And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
This direction belongs to the ceremony for the day Israel crossed the Jordan, when the consequences of blessing and curse were to be proclaimed from two prominent mountains. Six tribes — Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali — were to stand upon Mount Ebal to pronounce the covenant curses. Mount Ebal was the mount of curses for the disobedient, set opposite Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessings for the obedient, and from these two prominent positions the disadvantages of the curse and the advantages of the blessing were pronounced as a repetition. The proclamation was joined with plastering a rock and writing the commandments of God upon it, and after each declaration the whole congregation was to assent to its specifications, thereby accepting solemn responsibility to fulfill the conditions. The arrangement shows particular care over forgetful Israel to keep the requirements plainly before them and to make the law familiar and impressive, in order to deter from transgression and encourage obedience, revealing that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but takes greatest pleasure when sinners turn from sin.
Together with the surrounding chapters in Deuteronomy 26 through 28, the direction gives a plain and specific statement of the principles of the law of the kingdom of God so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty: disobedience brings a curse, while obedience brings prosperity and blessing. The words are not the voice of man but the voice of Christ from the enfolding pillar of cloud. They lay a never-ceasing obligation on all blessed with life, health, and temporal and spiritual advantages, to be read carefully and kept and done with all the heart and soul, and their claims remain as binding and fresh now as God's gifts are fresh and continual.
The altar erected on Ebal signifies that by transgressing the law Israel had justly incurred divine wrath, but that wrath would not be visited because the sacrifices offered there represented Christ's atonement. The curses warned of the consequences of disregarding the law, and Joshua later rehearsed them with the blessings for obedience before the people as Moses had commanded. Mount Ebal, opposite Gerizim, thus stood as witness to Israel's solemn vows when they entered Canaan, vows Joshua recalled at Shechem as the people renewed their commitment to God.
This direction belongs to the ceremony for the day Israel crossed the Jordan, when the consequences of blessing and curse were to be proclaimed from two prominent mountains. Six tribes — Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali — were to stand upon Mount Ebal to pronounce the covenant curses. Mount Ebal was the mount of curses for the disobedient, set opposite Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessings for the obedient, and from these two prominent positions the disadvantages of the curse and the advantages of the blessing were pronounced as a repetition. The proclamation was joined with plastering a rock and writing the commandments of God upon it, and after each declaration the whole congregation was to assent to its specifications, thereby accepting solemn responsibility to fulfill the conditions. The arrangement shows particular care over forgetful Israel to keep the requirements plainly before them and to make the law familiar and impressive, in order to deter from transgression and encourage obedience, revealing that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but takes greatest pleasure when sinners turn from sin.
Together with the surrounding chapters in Deuteronomy 26 through 28, the direction gives a plain and specific statement of the principles of the law of the kingdom of God so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty: disobedience brings a curse, while obedience brings prosperity and blessing. The words are not the voice of man but the voice of Christ from the enfolding pillar of cloud. They lay a never-ceasing obligation on all blessed with life, health, and temporal and spiritual advantages, to be read carefully and kept and done with all the heart and soul, and their claims remain as binding and fresh now as God's gifts are fresh and continual.
The altar erected on Ebal signifies that by transgressing the law Israel had justly incurred divine wrath, but that wrath would not be visited because the sacrifices offered there represented Christ's atonement. The curses warned of the consequences of disregarding the law, and Joshua later rehearsed them with the blessings for obedience before the people as Moses had commanded. Mount Ebal, opposite Gerizim, thus stood as witness to Israel's solemn vows when they entered Canaan, vows Joshua recalled at Shechem as the people renewed their commitment to God.