Shēnméngjì 12:5

5 Dàn Yēhéhuá nǐmen de shén cóng nǐmen gè zhīpaì zhōng xuǎnzé héchu wéi lì tā míng de jū suǒ , nǐmen jiù dàng wàng nàli qù qiú wèn ,

Shēnméngjì 12:5 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:5

But unto the place which the Lord your God
The Targum of Jonathan is, that the Word of the Lord your God:

shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there;
to place his tabernacle, set up his worship, take up his residence, and cause the Shechinah, or his divine Majesty, to dwell there, as the next clause explains it; out of what tribe it should be chosen, and where it should be, is not said. Maimomides F2 gives three reasons for it; he says there are three great mysteries why the place is not clearly, but obscurely mentioned;

1) lest the Gentiles should seize upon it, and make war for the sake of it, supposing this place to be the end of the law; 2) lest they in whose hands the place then was should by all means waste and destroy it; 3) which is the chief, lest every tribe should desire to have it in its own lot and jurisdiction; and so strifes might arise among them on account of it, as happened to the priesthood:

[even] unto his habitation shall ye seek;
the temple at Jerusalem is meant, where the Lord took up his dwelling, and whither men were to come and seek unto him by prayer and supplication for whatsoever they needed, and to inquire of him in matters doubtful, and they wanted counsel in:

and thither thou shall come:
with sacrifices of every sort, where they were to be slain and offered to the Lord, and become acceptable to him, as is more largely declared in the following part of this chapter.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 45. p. 475.

Shēnméngjì 12:5 In-Context

3 Yĕ yào chāihuǐ tāmende jìtán , dá suì tāmende zhù xiàng , yòng huǒ fùnshāo tāmende mùǒu , kǎn xià tāmen diāokè de shénxiàng , bìng jiāng qí míng cóng nà dìfang chúmiĕ .
4 Nǐmen bùkĕ zhào tāmen nàyàng shìfèng Yēhéhuá nǐmen de shén .
5 Dàn Yēhéhuá nǐmen de shén cóng nǐmen gè zhīpaì zhōng xuǎnzé héchu wéi lì tā míng de jū suǒ , nǐmen jiù dàng wàng nàli qù qiú wèn ,
6 Jiāng nǐmen de Fánjì , píngān jì , shí fēn qǔ yī zhī wù , hé shǒu zhōng de jǔ jì , bìng hái yuàn jì , gānxīn jì , yǐjí niú qún yáng qún zhōng tóushēng de , dōu fèng dào nàli .
7 Zaì nàli , Yēhéhuá nǐmen shén de miànqián , nǐmen hé nǐmen de jiā shǔ dōu kĕyǐ chī , bìngqiĕ yīn nǐ shǒu suǒ bàn de yīqiè shì mĕng Yēhéhuá nǐde shén cì fú , jiù dōu huānlè .
Public Domain