How is it that the Old Testament contains demands for centralized worship, yet it seems that we find OT figures, even prophets and kings, sacrificing all over the place without condemnation?

The answer lies in Exodus 20:22-26, which sets up a specific type of sacrifice:

> Exodus 20:24: You shall make an altar of earth for me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings ['olah] and your peace offerings [shelem], your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

The key phrase is: 'every place where I cause my name to be remembered.' When God spoke to the people from heaven or revealed Himself in a momentous occasion, the Israelites would naturally want to erect a marker or monument. God therefore tells them, in essence, 'You may do this, but not by making an idol. Make an altar of a certain type and that is where you will perform a memorial sacrifice.' These 'memorial sacrifices' are distinctly different from the centralized worship sacrifices, and explain the various altars built by figures like Gideon, Samuel, and David when they encountered God or angels.

In contrast, Deuteronomy 12 gives instructions in the context of pagan high places -- places where man decides to meet God, versus places where God meets men. The high places (like the Tower of Babel) signified a desire to reach for the divine; in contrast, the memorial sacrifices (and a central Temple) signified God's reach to man. This is not the same category as the memorial sacrifices.

> Deuteronomy 12:13-14: Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything that I command you.

This melds perfectly. Memorial sacrifices obviously would not be done anywhere one pleased, but only where God acted. Centralized worship simply drops out of the historical record after the book of Joshua, only to resume in Kings, not because the law of centralization was never handed down, but because the sacrifices performed in Judges and Samuel were memorial sacrifices occurring in places where God had caused His name to be remembered.