Deuteronomy 12:14

But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

Moses rehearsed this law to Israel before they crossed the Jordan into the promised land. Deuteronomy as a whole develops the law together with God's gracious promises, calling Israel to serve the Lord and to turn from sin. Within that setting the command directs Israel to offer burnt offerings at the place the Lord would choose within one of their tribes and to carry out there all that He commanded.

The requirement is for a single place chosen by the Lord from among the tribes, where the people must bring their burnt offerings and do all that He commands. That worship was to be offered there rather than at any place of their own choosing. The whole chapter concerning offerings and worship points to this central place, with burnt offerings directed to the divinely chosen place and obedience required there. The place itself was divinely selected, not chosen merely for political or military advantage.

That central place was where the Lord would meet His people. By gathering all commanded worship there, it taught Israel to recognize God's personal presence in the sanctuary. Jerusalem became that chosen place, where the sanctuary stood and the priests ministered. Its suitability as the capital was considered under this divine direction, yet its status rested on God's choice.

While that system continued, the law therefore approved no other altar in Jerusalem or anywhere else. It required burnt offerings and other commanded worship to take place only where the Lord chose, rather than at unauthorized local high places. This forbade the hilltop altars used in heathen worship and later adopted by backsliding Israelites. The rule confined Israel's offerings and worship to the sanctuary chosen by the Lord, not to any location the worshipers might select.

The proposal of the Elephantine Jews to offer burnt offerings at their local temple illustrates that this central-sanctuary rule was not regarded as binding outside Palestine. The altar system itself was never designed to be perpetual. Therefore the required sacrifices could not continue after Jerusalem and the sanctuary were lost, and their cessation was a necessity rather than a voluntary change.

For the same reason, many altars smoking with incense together under one roof cannot be derived from the altar of incense in Jerusalem, but come from paganism. Many altars under the same roof indicate many objects of worship and polytheism.

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