Centralized Worship

Exodus instructs each family in Egypt to slaughter a paschal lamb and eat it at home, while Deuteronomy commands a community ritual, to take place at the central worship location, i.e., the Jerusalem Temple. These two conceptions cross-pollinate, first in the Torah and then in its early reception: Jubilees requires everyone to eat in the Temple as their home; the Mishnah requires everyone to slaughter together in three cohorts; most surprisingly, R. Eliezer claims that, in theory, all of Israel can share one paschal animal.

Hezekiah’s centralizing worship in Jerusalem, one altar for one God, failed in part because it created a spiritual vacuum for the average Judahite villager living far from the capital. Less than a century later, Deuteronomy revives the law, adding new provisions—a stipend for unemployed Levites, permission to slaughter animals outside the sacred precinct, and a requirement to make pilgrimage to the holy site three times a year—to address the law’s challenges.

An enormous ancient altar from the early twelfth-century B.C.E., uncovered at the site of El-Burnat, sheds light on the biblical account of Joshua’s altar at Mt. Ebal as well as on the famous story of Jacob crossing his arms to bless Ephraim over Manasseh with the birthright.

In a contest with the prophets of Baal, Elijah rebuilds an altar to YHWH that was on Mount Carmel and makes an offering. Later, he bemoans the destruction of other YHWH altars (1 Kgs 18–19). But doesn’t the Book of Kings clearly state that only the altar in Jerusalem was legitimate once Solomon built the Temple?

The textual remnants of a Second Temple religious polemic between Judeans and Samaritans about where God’s chosen mountain lies.

Mount Gerizim appears in the Pentateuch as the mountain of blessing and plays a prominent role in Samaritan tradition, but the Jewish tradition sidelines this mountain and the Samaritans themselves in a polemic that began more than two and half thousand years ago.

Moses’ first set of laws in Deuteronomy (11:31–12:28) requires the Israelites to destroy Canaanite sites of worship and to centralize sacrifice for Yahweh at the site of His choosing. It also allows them to eat meat without sacrificing the animal, under particular conditions. A close look at the terms of Moses’ speech shows that the text has been supplemented no less than three times.

Unlike the Priestly writers for whom sacrifice and rituals are needed to maintain the divine presence in the Tabernacle, the Deuteronomists stress God’s transcendence and the obedience of the heart and soul.

Deuteronomy’s centralization of worship (in Jerusalem) is commonly seen as increasing the power of the cult. However, it is also part of Deuteronomy’s laicization program, which shrinks the power of priests and Levites, and extends covenantal holiness requirements to all Israel.