Deuteronomy 27:4

4 Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime.

Deuteronomy 27:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 27:4

And therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan
Some time after they had passed that river:

[that] ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in
Mount Ebal;
a mountain near Shechem in Samaria, and was, as Benjamin of Tudela says ^F18, dry as stones and rocks itself, and perhaps had its name, as some think ^F19, from the root in the Arabic language which signifies to strip a tree of its leaves, and a derivative from it, white stones and a mountain in which such are found. Hither the stones commanded to be set up were to be brought, and fixed here; from whence it is not certain; it may be from some part of the mountain. Here the Samaritan version has Gerizim instead of Ebal, which is generally thought to be a wilful corruption of the Samaritans, in favour of their temple built at Gerizim:

and thou shall plaster them with plaster;
as before directed, ( Deuteronomy 27:2 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Itinerar. p. 40.
F19 Reland. Dissert. 3. de Monte Gerizim, p. 128. See Castel. Lexic. Heptaglott col 2642.

Deuteronomy 27:4 In-Context

2 And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime.

3 You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, 'a land flowing with milk and honey,' just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you.

4 Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime.

5 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them.

6 You shall build with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God.