Deuteronomy 27:1 ¶ And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. 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: 3 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. 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, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. 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. 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: 7 And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the LORD thy God. 8 And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. 9 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. 10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.
Although we don’t have this monument today as this was erected
over 3,000 years ago and we would not expect it to last this long it is
remarkable that this was done.
Deuteronomy 27:11 ¶ And
Moses charged the people the same day, saying, 12 These 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: 13
And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher,
and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And
the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
15 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 it in a secret place. And all
the people shall answer and say, Amen. 16
Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And
all the people shall say, Amen. 17
Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the
people shall say, Amen. 18 Cursed be
he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall
say, Amen. 19 Cursed be he that
perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the
people shall say, Amen. 20 Cursed be
he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his father’s skirt.
And all the people shall say, Amen. 21
Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the
people shall say, Amen. 22 Cursed be
he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of
his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 23 Cursed be he that lieth with his
mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen. 24 Cursed be he that smiteth his
neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen. 25 Cursed be he that taketh reward to
slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. 26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all
the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.
One of the things I wanted to comment on was verse 16. Please note
the following verses;
Proverbs 30:17 The eye that
mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the
valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
Leviticus 20:9 For every
one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath
cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
We can imagine that one’s heritage would not be secure if one’s
landmarks were moved. Rights of property in all of the ancient world, including
the heathen world, flowed from religion and landmarks were sacred.[1]
This is not, therefore, a new rule but one of God’s standards that He was
reaffirming here. I’ve already discussed how God must have imposed His
standards on man at the beginning but they were lost or corrupted over time by
man’s rebellion and the giving of the Law to Moses may have been reestablishing
what was already apparent in laws and codes in the ancient world, but imperfect
and fouled by rebellion and idolatry.
Finally, for this passage, here is confirmed several admonitions
that God does not want the Israelites to do and these things may have been
fairly common among the people of the land they were to take so all of these
commands give us a very good idea of the customs of the ancient Palestine.
[1]
Numa Denis Fustel De Coulanges, The
Ancient City: A Study of the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and
Rome (1864, repr. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2006), Kindle edition,
pg 68.
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