Deuteronomy 27:11

_AND THOU SHALT OFFER PEACE OFFERINGS, AND SHALT EAT THERE, AND REJOICE BEFORE THE LORD THY GOD._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

11._And Moses charged the people the same day_. In order that both the promises and threats might have more efficacy in affecting the minds of all, God enjoined not only that they should be proclaimed in a solemn rite, but also that they should be approved by the people in a loud voice, and sealed, as it were, by their consent. It is elsewhere recorded that this was faithfully performed by Joshua. ( Joshua 8:33.) Let it suffice to say at present that they were all summoned, and conducted before God to subscribe to them, so that henceforth all subterfuge might be put an end to. The tribes of Israel were divided into two parties, that they might stand opposite to each other, and that the blessings might sound forth from one side, and the curses from the other, (196) like ἀντίστροφοι. I confess I do not know why the d

11-26 The six tribes appointed for blessing, were all children of the free women, for to such the promise belongs, Galatians 4:31. Levi is here among the rest. Ministers should apply to themselves the blessing and curse they preach to others, and by faith set their own Amen to it. And they must not only allure people to their duty with the promises of a blessing, but awe them with the threatenings of a curse, by declaring that a curse would be upon those who do such things. To each of the curses the people were to say, Amen. It professed their faith, that these, and the like curses, were real declarations of the wrath of God against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, not one jot of which shall fall to the ground. It was acknowledging the equity of these curses. Those who do such things deserve to fall, and lie under the curse. Lest those who were guilty of other sins, not here...

Compare Joshua 8:32. The solemnity was apparently designed only for the single occasion on which it actually took place. Deuteronomy 27:12, Deuteronomy 27:13 The tribes appointed to stand on Gerizim to bless the people all sprang from the two wives of Jacob, Leah and Rachel. All the four tribes which sprang from the handmaids Zilpah and Bilhah are located on Ebal. But in order, as it would seem, to effect an equal division, two tribes are added to the latter from the descendants of the wives, that of Reuben, probably because he forfeited his primogeniture...

PART III.—THIRD DISCOURSE OF MOSES. THE COVENANT RENEWED. CHAPTERS 27-30. EXPOSITION Deuteronomy 27:1. 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 the

AND MOSES CHARGED THE PEOPLE THE SAME,.... That he gave the above orders to set up stones, and plaster them, and write the law on them, and build an altar in the same place, and offer sacrifices when come into the land of Canaan: SAYING; as follows....

23. THE MEMORIAL OF THE LAW AT MOUNT EBAL; GERIZIM AND EBAL CHAPTER 27 _ 1. The memorial to be set up in the land (Deuteronomy 27:1)_ 2. Gerizim and Ebal (Deuteronomy 27:9) 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” ...

Appointment of Tribes to Bless and to Curse Ch. Deuteronomy 11:29 (_q.v._) commands that the blessing for obedience be set on Mt Gerizim, the curse for disobedience on Mt -Ebal. _Set_(lit. _give_) implies some solemn rite, and this is now defined. Six tribes shall stand on Gerizim to bless, and six on -Ebal for the curse. The former are all sons of Leah or Rachel, Jacob's wives, the latter the sons of their maids, Gad, Asher, Dan and Naphtali, with Reuben, Leah's eldest son, who lost his birthright, and Zebulun, her youngest. Again the former, appointed to the southern mount, are all (with the doubtful exception of Issachar) tribes established S. of Esdraelon; while those appointed to the northern mountain are the four tribes settled N. of Esdraelon, with the two from E. Palestine, Reuben and Gad. On the whole, the genealogical explanation of the division (Dill

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 27:11-14 471. Why the choice of the tribes to bless? 472. What impression was this whole ceremony to make upon Israel? AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 27:11-14 11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying. 12 These [tribes] shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have passed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph's [sons], and Benjamin. 13 And these [tribes] shall stand upon Mount Ebal to pronounce the curse [for disobedience]: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites shall declare with a loud voice to all the men of Israel: COMMENT 27:11-14 On the sides of these two mountains the people were to be placed, half on one and half on the other, while in the vale between (with Shechem to one side) stood the ark, with the Levites. Those who stood on Gerizim responded to the blessings, those on Ebal to the cursi...

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....