12:1 These [are] the statutes and judgments, which ye shall
observe to do in the land, which the LORD God a of thy
fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye
live upon the earth.
(a) By which they are admonished to seek no other God.
12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their
pillars, and burn their b groves with fire; and ye shall
hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the
names of them out of that place.
(b) In which they sacrificed to their idols.
12:4 Ye shall c not do so unto the LORD your God.
(c) You shall not serve the Lord with superstitions.
12:6 And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your
sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave d offerings of
your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and
the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
(d) Meaning, the first fruits.
12:7 And there ye shall eat e before the LORD your God, and ye
shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and
your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed
thee.
(e) Where his Ark shall be.
12:8 Ye shall not do after all [the things] that we do f here
this day, every man whatsoever [is] right in his own eyes.
(f) Not that they sacrificed after their fantasies, but
that God would be served more purely in the land of
Canaan.
12:10 But [when] ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which
the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and [when] he
giveth you g rest from all your enemies round about, so
that ye dwell in safety;
(g) It was not enough to conquer unless God maintained
them in rest under his protection.
12:14 But in the place which the LORD shall h choose in one of
thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings,
and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
(h) As was declared ever by the placing of the ark in
Shiloh 243 years, or as some write more that 300
years, and in other places till the temple was built.
12:15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy
gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the
i blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee:
the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, k as of the
roebuck, and as of the hart.
(i) As God has given you power and ability.
(k) Everyone may eat equally at home the beast appointed
for sacrifice and the other.
12:17 Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the l tithe of thy
corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of
thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou
vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of
thine hand:
(l) Meaning, whatever was offered to the Lord, may not be
eaten, except where he had appointed.
12:23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood
m [is] the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with
the flesh.
(m) Because the life of beasts is in their blood.
12:26 Only thy n holy things which thou hast, and thy vows,
thou shalt take, and go unto the place which the LORD
shall choose:
(n) That which you will offer in sacrifice.
12:28 Observe and hear all these words which I command thee,
that it may go o well with thee, and with thy children
after thee for ever, when thou doest [that which is] good
and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
(o) God by promise binds himself to do good to those who
obey his word.
12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not p snared by
following them, after that they be destroyed from before
thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying,
How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do
likewise.
(p) By following their superstitions and idolatries, and
thinking to serve me by it.
12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every
abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done
unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters
they have q burnt in the fire to their gods.
(q) They held nothing too dear to offer to their idols.
