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Moses' testament to the people about the destruction of traces and manifestations of idolatry in the land of promise. – Protection of the statute on sacrifices and the unity of the liturgical point. Deut.12:3. and destroy their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and break in pieces the images of their gods, and destroy their name from that place. “Pillar” (“mazzeva”) a wooden cylindrical statue in honor of Astarte, “grove a” (Russian) or “oak grove” (glorified), Heb. “asherah” – branchy trees (cf. Hos 4.13) with altars in honor of the same goddess. “Destroy their name from that place” in order to destroy the very memory of the idolatry that took place here. This is what the Reubenites did, for example, by changing the names of the cities of Nebo and Baal-meon (Num. 32.38). Deut.12:5. But to the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, that His name may dwell there, turn ye, and thither ye shall come, That is, where the tabernacle and subsequently the church will reside. Deut.12:6. and there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the offering of your hands, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, [and your peace offerings,] and the firstborn of your herds and your flocks; Deut.12:7. and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you and your families will rejoice in all that your hands have done, with which the Lord your God has blessed you. Deut.12:8. There you do not have to do everything, as we do here now, everyone, what seems right to him; Deut.12:9. For you have not yet entered into the place of rest and inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. Deut.12:10. But when you have crossed the Jordan and settled in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and when He has given you rest from all your enemies who are around you, and you live safely, Deut.12:11. Then, whatever place the Lord your God chooses for His name to dwell there, there you shall bring everything that I command you [today]: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering of your hands, and everything chosen according to your vows that you promised to the Lord [your God]; Deut.12:12. And rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is in the midst of your dwellings, for he has no part or inheritance with you. Deut.12:13. Beware of offering your burnt offerings in every place that you see; Deut.12:14. But in the place that the Lord [thy God] chooses in one of your tribes, thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and do all that I command thee [today]. Deut.12:17. You may not eat in your dwellings the tithes of your corn, and of your wine, and of your oil, and of the firstborn of your herds and of your flocks, and of all your vows which you have promised, and of your freewill offerings, and of the offerings of your hands; Deut.12:18. But you shall eat this [only] before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servant and the Levite [and the stranger] who is within your gates, and rejoice before the Lord your God in all that has been done with your hands. Deut.12:19. See that you do not leave the Levite all the days [that you live] in your land. Deut.12:26. Only your holy things, which you will have, and your vows, and come to the place that the Lord [your God] will choose, so that His name may be called there; Deut.12:27. and you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; But the blood of your other sacrifices shall be shed on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the flesh. Bringing their sacrifices in the indicated place, Jews must also eat tithes of fruits, firstborns of livestock, and votive and voluntary offerings, inviting Levites and strangers to the meal. According to the law, tithes went to the Levites (Lev.27.30–33; Num.18:20–32), the firstborn males belonged to God (Ex. 13.1–2, 11–16); and finally, vows, by their very nature, must belong to the Lord. Meanwhile, in the present case, it is said about tithes, and about firstborns, and about vows that they must be eaten by the offerer himself, with the participation of the Levites and the poor. It is obvious that in the present case we are not referring to the ordinary tithes, firstborns and vows. Commentators suggest that in addition to the above-mentioned tithe, which went to the Levites (Lev. 27.30–33), there was a so-called second tithe, which the Jews had to devote to charity. From Deut. 14:22–29 it is clear that this tithe could be brought to the tabernacle in kind or (in the case where the tabernacle was far away) in money, and the money could be used for charitable works. Two years later, on the third year, the second tithe could be eaten at home (and not at the tabernacle), inviting the Levites and the poor to the meal (Blessed Theodos. Interpretation on the book of Deut., centuries 10, 13). Deut.12:15. However, whenever your soul desires, you can slaughter and eat, with the blessing of the Lord your God, the meat that He has given you in all your dwellings: the unclean and the clean can eat this, like chamois and like deer; Deut.12:16. Just don’t eat the blood: pour it on the ground like water. Deut.12:20. When the Lord your God expands your borders, as He told you, and you say: “I will eat meat,” because your soul desires to eat meat, then, according to the desire of your soul, eat meat. Deut.12:21. If the place that the Lord your God chooses is far from you for His name to dwell there, then you shall slaughter some of your herds and flocks that the Lord [your God] has given you, as I commanded you, and eat in your gates according to the desire of your soul; Deut.12:22. but eat them as you eat chamois and deer; the unclean and the clean [you] can eat this; Deut.12:23. just be careful not to eat blood, because blood is the soul: do not eat the soul along with the meat; Deut.12:24. do not eat it: pour it on the ground like water; Deut.12:25. You shall not eat it, so that it may be good for you and your children after you [forever], if you do [good and] just in the sight of the Lord [your God]. In the desert it was forbidden to slaughter a clean animal except at the tabernacle, that is, as a sacrifice to the Lord (Lev.17); upon entering the land of promise, the Israelites received the right, “whenever their soul desires, to slaughter (wherever) and eat the meat” of clean animals, given to them “by the blessing of the Lord.” Such a meal did not have the character of a sacrifice: “unclean and clean” could eat it, as they eat chamois and deer (v. 15). “Just don’t eat blood,” notes the legislator, “pour it on the ground like water, because blood is the soul; Do not eat the soul along with the meat” (vv. 16, 23). In consideration of the need for enhanced nutrition of human nature weakened by sin, Jews receive confirmation of their right (Gen. 9.3) to eat meat, but at the same time they also receive the warning that was given by God when blessing meat food (Gen. 9.4–5). Blood, as a condition for the vitality of a bodily organism (in Lev. 17:14 we read “the soul of every body is its blood”) and together as a symbol of the principle of life in general, should be sacred in the eyes of a Jew. In the regulations regarding the Old Testament sacrifices of the blood of sacrificial animals, a cleansing meaning is adopted: “The life of the body is in the blood,” says the Lord, “and I have appointed it for you on the altar to cleanse your souls, for this blood cleanses the soul” (Lev.17.11). It cleanses, of course, not in itself, but due to the moral mood that the repentant sinner who made the sacrifice must have experienced and, especially, due to its representative attitude towards the atoning blood of the New Testament Lamb. According to Blessed Theodoret, the prohibition to eat the blood of clean animals “cures the murderous nature of the Israelis. In fact, if eating the blood of dumb animals meant “eating a soul,” then it is all the more criminal to separate a rational soul from the body” (Interpretation of the book Deuteronomy, issue 11). In the book. Life 9:5 following verse 5 is significant: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, his blood will be shed by the hand of man, for man was created in the image of God” (Gen. 9:6). You might be interested in: