Text: Deuteronomy 12:2
OT Text Referred to: Leviticus 17:1
Subject: centralized worship
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Leviticus 17:1-9 requires all sacrificial slaughter to occur at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, prohibiting sacrifice "in the open field" to prevent worship of goat demons. Deuteronomy 12:2 applies this same centralization principle to the promised land: "You must destroy all the places where the nations you are driving out worship their gods — on the high mountains, the hills, and under every green tree." Both texts mandate centralized worship at the place God chooses, though Leviticus frames it around the tabernacle while Deuteronomy anticipates the future temple site. The shared concern is eliminating illicit sacrificial sites where idolatrous syncretism could flourish.