Deuteronomy 12 - The Laws for Worship | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 12 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In Deuteronomy 12 we discuss Asherah Poles and the Place that God would choose, which was firstly Shiloh, and ultimately Jerusalem. Asherah poles were probably not actually poles, but idols. Some people think they are trees, but archaeology has discovered many idols of Asherah but nothing that is recognised as an Asherah Pole. This video explains what these are.

Today we are not tempted by Asherah, but the things that Asherah represents are still tempting, wealth, success, advancement, prosperity, and of course physical intimacy. Imagine a way of life where these things would guarantee you success. How hard would it be for people to resist that?

Then, we discuss the place, which of course was Jerusalem, where the temple would ultimately be built, in the midst of the tribal land of Benjamin. Prior to that the temple was at Shiloh, in the tribal hill country of Ephraim - see Judges 21:19.

Practically a form of worship which required you to go to a certain place is difficult to sustain, but in this case the Lord was building a type to teach the human race something. Its hard enough for us to get spiritual concepts as it is, even with a physical example to lean on.

We know now that we must go to Christ, and he is our temple and our sacrifice, but imagine trying to lean on these invisible things without the redemption history we have. The problem facing the ISraelites was the choice between easy worship of Asherah anywhere they wanted, or the difficulty of travel to worship God in one place, with his rules. In the NT, Jesus tells a parable of the easy road and the hard road. This is located in Matt 7:13-14. The Israelites chose the easy road.

The warning was in advance for them, as it also is for us.