Deuteronomium 12:5

5 Maar naar de plaats, die de HEERE, uw God, uit al uw stammen verkiezen zal, om Zijn Naam aldaar te zetten, naar Zijn woning zult gijlieden vragen, en daarheen zult gij komen;

Deuteronomium 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Deuteronomium 12:5 In-Context

3 En gij zult hun altaren afwerpen, en hun opgerichte beelden verbreken, en hun bossen met vuur verbranden, en de gesneden beelden hunner goden nederhouwen; en gij zult hun naam te niet doen uit diezelve plaats.

4 Gij zult den HEERE, uw God, alzo niet doen!

5 Maar naar de plaats, die de HEERE, uw God, uit al uw stammen verkiezen zal, om Zijn Naam aldaar te zetten, naar Zijn woning zult gijlieden vragen, en daarheen zult gij komen;

6 En daarheen zult gijlieden brengen uw brandofferen, en uw slachtofferen, en uw tienden, en het hefoffer uwer hand, en uw geloften, en uw vrijwillige offeren, en de eerstgeboorten uwer runderen en uwer schapen.

7 En aldaar zult gijlieden voor het aangezicht des HEEREN, uws Gods, eten en vrolijk zijn, gijlieden en uw huizen, over alles, waaraan gij uw hand geslagen hebt, waarin u de HEERE, uw God, gezegend heeft.