' prayer of intercession to the Lord on behalf of Israel appealed to the Lord to forgive his people because the Egyptians could have interpreted God's destruction of Israel as his inability to fulfill his promise and as his hate for his people.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:1–3 two tablets of stone like the first. God had listened to Moses' intercession and dealt mercifully with the Israelites who had broken the covenant by rewriting the Ten Commandments on two tablets prepared for that purpose by Moses. The second tablets were made of the same material and were the same size as the first.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:1 an ark of wood. This refers to the ark of the covenant. Moses telescoped the events in these verses. Later, at the construction of the ark of the covenant, Moses placed the two new stone tablets within that ark (see Ex. 37:1–9).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:6–9 These verses show that the priesthood of Aaron and service of the Levites were restored after the incident of the golden calf.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:6 Moserah. There Aaron died. Aaron was not killed at Sinai, but lived until the fortieth year of the exodus, which shows the effectiveness of Moses' intercession before the Lord (cf. Num. 20:22–29; 33:38– 39). After Aaron's death, the priestly ministry continued in the appointment of Eleazar. Moserah is the district in which Mount Hor stands, on which Aaron died (cf. Num. 20:27–28; 33:38).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:8 At that time. This refers to the time that Israel was at Mount Sinai.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:9 has no portion. The family of Levi received no inheritance in the land of Canaan (see Num. 18:20, 24).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:10–11 Because of Moses' intercession, not because of their righteousness, the Israelites were encamped on the banks of the Jordan, ready to enter the Promised Land.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:12–13 what does the Lord . . . require of you . . . ? This rhetorical question led into Moses' statement of the five basic requirements that God expected of his people (cf. Mic. 6:8): 1) to fear the Lord your God. To hold God in awe and submit to him; 2) to walk in all his ways. To conduct life in accordance with the will of God; 3) to love him. To choose to set one's affections on the Lord and on him alone; 4) to serve the Lord your God. To have the worship of the Lord as the central focus of life; 5) to keep the
commandments . . . of the Lord. To obey the requirements the Lord had imposed.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:14–15 God, with the same sovereignty by which he controls all things, had chosen the patriarchs and the nation of Israel to be his special people.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:16 Circumcise . . . your heart. Moses called the Israelites to cut away all the sin in their hearts, as the circumcision surgery cut away the skin. This would leave them with a clean relationship to God (cf. 30:6; Lev. 26:40–41; Jer. 4:4; 9:25; Rom. 2:29). See note on Jer. 4:4.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:18 He executes justice. The sovereign, authoritative God is also impartial (v. 17), as seen in his concern for the orphan, the widow, and the alien (cf. Lev. 19:9–18; James 1:27).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:20 hold fast to him. The verb means "to stick to" or "to hold onto." As a husband is to be united to his wife (Gen. 2:24), so Israel was to cling intimately to her God.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 10:22 seventy persons. See Ex. 1:5. One of the great and awesome things God had done for Israel was multiplying the 70 people who went to Egypt into a nation of over two million people.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:2 your children. Moses distinguished between the adults and the children in his audience. The adults were those who had seen the exodus from Egypt as children and had experienced the Lord's discipline in the wilderness. It was to these adults that Moses could say, "For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did" (v. 7). It was that specially blessed generation of adults who were called to pass on the teaching of what they had learned to their children (v. 19).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:6 Dathan and Abiram. These two sons of Eliab, of the tribe of Reuben, had rebelled against the authority of Moses, the Lord's chosen leader. The basis of their complaint was that Moses had brought Israel out of Egypt, a fertile and prosperous land, and not brought them into Canaan. Because of their rebellion against Moses, God had judged them by having the earth open and swallow them up (see Num. 16:12–14, 25–27, 31–33). God's judgment of their rebellion was spoken of here by Moses in the context of his contrast between the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan (Deut. 11:10–12).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:10–11 the land that you are entering to take possession. The land of Canaan was different from Egypt. The land of Egypt depended upon the Nile River for its fertility. By contrast, the land of Canaan depended upon the rains that came from heaven for its fertility.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:10 irrigated it. Probably a reference to carrying water to each garden or the practice of indenting the ground with foot-dug channels through which irrigating water would flow.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:13 Cf. 6:5.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:14 he will give the rain for your land. Since the land of Canaan was dependent upon the rainfall for its fertility, God promised in response to Israel's obedience to give them the rain necessary for that fertility (vv. 16–17). the early rain and the later rain. The early rain was the autumn rain from October to January. The latter rain was the spring rain that came through March/April.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:18–21 For the children and all subsequent generations, God's great acts had not been seen "with their own eyes," as had been the case for that first generation. God's acts were to be "seen" for them in the word of Scripture. It was to be in Moses' words that the acts of God would be put before the eyes of their children. The first priority, therefore, was given to Scripture as the means of teaching the law and grace of God (cf. 6:6–9).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:24 Every place . . . your foot treads. In response to the obedience of Israel (vv. 22–23), the Lord promised to give to Israel all of the land they personally traversed to the extent of the boundaries that he had given. This same promise was repeated in Josh. 1:3–5. Had Israel obeyed God faithfully, her boundaries would have been enlarged to fulfill the promise made to Abraham (Gen. 15:18). But because of Israel's disobedience, the complete promise of the whole land still remains, to be fulfilled in the future kingdom of Messiah (cf. Ezek. 36:8–38).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 11:26–32 As a final motive for driving home the importance of obedience and trust in God, Moses gave instruction for a ceremony that the people were to carry out when they entered the land. They were to read the blessings and the curses of the covenant on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal (see 27:1–14) as they actually would do later (Josh. 8:30–35).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:1–26:19 Having delineated the general principles of Israel's relationship with the Lord (5:1–11:32), Moses then explained specific laws that would help the people subordinate every area of their lives to the Lord. These instructions were given for Israel to "be careful to do in the land" (12:1).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:1–16:17 The first specific instructions that Moses gives deal with the public worship of the Lord by Israel as they come into the land.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:1–32 Moses begins by repeating his instructions concerning what to do with the false worship centers after Israel had taken possession of the land of the Canaanites (see 7:1–6). They were to destroy them completely.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:2 the high mountains . . . hills . . . every green tree. The Canaanite sanctuaries to be destroyed were located in places believed to have particular religious significance. The mountain or hill was thought to be the home of a god and by ascending the mountain, the worshiper was in some symbolic sense closer to the deity. Certain trees were considered to be sacred and symbolized fertility, a dominant theme in Canaanite religion.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:3 their altars . . . pillars . . . carved images. These were elements of Canaanite worship, which included human sacrifice (v. 31). If they remained, the people might mix the worship of God with those places (v. 4).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:5 the place that the Lord your God will choose. Cf. vv. 11, 18, 21. Various places of worship were chosen after the people settled in Canaan, such as Mount Ebal (27:1–8; Josh. 8:30–35), Shechem (Josh. 24:1– 28) and Shiloh (Josh. 18:1), which was the center of worship through the period of Judges (Judg. 21:19). The tabernacle, the Lord's dwelling place, was located in Canaan, where the Lord chose to dwell. The central importance of the tabernacle was in direct contrast to the multiple places (see Deut. 12:2) where the Canaanites practiced their worship of idols. Eventually, the tabernacle was brought to Jerusalem by David (cf. 2 Sam. 6:12–19).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:6 See notes on Lev. 1–7 for descriptions of these various ceremonies.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:7 eat . . . rejoice. Some of the offerings were
shared by the priests, Levites, and the worshipers (cf. Lev. 7:15–18). The worship of God was to be holy and reverent, yet full of joy.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:8 everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes. There seems to have been some laxity in the offering of the sacrifices in the wilderness, which was not to be allowed when Israel came into the Promised Land. This self-centered attitude became a major problem in the time of Judges (cf. Judg. 17:6; 21:25).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:15 slaughter . . . within any of your towns. While sacrificial offerings were brought to the appointed centers for worship as well as the central sanctuary, the killing and eating of meat for regular eating could be engaged in anywhere. The only restriction on eating nonsacrificial meat was the prohibition of the blood and the fat.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:17–19 All sacrifices and offerings had to be brought to the place chosen by God.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:21 If the place . . . is too far. Moses envisioned the enlarging of the borders of Israel according to God's promise. This meant that people would live further and further away from the central sanctuary. Except for sacrificial animals, all others could be slaughtered and eaten close to home.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:23 the blood is the life. See Gen. 9:4–6 and Lev. 17:10–14. The blood symbolized life. By refraining from eating blood, the Israelite demonstrated respect for life and ultimately for the Creator of life. Blood, representing life, was the ransom price for sins. So blood was sacred and not to be consumed by the people. This relates to atonement in Lev. 16; Heb. 9:12–14; 1 Pet. 1:18–19; 1 John 1:7.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:29–30 Cf. 2 Cor. 6:14–7:1, where Paul gives a similar exhortation.
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:31 they even burn their sons and their daughters. One of the detestable practices of Canaanite worship was the burning of their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to Molech (cf. Lev. 18:21; 20:2–5; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 32:35).
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON 12:32 You shall not add to it or take from it. See note on 4:2.