Chapter 27
An altar to be erected on Mt. Ebal, with the words of God's laws written on them. This altar was to be built of rock and covered with plaster. I can't think of any previous altars that were not required to be unworked raw rock. There was law saying that the altar could not be of worked stone. So this is a big change. Ah...the stone still had to be raw. The plaster is all that was added.
2024 - This verse: 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. [Deu 27:9 ESV]. "This day". They were not God's people until that day, the day before they crossed the Jordan. Is this right? Does this mean that on "this day" they changed from being the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the nation of Israel, God's chosen people? Is it at this point that the conditional covenant - the Ebal and the Gerizim - goes into effect and Israel stands alone before God to sink or swim? This seems like a very real possibility to me.
2024 - We might think of this as a transfer of the people of Israel from the Abrahamic to the Sinai covenant. The Sinai still exists as an unconditional covenant with the descendants of Abraham. And if I wanted to make an argument that the church replaces Israel as the descendants of Abraham because Israel failed so abjectly in the Sinai covenant, then this passage would be high on my list of "proof texts".
The people were to go up on two mountains, one for blessing and one for cursing. They shouted God's laws, and the consequences of obeying and the consequences of disobeying, back and forth. The primary laws are summarized in this chapter. Very many of the laws recorded are about sexual sin.
2023 - Twelve curses are listed. First, anyone who "makes" an idol for himself and sets it up - in secret - so that he worships what his own hands have made. This is specific. This is not about "hoarding gold and silver", this is about praying to idols. Second, anyone who dishonors his mother and father. This one does not say "failure to honor" which would be a negative thing, hard to prove, but instead says not to dishonor your parents. How would you do that? By stealing from them instead of working for yourself. By embarrassing them by your actions. Columbine killers? Perhaps these are right, but there is probably a lot more that falls under this category. The big thing to me is that this is about what the son DOES, rather than about what he fails to do. Well...now I'm having doubts...what if he won't harvest the crop while he is living at home still? Would that be under this rule? Third, no moving the big landmarks. That is tantamount to stealing land. Your land is what it is, and if you want more you buy it, not steal it. Well...these are really going nowhere. Next one is about abusing the handicapped for laughs...I think. Then one about mistreating immigrants, orphans, and widows. Then four about not having sex with family or animals. In this order: No sex with Mom, no sex with animals, no sex with sisters, and no sex with mother-in-laws. Four of these were considered "fundamental". No pre-meditated murder of people you know - neighbors. No being a murderer for hire - an assassin. And cursed is anyone who rejects the law (I think this means all the law as Moses had recorded it) in a general way. In our country that would be like rejecting the US Justice system and setting up sharia law and obeying that instead. I complete rejection of the law of the land in favor of some foreign version of the law.