YE SHALL NOT DO AFTER ALL THAT WE DO HERE THIS DAY, EVERY MAN WHATSOEVER IS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote by way of the plain meaning of Scripture, "they¹ have explained it [as follows]: Because they were journeying from stage to stage, [they brought no offerings from the time they left Mount Sinai until after the death of Aaron in the fortieth year after the exodus. Even after his death] a person could bring an offering at any stage as he wished; there were some who gave the firstling of their flock [to the priest] and others who did not give, since the commandment [to give the firstborn] is dependent on the Land.⁠² [Hence the verse before us says that after arriving in the Land we are no longer to do whatever is right in the eyes of each individual.] But this is not my own opinion [continues Ibn Ezra]. Rather, the meaning of the verse is that they were not all G-d-fearing [and they sacrificed to the host of heaven; hence Moses warned them against continuing to do so in the Land of Israel]. And the reason Moses used the word 'we' [Ye shall not do after all that 'we' do — implying that he, too, participated in such transgressions] is because many commandments relating to the offerings apply only within the Land"³ [and not in the wilderness; hence, Moses himself had never fulfilled those commandments. He, therefore, included himself among the people]. This is Ibn Ezra's language. But it is not correct, since it is out of context for the section to speak in terms of reproof [that they were sacrificing to the host of heaven] and to say to them now that they were not observing the commandments of G-d, every man doing what was right in his own eyes. [On the contrary, Verses 4-15 contain a positive discussion of the chosen place that awaited them in the Land of Israel.] And how could Moses our teacher say "We are committing sins!⁠" Forbid it! Instead he should have said "You shall not do after all that 'you' have done to this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.⁠" And what sense was there to include among the sins the commandments that depend on the Land?
Rather, the meaning of the verse is as follows: "When the Israelites were in the wilderness they were commanded to slaughter all their cattle and sheep as peace-offerings before the Tabernacle, but they would perform [the Service of the offerings] in whatever place the Tabernacle was [that is, wherever it halted rather than in a fixed location]. And if someone did not care to eat the meat of bullocks or sheep he was not at all obligated to bring an offering. He was also not obligated to bring firstlings, nor the tithe of cattle and the Second Tithe. Thus a person was not bound, ever to bring an offering to the Tabernacle as an obligation, and even on the festivals they were not obligated to come there.⁠⁴ So also in the wilderness, after the sprinkling of the blood and the burning of the sacrificial fat of the peace-offering [on the altar], the owner might eat it wherever he wished because Scripture did not stipulate a location for it, and therefore they could eat [the peace-offerings both] within the camp and without. Thus there was nothing obligatory upon them in the matter of the offerings; instead every man did that which was right in his own eyes.⁠⁵ Therefore he commanded here that after [they would come to] the rest and [to] the inheritance they should not do so. Instead, they are obliged to come to a certain specific place chosen by G-d and bring there the offerings, the tithes, and the firstlings, and eat them there within the precinct before the Eternal. What our Rabbis have said⁶ [based on the verse before us] concerning offerings that are not vowed or freely offered [for example, the obligatory Passover-offering], that they may not be offered on a bamah [a private altar set up by an individual, a practice that was permitted during certain periods prior to the erection of the Holy Temple],⁠⁷ is an interpretation based on the redundancy of the verse, as explained in the last chapter of Tractate Zebachim,⁠⁸ [but the plain meaning of the verse is as we have explained above].