Deuteronomy 27 – Stones of Witness

A. The special altar on Mount Ebal.

1. (1-8) The command to set up a special altar.

Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: “Keep all the commandments which I command you today. And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the LORD God of your fathers promised you. Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of the LORD your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God. And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.”

a. Keep all the commandments which I command you today: This begins the third sermon Moses gave to Israel recorded in Deuteronomy. These were preached shortly before Israel would cross the Jordan and enter Canaan under Joshua’s leadership.

· The first sermon (Deuteronomy 1:1-4:43) emphasized history – what God had done for Israel in bringing them out of Egypt to the threshold of Canaan.

· The second sermon (Deuteronomy 4:44-26:19) emphasized law – God’s commands to Israel for life in the Promised Land.

· The third sermon (Deuteronomy 27:1-33:29) emphasized covenant – God’s covenant with Israel, established at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24) and here renewed on the plains of Moab.

i. With the elders of Israel: “Not Moses alone, but Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people. Nowhere else in Deuteronomy are the elders associated with Moses as spokesmen to the people.” (Kalland)

b. There you shall build an altar: When Israel came into the Promised Land, they were to build a special altar on Mount Ebal. It was to be made of natural stone, with no iron tool used to carve the stones. With these whole stones making up the altar, they were also to write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.

i. “Such stipulations were intended to set Israelite altars apart from Canaanite ones that ordinarily were built of dressed stone.” (Merrill)

ii. This was a special altar. It was clearly to be used for sacrifice (You shall offer peace offerings), but it was also to be a memorial of the Law of Moses and his great sermon to Israel in the book of Deuteronomy.

iii. This command was obeyed by Joshua in Joshua 8:30-32; there, at Mount Ebal, in Canaan, Joshua in the presence of the children of Israel… wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

iv. Probably, what was written was the summation of the law contained in the Ten Commandments.

c. An altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them: God did not want the glory of the stone carver to be the center of attention at His altar. God, at His altar, refused to share His glory with man. The beauty and attractiveness would be found only in what God provided through sacrifice (in the burnt offerings and peace offerings), and in God’s plainly revealed word, and not in the skill or talent of man.

i. “The law insisted on the necessity for obedience, while the altar spoke of the only method of approach to God consequent on disobedience.” (Morgan)

ii. “Thus the moral law drove the Jews to the ceremonial, which was their gospel, as it doth now drive us to Christ, who is indeed ‘the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth’ (Romans 10:4).” (Trapp)

d. You shall whitewash them with lime: This would make the engraved words easy to see. Anything done to make God’s word more accessible to others is a good thing, if the integrity of God’s word is preserved.

i. “Writing laws on stones…was common in the ancient Near East. Whitewashing stones before writing on them was a practice in Egypt. Large writing stones, some eight feet high, from before Moses’ time have been found at Byblos.” (Kalland)

ii. Any time God’s word is presented, it must be presented very plainly. Every preacher and teacher must endeavor to make the word of God plain; clear in the understanding of those who receive it.

2. (9-10) Becoming the covenant people of Yahweh, the LORD God.

Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the LORD your God. Therefore you shall obey the voice of the LORD your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”

a. Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel: Much of the book of Deuteronomy is written after the same pattern as ancient agreements between kings and their subjects. Here, the idea was clear: Yahweh was Israel’s King, and the people of Israel were His subjects. He told them what He expected of them, and what they might expect from Him.

i. All Israel: “The point here is that there were no privileged persons who stand above or outside the covenant mandates. The fact that the tribe of Levi had to stand on Mount Gerizim with the other tribes makes this most clear.” (Merrill)

b. This day you have become the people of the LORD your God: As the covenant was being formally confirmed with the second generation on the plains of Moab, it could again be said to Israel, you have become the people of the LORD your God. The covenant was agreed to, and Israel willingly submitted itself to the LORD God, recognizing Him as their King.

c. You shall obey the voice of the LORD your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes: If Yahweh is the King of His people, it is fitting that they obey Him this way. Considering their covenant with God, this was an obvious part of their obligation to the LORD.

B. The command to announce the curses from Mount Ebal.

1. (11-13) The division of the tribes between the two mountains.

And Moses commanded the people on 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; and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

a. These shall stand on Mount Gerizim…and these shall stand on Mount Ebal: When Israel came into Canaan, they were to separate the tribes according to these two groups. One group would gather on Mount Gerizim, and they would bless the people. The other group would stand on Mount Ebal and they would curse those who disobeyed the law of God.

i. “Though the instructions here do not say so, the Joshua narrative indicates that the ark of the covenant, with its Levitical bearers, remained in the valley between the mountains as representative of the presence of the Lord and as the receptacle containing the Ten Commandments (Joshua 8:33).” (Merrill)

b. To bless the people…to curse: This dramatic scene was fulfilled in Joshua 8:32-35. In Joshua’s day, it happened after a bitter defeat, then a dramatic repentance and recovery at Ai (Joshua 7:1-8:29). After the victory at Ai, Joshua wanted to continue Israel’s obedience to God, so he led the nation in the ceremony commanded in Deuteronomy 27 (Joshua 8:30-35).

i. By this, Joshua showed himself to be a man of the Book, and Israel a people of the Book. They would order their lives after God’s word. This was done even at some cost or inconvenience. The distance from Ai to Ebal and Gerizim was not a small distance to move all the tribes of Israel (from 20 to 25 miles, or 32 to 40 km).

ii. The rest of the chapter declares the curses; but does not announce a declaration of blessing. At Ebal and Gerazim, both the blessings and curses were read (Joshua 8:34).

iii. “The absence of a list of blessings may simply mean that they were omitted, since they would have corresponded with the curses except that they negatived everyone in turn. Those who were blessed did not offend in the areas in which those who were cursed did.” (Thompson)

iv. “The blessings are not mentioned by Moses; that we might learn to look for them by the Messiah only.” (Trapp)

c. These shall stand on Mount Gerizim…and these shall stand on Mount Ebal: God commanded this open-air and audience-participation sermon to happen at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal for several important reasons.

i. This would be a beautiful place to do this. The whole nation could hear this reading of the law because the area has a natural amphitheater effect given of the contour of the hills.

ii. Because Gerizim and Ebal were in the geographic middle of the Promised Land, Israel had to control the middle of Canaan and the highlands to have the luxury of such an assembly at these mountains.

iii. Finally, the mountains themselves were pictures of blessing and cursing: “On all hands it is allowed that Gerizim abounds with springs, gardens, and orchards, and that it is covered with a beautiful verdure, while Ebal is as naked and barren as a rock.” (Clarke)

2. (14-26) The declaration of the curses.

“And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel: ‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’

“And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’

‘Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’