Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Chapter 12
Hitherto Moses has exhorted the Hebrews to the law of God in general, now he descends to particulars (for this is the office of a good preacher), and in this chapter commands that not on mountains and in groves, but in one place, which God shall choose, victims, tithes, firstfruits and vows be offered, and a feast be held there before the Lord; but he permits, verse 20, flesh not sacrificed to God to be eaten in any place, if it be far from the temple, provided they abstain from blood.
1. These are the precepts and judgments which you must do in the land which the Lord the God of thy fathers hath given thee to possess it all the days that you walk upon the ground. 2. Destroy all the places, in which the nations, which you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree. 3. Overthrow their altars, and break their statues in pieces, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places. 4. You shall not do so to the Lord your God: 5. But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and dwell in it; 6. And you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of your hands, and your vows and gifts, the firstlings of your herds and your sheep. 7. And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your God: and you shall rejoice in all things to which you shall put your hand, you and your houses, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed you. 8. You shall not do there the things that we do here this day, every man that which seemeth right to himself. 9. For hitherto you are not come to the rest and possession which the Lord your God will give you. 10. You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear, 11. In the place which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be therein: thither you shall bring all the things that I command you, holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands, and all that is the choice in the gifts which you shall vow to the Lord. 12. There you shall feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and your maidservants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities; for he hath no other part and possession among you. 13. Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see, 14. But in that which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, thou shalt offer sacrifices, and shalt do all that I command thee. 15. But if thou wilt eat, and it please thee, kill, and eat flesh, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee in thy cities; whether it be unclean, that is to say, blemished and feeble; or clean, that is to say, whole and without blemish, which may be offered, as the roe and the hart, thou shalt eat it, 16. Only that thou eat not the blood, but pour it out upon the earth as water. 17. Thou mayest not eat in thy towns the tithe of thy corn, and of thy wine, and of thy oil, the firstlings of thy herds and of thy cattle, and all that thou hast vowed, and wilt offer of thy own accord, and the firstfruits of thy hands; 18. But before the Lord thy God thou shalt eat them in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant and maidservant, and the Levite that abideth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord thy God in all the works of thy hands. 19. Take heed thou forsake not the Levite at any time while thou livest on the land. 20. When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat flesh which thy soul desireth: 21. And the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name may be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of thy herds and flocks which thou shalt have, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in thy towns as it pleaseth thee. 22. Even as the roe and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: and the clean and unclean shall eat of them alike. 23. This only beware of, that thou eat not the blood; for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh, 24. But thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water, 25. That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt have done what pleaseth in the sight of the Lord. 26. But what thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord, thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose; 27. And thou shalt offer thy oblations, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of the victims thou shalt pour out on the altar: but the flesh thou thyself shalt eat. 28. Observe and hear all things which I command thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God. 29. When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, to which thou shalt go in to possess them, and thou shalt possess them, and shalt dwell in their land: 30. Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship. 31. Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, they have done to their gods, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire. 32. What I command thee, that only do thou to the Lord: neither add anything, nor diminish.
2. THE NATIONS WHICH (that is, whose land and wealth) YOU SHALL POSSESS. UNDER EVERY SHADY TREE.—For the Gentiles consecrated trees to the gods, especially to Diana, who they thought delighted in groves. Hence in the histories of the Martyrs we often read that they were led to some tree to adore the gods there; and not rarely trees were uprooted at the prayers of the Martyrs, with the Romans and Hebrews “their,” not “of them,” as the Plantin editions read; as if to say: So destroy the idols, and their temples, altars and groves, that not even the memory of the idols may be left in them, nay that their names may be wholly abolished, and buried in eternal oblivion.
4. YOU SHALL NOT DO SO TO THE LORD YOUR GOD,—as if to say: Not anywhere in mountains, hills, groves, as the idolaters do, but in one place only, which the Lord shall choose, shall you sacrifice. Where note: God for this first chose the place Silo; for there the tabernacle and altar were placed, Josue xviii, 8, and it abode there during the whole time of the Judges, until Heli, as is plain from Judges last chapter, verse 9 [xxi, 19]. Thence God willed it to be transferred to Nobe, 1 Kings xxi, 1; thence to Gabaon; thence at length Solomon transferred it to Jerusalem, to the temple built by him, 2 Paralipomenon
5. TO PUT HIS NAME THERE,—that the memory of his name may be specially in that place, and he be worshipped there, and himself dwell there, as in his own temple (1).
6. THE FIRSTFRUITS OF YOUR HANDS,—the firstfruits of the crops, which you have reaped with your hands and labour.
VOWS,—offerings from a vow.
7. YOU SHALL EAT IN THE SIGHT OF YOUR GOD,—of the peace-offerings, or of the offerings of which it was lawful for laymen to eat. For laymen could not eat of sin-offerings, votive offerings and holocausts, as is plain
IN THE SIGHT OF GOD,—that is, in the court, before the tabernacle, which is the seat and house of God.
IN ALL THINGS TO WHICH YOU SHALL PUT YOUR HAND (which, namely, you have procured for yourselves by your labour, in these) YOU SHALL REJOICE,—feasting on them before the Lord.
Note: God willed the Jews to celebrate their feasts and victims with joy, that they might return to them the more willingly and often, and that he might stir them, and Christians still more, to spiritual joy, by which God wills to be worshipped, that so in gladness, as in a perennial feast, we may keep festival with him, which we shall consummate in heaven. So David, Psalm lxxvi, 4: “My soul refused to be comforted: I remembered God, and was delighted.” And Psalm lxxxiii, 3: “My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.” And St. Paul, 1 Thessalonians [v, 16]: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.” Again, Psalm lxvii, 4: “And let the just feast, and rejoice before God, and be delighted with gladness.” Rejoice, not in the world, but in the Lord. “That is the true and only joy, which is not conceived from the creature, but from the Creator, and which, when thou hast possessed it, no man shall take from thee; compared with which every pleasantness from any other source is sadness, every sweetness is pain, every sweet thing bitter, every comely thing foul, and finally whatever else can delight, troublesome,” says St. Bernard, epistle 114. So Esther the queen, chap. 14, verse 16: “Thou knowest (O Lord) that I abominate the sign of my pride and glory, which is upon my head; and never did thy handmaid rejoice (O pure heart!) since I was brought hither until this present day, but in thee, O Lord God.”
This joy enlarges the heart and spirit, quickens soul and body, and obtains all from God. “Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart,” Psalm xxxvi, 4. “A joyful mind maketh age flourishing: a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones,” Proverbs xvii, 22. Again it overcomes all hard things: The Apostles “went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.” And Paul: “Gladly will I glory in my infirmities.” And James: “My brethren, count it all joy when you shall fall into divers temptations.”
A means to this joy is supplied by Ecclesiastes iii, 12: “I have known,” he says, “that there was no better thing than to rejoice, and to do well in this life.” Wouldst thou always be glad, do well: a good conscience always rejoices. “The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give joy and gladness, and length of days,” Ecclesiasticus i, 11. Who would not rejoice always in tribulations, thinking of that of St. Paul? “That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us an eternal weight of glory.”
8. EVERY MAN THAT WHICH SEEMETH RIGHT TO HIMSELF.—For the Hebrews did not keep these ceremonial precepts in the desert, as I also said above.
WITHOUT ANY FEAR,—as if to say: Dwell securely in the place where the tabernacle is, when three times a year all Israel, according to my command, shall flock to it, not fearing lest enemies invade your borders.
12. THE LEVITE THAT DWELLETH IN YOUR CITIES.—“Yours,” namely which thou, O Israel, hast given to the Levites: for in those 48 cities given to them by the people the Levites dwelt apart.
15. BUT IF THOU WILT EAT (namely flesh, outside the tabernacle, in thy city), EAT ACCORDING TO THE BLESSING OF THE LORD THY GOD,—that is, eat of those things which he hath given thee kindly and liberally
WHETHER IT BE UNCLEAN, THAT IS TO SAY, BLEMISHED.—“Blemished,” that is, maimed (for it is opposed to whole), namely if it be blind, lame, mutilated: for these are the blemishes of victims, as is plain from Leviticus xxii, 22.
AS THE ROE AND THE HART THOU SHALT EAT.—The word “as” is to be referred not to the preceding “offered” but to the following “thou shalt eat”; for the sense is: Thou shalt eat what can be immolated to the Lord, namely sheep and oxen, even if they be blemished and may not be immolated, as thou eatest the roe and the hart, which in like manner may not be immolated: it is plain from the Hebrew.
is in all thy goods and faculties (2).
20 and 21. WHEN, etc., THOU WILT EAT FLESH, etc., AND THE PLACE WHICH THE LORD THY GOD SHALL CHOOSE, THAT HIS NAME MAY BE THERE, BE FAR OFF, THOU SHALT KILL
Note: God commanded in Leviticus, last verse of chapter xvii [3–6], that all the blood of animals slain be poured out and offered to him; but the fat of those animals which could be immolated, as sheep, ox and goat, even if not actually immolated but only slain for eating, he commanded to be burnt and offered, Leviticus vii, 25, namely if the animal were slain at Jerusalem or not far from the temple. Hence here, not indeed by express law, yet tacitly he intimates that it is fitting that those who dwell not far from the temple, when they wish to slay such an animal, namely an immolable one, for food, slay it at the door of the tabernacle or temple, both that the blood may be poured before God and the fat burned to God, which being done they could eat the rest of the flesh. For although “the place which the Lord chose” may be understood of Jerusalem, or the city in which the tabernacle or temple was, yet more properly is understood the temple or tabernacle itself, because it is added, “that his name may be there”: for this properly befits the temple, as I said at verses 5 and 14. Again, although the Jerusalemites by strict right could absolutely slay sheep and ox at home, provided they poured out the blood to God and sent the fat to the temple to be burnt to God: yet it was more becoming and worthy of God that they be slain beside the temple, that so they might as it were be considered to be slain and offered to God by their firstfruits and noblest parts, namely by the blood poured out to God before the tabernacle, and by the fat burned to God with the other victims on the altar of holocausts: hence it consequently seems that these animals were mostly slain by the priests, of whom therefore there was a great crowd, to whom for honorarium some part of the animal slain was given.
But because it would have been too troublesome for those who dwelt in other cities, especially far from the temple, to bring each of their oxen and sheep to be slain to Jerusalem, to the temple, and thence lead them home when slain, hence God here dispenses with them, and permits that they slay them at home, provided there they pour out the blood to the Lord, and out of honour to the Lord abstain from eating the fat; so Abulensis, Oleaster and others.
Learn here, Christian, how thou oughtest to offer thy feasts and all thy food to God, and to bless God both before and after meat.
Lyranus, however, thinks that this law speaks only of the firstlings of sheep and oxen, which were to be offered and immolated to God in the tabernacle or temple: but if they were far from it, the owners could sell them or eat them, provided they brought their price to the temple, as is said in chapter xiv, verse 24. But here no mention is made of firstlings, but only of flesh. Again, those firstlings in chapter xiv are commanded to be sold, and the price brought to the temple, that there with it another animal may be bought, to be immolated to God, so that afterwards they may feast on it before the Lord: all which is plainly different from this case. Finally, of the firstlings, as immolated to God, the unclean could not eat, who yet could eat of this flesh, as is plain from the next verse.
22. THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN SHALL EAT OF THEM ALIKE.—In Hebrew, together, or equally, that is, they shall eat without distinction: because, namely, this flesh is not offered to God.
23. FOR THE BLOOD IS FOR THE SOUL.—The Hebrew, Chaldee and Septuagint: for the blood of them is the soul, that is, the blood of them is the vehicle of the soul, that is, of life: because by blood life is nourished and preserved, therefore for the animal, and the life of the animal, I will have the blood given and poured out to me: do not therefore eat its life, by eating the blood; for life is due to me. See what was said on Leviticus chapter v [xvii], verse
27. UPON THE ALTAR,—beside the altar, at the base of the altar.
THOU THYSELF SHALT EAT THE FLESH,—namely if thou have offered it as a peace-offering.
32. WHAT I COMMAND THEE, THAT ONLY DO—as if to say: Make not, nor feign to thyself in thy brain, an idol, as went before; but in things and ceremonies do only that which God has commanded, either himself or through his vicars, namely the priests. See what was said on chapter iv, verse 2.