Where is the Place?

(ד) לֹֽא־תַעֲשׂ֣וּן כֵּ֔ן לַיהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ (ה) כִּ֠י אִֽם־אֶל־הַמָּק֞וֹם אֲשֶׁר־יִבְחַ֨ר יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֙ מִכָּל־שִׁבְטֵיכֶ֔ם לָשׂ֥וּם אֶת־שְׁמ֖וֹ שָׁ֑ם לְשִׁכְנ֥וֹ תִדְרְשׁ֖וּ וּבָ֥אתָ שָֽׁמָּה׃ (ו) וַהֲבֵאתֶ֣ם שָׁ֗מָּה עֹלֹֽתֵיכֶם֙ וְזִבְחֵיכֶ֔ם וְאֵת֙ מַעְשְׂרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם וְאֵ֖ת תְּרוּמַ֣ת יֶדְכֶ֑ם וְנִדְרֵיכֶם֙ וְנִדְבֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם וּבְכֹרֹ֥ת בְּקַרְכֶ֖ם וְצֹאנְכֶֽם׃ (ז) וַאֲכַלְתֶּם־שָׁ֗ם לִפְנֵי֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וּשְׂמַחְתֶּ֗ם בְּכֹל֙ מִשְׁלַ֣ח יֶדְכֶ֔ם אַתֶּ֖ם וּבָתֵּיכֶ֑ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר בֵּֽרַכְךָ֖ יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃

Deuteronomy 12:4-7

(4) Do not worship the LORD your God in like manner, (5) but look only to the site that the LORD your God will choose amidst all your tribes as His habitation, to establish His name there. There you are to go, (6) and there you are to bring your burnt offerings and other sacrifices, your tithes and contributions, your votive and freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks. (7) Together with your households, you shall feast there before the LORD your God, happy in all the undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

Place of Temple Chosen When the World was Created

יומא נ״ד ב:ב׳

ושתיה היתה נקראת תנא שממנה הושתת העולם תנן כמאן דאמר מציון נברא העולם דתניא רבי אליעזר אומר עולם מאמצעיתו נברא שנאמר (איוב לח, לח) בצקת עפר למוצק ורגבים ידובקו

Yoma 54b:2

§ The mishna taught that a stone sat in the Holy of Holies and it was called the foundation [shetiyya] rock. A Sage taught in the Tosefta: Why was it called shetiyya? It is because the world was created [hushtat] from it. The Gemara comments: We learned the mishna in accordance with the opinion of the one who said that the world was created from Zion. As it was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: The world was created from its center, as it is stated: “When the dust runs into a mass, and the clods cleave fast together” (Job 38:38). The world was created by adding matter to the center, like the formation of clumps of earth.

Location Known to Moses but not Specified to Keep it Secret

Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed, 3:45 (Trans. Pines)

Therefore Abraham our Father singled out Mount Moriah, because of its being the highest mountain there, proclaimed upon it the unity [of God], and determined and defined the direction toward which one would turn in prayer…In my opinion there is also no dout that the place singled out by Abraham in virtue of prophetic inspiration was known to Moses our Master and to many others….The fact that this place is not stated explicityly when mentioned in the Torah and not designated, but only hinted at by means of the words, Which the Lord shall choose, and so on, is due in my opinion to three wise considerations. The first is, lest nations should hold fast to the place and fight for it with great violence, knowing as they do that this place is the final purpose of the Law on earth. The second is, lest those who then owned the place ravage and devastate it to the limit of their power. The third, and it is the strongest, lest every tribe should demand that this place be within its allotted portion and should seek to conquer it, which would lead to conflict and sedition, such as happened with regard to the priesthood. Therefore the command was given that the Chosen Temple should only be built after the elevation of a King, so that only one would be qualified to give commands and quarrels would cease….

G-d will Lead the People to Choose the Right Place

רמב"ן על דברים י״ב:ה׳:א׳

וטעם לשכנו תדרשו שתלכו לו מארץ מרחקים ותשאלו אנה דרך בית השם ותאמרו איש אל רעהו לכו ונעלה אל הר ה' אל בית אלהי יעקב (ישעיהו ב ג) כלשון ציון ישאלו דרך הנה פניהם (ירמיהו נ ה) ובספרי (ראה ח) תדרשו דרוש על פי הנביא יכול תמתין עד שיאמר לך נביא ת"ל לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה דרוש ומצא ואח"כ יאמר לך נביא וכן אתה מוצא בדוד וכו'

Ramban on Deuteronomy 12:5:1

you shall inquire after His dwelling – You will come to Him from faraway places and ask, where is the way to the House of Gd? And each one will say to his fellow “…come, let us go up to the Lord's mount, to the house of the God of Jacob…” (Yeshayahu 2:3) Just as “They shall inquire of Zion; their faces are directed hitherward…” (Yirmiyahu 50:5) And in the Sifre (Re’eh 8) it says: ‘you shall inquire,’ this means you should inquire from the mouth of the prophet. Perhaps one should wait until the prophet speaks to them? The Torah says ‘you shall inquire after His dwelling and come there.’ Seek and find and afterwards the prophet will say to you, and so you find with David, etc… In the way of true understanding ‘you shall inquire after His dwelling’ means you shall seek His glory, ‘and come there’ to see the face of the Master, the Lord Gd of Israel. It is from here that the Sages employed the word shechina.

רמב"ן על דברים י״ז:ט״ו:א׳

ודעתי בדרך הפשט, כי טעם אשר יבחר שכל מולך על עמים מאת האלהים היא לו...וכך אמרו (ב"ב צא) אפילו ריש גרגותא מן שמיא מוקמי ליה. יאמר "שום תשים עליך מלך, כל אשר יהיה נגזר מן השמים שימלוך, ואם הוא מקטני שבטי ישראל ומשפחתו הצעירה; אבל איש נכרי לא תמליך עליך לעולם". וכן על דרך הפשט "המקום אשר יבחר ה' אלהיך בו", כל שיבנו שם בית המקדש לה', הכל מרצון ה'.

Ramban on Deuteronomy 17:15:1

... In explanation of the plain meaning of the text they said “You shall set a king over you, one whom the Lord, your God, chooses…” (Devarim 17:15) and not one that the Lord your God despises. For he chose Israel, therefore the one who reigns should be from among His chosen and not from among the nations whom He hates. My opinion of the plain meaning of ‘whom the Lord chooses’ is that anyone who rules over a nation is Divinely sanctioned, as it is written “…the Most High rules over the kingdom of man, and to whom He wishes, He gives it.” (Daniel 4:29) The Sages also taught ‘even the superintendent over a well is appointed from heaven.’ (Baba Batra 91b) It says ‘you shall set a king over you,’ that is whomsoever has been decreed from heaven to reign, be he from the smallest tribe of Israel and its youngest family - but a foreigner will never be king over you. This is also the plain meaning of “…the place which the Lord your God shall choose…” (Devarim 12:5) that anywhere which the Holy Temple of God is built is from the will of God.

The Place of the Temple not Chosen Yet

חזקוני, דברים י״ב:ה׳:א׳

כי אם אל המקום אשר יבחר לא פי׳‎ המקום לפי שהשכינה שרתה בכמה מקומות כמו גלגל שילה נוב וגבעון ובית עולמים וחייב אדם לשנות לתלמידו דרך קצרה.

Chizkuni, Deuteronomy 12:5:1

כי אם אל המקום אשר יבחר, “except at a place of His choosing.” Moses did not spell out the name of that place, seeing that at different times G-d’s Presence decides to accept homage at different locations. [but never at more than one place at a given time. Ed.]