Text: Deuteronomy 12:2
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 20:24
Subject: seek the place Yahweh will choose
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Exodus 20:24 allows altar construction wherever God causes His name to be remembered, while Deuteronomy 12:2 commands Israel to destroy all Canaanite worship sites and seek "the place the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name" (לָשׂוּם אֶת שְׁמוֹ שָׁם, lasum et shemo sham). Both texts are concerned with the connection between God's name and worship location, but Deuteronomy restricts what Exodus left open. The phrase "the place" (הַמָּקוֹם, hamaqom) becomes a technical term in Deuteronomy for the centralized sanctuary, replacing the multiple "places" (plural) permitted in the altar law with a single divinely chosen site that would eventually be identified as Jerusalem.