12:3
Some specific elements of idol worship are mentioned: altars, sacred stones and Asherah poles. These were to be broken down and all remnants of the names of idols obliterated. Moses had shown them how to go about this when he dealt with the golden calf.
12:4-6
“You must not worship the Lord your God in their way”. There is a temptation to try and worship God in the way that we used to follow, or on encountering something different to want to “try out” this new way. God decides how He is to be worshipped. The Lord would show them where they were to worship Him, and that was where He was to be worshipped.
12:7
We can read this verse as a command, which in one sense it is, but we tend to think of “commands” as something we have to do even though we don’t really want to. This was meant to be a joyous time. The family was celebrating the goodness of the Lord, goodness which they had experienced. Perhaps it is a bit like the Sabbath. The Pharisees had turned it into something of an ordeal, whereas Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was meant to be a blessing.
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