CONTEXT
Part
5: Ch.26-30 Preparing to Enter Commitment Issues
Ch.
26 – First-Fruits, Tithes
& Covenant
Ch.
27
– Ceremonies of Blessing & Cursing
Ch.28
– The Blessings & Curses
Ch.29
– Renewal of the Covenant
Ch.30
– Choices
for Now & the Future
FRAMEWORKS:
Deuteronomy 27: Ceremonies of Blessing
& Cursing
v.1-8
Instructions to Build the Altar on Mount Ebal
v.9-13
The Tribes to Declare Blessings & Curses
v.14-26
Those who will be Cursed
v.1-8
Instructions to Build the Altar on Mount Ebal
v.1
Moses
and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these
commands that I give you today.
v.2 When
you have crossed the Jordan
into the land the Lord
your God is
giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster.
v.3
Write
on them all the words of this law when you have crossed
over to enter the land the Lord
your God is
giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord,
the God of your ancestors, promised you.
v.4 And
when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on
Mount Ebal, [in the centre
of the Land] as I command you
today, and coat them with plaster.
v.5
Build
there an altar to the Lord
your God,
an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them.
v.6
Build
the altar of the Lord
your God with
fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it
to the Lord
your God.
v.7
Sacrifice
fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing
in the presence of the Lord your God.
v.8
And
you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these
stones you have set up.”
[Notes:
As soon as they actually enter the Land, they are to
set up large stones which they are to plaster and then write the
Law on [a common practice in those times]. They are also to do
this and build an altar on Mount Ebal but as this mountain is
some way into the Land, it will no doubt take a while to get that
far. It suggests this is going to be a place of a significant
ritual that is part of them recommitting themselves to the Lord
in the Land.]
v.9-13
The Tribes to Declare Blessings & Curses
v.9
Then
Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent,
Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord
your God.
v.10
Obey
the Lord
your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”
v.11
On
the same day Moses commanded the people:
v.12
When
you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand
on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi,
Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin.
v.13
And
these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce
curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
[Notes:
As an extension of the above, six of the tribes are
to stand on Mount Ebal and declare God's blessings over the Land
while the other six stand on Mount Gerizim, a little further south
and declares God's curses over the Land. The reasons
for the curses follow in this chapter and then the nature
of the blessings and the curses in the following chapter.]
v.14-26
Those who will be Cursed
v.14
The
Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:
v.15
“Cursed
is anyone who makes an idol —a
thing detestable to the Lord
, the work
of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.16
“Cursed
is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.17
“Cursed
is anyone who moves their neighbor's boundary stone.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.18
“Cursed
is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.19
“Cursed
is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner,
the fatherless or the widow.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.20
“Cursed
is anyone who sleeps with his father's wife,
for he dishonors his father's bed.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.21 “Cursed
is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.22 “Cursed
is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter
of his father or the daughter of his mother.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.23
“Cursed
is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.24
“Cursed
is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.25
“Cursed
is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
v.26
“Cursed
is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by
carrying them out.”
Then
all the people shall say, “Amen!”
[Notes:
Little comment needs to be made. The reasons for curses
being imposed by God are a variety of specified sins.]