Deuteronomy 27:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is a general charge to the people to keep God’s commandments, because it was useless to know them if they would not obey them. Moses pressed this duty with all authority. He joined with the elders of Israel and the leaders of each tribe (Deuteronomy 27:1), and later with the priests, the Levites, so that the command came from Moses, their king in Jeshurun, and from their rulers, both civil and religious, acting together (Deuteronomy 27:9). This would keep anyone from thinking that only Moses, an old man near death, was making a great issue of religion, or that only the priests and Levites cared about it because their work depended on it.

Moses had given some of his honor to these leaders and included them with himself in this charge, much like Paul sometimes added Silvanus and Timothy in his letters. Everyone who has influence over others should use it to support and strengthen religion among them. Even if the highest authority in a nation makes good laws for this, it will do little unless lower magistrates, ministers, and family heads carry out their duty.

This charge was also pressed with great urgency. They were told, “Take care and listen, Israel” (Deuteronomy 27:9, 10). This was a matter that needed the greatest caution and attention. They were reminded of their privilege and honor: “Today you have become the people of the Lord your God.” The Lord had declared them to be his own and was about to give them Canaan, the land he had long promised as their God (Genesis 17:7, 8). If he had failed to do this in due time, it would have seemed as if he were ashamed to be called their God (Hebrews 11:16). Since they were now more than ever his people, they should obey his voice. Privileges should always lead us to greater duty. Should a people not be ruled by their God?

They were also given a special command, with great solemnity, to record the words of this law as soon as they entered Canaan. This was to happen only once, at the beginning of their life in the promised land, as a sign that they took possession of it under the conditions set out in this law. It was somewhat like the solemn covenant made at Mount Sinai, when an altar was built, twelve pillars were set up, and the book of the covenant was read (Exodus 24:4).

They were first to set up a memorial and write the words of this law on it. The memorial itself was to be plain and simple, made of rough, uncut stones covered with plaster, not polished marble, alabaster, or brass tablets (Deuteronomy 27:2). The command is repeated (Deuteronomy 27:4), and they were told to write very clearly, so that anyone who passed by could read it easily (Habakkuk 2:2). God’s word does not need human decoration or clever display. But the writing itself was to be extensive: “all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 27:3, 8). Some think this means only the covenant between God and Israel mentioned earlier (Deuteronomy 26:17, 18). It would then serve like the stone memorial between Laban and Jacob, which they raised as a witness and then shared a meal beside it (Genesis 31:46, 47), or like the stone Joshua set up (Joshua 24:26).

Others think the curses of the covenant in this chapter were written there, especially since the monument was set up on Mount Ebal (Deuteronomy 27:4). Others think the whole book of Deuteronomy was written there, or at least the laws from chapter 12 to the end of chapter 26. That is not impossible, since the monument may have been large enough to hold a long inscription on all its sides. Some also think only the Ten Commandments were written there, as a true copy of the covenant records kept in the ark. They were to write this after entering Canaan, yet Moses says, “Write it, so that you may go in” (Deuteronomy 27:3), meaning, “Write it so that you may enter with confidence, with hope of success and settled life. If you cannot enter on these terms, it would be better not to enter at all.” They were to write it as the terms of their entry and admit that they came in only on those conditions. Since Canaan was given by promise, it was to be held by obedience.

They were also to build an altar. The written law would speak to them from God, and the altar with its sacrifices would let them speak to God. In this way, communion between God and his people would continue. The word and prayer must go together. Though they were not allowed to set up any altar on their own apart from the one at the tabernacle, they could do so on a special occasion by God’s command. Elijah later built a temporary altar of twelve uncut stones, like this one, when he brought Israel back to the covenant (1 Kings 18:31, 32).

The altar had to be made of stones already found in the field, not stones newly cut from the rock, and certainly not shaped by iron tools (Deuteronomy 27:5). Christ, our altar, is like a stone cut out of the mountain without human hands (Daniel 2:34, 35). For that reason, he was rejected by the builders as having no beauty, yet he was accepted by God the Father and made the cornerstone.

Burnt offerings and peace offerings were to be offered on this altar (Deuteronomy 27:6, 7), so that they might honor God and receive his favor. Where the law was written, an altar stood nearby to show that we cannot look at the law with comfort, knowing our guilt in breaking it, unless we also look to the great sacrifice that makes atonement for sin. The altar stood on Mount Ebal, the mountain where the tribes who said Amen to the curses were gathered, to show that through Christ we are freed from the curse of the law. In the Old Testament, the law is written with its curse attached, which would fill us with fear if we did not have, in the New Testament joined with it, an altar set beside it that gives us lasting comfort.

They were also to eat there and rejoice before the Lord their God (Deuteronomy 27:7). This showed their agreement to the covenant, because people sealed covenants by sharing a meal together. They were partakers of the altar, which was God’s table, as his servants and tenants. By doing so, they acknowledged themselves as his people, and since they had been brought into this good land, they bound themselves to pay what was due and do the service required under the royal grant.

The people found comfort in the covenant. They had reason to rejoice in the law, because they also had an altar and a remedy for sin so near to it. It was a great kindness, and a clear sign for good, that God had given them his statutes. They also had reason to rejoice that they were known as God’s people and as children of the promise, even though, at the time of this ceremony, they were not yet fully in possession of Canaan. Still, God had spoken in his holiness, and then they could rejoice: “Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim also is the strength of my head” (Psalm 108:7-8). In that promise, all was secure as his own.