Deuteronomy 12:5

5 but ye shall come to the (one) place which your Lord God (shall) choose (out) of all your lineages, that he put his name there, and dwell therein;

Deuteronomy 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.

Deuteronomy 12:5 In-Context

3 Destroy ye their altars, and break their images; and burn ye the (sacred) woods with fire, and all-break ye the idols; destroy ye their names from (all) the places.
4 Ye shall not do so to your Lord God; (Ye shall not worship the Lord your God in those ways;)
5 but ye shall come to the (one) place which your Lord God (shall) choose (out) of all your lineages, that he put his name there, and dwell therein;
6 and ye shall come thither, and offer in that place your burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, the tithes, and first fruits of your hands, and avows, and gifts, and the first engendered things of your oxen, and of (your) sheep. (and ye shall come there, and offer in that place your burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, your tithes, and the first fruits of your hands, and your vows, and gifts, and the first-born males of your oxen, and of your sheep.)
7 And ye and your houses shall eat there in the sight of your Lord God; and ye shall be glad in all things to which ye put the hand, in which your Lord God hath blessed you. (And ye and your households, or your families, shall eat there before the Lord your God; and ye shall be glad in all the things to which ye put your hands, because the Lord your God hath blessed you.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.