Deuteronomy 12:15-19: a reflection

15Yet you may kill and eat meat within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the LORD your God’s blessing which he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and the deer. 16Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water. 17You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your free will offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand; 18but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God shall choose: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. You shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you put your hand to. 19Be careful that you don’t forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

As Israel prepares for life in the land, God gives instructions about eating and worship, and a striking note runs through them: rejoice. When you bring your offerings to the place God chooses, you are to eat before the Lord and rejoice in all that you put your hand to, together with your household and your servants. Worship here is not grim. It includes feasting, gladness, and shared joy in God's presence.

One command stands out against the backdrop of celebration: do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land. The Levites had no inheritance of their own; they depended on the generosity of others. So even in the midst of Israel's rejoicing, God builds in a concern for those who have no portion. True joy before God is not meant to be self-enclosed. It makes room at the table for those who would otherwise be left out.

There is a pattern here for your own celebrations. When God gives you cause for gladness, receive it fully; he means for his people to rejoice. But let your joy have a wide circle. Remember the person with no place at the feast, the one without an inheritance of their own, and draw them in. Joy that shares itself, that does not forget the Levite, is the kind of gladness God delights to see.

Lord, you call your people to rejoice before you, to eat and be glad in all that our hands find to do. Teach me to receive your gifts with real joy. And keep my gladness from turning inward; remind me of those with no place at the table, and help me to draw them in. Let my celebrations always make room for the ones others forget. Amen.