Principle
Under the Law of Moses, Israel was to seek the place where God chose to put His name and be called upon.
Explanation
Before crossing the Jordan into Canaan, Moses instructed the Israelites that there would be one place in the land where they should go to seek GOD and sacrifice:
1 “These are the ordinances and judgments you shall be careful to observe in the land the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to inherit, all the days you live on the earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places the nations you will inherit served their gods: on the high mountains, on the hills, and under the tree of the grove. 3 So you shall destroy their altars, break their pillars, cut down their groves, burn the carved images of their gods with fire, and destroy their name from that place. 4 You shall not do thus with the Lord your God. 5 But you shall seek the place the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name and to be called on there; and you shall go and seek Him there. 6 There you shall bring your whole burnt offerings, sacrifices, firstfruits, prayers, voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your oxen and sheep. 7 There you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you put your hand, you and your households, as the Lord your God blessed you.
8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— 9 for as yet, you have not come to the rest and the inheritance the Lord your God gives you. 10 But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, and you dwell in safety, 11 then there will be the place the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all I command you today: your whole burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the first fruits of your hands, and all your gifts and all your choice gifts you vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13 Take heed to yourself, do not offer your whole burnt offerings in every place you see; 14 but in the place the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes; there you shall offer your whole burnt offerings, and there you shall do all I command you today.
15 “However, according to your every desire, you may slaughter and eat meat, according to the blessing the Lord your God gave you in each city; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat the tithe in your cities: of your grain, wine, or olive oil, of the firstborn of your oxen or sheep, of any of your offerings you vow, of your agreements, or of the firstfruits of your hands. 18 But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and daughter, your male and female servant, and the resident alien in your cities; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all to which you put your hand. 19 Take heed to yourself, do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20 “Now if the Lord your God enlarges your borders, as He told you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you desire to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your soul desires. 21 But if the place the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your oxen and sheep the Lord gave you in the manner I commanded you, and may eat in your cities according to your soul’s desire. 22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life; the life will not be eaten with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your sons after you, if you do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God. 26 Only the holy things you have and your vowed offerings you shall take and go to the place the Lord your God chooses for His name to be called upon there. 27 You shall offer your whole burnt offerings; you shall offer the meat upon the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God; and you shall eat the meat. 28 Keep, obey, and do all these words I command you, that it may go well with you and your sons forever, if you do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 12:1-28 OSB
Eventually, Jerusalem was identified as the place where GOD placed His name. This happened during the reign of David:
21:18 Therefore, the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. … 21:24 Then King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy [the land] for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer whole burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.” 25 So David gave six hundred shekels of gold by weight for his place. 26 And there David built an altar to the Lord, and offered whole burnt offerings and peace offerings, and cried out to the Lord; and He answered him by fire from heaven upon the altar of whole burnt offering and consumed the whole burnt offering.
27 So the Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him, he sacrificed there on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 29 For the tabernacle of the Lord that Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the whole burnt offering, were in the high place at Gibeon at the appointed time. 30 But David was unable to go before it to seek God, for the sword of the angel of the Lord prevented him.
22:1 Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of whole burnt offering for Israel.” 2 So David gave orders to gather all converts to Judaism, those in the land of Israel; and he appointed masons to cut hewn stones to build the house of God.
1 Chronicles 21:18, 24-22:2 OSB
David’s statement in 1 Chronicles 22:1 was an allusion back to the Law’s command for burnt offerings and its prophecy that GOD would eventually select a place for His name.
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