September 19, 2017
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Deuteronomy? Here’s today’s reading:
Deuteronomy 27 (ESV)
Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. 2 And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall wield no iron tool on them; 6 you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, 7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”… Continue Reading
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I can only imagine the emotions Moses is going through in verses 1-8. He’s giving the people specific intrusions about what to do in a land he will never enter, even after all he has done for the people! Because of his pride (from the water and rock instance) he lost his right to be in the promised land; it’s such a sad but good lesson we can learn from.
Great point, Sarah!
And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Commanders
Haven’t really thought much about “curses” in the Bible, but here they are.
I was thinking along the same lines as Sarah. What must have been going through Moses’ mind and heart as he was preparing these people to enter into the land he had spent 40 years longing for? A land he would never see?
They would be dead if not for his pleading with the Lord for their lives. And now they were entering into the inheritance God had promised to their forefathers, an inheritance they had not earned, an inheritance they would receive by grace. Sounds like a beautiful foreshadowing of the gospel.
An altar is to be made on mount Ebal for sacrifice and remembrance to God who has brought them to this promised land. Notice the sacrifices are fellowship offerings and not offerings for sin which could only be done in the tabernacle. But they are instructed to rejoice in God’s presence…not a burdensome command, yes?
I did think about what the thoughts were of the tribes selected to pronounce curses. The tribes selected for proclaiming blessings ae the more “blessed” tribes: Levi, Judah, Joseph and Benjamin.
And ditto, Melanie, as the law is pronounced, all the people said Amen. It is exactly how the covenant is reinforced…..