Deuteronomy 27 Footnotes

27:4 The Samaritan Pentateuch (version of the Torah used by the Samaritan sect) reads Gerizim rather than Ebal, and thereby locates the monument at the place where the Samaritans eventually built a temple. It was there when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, and it was to Gerizim that the woman pointed when she spoke of her place of worship (Jn 4:20). The Hebrew text preserves the original reading, which the Samaritans altered to justify their practice. Jesus pointed beyond both geographical locations, the Samaritan Gerizim and the Jewish Jerusalem, to the true worship of the Father (Jn 4:21-24).

27:15-26 The solemn, ceremonial pronouncement of a curse upon those who would disregard the principles of God’s law is part of Israel’s covenant structure, and illustrates the power of the spoken word in the biblical world view. The curse will take effect, should the instruction be abrogated through unfaithful behavior. It does not require a special act of God to bring about its effect; the disobedient deeds themselves will incur their consequences. The NT also includes some instances of the pronouncement of curses (1Co 16:22; Gl 1:8-9; see Rv 22:18-19).

27:16 In the Lord’s structure of authority the parent stood in God’s place; lack of respect for the parent was tantamount to lack of respect for God (see 5:16).

27:17 All properties in the promised land were God’s and were allocated to tribes, clans, and families as best suited him. To encroach on a neighbor’s property is to reveal dissatisfaction with one’s own share, and thus to question the Lord’s wisdom and sovereignty over all of life. It is also comparable to a business deception (25:16). Such self-serving actions violate a person’s solidarity with others who share in the Lord’s covenant, and thus come under the curse.

27:21 Besides being intuitively abhorrent, sexual relations with an animal (bestiality) breaks down the division between two of God’s creatures, one of which (mankind) was to rule the other (animals). Such an act (perturbatio naturarum) upsets the creative order and thus evidences dissatisfaction with, and lack of respect for, God’s perfect plan of governance for what he has brought into being.