Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandment which I command you today. It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster. You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you. It shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall coat them with plaster. There you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them. You shall build Yahweh your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God. You shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God. You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of Yahweh your God. You shall therefore obey Yahweh your God’s voice, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”
Moses commanded the people the same day, saying, “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. With a loud voice, the Levites shall say to all the men of Israel, ‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who leads the blind astray on the road.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who secretly kills his neighbor.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24 As God’s minister and charged with the same.
As God’s minister and charged with the same.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 5, 8, 15, 16, 24, 25, 26 Deu 27:2 And it shall be on the day…
Deu 27:2 And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister:
Ver. 2. And plaster them with plaster.] That they might have it in white and black.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 24, 26 On that day, i.e. about that time, for it…
On that day, i.e. about that time, for it was not done till some days after their passing over.
Day is oft put for time, as hath been noted before.
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Plaister them with plaister, for conveniency of writing upon them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 11 Here is, I. A general charge to the people…
Here is, I. A general charge to the people to keep God's commandments; for in vain did they know them, unless they would do them. This is pressed upon them, 1. With all authority. Moses with the elders of Israel, the rulers of each tribe (Deu 27:1), and again, Moses and the priests the Levites (Deu 27:9); so that the charge is given by Moses who was king in Jeshurun, and by their lords, both spiritual and temporal, in concurrence with him. Lest they should think that it was Moses only, an old and dying man, that made such ado about religion, or the priests and Levites only, whose trade it was to attend religion and who had their maintenance out of it, the elders of Israel, whom God had placed in honour and power over them, and who were men of business in the world and likely to be so long so when Moses was gone, they commanded their people to keep God's law. Moses, having put some of his honour upon them, joins them in commission with himself, in giving this charge, as Paul sometimes in his epistles joins with himself Silvanus and Timotheus. Note, All that have any interest in others, or power over them, should use it for the support and furtherance of religion among them. Though the supreme power of a nation provide ever so good laws for this purpose, if inferior magistrates in their places, and ministers in theirs, and masters of families in theirs, do not execute their offices, it will all be to little effect. 2. With all importunity. They press it upon them with the utmost earnestness (Deu 27:9, Deu 27:10): Take heed and hearken, O Israel. It is a thing that requires and deserves the highest degree of caution and attention. They tell them of their privilege and honour: "This day thou hast become the people of the Lord thy God, the Lord having avouched thee to be his own, and being now about to put thee in possession of Canaan which he had long promised as thy God (Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8), and which if he had failed to do in due time, he would have been ashamed to be called thy God, Heb 11:16. Now thou art more than ever his people, therefore obey his voice." Privileges should be improved as engagements to duty. Should not a people be ruled by their God?
II. A particular direction to them with great solemnity to register the words of this law, as soon as they came into Canaan. It was to be done but once, and at their entrance into the land of promise, in token of their taking possession of it under the several provisos and conditions contained in this law. There was a solemn ratification of the covenant between God and Israel at Mount Sinai, when an altar was erected, with twelve pillars, and the book of the covenant was produced, Exo 24:4. That which is here appointed is a somewhat similar solemnity.
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1. They must set up a monument on which they must write the words of this law. (1.) The monument itself was to be very mean, only rough unhewn stone plastered over; not polished marble or alabaster, nor brass tables, but common plaster upon stone, Deu 27:2. The command is repeated (Deu 27:4), and orders are given that it be written, not very finely, to be admired by the curious, but very plainly, that he who runs may read it, Hab 2:2. The word of God needs not to be set off by the art of man, nor embellished with the enticing words of man's wisdom. But, (2.) The inscription was to be very great: All the words of this law, Deu 27:3, and again, Deu 27:8. Some understand it only of the covenant between God and Israel, mentioned Deu 26:17, Deu 26:18. Let this help be set up for a witness, like that memorial of the covenant between Laban and Jacob, which was nothing but a heap of stones thrown hastily together, upon which they did eat together in token of friendship (Gen 31:46, Gen 31:47), and that stone which Joshua set up, Jos 24:26. Others think that the curses of the covenant in this chapter were written upon this monument, the rather because it was set up in Mount Ebal, Deu 27:4. Others think that the whole book of Deuteronomy was written upon this monument, or at least the statutes and judgments from ch. 12 to the end of ch. 26. And it is not improbable that the heap might be so large as, taking in all the sides of it, to contain so copious an inscription, unless we will suppose (as some do) that the ten commandments only were here written, as an authentic copy of the close rolls which were laid up in the ark. They must write this when they had gone into Canaan, and yet Moses says (Deu 27:3), "Write it that thou mayest go in," that is, "that thou mayest go in with comfort, and assurance of success and settlement, otherwise it were well for thee not to go in at all. Write it as the conditions of thy entry, and own that thou comest in upon these terms and no other: since Canaan is given by promise, it must be held by obedience."
2. They must also set up an altar. By the words of the law which were written upon the plaster, God spoke to them; by the altar, and the sacrifices offered upon it, they spoke to God; and thus was communion kept up between them and God. The word and prayer must go together. Though they might not, of their own heads, set up any altar besides that at the tabernacle, yet, but the appointment of God, they might upon a special occasion. Elijah built a temporary altar of twelve unhewn stones, similar to this, when he brought Israel back to the covenant which was now made, Kg1 18:31, Kg1 18:32. Now, (1.) This altar must be made of such stones as they found ready upon the field, not newly cut out of the rock, much less squared artificially: Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them, Deu 27:5. Christ, our altar, is a stone cut out of the mountain without hands (Dan 2:34, Dan 2:35), and therefore refused by the builders, as having no form or comeliness, but accepted of God the Father, and made the head of the corner. (2.) Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings must be offered upon this altar (Deu 27:6, Deu 27:7), that by them they might give glory to God and obtain favour. Where the law was written, an altar was set up close by it, to signify that we could not look with any comfort upon the law, being conscious to ourselves of the violation of it, if it were not for the great sacrifice by which atonement is made for sin; and the altar was set up on Mount Ebal, the mount on which those tribes stood that said Amen to the curses, to intimate that through Christ we are redeemed from the curse of the law. In the Old Testament the words of the law are written, with the curse annexed, which would fill us with horror and amazement if we had not in the New Testament (which is bound up with it) an altar erected close by it, which gives us everlasting consolation. (3.) They must eat there, and rejoice before the Lord their God, Deu 27:7. This signified, [1.] The consent they gave to the covenant; for the parties to a covenant ratified the covenant by feasting together. They were partakers of the altar, which was God's table, as his servants and tenants, and such they acknowledged themselves, and, being put in possession of this good land, bound themselves to pay the rent and to do the services reserved by the royal grant. [2.] The comfort they took in the covenant; they had reason to rejoice in the law, when they had an altar, a remedial law, so near it. It was a great favour to them, and a token for good, that God gave them his statutes; and that they were owned as the people of God, and the children of the promise, was what they had reason to rejoice in, though, when this solemnity was to be performed, they were not put in full possession of Canaan; but God has spoken in his holiness, and then I will rejoice, Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine; all my own.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–26 And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the…
And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people,
saying,.... The seventy elders, at the head of whom was Moses, which made the great sanhedrim, or council of the nation; Moses having recited all the laws of God to the people, these joined with him in an exhortation to them to observe and obey them:
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keep all the commandments which I command you this day; not in his own name, as being the supreme legislator, but in the name of the Lord, whom they had avouched to be their God and King, from whom he had received them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 24, 26 A command to write all the law upon stones,…
A command to write all the law upon stones, ver. 1-8. A charge to Israel, to obey God, ver. 9-10. To pronounce a blessing on mount Gerizzim, and a curse on mount Ebal, ver. 11-13. To the Levites, to pronounce the whole curse, ver. 14-26.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 26 Moses commands the people to write the law upon…
CHAPTER XXVII
Moses commands the people to write the law upon stones, when
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they shall come to the promised land, 1-3.
And to set up these stones on Mount Ebal, 4;
and to build an altar of unhewn stones, and to offer on it
burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, 5-7.
The words to be written plainly, and the people to be exhorted
to obedience, 8-10.
The six tribes which should stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the
people, 11, 12.
Those who are to stand upon Mount Ebal to curse the
transgressors, 13.
The different transgressors against whom the curses are to be
denounced, 14-26.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 24, 26 Deu 27:1. Moses with the elders — Having in…
Deu 27:1. Moses with the elders — Having in discourses at several times repeated the principal parts of the laws, and made several necessary additions to them, Moses called the council together, and summoned the body of the people to attend them at the tabernacle; where, after an earnest exhortation to observe what he had already said, and was now about to prescribe to them, he directs them, the first opportunity they had after their arrival in the land of promise, to renew their covenant with God in a solemn manner. In order to this they were to write or engrave the chief heads of their law, especially of the moral law, upon large square stones, smoothly plastered over for that purpose, to be audibly read to the whole assembly with the circumstances hereafter appointed. This day — This expression signifies not the space of one day, but refers to the whole time of their abode in the plains of Moab.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 11 Moses in a third discourse Deut. 27–30, proceeds more…
Moses in a third discourse Deut. 27–30, proceeds more specifically to dwell upon the sanctions of the Law. In these chapters he sets before Israel in striking and elaborate detail the blessings which would ensue upon faithfulness to the covenant, and the curses which disobedience would involve. Deut. 27 introduces this portion of the book by enjoining the erection of a stone monument on which the Law should be inscribed as soon as the people took possession of the promised inheritance Deu 27:1-10; and by next prescribing the liturgical form after which the blessings and cursings should be pronounced Deut. 27:11-26.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 26 Ancients, particularly the priests, ver. 9. (Haydock) --- These…
Ancients, particularly the priests, ver. 9. (Haydock) --- These exhorted the people to observe diligently, what they had all heard from the mouth of Moses, chap. v. i. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The Instructions for the Stone Monument as a Pause…
The Instructions for the Stone Monument as a Pause to the Second Discourse
Deu_27:1-8
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1And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments [the whole commandment] which I command you this day. 2And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster: 3And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over [in thy passing over], that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. 4Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. 5And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up [swing over it] any iron tool upon them. 6Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole [complete] stones: and thou shalt offer [cause to ascend] burnt offerings [whole offerings] thereon unto the Lord thy God: And thou shalt offer peace-offerings 7[salvation offerings], and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God. 8And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law, very plainly.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Deu_27:1. And the elders—because they had it to perform (Deu_1:1). The whole commandment is the following command for the erection, plastering, and inscribing, etc., in all its compass. Its keeping is symbolical for the keeping of all the commands generally. (Knobel, Schultz, Keil, of the whole law.) Comp. Introd. §2. The time limit in Deu_27:2 places at once the entrance upon Canaan, to which all refers here, as the day for the fulfilment of the command, as it corresponds to the day of the command (כַּיּוֹם ,הַיּוֹם). The closer restriction follows in Deu_27:4. Plaster—either with gypsum or lime-wash generally—to fit them for the inscription, Deu_27:3; for the cementing of the stones with mortar—was either evidently included in the command for their erection, or perhaps was unnecessary from their great size. The writing follows upon the plastering, and thus is to be inserted upon the plastered stones, and not to be cut in the stones, and then whitewashed or covered. For the Egyptian usage comp. Hengstenberg, Auth. I. p. 464 sq. They carved or painted upon the smooth surface. The inscription was not for posterity, but as a testimony to their cotemporaries. All the words of this law—Introd. §2. The obedience to the law so declared and attested justified the conquest of Canaan to their cotemporaries. Deu_27:4. A resumption of Deu_27:2 for the purpose of defining the locality, that the command there, should be restricted to the midst of the land. Ebal, for which the Samaritan Pentateuch designedly substitutes Gerizim, on account of Deu_27:12-13 (Deu_11:29). The Samaritan temple stood upon Gerizim. Comp. Hengstenberg, Authen. I. 37. Ebal, which was at least a hundred feet higher than Gerizim (Robinson, Researches, Vol. III., and Later Researches, pp. 131, 132), and was better fitted both for the stones and the altar, Deu_27:5. Comp. upon Exo_20:22; Jos_8:30 sqq. (Introd. § 4). That the altar was not to be built of the stones already mentioned is the more clear since the stones of the altar are in Deu_27:6 whole stones (Deu_25:15)—thus stones untouched by human hands (1Th_5:23). As the altar for the sacrifices, so it gives a more solemn stamp and completion to the symbolical transaction, Deu_27:2-4. Burnt offerings (Lev_1:3 sq.) as those ascending wholly to God in the high places, designated and expressed the entire concession of the offerer to the Lord. The peace-offerings (Shelamim) express the enjoyment of salvation the more distinctly, since here also the portion in this sacrifice belonging to the offerer for the joyful meal is expressly noticed. Comp. the similar transaction, Exodus 24, in the first law-giving, as also here in the repetition, Deuteronomy 5 sq. As Deu_27:4 resumes Deu_27:2, for the purpose of the local determination, so now Deu_27:8 resumes again Deu_27:3, for a closer description how the words should be written. Comp. upon Deu_1:5, Hengstenb. Auth. I. p. 482 sq. (Deu_9:21). In good, distinct characters, so that every one may see and understand.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. “In the first place, the necessity that the people should appropriate the law to itself is thus expressed. Its writing stands over against the writing of God, Deu_27:2; the writing of Jehovah has thus penetrated the mind of Israel. But, on the other hand, this rigid stone writing, these hard letters, show that the law, even after the preceding appropriation, remains still an external law, standing over against the people. But the sacrifices bring the act of inscribing inwardly to the consciousness—make it a real appropriation.” Baumgarten.
2. The paternal city of Hesiod honored his memory by engraving his great poem in full upon lead tables (Pausanias 9, 31). Comp. the descriptive pillars of Darius at the Hellespont (Herod, iv. 87). Στήλη was a post or pillar erected by the state, inscribed with laws, ordinances, decrees of the council or of the people. There were also metal pillars inscribed with laws. Hence παραβῆναι τὰς στήλας is a kind of proverbial expression in Polybius for the transgression of the laws.
3. “That the law should be set up upon Mount Ebal, from whence the curse should be proclaimed, has essentially the same ground, as the fact that Moses gives only the formula for the curse, Deu_27:15 sq., as the fire upon Sinai, as the prominent position of the threatenings in the law. The law speaks more impressively to sinful man in connection with the curse. Fear must be first awakened. The curse manifests itself throughout in human life—most unquestionably in death. To see the blessing belongs often to other eyes than those of the natural man. It was, moreover, not concealed from Moses that the curse, for the most part, should come through the law, Deu_31:16 sq. As the curse is connected more clearly with the law, so the blessing first with him whom God should send (Act_3:26).” Schultz. According to Baumgarten, “the curse appears to be wiped away through the sacrifice; for in the sacrifice Israel judged itself that it should not be condemned by God (1 Corinthians 9). Hence the eating with joy of the peace-offerings, the completing, finished offerings, and that before the face of Jehovah.” Keil (as the Berl. Bib.); in order to show how the law and economy of the Old Testament would denounce the curse lying upon the whole human race for sin, in order to awaken the desire for the Messiah, who should take away the curse and bring in the true blessing.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Deu_27:1. Calvin: “This command tends to the same end as the commands with respect to the door-posts and the fringes of the garments. The stones should be a monument in the land, from which the people should learn that they dwelt there purely to honor God. As the individual dwellings, so the whole land should be holy to God, as a sanctuary of heavenly truth.” Deu_27:3. Piscator: “God holds His law as the unchangeable rule of wisdom and righteousness, and will have it so held.” The stones should speak, if Israel were silent. Tub. Bib.: “The O. T. upon the stones, the new upon the tables of the heart, Jeremiah 31; 2Co_3:3.” [The stones so inscribed were a testimony on the part of the people: 1) that they took possession of the land by virtue of the law; 2) that they held it only as obedient to the law; 3) that these stones should witness against their unfaithfulness.—A. G.] Deu_27:5. Lange: “In this simple, unartistic form, God is well pleased, for the sake of the Messiah, who presents Himself in the form of a servant, altar, priest, and sacrifice.” Piscator. “In the service of God we should not do any thing out of mere human good intentions, but abide in the simplicity which God has prescribed.” Deu_27:7. J. Gerhard (just prior to his death): “Such joy is the foretaste of that eternal joy which we shall share in the other world through the death of Christ.”
Transition to the Last Third Discourse
Deu_27:9-26
9And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed [keep silence] and hearken, O Israel, this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. 10Thou shalt therefore obey [hearken to] the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day. 11And Moses charged [commanded] the people the same day, saying, 12These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: 13And these shall stand upon [in] mount Ebal to curse [Schroeder, as the margin: for a cursing]; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14And the Levites shall speak [answer] and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud [high] 15voice, Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth [setteth it up] 16 it in a secret place: and all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Cursed be he that setteth light by [despises] his father or his mother: and all the people shall 17say, Amen. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s land-mark: and all the 18people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the 19way: and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment [right] of the stranger, fatherless, and widow: and all the people shall say, 20Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his 21father’s skirt: and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with 22any manner of beast: and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother: and all 23the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in law: and 24all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly: 25and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay [slay a soul, innocent blood] an innocent person: and all the people shall say, Amen. 26Cursed be he that confirmeth not [setteth not up] all the words of this law to do them: and all the people shall say, Amen.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Deu_27:9. And the priests, etc. (Introd. § 4)—because they were generally the teachers of the law, and were specially to declare the blessing and the curse respectively (Deu_10:8; Deu_21:5; Num_6:23 sq.; Deu_5:19 sq.). As Deu_26:16 and Deu_27:6 sq. allude to the covenant relation, so we have here the actual transition to it. The repetition of the law, of that which took place at Sinai, through which Israel became a people, and indeed this peculiar people which they were. Comp. Deu_5:1 sq.; chap. 29. Deu_27:10. Comp. Deu_26:17. With respect to Jehovah, it must hearken to His law (Deu_4:12; Deu_4:30; Deu_4:36), practically obey it (Deu_4:1 sq.), and especially carry out the following commands which Moses enjoined, Deu_27:11, through which the erection of the stones for the law, and the setting up of the altar, as also the sacrificing in Canaan, appear not so much in their significance, as in their immediate application to Israel, through which it solemnly adjudges to itself the consequences, the blessings, or the curses, according to its character. Deu_27:12. Comp. upon Deu_11:26 sq., 29 (Deu_27:4). The blessings were previously intimated, and are to be regarded as blessings corresponding to the curses which are above delivered. The six tribes for blessing are those which sprang from Leah and Rachel (with the exception of Reuben and Zebulon). Gen_29:30. Joseph appears as embracing Ephraim and Manasseh, as in Gen_49:22 sq. Comp. Deu_33:13 sq. The six tribes for the cursing, Deu_27:13, are those descending from the handmaid of Leah and then those from the handmaid of Rachel (Genesis 30.), the first preceded by Reuben (the fallen first-born), and last by Zebulon, Leah’s youngest son. Since with respect to both, the curse as the blessing, it is said only they shall stand, and accordingly the distance between comes into view, we may certainly think of a representation of the tribes, perhaps their elders, who descend from the two mountains. Through their position they represent only, do not utter, the blessing and the curse. (Sepp, Pilgerbuch II. p. 27, remarks that at all times, day and night mountains, light and shadow lands, have been distinguished. The northern half of the Meru is the Himalaya (i.e., winter); the southern the Kailasa (i.e., the summer), mountains; Horeb the hoary (frosty) stands over against Sinai, the burning; so also Ebal over against Gerizim. The Arabians call Saturn Hobal, the destroyer, and worship him under the image of the black stone in the Kaaba. Then Ebal would be called after Baal Chronos—(the god of the dead.) Deu_27:14. וְעָנוּ. Comp. upon Deu_21:7; Deu_25:9. The Levites—according to Deu_27:9, and also from the fact that the tribe has its place upon Gerizim, Deu_27:12—are the levitical priests, to whom the like position and duties are entirely fitting. Comp. Jos_8:33 (Introd. § 4). They answer (what perhaps is yet questionable), inasmuch as in the blessings they turned to Gerizim, and in the curses to Ebal, and say to all the men of Israel, and indeed with a loud voice, as God Himself, Deu_5:19, and as the law was to be written very plainly upon the stones (Deu_27:8). Knobel incorrectly refers the loud voice to the people. All the people in the following verses include the more widely distant, congregated masses of Israel. Deu_27:15. Only curses here. Comp. Doct. and Eth. 3 and 4. The number twelve is in accordance with the twelve-tribed people. As the whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, so also the inward peculiar nature of the examples selected. Gross transgressions incur the penalty, but the more secret and refined meet with the curse, “in order to show that God will in any case visit such sinners, and to instil into the hypocrite a terror of his works of darkness” (V. Gerlach). אָרַר (kindred with חָרַם)—to sever, reject, curse; one rejected by God and men;—the separation, i.e., to death. The first instance is the secret transgression of the second commandment, whose significance for the thought of the decalogue is again made prominent in this exemplification. Comp. upon Deu_5:8; Deu_4:16 and Deu_9:12. Neither graven nor molten. Comp. further Deu_17:1; Deu_4:28; Deu_13:7. אָמֵן—firm, faithful, certain; i.e., so be it, and so will we heartily keep it (Num_5:22; Neh_5:13; Neh_8:6; 1Co_14:16). Do the plurals וְעָנוּ and וְאָמְרוּ, not occurring in the other verses, embrace the six, and six tribes? Or do they correspond merely to the Levites? Deu_27:16. Next to the character of God comes that of the parents. Upon מקלה comp. Deu_25:3. The disposition may represent itself in words or deeds, or in the general deportment (v. 16; Deu_21:18 sq.; Exo_21:17; Exo_21:15; Lev_20:9). Upon Deu_27:17 comp. Deu_19:14. Deu_27:18. Not: viatorem, qui similis cæco, or ignarum in itinere, or spiritually, 2Ti_3:13, but as Lev_19:14. Eye diseases are still as prevalent in Egypt as other types of diseases among us. As one, therefore, readily comprehends the eye-salve—e.g., Rev_3:18—so also the conception of a helpless neighbor, as of one blind. Upon Deu_27:19 comp. Deu_24:17. Upon Deu_27:20; Deu_23:1. Upon Deu_27:21-23, Lev_18:20; Exo_22:19. Upon Deu_27:24 comp. Deu_19:11; Deu_21:1 sq.; Exo_21:13-14; Num_35:20 sq. To the private he now adds Deu_27:25, the judicial murder embracing both the judge and witnesses. Comp. Deu_16:19; Deu_19:10; Deu_19:13. Deu_27:26. Most comprehensive: to set up, as for others so for himself, as the rule of his life. Non tanturn, ut sciat et rata habeat, sed ut etiam faciat.. J. H. Michaelis (Rom_3:31). Comp. Mat_5:19; Jam_2:10; Gal_3:10; Joh_8:31.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Comp. upon the previous section 3.
2. Israel must by its own words take upon itself the results or consequences of the law (Luk_19:22; Mat_12:37).
3. Although the exhibition of the curse upon Ebal is at the same time, through the altar, a representation of its being overcome or taken away, still it must ever remind Israel of its weakness and of the possibility of its fall. Thus “Reuben, who, through his fall, forfeited his birth-right, stands at the head of the curse-speaking tribes” (Baumgarten).
4. “It is the office of the law pre-eminently to proclaim the condemnation” (V. Gerlach).
5. “Every conscious transgression of the law brings the sinner under the curse of God, from which He alone can deliver us, who was made a curse for us” (V. Gerlach).
6. “The first and last of the curses have the most comprehensive import—that relates to the outbreaking of the original sin, this embraces all transgressions of the law” (Baumgarten).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Deu_27:9. “Silence and hearing, the key to the word of God, to its understanding, and to an experience of the same.” Deu_27:12 sq. Piscator: “The children of the free are for the blessing, as are believers, who are the free children of the promise and heirs of blessing.” Starke: “A type of the last judgment. Either under the blessing or under the curse., Even Levi also.” Deu_27:14. Piscator: “The faithful watcher for souls stands in the midst between the pious and the wicked.” Richter: “Some think that the blessings are not further mentioned here, because Christ should first utter these, Matthew 5.” Berl. Bib.: “They might also observe how our Saviour at another time with the blessings has also announced the curse, as He uttered the woes upon the rich, the full, etc.” [Deu_27:26. “Wordsworth: “Not the hearers of the law are justified, but the doers (Rom_2:13).” Vain are the hopes of men founded upon their obedience to the law. The Amen is a condemnation upon ourselves, and shuts us up to Christ, who alone has set up, established the words of this law to do them, and in whom therefore there is blessing instead of the curse.—A.G.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 11 thou shalt write upon them all the words of…
thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law--It might be, as some think, the Decalogue; but a greater probability is that it was "the blessings and curses," which comprised in fact an epitome of the law (Jos 8:34).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14 1. Moses with the elders… commanded — The elders…
1. Moses with the elders… commanded — The elders were the representatives of the whole nation in its character as a body politic. Moses is now near the close of his administration of the affairs of the people. He, therefore, intimately associates with himself the representatives of the nation. It would be their province to see that these commands were carried out.
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The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 1. Note the re-appearance of the narrative form.
1. Note the re-appearance of the narrative form.
And Moses and the elders … commanded the people] The association of the elders with Moses in giving this charge is singular, especially in view of the following, ‘which I command you.’ The LXX (except in a few cursive MSS) omits the people. Therefore some read, And Moses commanded the elders. More probably we have here the fusion of the introductions to the two different forms of the law, Moses commanded the elders and Moses commanded the people (so also Marti; cp. Berth.).
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Keep all the commandment, etc.] Heb. Miṣwah viii. 1; cp. Deu_5:12 (observe), 31, Deu_6:1. In Sam., LXX keep is PL.
1–8. Erection of Stones for the Inscription of the Law, and of an Altar
Moses and the elders charged the people to keep the commandment (1); when they cross Jordan they shall set up stones and, whitening them, shall thereon write the Law (Torah) (2 f.); they shall do this on Mt ‘Ebal (4), and build an altar (of the form enjoined in E, Exo_20:24 f.) for burnt and peace offerings, eating and rejoicing before God (5–7), and writing on the stones very plainly (8).—The passage is a compilation from different sources.
First, in Deu_27:2-4; Deu_27:8, Deu_27:2 f. and Deu_27:4; Deu_27:8 are doublets (cp. Dillm., Westphal, Berth., Marti). With deuteron. phrases both command the same thing, the erection of stones to bear on a white surface an inscription of the Law; but the former prescribes this to be done immediately (Deu_27:3) on the crossing of the Jordan, the latter on Mt ‘Ebal. Here, then, is another indication of more than one edition of the Code with different supplements. Deu_27:1 fuses the introductions to these two supplements: Moses charged the elders, and Moses charged the people (see below). Second, in Deu_27:5-7 the command to build an altar on ‘Ebal seems inconsistent with D’s law of the One Altar, and therefore it is usually taken as the revision by a deuteronomic editor (note the phrases in 7 b) of a command in E (see the small print above on chs. 27–30). This only mitigates the difficulty, if Deu_27:5-7 be really inconsistent with ch. 12. Yet, whoever placed 5–7 here, must have felt no inconsistency; probably because he argued that at the time fixed for the erection of an altar on ‘Ebal Israel would not have gotten that rest from all their enemies round about, which D fixes as the date after which the law of the One Altar was to come into operation (Deu_12:10). Because the text is uncertain and the passage has been touched by more editors than one, we can infer nothing from the changes between the Sg. and Pl. forms of address in this passage.
Steuern. offers with reserve the following analysis. ‘The Editor appears first to have expanded Deu_27:5-7 [a fragment older than D] with 2 b, 3 a and thereby identified the altar-stones with the stones on which the law was written, as in Jos_8:30 ff.; hence he also repeated 3 a in Deu_27:8. Another has further identified these stones with those Deu_27:2 a α and so added besides Deu_27:1-2 a α, 4 a.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 18, 24, 26 (1) Moses with the elders.—Here joined in exhortation for…
XXVII.
THE LAW TO BE ESTABLISHED IN CANAAN AS THE LAW OF THE LAND.
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(1) Moses with the elders.—Here joined in exhortation for the first time in this book.
Keep.—Literally, to keep. Possibly we are intended to connect the two verses. In order to keep them, ye shall write them.
Deu_27:2-4
THE DECALOGUE TO BE WRITTEN ON MOUNT EBAL.
(2) Set . . . up great stones, and plaister them with plaister.—The idea is to make a smooth surface, on which the Law could be inscribed. “Plaister” only here and in Isa_33:12; Amo_2:2. In both those places it is rendered “lime.”
(3) Thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in.—Again it is evident that the “going in” to the land and the “passing over” Jordan are not identical. The “Law of God” was to be set up in the heart of the country, as soon as Israel had entered it, in order that they might complete the conquest of it. It is abundantly clear that Israel’s title to Canaan was dependent upon their maintaining the Law of Jehovah as the law of the land.
For the fulfilment of this precept, see Jos_8:32-35. The words of this verse are an additional reason for the view taken in the Note on that passage, that the Law was set up on Ebal immediately after the capture of Ai, without waiting for the completion of the conquest (as some suppose).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Deuteronomy 27
Deuteronomy 27
"And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster; and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones; and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God; and thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. And Moses, and the priests the Levites, spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These shall stand upon mount Gerazim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin. And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali." (Vers. 1-13.)
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There could not be a more striking contrast than that which is presented in the opening and close of this chapter. In the paragraph which we have just penned, we see Israel entering upon the land of promise - that fair and fruitful land, flowing with milk and honey, and there erecting an altar in mount Ebal, for burnt offerings and peace offerings. We read nothing about sin offerings or trespass offerings here. The law, in all its fullness, was to be "written very plainly," upon the plastered stones, and the people, in full, recognised, covenant relationship, were to offer on the altar those special offerings of sweet savour, so blessedly expressive of worship and holy communion. The subject here is not the trespasser in act, or the sinner in nature, approaching the brazen altar, with a trespass offering or a sin offering; but rather a people fully delivered, accepted and blessed - a people in the actual enjoyment of their relationship and their inheritance.
True, they were trespassers and sinners; and, as such, needed the precious provision of the brazen altar. This, of course, is obvious, and fully understood and admitted by every one taught of God; but it manifestly is not the subject of Deuteronomy 27: 1-13, and the spiritual reader will, at once, perceive the reason. When we see the Israel of God, in full covenant relationship, entering into possession of their inheritance, having the revealed will of their covenant God Jehovah, plainly and fully written before them, and the milk and honey flowing around them, we must conclude that all question as to trespasses and sins is definitively settled, and that nothing remains for a people so highly privileged and so richly blessed, but to surround the altar of their covenant God, and present those sweet savour offering which mere acceptable to Him and suited to them.
In short, the whole scene unfolded to our view in the first half of our chapter is perfectly beautiful. Israel having avouched Jehovah to be their God, and Jehovah having avouched Israel to be His peculiar people, to make them high above all nations which He had made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and an holy people unto the Lord their God, as He had spoken - Israel thus privileged, blessed and exalted, in full possession of the goodly land, and having all the precious commandments of God before their eyes, what remained, but to present the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, in holy worship and happy fellowship?
But, in the latter half of our chapter, we find something quite different. Moses appoints six tribes to stand upon mount Gerazim, to bless the people; and six on mount Ebal to curse; but alas! when we come to the actual history, the positive facts of the case, there is not a single syllable of blessing? nothing but twelve awful curses each confirmed by a solemn "amen" from the whole congregation.
What a sad change! What a striking contrast! It reminds us of what passed before us in our study of Exodus 19. There could not be a more impressive commentary on the words of the inspired apostle in Galatians 3: 10. "For as many as are of the works of the law" - as many as are on that ground - "are under the curse: for it is; written" - and here he quotes Deuteronomy 27 - "cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."
Here we have the real solution of the question. Israel, as to their actual moral condition, were on the ground of law; and hence, although the opening of our chapter presents a lovely picture of God’s thoughts respecting Israel, yet the close of it sets forth the sad and humiliating result of Israel’s real state before God. There is not a sound from mount Gerazim, not one word of benediction; but, instead thereof, curse upon curse falls on the ears of the people.
Nor could it possibly be otherwise. Let people contend for it as they will, nothing but a curse can come upon "as many as are of the works of the law. It does not merely say, "as many as fail to keep the law," though that is true; but, as if to set the truth in the very clearest and most forcible manner before us, the Holy Ghost declares that for all, no matter who, Jew, Gentile or nominal Christian - all who are on the ground or principle of works of law, there is, and can be, nothing but a curse. Thus, then, the reader will be able, intelligently, to account for the profound silence that reigned on mount Gerazim, in the day of Deuteronomy 27 The simple fact is, if one solitary benediction had been heard, it would have been a contradiction to the entire teaching of holy scripture on the question of law.
We have so fully gone into the weighty subject of the law, in the first volume of these Notes, that we do not feel called upon to dwell upon it here. We can only say that the more we study scripture, and the more we ponder the law-question in the light of the New Testament, the more amazed we are at the manner in which some persist in contending for the opinion that Christians are under the law, whether for life, for righteousness, for holiness, or for any object whatsoever. How can such an opinion stand for a moment in the face of that magnificent and conclusive statement in Romans 6: "YE ARE NOT UNDER LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE?
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 HAVING set forth the laws and rights of Israel…
INSTRUCTIONS AS TO THE PUBLISHING OF THE LAW IN CANAAN.
HAVING set forth the laws and rights of Israel with special reference to the settlement of the people in Canaan, Hoses proceeds to dwell more particularly on the sanctions by which obedience to the Divine institute was enforced. Before entering on these, however, he gives some instructions regarding the setting up and proclamation of the Law when they should have entered Canaan. These instructions Moses gives in conjunction with the elders of Israel, who are associated with him here, because on them would devolve the obligation to see to the fulfillment of what the Law enjoined after Moses had ceased to be the ruler and leader of the people.
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Vers. 1-8. The first instruction respects the setting up of pillars on which the Law was to be inscribed. Such a mode of publishing laws or edicts was common in ancient times. Pillars of stone or metal, on which laws were inscribed, are frequently mentioned by the classical writers. Lysias quotes a law from such a pillar in the Areopagus at Athens ("Eratosth.," 31, 12); at Eleusis there were pillars on which laws were inscribed (Pollux, 10, 97); Plato speaks of pillars set up in the marketplace, on which were laws for the regulation of traffic ("De Legg.," 11. p. 916); and Polybius even uses the word "pillar" (sthlh) as synonymous with "law" or "conditions of treaty" ("Hist.," 24:4, 12; 26:1, 4, etc. Comp. also Plato, "Crit.," p. 119 C, E; 120 A; Psalm-Demosth., p. 1370, 25; 1381, 10; Cicero, "Cat.," 3:8; "Philippians," 13:3; "Faro. Epp.," 12:1; Ovid, "Met.," 1:3).
All the commandments, etc.; all that up to this time I have enjoined upon you. The reference is to the entire Law as given by Moses.
Vers. 1-10. Very plainly.
These words, "very plainly," suggest three lines of thought.
I THEY SHOW SOMETHING THAT WAS ORDERED TO BE, viz. that the Law of God was to be written very plainly, as the permanent, standard expression of right, to which the people might appeal. It was not to be left to a floating tradition. To no such risks would God expose his teaching. There was no priesthood in Israel which had any monopoly of knowledge. The words were to be so clearly and accurately recorded that, upon all that pertained to life and godliness, the people might see for themselves what the Lord had spoken, and not be dependent on any sacerdotal interpretation whatever. How clearly does this fact indicate the mind and will of Jehovah concerning our race! God would not have us walk uncertainly. He would have the way of life so plain, that the "wayfaring men, though fools," need not err therein.
II THEY SHOW SOMETHING WHICH HAS BEEN. The injunction has been carried out, not only in the matter here specially referred to, but in God"s later disclosures also.
1. In the books which Moses left behind him there was a revelation of the Divine mind and win so clear and distinct, that no one reading even the Pentateuch with a loyal faith need ever have been at a loss to know that the ground of his trust was the forgiving love of God, and that the duty of life was summed up in love to God and love to man.
2. Later teachings are given with equal, yea, with increasing clearness.
1. Those of the prophets.
2. Of our Lord.
3. Of the apostles.
In all, the main teachings are given very plainly." Note: The plainness of Scripture is not of that kind which men outgrow as they get older. Those very passages which charm childhood with their simplicity, do come to have a fuller and deeper meaning for the "old disciple.
III THEY SUGGEST SOMETHING WHICH SHOULD BE.
1. Let us ever regard the Bible as a Book for the people, and let us insist on its being made the ultimate standard of appeal.
2. Let us use it as God meant us to use it, not as a book, but as the Book; not as man"s, but as God"s.
3. With such a Book before us, let us walk
1. intelligently, as if we understood the meaning of life;
2. thankfully, as if we apprehended the glory of life;
3. earnestly, as if we knew the solemnity of life;
4. hopefully, as those who are advancing towards the goal of life.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR. Vers. 1-8. The stones on Ebal.
This chapter is significant, as letting in light on the design of the Law, and on the nature of the Jewish covenant. We see from it:
1. That the Law could not give life.
2. That it was not designed to give life.
3. That its real aim was to convince of sin, and so to shut men up to the faith that would afterwards be revealed. (Gal_3:23)
Three topics in these verses
I THE ERECTION OF THE STONES. (Vers. 2, 8.) Stones were to be set up, coated with plaster (a custom of Egypt), on which were to be written, "very plainly," "all the words of this Law" (ver. 8) either the Law in Deuteronomy, or the Pentateuchal laws generally. The stones were:
1. Significant reminders of the tenure on which the land was held.
2. Witnesses against the people in case of disobedience.
3. A testimony to the plainness with which the Law had been made known to them. The last point reminds us of our own privilege in possessing a clear and full revelation of the will of God in the Bible. Copies of the Bible are like these stones, witnesses against us if we disobey the gospel. Light has come into the world". (Joh_3:19) We are not left to the natural conscience, sufficient though that be to convict men of sin. (Rom_2:14, Rom_2:15) We are servants who know our Lord"s will. (Luk_12:47) We have the light both of Law and gospel. Supremely great are our privileges, and equally great are our responsibilities.
II THE STONES ERECTED ON EBAL. (Ver. 4.) But why on Ebal? Why on the mount of cursing? Had there been a Law which could have given life, "verily," Paul says, righteousness should have been by the. (Gal_3:21) In that case, the appropriate place for the erection of the stones would have been Gerizim the mount of blessing. But the Law could not give life. In itself considered, as requiring perfect obedience, it could only condemn. Its principal function its economic scope and purpose was not to bless, but to give "knowledge of sin". (Rom_3:19, 20 7:9-14 Ga 3) Hence the appropriate place for the stones being planted was on the mount of cursing.
III THE ACCOMPANYING SACRIFICES. (Vers. 5-7.)
1. As the Law testified to sin, so the sacrifices testified to grace to the provision in mercy which lay within the covenant for the removal of guilt. Burnt offerings and peace offerings, as well as the sin offerings, included the idea of propitiation. This was shown at the first forming of the covenant by the action of sprinkling the blood. (Exo_22:6-8; cf. Heb_9:19-28) Without sacrifice, without the means of removing, or at least covering guilt, Israel"s position under the Law would have been a mockery.
2. The altar of unhewn stones testifies to the subordinate place which art ought to have in the worship of God. There was a special suitableness in the altar of propitiation being built of undesecrated materials. Himself sinful, man"s art would have polluted it. Only when propitiation had been made was art permitted to resume its function of ministering to the beauty of Divine service. But art, in religion, needs to be carefully guarded. It is false art when it drowns other thoughts in admiration of the finish, injuring worship by that which draws away the mind from worship.
3. The burnt offerings and peace offerings testified the one to the entire consecration of heart and life which is the condition of acceptable service; the other, to the peace and fellowship with God which, on the ground of sacrifice, are attained through consecration and obedience. J.O.
HOMILIES BY D. DAVIES Vers. 1-10. Safeguards for obedience.
The enthusiasm of Moses for God"s Law is admirable, and no less admirable is his earnest desire for Israel"s prosperity. That self-forgetful zeal for others" good was one main qualification in Moses to be the vehicle of God"s revealed will. With singular sagacity, Moses presses into the earliest service, for the promulgation of Divine Law, the people themselves. The very stones of Canaan were to be written over with the substance of the Law, and in this way were to become monuments of the covenant between God and Israel. The people who had taken an active part in publishing that Law would feel bound in self-consistency to maintain it. Their title-deeds to Canaan they set up in sight of heaven and earth; and if afterward they should be disobedient, the very stones of the land would cry out against them.
I AN OBEDIENT SPIRIT DELIGHTS TO EXALT AND PERPETUATE GOD"S LAW. Moses, instructed by God, was a wise observer of human nature; hence he engages the cooperation of the people in proclaiming the Law in the first flush of conquest. The first stones they touched with their feet on the other side Jordan were to be consecrated to the service of God"s Law. Deficient in tools, they were not expected to grave them in stone, but to write them on plaster. This could be expeditiously done, and might serve to remind them how easily were the Divine commands effaced from human hearts. As soon as God had begun to fulfill his part of the covenant, man must fulfill his. The people were to write "all" the precepts; for not one of them, however minute, was needless. What was sufficiently important for God to reveal, we may be sure was important enough for man to preserve. These stones, when inscribed with Divine legislation, were to be set up on a mount central in the land, to indicate the universal honor to which they were entitled. And probably Ebal was selected that the people might be awed by the curses which sprang from disobedience. To magnify the Law of the King is the loyal subject"s delight. "Oh, how I love thy Law!
II AN OBEDIENT SPIRIT IS QUALIFIED TO ENTER UPON A LARGER INHERITANCE. (Ver. 3.) The language is significant. Having passed over Jordan, they were to select and prepare these monumental stones, to the end "thou mayest go in unto the land." Various measures of success were possible. They might destroy the Canaanites, and yet find little advantage or comfort from the inheritance. God could give with one hand and blast with the other. Though in the land, it might not yet open out its resources to them as a "land flowing with milk and honey." Every day they tarried in the land, they might pass into an inner circle of blessing. New waves of sunshine and blessing might sweep over them, so that every morning the inheritance might be to them new. Nature, in its beauties, its wonders, its products, is inexhaustible. With God as our Friend and Teacher, we may find accessions of good and gladness perpetually. Obeying his voice, we enter in; and still, as obedience grows, we enter into fuller possession increasingly.
III AN OBEDIENT SPIRIT OBTAINS QUICKENING AND STRENGTH AT GOD"S ALTAR. It was forbidden the Hebrews to erect an altar for burnt offering anywhere except the place which God should choose for his abode. So vital, however, to the interests of the nation was this act of proclaiming the Law, that an exception was made in its favor. In the presence of the Law, men would feel their deficiencies and offences; hence provision was specially made for the confession of sin, for the presentation of sacrifice, and for the assurance of mercy. At the altar of burnt offering God and guilty man could meet; here reconciliation could be effected, and here new grace could be obtained. In the somber light of the burnt offering, men would read the august meaning of the Law, and learn to cover that Law with honor.
But why must the altar be built of unhewn stones? We can only conjecture. Was it to symbolize the fact that God can allow no human interference or co-operation in the work of atonement? Was it to indicate that every part of God"s will and Law must be kept perfectly intact, if man would be the friend of God? Was it to prevent any kind of graven work, the craft of human imagination, from adorning the altar of God; by which the minds of worshippers might be diverted from the one solemn act to be performed? There may be an element of truth in all these surmises.
IV AN OBEDIENT SPIRIT FINDS UNEXPECTEDLY A BANQUET OF JOY. "Thou shalt eat, and shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God." On all sides God has provided the materials for a splendid repast, where every desire of the soul may be satisfied; but the pathway to that sumptuous feast is the pathway of hearty obedience. We can secure the annual harvest only by acting along the line of God"s law in nature; and active co-operation with the Divine will is essential to our soul"s satisfaction. The joy that thrills the heart of God he desires to share with us, but self-will too often robs us of the boon. "The meek shall eat and be satisfied.
V AN OBEDIENT SPIRIT RECEIVES INSPIRATION FROM THE HIGHEST SOURCE. "Thou art the people of the Lord thy God; therefore thou shalt obey his voice." Service which is done from motives of advantage to gain favor or promotion from God is mercenary. A selfish end is in view. The favor of the Most High is not merely the end we seek; it is the source whence all right desire and exertion spring. Thou art the Lord"s: this is the chief inspiration of effort. Thou art the Lord"s; therefore live as becometh such royal rank. Thou art the Lord"s; therefore all his stores of help are at thy command." "Greater is he that is for us than all who can be against us. D.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 1-10. Law-abiding people.
We have here a direction about writing, upon great stones in Mount Ebal, the words of the Divine Law. Whether this meant only the blessings and curses, as Josephus thinks, or an abstract of Deuteronomy, or only the ten commandments, we cannot tell. But the idea implied is similar to the writing of the Decalogue in stone; it was to render fixed the Law on which the national policy was to rest. In other words, it was a symbolic way of declaring that Israel will be a Law-abiding people. In connection with this display of the Law, there was to be an altar erected, on which burnt offerings and peace offerings were to be presented, and the people were to realize, as they had never before done, that they have "become the people of the Lord their God." The following ideas are, among others, suggested:
I THE LORD"S PEOPLE WILL GREATLY HONOR HIS LAW. All disrespect shown to the Divine Law argues superficiality both in thought and in feeling. Even suppose it were not most practical and just and good, it ought to be held in high honor as proceeding from the Lord. How much more when it is so wise and so thorough in dealing with human and national life! The great business, therefore, of getting the Law written on the rocks of Mount Ebal must have impressed its sacredness upon the people, and have constituted a standing witness of their undertaking to obey it. It was the acceptance and the publication of Divine Law as that by which, as a nation, they would abide.
II THE BURNT OFFERINGS INDICATED THEIR PERSONAL CONSECRATION TO GOD. A reference to this sacrifice will show that the idea emphasized in the burnt offering is consecration. The fire is emblematic of the sublimating influence of the Holy Spirit, by which the whole being, the entire personality, is lifted heavenward. When, then, the Israelites gathered round the altar between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and had plentiful burnt offerings presented by their priests, it was surely dedicating their persons unto God, vowing to be a holy people unto him. Just as the burnt offering comes first in Leviticus to indicate the consecrated attitude of a people redeemed from Egyptian bondage, so it comes first on their entrance into the land of promise. It was Israel asserting that they were not their own, but "bought with a price," and therefore bound to glorify God with their bodies, and their spirits, which are God"s. (1Co_6:20)
III THE PEACE OFFERINGS INDICATED FELLOWSHIP BEFORE GOD. After the burnt offerings came the peace offerings, part of which was laid on the altar, part appropriated by the priests, and the remainder the portion of the people. It was a feast of fellowship between God and his people. It was the sacrament of the land of promise. It indicated peace and unity between God and man. What a precious and interesting service it must have been! The most magnificent congregation the world ever saw, and the most impressive service! Communion is based upon unity of mind and of will on the part of the covenant-keeping God and his Law-abiding people. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv2, 9, 15 That thou shalt set up great stones.
Deu_27:2-3
That thou shalt set up great stones.
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Memorial pillars
On the boundary line between European and Siberian Russia there is a square pillar of brick bearing on one side the coat-of-arms belonging to the province of Perm in Europe, and on the other side the coat-of-arms belonging to the province of Tobolsk in Asia. That pillar has more sorrowful associations than any other pillar in the world. For many years the exiles to Siberia had to pass it, and there bade a long farewell to home and country. Strong men wept; some pressed their faces to the loved soil they were leaving, some collected a little earth to take with them to their new abodes, and some passionately kissed the European side of the pillar. The plaister on the bricks was covered with inscriptions, plaintive and pathetic as the epitaphs in a graveyard. Moses thought of pillars which were to have not a mournful, but a joyful significance. The stones were afterwards set up by the people as memorials of Gods work on their behalf. The stones were to be a perpetual memorial of indebtedness to God for rescue from slavery and guidance to prosperity and honour. The disciples of Christ have experienced a change wonderful as that experienced by the Israelites. They have passed from bondage to liberty, from darkness to light, from moral debasement to spiritual glory. They are not to boast as if by their own endeavours they had wrought out the salvation in which they rejoice, but gratefully to confess that God has made them what they are. They are themselves to be monuments of Gods power such as all can see and understand. Something more is needed from them than activity in setting up great stones as abiding witnesses of the great revolution in their life. They are to stand before the world as witnesses of Gods saving, hallowing work in the human soul. The stones the Israelites were to set up were to be plaistered, and the law written on the plaister. There was a deep significance in the words thus inscribed. The people would be reminded by them that though they were out of the wilderness they had not ceased to be under the law. The horrors of Egyptian slavery would have been better for them than luxurious life in Canaan unrestricted by Divine precepts. The written stones were an attestation of Gods supremacy over them, and as a restraint from the moral laxity to which they would be tempted when at ease amid the limpid wells and orchards green and all the other charms of the land where Abraham fed his flock of yore. The disciples of Christ are to be as pillars inscribed with the law of the Lord. They do not bear the words of the ceremonial law, nor are they under direct obligation to bear those of the social law enacted in the wilderness. It is the moral law they bear as a sacred inscription on their life. Special prominence is to be given to the two great commandments, love to God and love to man, which, according to the teaching of Jesus, include the whole of the Decalogue. Faith in Christ does not mean freedom from the law as a rule of life. Truth, honesty, amiability are as much required in members of the Church as if those qualities were the sole condition of salvation: evangelical righteousness implies practical righteousness. (J. Marrat.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.—Connect this chapter with Deu_27:16 of preceding one,…
CRITICAL NOTES.—Connect this chapter with Deu_27:16 of preceding one, where Moses concludes discourse on plains of Moab. Here he dwells on sanctions of the law and sets forth in striking detail the blessings of obedience and curses of disobedience.
Deu_27:1-4. On the day of entrance into the land, stones must be erected and the law written on them. Elders, rulers, and representatives of tribes, prominent, because they would require what was due after death of Moses. Great stones fulfilled (Jos_8:30-32). Plaister. Daubed with paint or white cement to make conspicuous. Writing not to be cut into stone and then covered with slime. All words, not the Decalogue, nor the blessings and curses following, nor the Book of Deuteronomy, but all laws revealed from God by Moses, not historical, didactic and non-legislative matter in Pentateuch, but simply its legal enactments (cf. Speak. Com.). Ebal, the place specified for stones (Deu_11:29). Now Mad-el-down.
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Deu_27:4-8. More details. Altar. None used in ordinary cases except brazen one at door of tabernacle, but on this occasion they were to renew the covenant and offer sacrifices. Stones. not covered with slime, but unhewn, according to Exo_20:25. Offer burnt offerings and peace offerings, symbolic of entire dedication and enjoyment of Divine grace.
Deu_27:8. Plainly. To read easily.
Deu_27:9-10. Heed. An appeal for attention. When the covenant was renewed and law set up in Canaan, Israel bound themselves to hearken and keep the commandments.
Deu_27:11-26. Form and manner of the solemn blessing and cursing. Tribes appointed to stand on Gerizim sprang from two wives of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. All the four tribes located on Ebal, from handmaids Zilpah and Bilhah—Reuben is added probably because he lost his primogeniture (Gen_49:4); and Zebulum, because youngest son of Leah (Speak. Com.).
Deu_27:14 Levites. Only to speak aloud, i.e., to pronounce the different formularies of blessing and cursing. In pronouncing benedictions they turned towards the multidude on Gerizim, from whom rolled back the Amen. in turning to Ebal, in distinct and solemn tone they received back the same impressive Amen in ratification of each blessing and curse.
Deu_27:15-26. Twelve curses against transgressions of the covenant. The first eleven directed against special sins, selected by way of example; the last comprehensively sum in general terms and condemns all and every offence against God’s law.—(Speak. Com.)
Deu_27:15. Image. (cf. 4, 16; Exo_20:4; Lev_26:1.) Secret place set apart as a shrine. This covers private as well as public image worship.
Deu_27:16. Light. Disregards, or lightly esteems parents (Exo_21:17; Lev_19:3).
Deu_27:17 Landmark. (cf. Deu_19:14.)
Deu_27:18 Blind. Lack of consideration for suffering (Lev_19:14). Perverteth. taketh advantage of desolation (Exo_22:21; Mal_3:5; Psa_68:5).
Deu_27:20-23. (cf. Lev_18:23; Lev_20:15.) Heinous sins springing from unlawful passions, destructive of bodily vigour and family bliss.
Deu_27:24. Secretly. To kill him (Gen_9:5).
Deu_27:25. Reward. (cf. Exo_23:7-8.) For this section cf. Jos_8:30-35.
THE MEMORIAL PILLARS.—Deu_27:1; Deu_27:4; Deu_27:9-10
Instructions are given for setting up pillars or stones, on which the law must be written. This was a common mode of publishing edicts or laws in ancient times. The design of these pillars is significant. They assert:
I. The principle on which the Land was held. “On the day,” when they had crossed Jordan, they must halt, erect great stones and remember their title deeds. The entering into the land, its conquest and permanent possession depended upon certain conditions.
1. They took possession through God’s covenant. That day they had become the people of God. He was about to give them the land which he had promised.
2. They could keep possession only through obedience to that covenant. “Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord” (Deu_27:10). The law is set up, the covenant solemnly renewed, and the national policy fixed. All progress and prosperity depend upon God. Obedience to him will give access to the land with its beauties and products, access to possession and gladness. Hearkening unto his voice we succeed in all enterprises and positions. Never forget the terms on which you enter in. Everything is given in mercy and only kept by obedience—“That thou mayest go into the land.”
II. The Perpetuity of the Divine Law. “Write all the words of this law.” The law was unchangeable, adapted to Israel in the wilderness and in Canaan, to every nation and every age. We are apt to forget it. New conditions of life efface it from our minds. It must, therefore, be preserved and perpetuated—written not on pillars and parchments, but in the heart and life. “Written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
III. The obligation to keep this Divine Law. It must ever be prominent and lifted up before us. The covenant must not simply be ratified but kept.
1. This is pressed with authority—” I command you.” Not the mere act of Moses and the elders, but the expression of God.
2. This is pressed with earnestness. “Take heed and hearken, O Israel” (Deu_27:9.) Moses, the leader, is earnest. The priests and Levites are earnest. Feeling the obligation ourselves, we must be urgent in pressing others. Delight in God’s law and passionate concern for others should ever characterise ministers and leaders. The very name and calling impose responsibility upon God’s Israel. The Lord hath avouched thee to be his peculiar people and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments (ch. Deu_26:18; Exo_19:5.)
THE STONE ALTAR.—Deu_27:5-7
An altar was set up, besides monumental stones. No tool must be used in its preparation. Burnt offerings and peace offerings were to be offered as in the covenant of Sinai, and a festive entertainment was to follow. Notice the erection and design of this altar.
I. The erection of the Altar. Patriarchs erected an altar to express gratitude to God and confess dependence upon Him.
1. The circumstances. As soon as they entered into Canaan, the stones and altar must be fixed up. Many would counsel delay. They were in a strange place, surrounded by enemies, and must prepare for defence. God is our best defence. In every new situation, enterprise, and possession God must be first. Acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy steps.
2. The material. In rough material, without the touch of an iron tool (Deu_27:5). Perhaps to indicate that God requires no help from man in making atonement for sin, no art and co-operation in setting forth his claims. Decorations in worship pre-occupy the mind, and may lead to idolatry. At any rate, nature is God’s work, pure and holy. Man, by contact, may pollute it; hence the altar for expiation of sin must be free from taint and human corruption. “Thou shalt not build it of hewn stone; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it” (Exo_20:25).
II. The design of the Altar. Burnt offerings were expiatory, signs of dedication of life and labours. Peace offerings were expressions of gratitude for benefits received, tokens of reconciliation with God. Both were offered to mark
(1) Israel’s gratitude for blessings of covenant relation;
(2) Israel’s determination to consecrate themselves wholly to God’s service (cf. Exo_24:5). In the sacrificial meal they entered into blessings of divine grace and enjoyed rital communion with God. Thus were they divinely taught and solemnly pledged by this public ceremony to carry out their sacred obligations. Sin must be expiated by sacrifice before we can have access to God. But God has made provision. In faith and obedience “thou shalt eat, and shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God.”
THE STONES AND THE ALTAR.—Deu_27:2-7
There is an intimate relation between the two, symbolic of spiritual truth—
I. The stones represent the demands of law. Stern and exalted, requiring perfect and constant obedience. Plain and adapted to man in its revelation—testifying against all disobedience. Law must exist—can never be abolished nor give life. It brings curse and condemnation.
II. Altar represents atonement for violations of law. Law has been satisfied in its demands. God has made provision for access, pardon, and peace. Without sacrifice there is no remission of sin. Law stands erect and unyielding as the pillars of stone. The altar indicates propitiation and grace. We are set free, redeemed from the curse of the law, that we may honour God in obeying it. By the stones God speaks to us; on the altar we sacrifice and speak to Him. Thus communion is real, vital, and complete.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_27:2-3; Deu_27:8. In these verses it appears that Israel set up a monument on which they must write “the words of this law.”
1. The monument itself must be very mean; only rough unhewn stones covered over; not with polished marble or alabaster, nor brass tables, but with common plaster. The word of God needs not to be set off by the art of man, nor embellished with “enticing words of man’s wisdom” (1Co_2:4; Col_2:4).
2. The inscription was to be very great. “All the words of this law.” Some say the ten commandments, others the five books of Moses, but probably only an abridgment of the book of Deuteronomy or the blessings and curses here set down (cf. Jos_8:34).—Wilson.
Deu_27:6. Altar. This atonement is introduced in the very midst of the moral law, that the people of Israel might be pointed forward to that great provision through which the breaches of that law might be forgiven, and in which strength might be found for obedience (Cumming). At all events, the stony pile was so large as to contain all the conditions of the covenant, so elevated as to be visible to the whole congreations of Israel; and the religious ceremonial performed around it on the occasion was solemn and impressive—consisting, first, of the elementary worship needed for sinful men; and, secondly, of the peace offerings, or lively social feasts that were suited to the happy people whose God was the Lord. There were thus the law which condemned and the typical expiation—the two great principles of revealed religion (Jamieson). Very plainly, Deu_27:8. Not very finely to be admired by the curious, but very plainly that he who runs may read.—Mt. Henry.
BLESSING AND CURSING.—Deu_27:11-14
The curses only given, and not the blessings. For as many as were under the law, were under the curse. It was reserved for Christ to bless, to do what the law could not do.
I. The special places. Gerizim was one pulpit and Ebal another. Their isolated position made them naturally suitable for the occasion. (cf. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine.) But their moral import is significant. One may suggest bondage, another freedom. Both set forth what nature may become, a blessing or a curse, according to its use. Creation is in sympathy with man, responds to his moral condition, and is wasted or blessed by his moral conduct. “Things take the signature of thought.”
II. The appointed agencies. On the sides of the mountains the tribes were drawn up, six on one, and six on the other side. The priests pronounced, in loud tones, blessings and curses. On Gerizim were stationed descendants of Rachel and Leah. On Ebal the posterity of the two secondary wives of Jacob, Zilpah and Bilah, with those of Rueben, who had lost his primogeniture—the children of the bondwoman and the children of the free. (Gal_4:23.) The moral of the mountains is legible enough. Men, according to training, history and position, have power to do good or evil. Their ascent on the mount of wealth, learning and success, will be a source of blessing or curse to those below them. “I will bless thee, and thou Shalt be a blessing.” (Gen_12:2.)
CURSES AND RESPONSES.—Deu_27:25-26
Previous laws had prohibited these things, but now God openly declares a curse upon offenders.
I. The curses pronounced against transgressors. Twelve in number answering to the twelve tribes of Israel. The first, against those who make graven or molten images of Jehovah, and set them up in secret, that is to say, against secret breaches of the second commandment (Exo_20:4); the second, against contempt of, or want of reverence towards parents (Exo_21:17); the third against removing boundaries (Deu_19:14); the fourth, against leading the blind astray (Lev_19:14); the fifth, against perverting the right of orphans and widows (Deu_24:17); the sixth, against incest with a mother (Deu_23:1; Lev_18:8); the seventh, against unnatural vices (Lev_18:23); the eighth and ninth, against incest with a sister or mother-in-law (Lev_18:9; Lev_18:17); the tenth, against secret murder (Exo_20:13; Num_35:16); the eleventh, against judicial murder (Exo_23:7-8); the twelfth, against the man who does not set up the words of the law to do them, who does not make it the model and standard of life and conduct. This last curse applied to every breach of law and proves that the different sins mentioned were selected by way of example and were mostly such as could be easily concealed from judicial authorities. The office of the law is shown in this last utterance, the summing up of all the rest, to have been pre-eminently to proclaim condemnation. Every conscious act of transgression subjects the sinner to the curse of God, for which none but He who has become a curse for us can possibly deliver us (Gal_3:10-13).—Keil.
II. The curses publicly ratified by the people. It is easy to understand amen to blessings, but how could the people say it to curses? They felt and acknowledged the equity of them. The response was not a mere profession of faith in the truth of the curses, but an open declaration that they were just, true and certain. Their amen was the expression of deep conviction, the approval of law which brands sin with a curse.
1. Scripture says amen.
2. Conscience says amen.
3. The universe of God says amen. “The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.” “Just and true are thy ways.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_27:11-15. A Wonderful Scene.
1. The locality. Describe the valley between Ebal and Gerizim (cf. Tristam Ld. of Isa. Bonar and Stanley).
2. The Actors, Priests, tribes and people distinctly, loudly and solemnly reciting their parts.
3. The audience. Their position, sat on sides of the mountains; attention, waiting in awful silence for the utterance. “Take heed” (Deu_27:9); response, “Amen.” What a grand assembly! What a solemn purpose and how serious one consequences!
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players
They have their exita and their entrances, etc.
Shakespeare.
Secret Sins.—Most of the sins were secret, but are brought to light by the Omniscient Judge, and receive their just desert.
1. Men outwardly moral may be addicted to secret sins.
2. God will discover these sins, pronounce sentence, execute judgment upon them. “For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of darkness, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”
Deu_27:15. Amen. A little word of big meaning.
1. An acknowledgment of the supremacy of moral law. This law is a real force, above all contingency and human control. Right and wrong are eternal verities, written in the nature of things, and can never be altered. A men, “so be it.”
2. A confession of justice in the administration of His law. God is absolutely supreme, a law to himself. Right is not independant of his will, cannot be accomplished without his providence, what he wills must be done, because right. Dr. Payson once asked if he saw any special reasons for some particular event, replied, “No! but I am as well satisfied as if I could see a thousand. God’s will is the very perfection of reason.” “Amen, so be it.”
3. A submission to the decisions of this law. These decisions may be opposed to our wishes and anticipations, but there is no injustice in the government of the world. “Amen, so be it.” “Shall even he that hateth right govern, and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?” (Job_34:17.)
IDOLATRY, OR SINS AGAINST THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.—Deu_27:15
This command against image worship in public or private, sets forth:—
I. The Spirituality of the Divine Nature. The words forbid any image o Jehovah in a material form. Other nations had images, regarded them with superstitious veneration, and were influenced by seductive practice. But God will have no likeness of him, no representation, to becloud his spiritual essence or rank him with forms of matter. Images lower the conception of Deity, tend to make him the product of human thought and ingenuity, and degrade the worshippers. “God is a spirit” entirely separate from matter. “To whom, then, will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare to him?” (Isa_40:18).
II. The Spirituality of Divine Worship. We are forbidden to worship God by graven images.
1. In material forms. This was prohibited in Rome by Numa, a Pagan prince, yet allowed by the Pope, a Christian bishop! Devotion to God must not be excited, directed and helped by pictures and crucifixes—symbols which are liable to take the place of truth symbolised and lead to sensual worship. “Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods.”
2. In fanciful forms. Worship is often will-worship (Col_2:23). We fancy a God, cut and carve one like ourselves in our evil imaginations. Our worship is governed by the power of imagination, not the power of faith. “We are the offspring of God,” our life is the breath of the highest life, and our moral nature makes us kin with Him. “We ought not to think that the godhead is like unto gold, Or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (Act_17:29).
FILIAL DISHONOUR.—Deu_27:16
This sin is against the fifth commandment. Obedience to God first, then respect for parental authority, which represents God.
I. What these words imply. First, lack of true affection. Then irreverence, disobedience, and defiance. If there be no love, no right feeling, children will soon dishonour and reproach their parents. It is more than uncharitable, uncivil or unjust, to withhold from them what is due. “In thee have they set light by father and mother.” The instincts of nature, the demands of conscience, and the word of God, require honour to father and mother.
II. What these words require. Gratitude for existence, sustenance, and education. Love, trust, and filial fear. Submission to rebuke, instruction, and correction. Endeavouring to be comfort and support in time of need. Never to despise and mock our parents. “He that curseth father and mother, let him die the death.” The poet Cowper expressed true feeling when presented by his cousin with a portrait of his mother. “I had rather possess that picture than the richest jewel in the British crown; for I loved her with an affection that her death, fifty-two years since, has not in the least abated.”
MEN OF INJUSTICE.—Deu_27:17-19
Three forms of cruelty and injustice are here given—
I. An unjust neighbour (Deu_27:17). Removal of landmarks a secret way of injuring a neighbour and breaking the law of love—disregard to his will and property. An act springing from selfishness, pride, a spirit of oppression and covetousness. Disregarding the authority, and confusing the heritage God gave to families. An old form of dishonesty, robbing your neighbour to increase your own lands; tempting flocks and herds out of other folds into your own. “Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set” (Pro_22:28).
II. An unjust counsellor (Deu_27:18). It is specially cruel to impose upon the ignorant and defenceless—to misdirect the blind or cause them to stumble by treachery, deceit, and wrong advice. To help the deaf and blind has always been considered an act of benevolence. Job “was eyes to the blind” (Deu_29:15). Tenderness is enjoined by the apostle—“That no man put a stumbling block, or occasion to fall in his brother’s way” (Rom_14:13). The deaf and blind may be unable to detect the offender and bring him to an earthly tribunal, but God hears when the human ear is deaf, and sees when the human eye is dark. “Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander.”
III. An unjust judge. Widows and orphans have lost protectors. No advantage should be taken of their poor and helpless condition. Justice should be done to the stranger, ignorant of our laws and customs—to the widow, too poor and weak to secure legal advice. Judgment must never be perverted by bribes to judges, by sophistry of advocates, and by evidence false and manufactured. “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation” (Psa_68:5).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_27:15. Images.
1. Men eject God from heart and mind.
2. Make, set up, worship and keep rivals or antagonists.
3. This command, forbidding all false gods, would bring man into right attitude with God. Craftsman. A profession sinful, degrading and dangerous.
Deu_27:16. Setteth light. Notice the close relation between reverence to God and reverence to parents. Cursing a parent was punished as blasphemy against God (Lev_20:9). Unnatural despisers of parents in many ways; resistance to authority—contempt of reproof, denying obligation—needless exposure to sin. Every village bears testimony to this crying sin. Solon asked why he made no law against parricides, replied that he could not conceive of anyone so impious and cruel. God knows man better. The heart is capable of wickedness beyond the imagination of the heathen sage. Cursed. Absalom self-willed and rebellious against his father, made a reproach before the people (2Sa_18:9-17). Confessions on scaffold that the first step was contempt of parental authority and restraint. If not literal fulfilment, often retributive judgment late, but certain, in dis-appointed hope, poignant anguish and corrections from their own sins (Jer_2:19).
Deu_27:17. Landmark.
1. Every man has certain rights—political, social and religious.
2. These rights should be respected—not to be removed. They are sacred and inalienable. We have plenty of liberty in our own sphere without encroaching upon the rights and in the boundary of others.
3. Violation of these rights, sinful and risky. Intense selfishness—social injustice—disregard of divine order and will bring a curse. “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark.”
Deu_27:17-19. Principles of humanity.
1. Respect for rights of property (Deu_27:17).
2. Tender regard for the unfortunate (Deu_27:18).
3. Justice administered to the helpless (Deu_27:19).
SINS OF UNCLEANNESS.—Deu_27:20-23
Sins which spring from lust destroy the sacredness of the human body and dissolve family relationships. Learn—
I. That men have a tendency to commit great sins. Judgment is perverted, the heart alienated, and the power of evil habits drives men deeper into self-corruption. The blackest crimes have disgraced humanity—incest, adultery, robbery, fratricide, and murder. Pride has been in active conflict with personal and social liberty. Covetousness has dried up the wealth of provinces and the sources of enterprise. Sensuality has wasted the strength and manhood of the people. “Pleasure has mounted the throne and shame departed from the heart.” Paul’s terrible indictment (Rom_1:16-32) is not more severe than that of Tacitus and Seneca—“All things are full of crimes and vices.”
II. That this tendency has existed in all ages. It is not the birth of modern civilization, but old as human nature itself. In Jewish and Gentile world, in corrupt and enlightened ages man is the same the world over. The principles that prompted to these crimes are alive and at work in every unregenerate heart in the present day. Moral corruption invariably follows religious debasement. “For this cause God gave them up unto vile (shameless) affections (passions); for even their women (who lost modesty, a priceless jewel) did change the natural use into that which is against nature,” &c. (Rom_1:26-27).
III. That God seeks to preserve men from great sins. By His word. with its fearful warnings, threatenings, and promises. By His spirit. enlightening the mind, discovering dangers, renewing the disposition and destroying the tendency to evil. By His providence, in putting barriers in the way, checks to prevent crime; and by His grace. to form and strengthen habits and efforts the very opposite. Sins of the deepest stain, and the most inveterate strength may be overcome. “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.”
MURDER.—Deu_27:24-25
Two kinds of murder are here mentioned, secret murder and judicial or murder under colour of law.
I. Murder is an offence to God. It may be secret and undiscovered, but the curse of God rests upon it. If bribed or hired to convict and condemn the innocent; then it makes the ordinance of God to patronise villany and shame (1Ti_1:9.) Man is “made in the image of God.” Not simply life, but the man himself is sacred and divinely guarded. To destroy the work is to dishonour the workman. “Thou shalt not kill.”
II. Murder is an injury to society. Men owe duties to one another as well as to God. Respect for life is one of the first duties. Murder destroys the security of life, defeats the primary object of human government, brings disgrace to the murderer and entails suffering upon the murdered and his relations. Society is outraged by the crime, and its welfare demands the punishment of the criminal. “He that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.”
THE DEMANDS OF GOD’S LAW.—Deu_27:26
In general terms this verse sums up all offences against the law. In itself and in its connection it is instructive, not subordinate truth, ornamental and non-essential. Reference is made to it in the New Testament, as a vital fundamental truth, lying at the roots of the Gospel, and setting forth the permanency of moral obligation.
I. God’s Law is the standard of duty. It legislates for individuals and nations in all relations of life; it comprehends every duty, and touches every act. I. Divine in origin. Not of human invention. No mere conventional rules made by civil governors, by priestcraft, and by philosophers. Not as the edict of a master mind did Moses publish the law, but as the distinct utterance of God Himself. “The Lord talked with them from the heavens, and God spake all the words of this law.”
2. Spiritual in nature. The law is spiritual, originating from the spirit of God and appealing to the spirit of man. It relates not merely to outward acts, to parental discipline, social custom, and civil government, but to “the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It demands right feelings and right thoughts. Christ tells us that it is heart-life which determines our guilt or innocence in the sight of God (Mat_5:21; Mat_5:28).
3. Clear in its demands. Spoken distinctly, and appealing to the senses at Sinai (Exo_19:16). Written plainly on the pillars (Deu_27:8), and now printed for us. We cannot plead ignorance nor mistake; we cannot con plain of uncertainty and want of light to guide us in worship and the discharge of duty. The law is high as the summit, loud as the thunders, and bright as the flames of the mount on which it was given. It is holy, just, and true.
II. Obedience to God’s Law must be perfect. It requires us not only to abstain from wrong, but to do that which is right.
1. Perfect in extent. “All the words of this law.” There must be no choice, no omission, no extenuation. Actual breach of one involves neglect and contempt of all. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point (one commandment), he is guilty of all, i.e., becomes liable to condemnation under indictment which includes all particular commandments of the law (Jas_1:10.)
2. Perfect in duration. There must be a confirmation, a continuation in every act of life. For under the covenant of works to break down only one moment, even the last, is to be lost. “Obey my voice and do them, according to that which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God” (Jer_11:4).
III. Imperfect obedience to God’s law will bring a curse. Who has given or can give perfect obedience in every thought, word and deed? The blot of a single sin on a character pure as that of an angel would seal our doom. “Do and live” is the voice of law, “but the soul that sinneth shall die.” No middle sentence between these two and not a whisper of mercy. “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Every mouth is stopped before God. All are guilty and exposed. We must either continue in misery, bear the curse, or appeal from law to gospel. It is terrible to be cursed by men, but to be cursed by God, who never errs in judgment, nor ceases to warn—what must this be! But “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” “There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Deu_27:19.
1. A dependent class, objects of pity. “The stranger, fatherless, and widow.”
2. Advantage is often taken of this class. This law is repeated, indicating strong inclination among the Hebrews to ill use strangers, and anxious desire in the legislator to check it. The same tendency discovered in modern days.
Deu_27:20 to Deu_23:1. Abominable crimes. Common in Canaan and Egypt, to the last degree of unnatural mixture. Condition of Sodom, and passages in Pauline epistles, confirm the corruptions of the heathen world.
2. Awful consequences if not checked. (a) Men demoralised by lust and bestiality. (b) Laws of consanguinity violated by illicit intercourse and incestuous marriage. (c) Social retribution follows. Land unproductive by sloth, luxury and effeminacy of the people. The country an easy prey to the foreigner (Persia, Turkey). (d) The anger of God displayed. God curses such crimes by nature, providence, and conscience.
Many a crime deem’d innocent on earth
Is registered in heav’n, and these, no doubt, with a curse annex’d.
Man may dismiss compassion from his heart,
But God will never.
—Cowper.
Deu_27:26. From this we see that every precept of the holy law is equally obligatory, and that he that is guilty of a breach of one is guilty, not merely of breaking an individual law, but of insurrection and rebellion against the Great Author and Inspirer of the law—the Lord God of Israel. We thus learn that the breach of one precept is regarded by God as an impeachment of His jurisdiction and authority as King and Lord. View sin then not lightly, not as a mere breach of an isolated law, but as insurrection against the Great Law giver himself. This truth also disposes of the principle of the Pharisee, that excessive and scrupulous attention to one law was an atonement for daily disobedience to another. The more we study the law, the more searching, inquisitive and comprehensive we find it. What a solemn truth, that all born into the world are born in the eclipse, by nature under the curse. “By deeds of law no flesh shall be justified.” If you feel convinced of sin, condemned in your heart, flee to Christ. For what the law could not do, that God hath done in his son, etc.—Dr. Cumming.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 27
Deu_27:2-4. Write. Stones and even rocks are seen in Egypt and the peninsula of Sinai, containing inscriptions made 3000 years ago, in paint or plaster, of which, owing to the serenity of the climate, the coating is as firm and the colouring as fresh as if it had been put yesterday.—(Jamieson.) I have seen numerous inscriptions of this kind of writing more than 2000 years old, and still as distinct as when it was first inscribed on the plaster.—Thomson Ld. and Bk.
Deu_27:9-10. Heed. God esteems our actions and works, not according to the greatness or exactness of the performance, but according to the sincerity and truth of our hearts in doing them (J. Meade). Child-like obedience moves towards every command of God, as the needle points the way the loadstone draws. If God calls to duties which are cross to flesh and blood, if we are children, we obey our Father.—Watson.
Deu_27:15. Image. Yet man—this glorious creature—can debase His spirit down to worship wood and stone, and hold the very beasts which bear his yoke and tremble at his eye for sacred things.—Landon.
Deu_27:16. Father. It is certain, whatever can be signified by fear and honour and reverence, is the duty of children—that is, so far as to think honourably of parents—to speak well of them, to conceal their faults, to excuse them to others, and to comport themselves with reverence and great regard before them. Grieve them in nothing; this is the sweet measure.—J. Taylor.
Deu_27:17. Removeth. Covetousness debaseth a man’s spirit.—Archbishop Tillotson.
“Desire of having is the sin of covetousness
—Shakespeare.
Deu_27:18. Wander. Deceit is only a game played by small minds.—(Corneille). Cursed. It is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.—Fontaine.
Deu_27:19. Judgment. I mistrust the judgment of every man in a case in which his own wishes are concerned.—Wellington.
Deu_27:20-23. Evil passions and lusts. “If I had but character,” said Mirabeau, “if I had but been a good man, if I had not degraded my life by sensuality, and my youth by evil passions, I could have saved France.”—Farrar.
“Passion is the drunkenness of the mind.”
—Spencer.
Deu_27:24-25. Slay.
“Murder may pass unpunish’d for a time.”
But tardy justice will o’ertake the crime.
Dryden.
Deu_27:26. Law. The main strength and force of a law consists in the penalty annexed to it.—(Blackstone). Hard and imperious law has not a word of encouragement for the sinner, not a grain of sympathy, not an atom of help—nothing but an awful threat of judgment and fiery vengeance on his failure. President Garfield truly said “Coercion is the basis of all law. A law is no law without coercion.”—T. Griffith.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Subdivision 3. (Deu 27:1-26; Deu 28:1-68; Deu 29:1-29; Deu…
Subdivision 3. (Deu 27:1-26; Deu 28:1-68; Deu 29:1-29; Deu 30:1-20.)
The rewards and penalties which actualize the law as such.
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The law being thus ended, we have now in the next four chapters the rewards and penalties which are its sanctions, -by which it becomes actualized as law. And there are here three sections: —
1. (Deu 27:1-26.) First, the perpetuity of the law under which they place themselves, and its power and promise are plainly signified by the monument upon Ebal.
2. (Deu 28:1-68.) Secondly, the blessing and the curse are put before them in emphatic contrast, declared by the Word of One that will not lie.
3. (Deu 29:1-29; Deu 30:1-20.) In the third and concluding section we have the recapitulation of the covenant before the Lord, looking on to the predicted restoration of the people in the time to come.
1. The first section is of great significance. It is one of many proofs that not isolated passages, but the whole word here is prophetic, the things that happened unto Israel happened unto them for types. How much was here for faith in a humble and convicted soul to lay to heart, and in which to find most serious, in the end most blessed, lessons! Even if none learned them, there was no less in all of it God’s faithfulness, -His witness to Himself, and which now for us ought to be without a cloud upon it.
(1) They are commanded, when they shall have passed over Jordan into the land, to set up great stones on Mount Ebal, plaster them with lime or gypsum, and write upon them all the words of the law. There also they were to build an altar of unhewn stones, and offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon it, and eat and rejoice before God.
Mount Ebal, as we already know, and as is again directly stated, is the mountain upon which the curses of the law were to be proclaimed, as upon Mount Gerizim the blessings. How significant of the true power of the law, that it was to stand there permanently identified with the curse and not with the blessing! "As many as are of the works of law are under the curse," is here the language of the law itself. The Samaritans long afterward strove to reverse this sentence, and their copy of the Pentateuch puts Gerizim here in place of Ebal. Upon Gerizim their schismatic temple stood, a type and prophecy of much legal worship since. But the Old Testament unites in this its witness with the New; and the spiritual Samaritan is still at schism with the law, and a rebel against its sentence. The power of the law is thus lost, for its true power is to destroy self-righteousness, and humble men to the gospel.
But side by side with this monument of the law therefore, as if God would not have this connection even then mistaken, they were to build their altar and offer their burnt-offerings and their peace-offerings, and on the dreaded mount itself rejoice before God. They could do so, for this worship was sanctified by the law, the righteousness of the law being maintained by the death of the victim. This for faith completes the testimony.
(2) Gerizim and Ebal lay opposite to one another, -the mount of blessing to the south, the mount of cursing to the north, in the middle of the land of Canaan. Ebal, it is said, overtops Gerizim by about a hundred feet, and is the steeper and more barren of the two. Gesenius takes it to mean "stripped of foliage;" while Gerizim also approaches this in meaning, being given as signifying "dwellers in a shorn land." Between them in the valley lies Shechem, "shoulder," -the place of obedience (Gen 12:6, n.), and where Jacob gets so thoroughly tested. (Gen 33:18.) All this is easily suggestive. The tribes are to stand half on the one mount, half on the other, -not to utter, but to confirm for themselves the blessing and the curse: for the blessing, the children of Leah, and Rachel for the curse, those of the bondmaids, with Reuben, the displaced first-born, and Zebulon, Leah’s youngest son. But in fact, as all commentators notice, the blessings here are significantly never uttered. The law, as witnessed for the second time, is potent only for curse: and under this shadow Israel enter the land. That all this happened unto them for types, who can rightly question?
"As the whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, so also the inward peculiar nature of the examples selected. Gross transgressions incur the penalty, but the more secret and refined meet with the curse, in order to show that God will in any case visit such sinners, and to instill into the hypocrite a terror of his works of darkness.’" (Schröder, Von Gerlach.)
2. The blessing and the curse are now taken up by Moses, and spread out before the people’s eyes, especially the curse, which has had long, sad fulfillment for many generations, and needed thus to be set before them for their conviction and turning to God when overtaken by it. It was thus already a prophecy of what the legal covenant would bear as fruit; and it is God’s love to His people that speaks in these terrible denunciations, yet insufficient to turn back the unbelieving generation from the path of ruin. So is it with all the sorrow and evil of life, which God, alas, must so much dwell upon for us because souls are so largely born to Him in sorrow, and by night we see farthest into heaven. The blessing occupies but fourteen verses; the curse, fifty-four. It would carry us much beyond our limits to go into the details. As with him who is at peace with God all things are at peace, so, on the other hand, with the enemies of God, all things are hostile really; not the least so when there is the most fair-seeming prosperity, and gentle breezes and calm skies lure the ship on to destruction.
3. We have now the recapitulation of the covenant, the people standing, as Moses warns them before God, a covenant far-reaching in its effects upon the generations to come; fruitful of blessing, if there were only a heart to respond to Him who had drawn near to them, and who would fain have drawn them near to Himself. but in their condition could not. For this, therefore, and that He may have this witness to Himself, they are pointed forward to a future day.
(1) Once more the goodness of the Lord is brought before them as the incentive to obedience. From Egypt onward they had had abundant proofs of His power, as displayed against their enemies, and in tenderness toward themselves. Their clothes had not waxen old, nor the shoes upon their feet: for us the easily read types of better things. Already also they were in possession of part of their inheritance, the pledge of what was still to come. With the knowledge of all this, they stood that day before the Lord to renew their covenant, the whole people, for themselves and for the generations yet to come.
(2) If they turned aside from Him, God’s threatenings would be as faithful as His promises. They had seen the abominations of the heathen, and could thus realize the wickedness which had brought down God’s judgment. Let them not awaken it, then, against themselves by following in their steps; otherwise their own posterity and the stranger from a far country should see in the desolation of the land the manifest anger of the Lord against them for sins as manifest; and they would be rooted out of it.
(3) And all these things would, in fact, come upon them, both the blessing and the curse. It would be as scattered among the nations, that their hearts would finally return to God, in whole-hearted obedience. Then He would have compassion on them, and gather as He had scattered them. He would circumcise their hearts, and that of their seed (the nation in continuance), so that they should love the Lord their God whole-heartedly and live indeed. Then would the blessing be for themselves, the curses only for their enemies; and He would rejoice over them for good, as He had rejoiced in their past deliverance. But this is of course grace, not law; and the grace of God cannot lack ability to display itself where the heart thus turns to God.
(4) Meanwhile, in the law itself was the test for them, a plain thing, not hidden, speaking not from afar off, but very nigh, in the heart and in the mouth. The heart might refuse it, the mouth even disown it; yet, in fact, God had made all as simple as possible, and been as tender to man’s infirmity as He could. Only man himself was to blame, if evil came. It was here indeed that man’s state was fully made known. The test was not useless, but did its work well; and the law was holy and just and good; but it is Christ that is the "end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
(5) Thus the way and the end on both sides had been put before them; and with one more solemn appeal to "choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live," the exposition of the law comes to an end.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Ceremonies to be observed on reaching Canaan
Ceremonies to be observed on reaching Canaan
This chapter has probably been misplaced, as it seems to break the connexion between Deuteronomy 26 and Deuteronomy 28. It ordains four ceremonies to be observed after the people have entered Canaan: the Law to be written on stones on Mt. Ebal: an altar to be erected there: the covenant ratified on Ebal and Gerizim: and twelve curses pronounced by the Levites.
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1. Elders] Elsewhere the elders are addressed along with the people. Here they are associated with Moses in exhorting the people to obedience.
2, 3. The plaster was intended to make a smooth surface, on which the inscription may have been painted in accordance with the Egyptian custom. Or the writing may have been impressed on the clay when it was soft and the clay afterwards dried or baked in the sun, like the tablets and cylinders of Babylonia. On the fulfilment of the injunction given here see Jos_8:30-35 and on Deu_11:29, Deu_11:30.
5. Cp. Exo_20:24-25 and notes there.
9, 10. The Levites are addressed here because it was their duty to pronounce the blessings and the curses, to which the people responded with 'Amen.'
11-13. On Ebal and Gerizim see Deu_11:29, Deu_11:30. It need not be supposed that six tribes spoke the blessings from the top of Gerizim and the other six the curses from the top of Ebal. According to the Jewish writers the priests and Levites stood in the valley between the two heights and spoke both the blessings and the curses from there (see Deu_27:14), and all the people answered with a loud Amen. The valley between the hills is not more than 60 rods wide at the eastern end, and all travellers in Palestine remark upon the wonderful distance at which sounds are audible, on account of the unusual clearness of the air. Our Lord frequently spoke to large multitudes in the open air.
12. To bless] The words of the blessings are not given but may be inferred from the nature of the curses: cp. Deu_11:26-32.
15. Cursed be the man] There is no verb in the Hebrew, and it might be more correct to say 'cursed is the man.' The words are a declaration of fact rather than an imprecation. The seeming harshness of many expressions in the Psalms e.g. may be exprained in this way. The speaker does not always utter his own wish, but declares the inevitable result in God's righteous government of a certain line of conduct. In a secret place] cp. Deu_13:7. It is seldom that sin is bold enough to show its head, at least in its beginning. But 'the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.'
18. To take advantage of a neighbour's ignorance or credulity is sin: cp. Lev_19:14.
26. Cp. Gal_3:26. As no mere man is able perfectly to keep the whole law, St. Paul argues that part at least of the purpose of the Mosaic Law was to teach men to despair of obtaining righteousness 'by the works of the law,' and to drive them, as it were, to seek a righteousness imputed by God on condition of faith: see Rom_3:19-31; Rom_4:9-25; Gal_3:19-24.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 23. The Memorial of the Law at Mount Ebal;…
23. The Memorial of the Law at Mount Ebal; Gerizim and Ebal
CHAPTER 27
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1. The memorial to be set up in the land (Deu 27:1-8)
2. Gerizim and Ebal (Deu 27:9-26)
Little comment is needed on this chapter. The memorial stones were to be set up on Mount Ebal. Upon that mountain the curses of the law were to be uttered. The blessings were to be pronounced upon Mount Gerizim. However, on Gerizim were no stones with the law written upon it. How strikingly this illustrates the true ministration of the law! It cannot give blessing, but it must curse man. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal 3:10). Then the tribes are divided to stand upon Gerizim to bless and upon Ebal to curse. But where are there words of blessing in connection with Gerizim? Not one. The law cannot give blessing. But the word “cursed” we find twelve times in this chapter. What a confirmation that the law holds out no blessing for man, but can do nothing but curse. But, blessed be God! upon Mount Ebal there stood not alone the great stones with plaster, with the words of the law upon them, but there was also an altar unto Jehovah, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, for rejoicing before the Lord. And this speaks of Christ, who has redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 The Stone Monument
The Stone Monument
v. 1. And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day, namely, that which now follows.
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v. 2. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster, to prepare them for the inscription which they were to receive, for the stones were apparently of great size, and a number of them could well receive the inscription intended for them;
v. 3. and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this Law, as the public confession of the children of Israel and as the norm of its entire life, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. The purpose of the command was realized by inscribing at least the Ten Commandments, as the nucleus of the entire Mosaic Law, but it is probable that all the regulations of the Ceremonial Law were included. If Israel would keep this Law, then the people were to have the Land of Promise for a lasting possession.
v. 4. Therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, in the approximate center of the land, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster, either with gypsum or with lime.
v. 5. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord, thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them, the stones were to be neither plastered nor hewn, Exo 20:22.
v. 6. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord, thy God, of whole stones; and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, thy God, as expressing the entire and undivided devotion of Israel to Jehovah;
v. 7. and thou shalt offer peace-offerings, expressing the enjoyment of the fellowship with Jehovah and the confidence of salvation in Him, and shalt eat there, celebrate a sacrificial meal, and rejoice before the Lord, thy God.
v. 8. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this Law very plainly, as a constant reminder to all the members of the nation. As the individual dwellings, so the whole land was to be holy to God, as a sanctuary of heavenly truth.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 General Information:
General Information:
Moses speaks to the Israelites as if they were one man, so except where noted, the words "you" and "your" here are singular. (See: Forms of You)
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command you today ... you will pass
Moses is speaking to the Israelites as a group, so both instances of the word "you" are plural. (See: Forms of You)
I command
Here "I" refers to Moses. The elders are there in agreement with Moses, but he is the only one speaking.
plaster them with plaster
Plaster is usually a mixture of lime, sand, and water that is spread on something. It dries to form a hard, smooth surface on which a person can write. AT: "spread plaster on them" or "make them so you can write on them" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
a land flowing with milk and honey
This is an idiom. See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 6:3. AT: "a land where plenty of milk and honey flow" or "a land that is excellent for cattle and farming" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Moses
elder
Israel
command
people group
command
Jordan River
Yahweh
God
law
honey
promise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22 27:3 this whole body of instruction (literally all the…
27:3 this whole body of instruction (literally all the words of this torah): This phrase could refer to the entire book of Deuteronomy, but considering the small surface (27:2) on which the text was to be inscribed, it probably just refers to the Ten Commandments.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.