Bible Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:13-16

The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:13-16

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

They were to beware of offering sacrifice in any place that might seem to them best; their offerings were to be presented only in that place which God should choose. But this did not imply that they were not to kill and eat in their own abodes whatever they desired for food, according to the blessing of Jehovah their God.

Only they were to abstain from eating of blood (cf. ; Le 7:26); that they were to pour on the earth as if it were water. Burnt offering; this is named instar omnium, as the principal offering.

Whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. To "lust," in old English, means simply to will, choose, desire; it is the same word as "list," or, as it is sometimes spelt, "lest," and does not, as now, imply anything evil.

As of the roebuck, and as of the hart; probably the gazelle and fallow deer. As these were animals that could not be offered in sacrifice, the distinction between clean and unclean, on the part of the eaters, did not come into consideration.

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