«　WEEK 6　DAY 4　»

　　Deut. 12:5 But to the place which Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name, to His habitation, shall you seek, and there shall you go.

　　8 You shall not do according to all that we do here today, each man doing all that is right in his own eyes.

　　In Deuteronomy 33:22 Dan is likened to a young lion…. As a young lion, Dan fought in order to gain more land (Josh. 19:47; Judg. 18:27-29), the land signifying Christ (see footnote 1 on Deut. 8:7). After his success in his victory Dan became a serpent, a viper, acting individualistically and independently in his pride to set up an idol and a divisive center of worship and to ordain a hired priest in the city of Dan during the time that the house of God was in Shiloh (Judg. 18:30-31; cf. Deut. 12:5 and footnote). As a serpent Dan bit the horse’s heels so that its rider fell backward, signifying that the apostasy brought in by Dan became a great stumbling block to the nation of Israel. Throughout the history of the church many spiritual people have followed Dan’s example, thereby frustrating God’s people from going on in His ordained way. (Gen. 49:17, footnote 1)

　　Many use the matter of the worship of God as a cloak for setting up a divisive center. Some would say, “What could be wrong with doing such a thing for the worship of God? Isn’t it better to set up a center of worship than to go to a movie theater?” According to the history in the Old Testament, nothing throughout the generations was more sinful or more damaging to God’s people than Dan’s act of setting up a divisive center of worship. In Deuteronomy 12, 14, 15, and 16 the Lord through Moses charged the children of Israel at least fifteen times not to offer their burnt offerings in the place of their choice. They were commanded to go to the unique place the Lord had chosen for His name and for His habitation. Deuteronomy 12:13 and 14 say, “Be careful that you do not offer up your burnt offerings in every place that you see; but in the place which Jehovah will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer up your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.”…Again and again Moses, the elderly, loving lawgiver, charged the children of Israel concerning this matter. If you read these chapters, you will see that Moses charged the people concerning the unique place, the place the Lord had chosen for His name and for His habitation. The reason the Lord commanded Moses to issue this charge repeatedly was that He was concerned about maintaining the unity of His people.

　　After the children of Israel entered the good land, the tabernacle, the house of God, was in Shiloh (Judg. 18:31)…. [Hence,] Shiloh was the unique center for the worship of God. As the unique center, it should have maintained the unity of God’s people. However, Dan set up another center in the north, which caused the first division among the children of Israel…. [Although God] is omnipresent…[He] enjoys being limited for the purpose of keeping the unity of His people. Most Christians today,…like the Danites,…feel free to set up another center of worship.

　　Judges 18:30 says, “The children of Dan erected for themselves the sculptured idol.” Here we see that the Danites did something for themselves. They did not care for the other tribes. Thus, the source of their apostasy was not caring for their brothers. Not caring for the other parts of the Body is the source of apostasy. This apostasy crept in under the guise of the worship of God. The principle is the same today. Many Christians set up other centers, not for gambling or dancing, but for worshipping God. Although this seems so positive, it is actually done by the self and for the self. Every divisive center is established for someone’s self-interest. Such a practice causes not only division but also competition. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1317-1319)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 102-103; CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 3, “Young People’s Training,” ch. 12; Life-study of Matthew, msg. 47