CHAPTER 12 Apr. 26 
God’s Choice of a Place to Worship
These are the statutes and ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days that you live on the earth. 2You must surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree, 3and you must break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You must cut down the engraved images of their gods and destroy their names out of that place. 4You shall not do so to Yahweh your God. 5But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, to His dwelling place you shall seek, and there you shall come 6and bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, your vows, your freewill offerings and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7There you shall eat before Yahweh your God and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you. 8You shall not do all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes, 9for you haven’t yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which Yahweh your God gives you. 10But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety, 11then to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause His name to dwell there, you must bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the wave offering of your hand and all your chosen vows which you vow to Yahweh. 12Rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see, 14but in the place which Yahweh shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. 15Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and the hart. 16Only you must not eat the blood. Pour it out on the earth as water. 17You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand; 18but you must eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, you and your son, your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you put your hand on. 19Take heed to yourself that you don’t forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.
Blood not to be Eaten
20When Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as He has promised you, and you say I want to eat meat, because your soul desires to eat meat, you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul. 21If the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to put His name there is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul. 22As the gazelle and the hart is eaten, so you shall eat of it; the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. 23Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you shall not eat the life with the flesh. 24You must not eat it; pour it out on the earth as water. 25You must not eat it, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh. 26Only your holy things which you have and your vows, you shall take and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose, 27and you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God, and you shall eat the flesh. 28Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God. 29When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods saying, How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise. 31You must not do so to Yahweh your God, for every abomination to Yahweh, which He hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they burn in the fire to their gods. 32Whatever I command you, you must observe to do. You must not add to it, nor take away from it.

Commentary

12:3 Burn with fire... cut down- The Lord's description of the rejected being cut down and thrown into the fire (Mt. 7:19) is surely referring to these words (cp. 7:5), where the idols of the world were to be hewn down and thrown into the fire. The Lord understood that those who worship idols are like unto them (Ps. 115:8; 135:18). Because all idols [of whatever kind] will be destroyed in the last day, all who worship them will have to share their destruction. And yet we can be hewn down by God's word now (Hos. 6:5) rather than wait for God to do it to us by the condemnation process. We must cut off (s.w. hew down) our flesh now (Mt. 5:30; 18:8 cp. 7:19).
12:5 Worldly religion is made as convenient as possible for the worshipper to come and participate in; the shrines of the Canaanite gods were everywhere in the land, whereas Yahweh insisted that there was one specific place to where His people should come to worship Him. This was perhaps partly to inspire national unity within the family of God. The pagan shrines were each different; they had no uniformity between them, as archaeologists have demonstrated. But the one true God has principles of worship and service which don’t vary geographically and are consistently the same because truth is truth and in that sense doesn’t vary from place to place nor context to context. 
12:10 He gives you rest- Several times Moses describes Israel’s inheritance of the land as entering “rest”, mindful of how God had sworn that they would not enter into that rest, and yet he had pleaded with God to change His mind about that (Ps. 95:11; Heb. 3:11), even though Israel at the time didn’t realize the intensity of pleading and self-sacrifice for them which was going on up in the mountain. Just as we don’t appreciate the extent of the Lord’s mediation for us, that we might enter the final “rest” (Heb. 4:9).
12:13 We can’t worship God any way we like, thinking that the fact we accept His existence and even worship Him means that we are somehow free to do it as we think. 
12:16 The blood was understood as representing life (:23; Lev. 17:11). We are not to take life to ourselves; not merely in that we aren’t to murder, but we also aren’t to assume that our lives, or any life, is in fact ours to use or dominate for ourselves. Our lives and those of others are God’s, and we cannot take any life to ourselves.
12:18 In all that you put your hand on- Whatever they put their hand on to give to God they were to give with joy; for God loves cheerful giving, and hates reluctant or manipulated ‘giving’ (2 Cor. 9:7).
12:20 Vegetarianism is a matter of personal choice, but it certainly isn’t commanded by God- indeed, quite the opposite (1 Tim. 4:3).