|
About Jesus Steve
Sweetman
Home Page
Previous Section - Chapter
11
Next Section - Chapter
13
chapter 12
The
One Place
Of Worship (ch. 12:1 - 32
As we have seen many
times before in Deuteronomy and elsewhere in the Torah, God wanted all
pagan civilizations in
Canaan
destroyed, including their places of worship.
Note the term "Asherah poles' in verse 3. This was a pole,
or a tree where the mother goddess, or fertility goddess would be
worshiped.
God tells
Israel
in verse 4 not to worship in the ways that the pagans worship.
In today's Christian world, the post-modern, so-called
"Emergent church" disobeys this command.
For the sake of unity those who adhere to the thinking of
post-modern Christianity, which I would not call Christianity, has no
problem worshipping along any religious or pagan group.
Incorporating pagan worship with the worship of Yahweh or Jesus
is just wrong, and this verse clearly states that.
In verses 4 to 7 God
commands
Israel
to worship in the place where He will put His name.
The text does not say where that place is.
That comes later. The
point that is made here is simple. Don't
worship like, or where, the pagans worship, and, God will show you
exactly where you should worship.
Verses 8 to 14 is
basically a repeat of what has just been said.
Notice in verse 11 God speaks again that there will be a specific
"dwelling place for His Name".
The name of the Lord God that
Israel
understood from God was "Yahweh".
There would be one main place where God would set aside just for
Him. Of course, in New
Testament times that has changed. The
place where God once placed His Name, first the tabernacle, then the
Temple
in Jerusalem, then Jesus Himself, is now in the church, the people who belong to
Jesus.
I will not comment on the
rest of this chapter since I have not been commenting on specifics of
the Law of Moses throughout my commentary.
Next Section -
Chapter 13
Previous Section - Chapter
11
Home Page
|