Deuteronomy 27:9-26--Curses from Mount Ebal

Deuteronomy 27:9-26
English Standard Version

Curses from Mount Ebal
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.”

11 That day Moses charged the people, saying, 12 “When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:

15 “‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

16 “‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

17 “‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

18 “‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

19 “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

20 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's nakedness.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

21 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.’ And 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.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

23 “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

24 “‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

25 “‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

​26 “‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

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Moses starts off by telling the people to be silent and to understand the gravity of the situation.  This is a time of them becoming the people that are the LORD's and they are to be careful to obey everything in His Law.  How can they obey that which they have have not heard or have heard but not listened to?  So, they are going to use one of the tried-and-true learning techniques--repetition through what we'd call "responsive reading."

The tribes are divided up into two groups--one group of six for the blessings, and one group of six for the curses, and the two groups stood on different mountains that faced each other and made a natural amphitheater.  The Levites were not part of either group but were the ones who would lead both of their groups in their responsive readings (they would read both the blessings and the curses and half of the people would read the blessings with them and the other half would read the curses with them).

This passage here focuses on the curses that would be read by the group standing on Mount Ebal.  These things are detestable to the LORD and are abominations that would cause the LORD not only to stop blessing Israel, but to treat them like the other pagan nations if they did these things and became like them--these are all things that evidence that someone that lives in these practices does not belong to the LORD.  The curses are grouped into a few categories:  dishonoring God and His institutions that He put up in authority over us, taking advantage of the innocent and defenseless, sexual sin and immorality, taking innocent life or paying someone else to do it for you, and finally failure to agree to the terms and conditions of this covenant (failure to participate in this ceremony of pledging to agree and stand by these terms and conditions meant that you didn't agree to follow the rules, and you would be accursed).

The first group starts with Idolatry and disrespect and disobedience towards parents.  I put dishonoring parents in the same group as worshiping other gods because both are acts of rebellion towards God.  The first is an obvious act of rebellion towards God by making another god that you choose to fashion and make your own rules and religion, but the LORD put parents over their children to stand in His place in a sense--it is one of the first institutions that we see established in the book of Genesis.  Rebelling against our parents is rebelling against God (or the closest thing that we know to it at that point in life) and there is a strong connection between those who don't respect their earthly fathers and those who don't respect their Heavenly Father.  All of these things fall into "Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."

The LORD also forbids moving a landmark to try to steal land that had been eternally covenanted to another and his family, misleading a blind man who has asked you to help lead him or give him direction, and anyone who does injustice to the innocent--especially those who are poor or have no one to defend them like the alien, widow, and orphan.  God judges us by how we treat those that we imagine to be "the least of these" among us.  All of these things fall under, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."

God also despises all kinds of sexual perversion and immorality.  Specifically He curses a son having sexual relations with his stepmother (notice it says "father's wife" and not "mother"), bestiality, incest with one's sister, mother, stepsister or half-sister, or anyone who has sexual relations with their mother-in-law.  We are to avoid any kind of sexual immorality--the only place sex belongs is consensually between a man and his wife.  "4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." (Hebrews 13:4)

Last, but certainly not least is the prohibition on taking another's life.  This is nothing new as we've known this was wrong since the book of Genesis and it was part of the Noahic Covenant to all peoples and nations.  Life is in the blood and those who shed innocent blood, their life will be required of them.  The people know not to commit these crimes themselves or out in the open, but God says not to take payment or make payment in exchange for taking someone's life--you are just as guilty if you do this.  Also, it is still murder even if no one else sees you commit the act.  You should not imagine that you will be held guiltless just because you took a life in secret.  God will not let the wicked go unpunished.

Next time we'll look at the blessings for obedience that were read by the other tribes, but today let us be careful to not claim to be identified as people of God who participate in any of these detestable practices, because God still hates these things and will not bless those who practice such abominations.