Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
Deuteronomy 16:21 belongs to Deuteronomy 14 to 17, within the second division of Deuteronomy in chapters 5 to 26. There Moses reviews the law for the new generation just before his death, the duplicate of the law that gives Deuteronomy its name meaning second law. The grove forbidden beside the altar means Asherah pillars, symbols of Ashratu or Ashrat, the feminine counterpart of Baal. The prohibition warns against the licentious worship associated with this deity.
The verse is part of the church laws regulating Israel's assembling and worship, which grew out of the ten-commandment moral law. Like Israel's civil, sanitary, social, building, agricultural, garment, beard-trimming, special Sabbath, and financial laws, it was written by Moses in a book as a law limited to Israel as a nation and as a church. That Mosaic book law stands distinct from the eternal moral law written by God on stone. As law it expired with the rejection of the Jewish nation and is not legally binding today, while its great underlying principle remains binding.
Deuteronomy 16:21 belongs to Deuteronomy 14 to 17, within the second division of Deuteronomy in chapters 5 to 26. There Moses reviews the law for the new generation just before his death, the duplicate of the law that gives Deuteronomy its name meaning second law. The grove forbidden beside the altar means Asherah pillars, symbols of Ashratu or Ashrat, the feminine counterpart of Baal. The prohibition warns against the licentious worship associated with this deity.
The verse is part of the church laws regulating Israel's assembling and worship, which grew out of the ten-commandment moral law. Like Israel's civil, sanitary, social, building, agricultural, garment, beard-trimming, special Sabbath, and financial laws, it was written by Moses in a book as a law limited to Israel as a nation and as a church. That Mosaic book law stands distinct from the eternal moral law written by God on stone. As law it expired with the rejection of the Jewish nation and is not legally binding today, while its great underlying principle remains binding.