Reflections on Deuteronomy 27

Deuteronomy 27 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Moses stood together with the leaders and told the people of Israel: Obey all the laws and teachings that I am giving you today.
   
2. Soon you will enter the land that the LORD your God is giving to you. He is the God your ancestors worshiped, and he has promised that this land is rich with milk and honey. After you cross the Jordan River, go to Mount Ebal. Set up large slabs of stone, then cover them with white plaster and write on them a copy of these laws.
   
3. (SEE 27:2)
   
4. (SEE 27:2)
   
5. At this same place, build an altar for offering sacrifices to the LORD your God. But don't use stones that have been cut with iron tools.
   
6. Look for stones that can be used without being cut. Then offer sacrifices to please the LORD, burning them completely on the altar.
   
7. Next, offer sacrifices to ask the LORD's blessing, and serve the meat at a sacred meal where you will celebrate in honor of the LORD.
   
8. Don't forget to write out a copy of these laws on the stone slabs that you are going to set up. Make sure that the writing is easy to read.
   
9. Moses stood together with the priests and said, "Israel, be quiet and listen to me! Today you have become the people of the LORD your God.
   
10. So you must obey his laws and teachings that I am giving you."
    
11. That same day, Moses gave them the following instructions:
    
12. After you cross the Jordan River, you will go to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. The tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin will go up on Mount Gerizim, where they will bless the people of Israel. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali will go up on Mount Ebal where they will agree to the curses.
    
13. (SEE 27:12)
    
14. The people of the Levi tribe will speak each curse in a loud voice, then the rest of the people will agree to that curse by saying, "Amen!" Here are the curses: We ask the LORD to put a curse on anyone who makes an idol or worships idols, even secretly. The LORD is disgusted with idols. We ask the LORD to put a curse on all who do not show respect for their father and mother. We ask the LORD to put a curse on anyone who moves the rocks that mark property lines. We ask the LORD to put a curse on anyone who tells blind people to go the wrong way. We ask the LORD to put a curse on anyone who keeps the poor from getting justice, whether these poor are foreigners, widows, or orphans. We ask the LORD to put a curse on any man who sleeps with his father's wife; that man has shown no respect for his father's marriage. We ask the LORD to put a curse on anyone who has sex with an animal. We ask the LORD to put a curse on any man who sleeps with his sister or his half sister or his mother-in-law. We ask the LORD to put a curse on anyone who commits murder, even when there are no witnesses to the crime. We ask the LORD to put a curse on anyone who accepts money to murder an innocent victim. We ask the LORD to put a curse on anyone who refuses to obey his laws. And so, to each of these curses, the people will answer, "Amen!"
    
15. (SEE 27:14)
    
16. (SEE 27:14)
    
17. (SEE 27:14)
    
18. (SEE 27:14)
    
19. (SEE 27:14)
    
20. (SEE 27:14)
    
21. (SEE 27:14)
    
22. (SEE 27:14)
    
23. (SEE 27:14)
    
24. (SEE 27:14)
    
25. (SEE 27:14)
    
26. (SEE 27:14)
    

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    Moses completed delivery of the ordinances of the law in chapter 26 and in this chapter gives directions for a covenant renewal ceremony Israel was to observe after they entered the Promised Land. Two primary observances are described: the erecting of a stone monument which was also to serve as an altar, and a ceremony in which the blessings and curses in keeping the law were to be recited antiphonally.
    
    Concerning the monument, Moses instructed them to construct it on Mount Ebal using uncut stones, to cover it with plaster, and to write on it, "all the words of this law." (27:8) Mount Ebal is about 35 miles north of Jerusalem and the city of Shechem was located at its base. Shechem was where Abraham built his first altar to the Lord giving added significance to this observance by Israel. This monument and altar was constructed following Israel's second battle in the Promised Land in which they defeated the people of Ai.
    
    The reciting of blessings and curses was also to take place at Mount Ebal with half the Israelites standing on Mount Ebal delivering the curses and half on nearby Mount Gerizim delivering the blessings. The priests were to stand in the valley between these mountains and direct the recitation. This ceremony took place in conjunction with the construction of the monument to the covenant at Mount Ebal following the battle at Ai. This passage in chapter 27 gives just the curses and is only a representative list.
    
    The Apostle Paul referenced this passage in Deuteronomy in his letter to the Galatians when he said: "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law.  Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith."  (Gal 3:10-11)  Though our human inclination, our default system, is to gain God's salvation through our own efforts of keeping some system of rules, the Israelites were a living demonstration that it is not possible. In our own effort it is not possible to keep any set of rules, and as soon as we break one rule the cause is lost. We are totally at God's mercy for His salvation and for deliverance from the law or any system of rules. But God, in His mercy, made this possible for us through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, who served as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sin.