Deuteronomy 12:1

Laws of the Sanctuary

1 "These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess 1as long * as you live on the earth.

Deuteronomy 12:1 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:1

These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to
do
Which are recorded in this and the following chapters; here a new discourse begins, and which perhaps was delivered at another time, and respects things that were to be observed:

in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess
it;
the land of Canaan, often described by this circumlocution, to put them in mind that it was promised to their fathers by their covenant God, was his gift to them, and which they would quickly be in the possession of; and therefore when in it should be careful to observe the statutes and judgments of God constantly:

[even] all the days that ye live upon the earth;
or land, the land of Canaan; for though there were some laws binding upon them, live where they would, there were others peculiar to the land of Canaan, which they were to observe as long as they and their posterity lived there; see ( 1 Kings 8:40 ) .

Deuteronomy 12:1 In-Context

1 "These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the LORD , the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.
2 "You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
3 "You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.
4 "You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God.
5 "But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Deuteronomy 4:9, 10; 1 Kings 8:40

Footnotes 2

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