Deuteronomy · chapter 27 of 34
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Deuteronomy 27 commands that when Israel crosses the Jordan, they set up stones with the law written on them and an altar on Mount Ebal. Six tribes stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing and six on Mount Ebal for the curse. The Levites pronounce twelve curses against sins committed in secret, and all the people answer amen to each one.
Moses has closed the laws with the covenant of chapter 26, and now he says how it must be renewed as soon as Israel enters Canaan. Deuteronomy 27 prescribes a public ceremony at Shechem, between two mountains, so that the people receive the law in their land and take up their commitment. The curses focus on sins committed in secret, where no one else sees, but the Lord does.
Moses and the elders command the people to keep all the commandments. On the day they cross the Jordan, they will set up large stones, coat them with plaster and write on them all the words of this law. They will place them on Mount Ebal and build there an altar of uncut stones, and offer burnt offerings and peace offerings, eat and rejoice before the Lord.
Moses and the Levitical priests tell all Israel to be silent and listen: today they have become the people of the Lord their God and must obey him. That same day Moses orders the ceremony. Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people. Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali will stand on Mount Ebal for the curse.
The Levites proclaim twelve curses in a loud voice, and all the people answer amen to each. Cursed is whoever makes an idol and sets it up in secret, whoever dishonors his father or mother, whoever moves his neighbor's boundary, whoever misleads a blind person, whoever withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, whoever has forbidden sexual relations with his father's wife, with an animal, with his sister or with his mother-in-law, whoever kills his neighbor in secret, whoever takes a bribe to kill an innocent person, and whoever does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
All the words of the law are to be written on the stones when they cross the Jordan, to enter the land flowing with milk and honey. The written law accompanies the people from the first day in the land and is a visible witness.
Moses and the Levitical priests declare that today Israel is the people of the Lord and must obey him. Obedience is not a condition for becoming his people but the response of a people already chosen by God.
The first curse falls on whoever makes an idol and sets it up in secret, and all the people answer amen. A sin done in hiding does not escape the Lord's eye, and the people acknowledge it with their own voice.
Cursed is whoever does not confirm the words of the law by doing them. The apostle Paul cites this verse to show that no one keeps the law perfectly and that Christ redeemed us from that curse.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Set them up, coat them with plaster and write on them all the words of the law. — Deuteronomy 27:2-3
Answer: An altar of uncut stones, with no iron tool used on them. — Deuteronomy 27:5-6
Answer: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. — Deuteronomy 27:12
Answer: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. — Deuteronomy 27:13
Answer: Amen, all the people together. — Deuteronomy 27:15
Answer: Whoever does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. — Deuteronomy 27:26
The curses of this chapter concentrate on hidden sins that have no human witnesses. That puts an honest question before us: do I live the same when no one sees me? In a group you can talk about integrity in secret and how the community of faith helps us live with transparency.
The last verse points to Christ. Paul teaches that whoever relies on works of the law is under a curse, because no one keeps it fully, and that Christ redeemed us by becoming a curse for us. The people's amen in acknowledging the law is completed by the amen of faith in the gospel.
Deuteronomy 27 seals the renewal of the covenant with stones, an altar and twelve amens. The next chapter develops the blessing and the curse in full detail, showing what awaits Israel if it obeys the Lord and what if it turns from him.
Exodus 20 already forbids shaping the altar's stones with a tool. The reason is that the altar was to show that God's work needs no human improvement and that worship does not depend on human art or pride.
Because Israel's judicial system could deal with sins that had witnesses, but not those done in hiding. These curses place such sins under the Lord's gaze and have the people acknowledge them with a public amen.
Joshua 8:30-35 tells that Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal, wrote the law on the stones and read the blessings and the curses before all the people, just as Moses had commanded.