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The Inscribed Stones and Altar on Mount Ebal27 Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today. 2On the day that you cross over the Jordan into the land that the L ord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster. 3You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, to enter the land that the L ord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the L ord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4So when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster. 5And you shall build an altar there to the L ord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool. 6You must build the altar of the L ord your God of unhewn stones. Then offer up burnt offerings on it to the L ord your God, 7make sacrifices of well-being, and eat them there, rejoicing before the L ord your God. 8You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very clearly. 9 Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the L ord your God. 10Therefore obey the L ord your God, observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today. Twelve Curses11 The same day Moses charged the people as follows: 12When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing of the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14Then the Levites shall declare in a loud voice to all the Israelites: 15 “Cursed be anyone who makes an idol or casts an image, anything abhorrent to the L ord, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret.” All the people shall respond, saying, “Amen!” 16 “Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 17 “Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor’s boundary marker.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 18 “Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind person on the road.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 19 “Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 20 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has violated his father’s rights.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 21 “Cursed be anyone who lies with any animal.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 22 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 23 “Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 24 “Cursed be anyone who strikes down a neighbor in secret.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 25 “Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” 26 “Cursed be anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by observing them.” All the people shall say, “Amen!” New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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5 And there shalt thou build an altar. At their first entrance into the land, God commands that a sacrifice of thanksgiving should be offered to Him; and this Joshua performed, as is related in Joshua 8:30-31 "Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal; First of all, then, this testimony of their gratitude is required, that the children of Israel, as soon as they have begun to set foot in the land of Canaan, might celebrate the praises of the Lord; secondly, he forbids all artificial work, because, if the altar had been permanent, it would have been an occasion of superstition, and this exceptional instance would have been more regarded than the perpetual Law of God. Hence the nine tribes and half were so greatly wroth against the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half Manasseh, on account of the altar which was built on the bank of Jordan, (Joshua 22,) insomuch that they determined utterly to destroy their brethren, until they had cleared themselves by alleging that they had only built it as a memorial of their brotherly union, and not for sacrifice. Assuredly they were good expounders of the Law who accounted it an inexpiable crime, that an altar should be left for posterity, to withdraw the people from the one sanctuary, and thus to destroy the unity of faith. |