Deuteronomy 30, Choose Life!

Moses has repeated the numerous blessings and curses that will occur in the nation of Israel, depending on their obedience or disobedience to YHWH.

Deuteronomy 30:1-5, Fortunes restored

When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.

Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

Even if the people disobey, there are promises of restoration. This will be remembered much later during the Babylonian captivity.

Currid says that the Hebrew phrase translated here "most distant land under the heavens" is literally "at the end of the sky."

Deuteronomy 30:6-10, "Circumcise your hearts"

The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

And so the people are to have "circumcised hearts", an internal moral decision process, separate from their genetics and cultural heritage, that leads them and their descendants to stay close to YHWH.

Deuteronomy 30:11-16, This is not too difficult

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

 

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.

For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

Moses argues that the Law is not too difficult – its principles are straightforward – and that one need not go up to heaven or across the ocean to find the answers.  But, focusing on all the many decrees, the broken people of Israel will find this difficult!

The apostle Paul quotes this passage in Romans 10:5-8, arguing there that through the Messiah, obedience to the Law is natural and by faith.

Commentator John Currid says that this passage is a contrast to the ancient Near Eastern culture, where, for example in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh travels the world, even going beyond the sea, in a futile hunt for the meaning of life.

Deuteronomy 30:17-20, "Choose life!"

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Moses admonishes his listeners to "Choose Life!"  The blessings of the covenant bring life; disobedience brings death. The invitation includes a triplet of steps: love, listen, hold fast to YHWH.

Currid says that calling heaven and earth as witnesses was a standard feature of ancient Near Eastern treaties.

First published May 20, 2023; updated May 20, 2026

Deuteronomy 29, Prepare to Enter Canaan

Moses has reviewed  the Covenant, and a series of related decrees, with the people  of Israel and has then laid out the rituals required upon entering the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 29:1, Covenant at Moab

These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. 

This verse sums up the past chapters and prepares us for a ratification of the covenant and final acts of Moses.

Deuteronomy 29:2-6, Clothes did not wear out

Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great wonders. But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.

During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.

The covenant at Horeb/Sinai provided protection in the desert wanderings over 40 years. The text transitions to first person as YHWH speaks.

Deuteronomy 29:7-8, Sihon and Og

When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Enemy tribes were defeated during those wanderings and the land east of Jordan was given to the two-and-a-half tribes Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.

Deuteronomy 29:9-11, Carefully follow

Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God--your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.

To continue this success the Israelites must carefully follow the covenant, here being renewed. This ratification will be done by everyone, from the "leaders and chief men" on down to the immigrants and servants who "chop your wood and carry your water."

Deuteronomy 29:12-15, Ready to re-enter the covenant

You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.

An official ratification of the covenant is about to begin. Currid equates this ritual with the ratification of the covenant in Genesis 15, in which Abram walked between the two halves of an animal.

Deuteronomy 29:16-18, Idolatry

You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.

Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison. 

Prohibitions against idolatry are reviewed. Sometime before (see Numbers 25:1-9) the Israelites had engaged in idolatry of Baal at Peor.

Deuteronomy 29:19-23, Idolatry

When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way." This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. The LORD will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man. 

"All the curses written in this book will fall upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. The LORD will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it. The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur--nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger.

The people may be tempted to focus on the blessings of the covenant and ignore the warnings and responsibilities that go with it.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah occurs in Genesis 19. Admah and Zeboiim were towns close to Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 14:8) and were presumably part of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those additional two towns are only mentioned in Genesis, here, and in Hosea 11:8, always in relation to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Deuteronomy 29:24-28, "Why?"

All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?"

And the answer will be: "It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them.  Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now."

It is hoped that Israel will be a positive witness of YHWH. But they will be a witness in some sense, one way or another.

The paragraph ends with a strange phrase, "as it is now". Is this added by a later editor? Or is this a comment on the state of Israel at the time of these lectures, at the end of centuries of wandering?

Deuteronomy 29:29, Secrets and revelations

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

There are many things that YHWH keeps secret. The covenant law is not one of them.

First published May 19, 2023; updated May 19, 2026

Deuteronomy 28, More on Blessings and Curses

Moses has gone over the promises and rituals for entering the Promised Land. The previous chapter had a string of curses that would follow violations of the covenant.  Now we have a string of blessings.

Deuteronomy 28:1-6, High above all nations

If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

You will be blessed in the city 

and blessed in the country. 

The fruit of your womb will be blessed, 

and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock--

the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 

Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 

You will be blessed when you come in 

and blessed when you go out.

The Israelites have a chance to be more prosperous and more beautiful than any nation. Their cities and towns will be blessed; their families and livestock will be fertile and grow. These blessings will occur "when you come in and ... when you go out."

The first two verses give a basic ABBA chiasmus: 

    "If you fully obey ... 

        your God will set you high... 

        all these blessings will be your ... 

    if you obey." 

This is followed by a repetitive, poetical string of blessings. The blessing passage is a rhythmic anaphora, in which the word "blessing" is repeated at the beginning of each Hebrew phrase.

Deuteronomy 28:7-8, Victory over enemies

The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

The people will defeat their enemies. Their barns will be full. Their enemies will flee in "seven directions", that is in a complete rout.

Deuteronomy 28 9-13, A holy people, envied by all nations

The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 

The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. 

The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

 

If the people obey the covenant, their nation will be in charge. They will be "head", not "tail"; they will be top, not bottom.

Deuteronomy 28:14-19, But...

Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them. 

However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

But remember, says Moses, that if they do not follow the covenant, this will all turn. The previous list of blessings is turned into a complementary lists of curses. 

Deuteronomy 28:20-24, Curses, confusion, rebuke

The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.

The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.

The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

In these series of curses, we seek a bronze sky and iron ground -- an image of drought and desert.

Deuteronomy 28:25-26, Defeat

The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

Now the people, instead of the enemy, will be forced to flee in all -- that is, "seven" -- directions.

Deuteronomy 28:27-29, Plagues of Egypt

The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

The plagues of Egypt will return on the people of Israel. The miracles of Egypt will be reversed.

Commentator Craigie suggests that these symptoms describe the effect of syphilis.

Deuteronomy 28:30-31, Futility

You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them.
 

These are curses of "futility" -- no matter what the people attempt, whether in marriage or construction or planting, their plans will be futile.

Deuteronomy 28:32-35, Devastation and defeat

Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. The sights you see will drive you mad. The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

Complete destruction of Israel by another nation is described.

Deuteronomy 28:36-42,  Locusts, captivity

The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.

You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.

You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

The "futility" curses continue: a trodden down nation, crops devoured by locust, children dragged off into captivity.

Deuteronomy 28:43-44, The tail, not the head

The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.

In this case, the other nation will be the "head"; Israel will be but the "tail".

Deuteronomy 28:45-48, All these curses.

All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 

Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

What a painful emphasis on the damage done by violating the covenant.

Deuteronomy 28:49-53, Enemy nation

The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 

They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you. Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you.

This describes the standard conquests of one powerful nation over another, and, in the future, the devastation of Israel by Babylon.

Deuteronomy 28:54-57, Sensitive children turned cruel

Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 

The most gentle and sensitive woman among you--so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot--will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.

Even sensitive young men and women will turn cruel under the effects of siege and starvation

Deuteronomy 28:58-61, Egypt

If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name--the LORD your God-- the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.
 

The people were saved from the plagues of Egypt forty years before, but the One who created those plagues in Egypt can bring them upon the Israelites if they break their commitment to the Law.

Deuteronomy 28:62-68, No resting place for the people of promise

You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods--gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.

In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"--because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

When once they were people of promise, as numerous as the stars, the precious treasure of YHWH, in the future the people can be conquered, violated, miserable. They might be sent back to Egypt or sold as slaves.

This chapter has echoes in Leviticus 26, in which similar blessings and curses are described.

What a painful list of disasters will come upon Israel if they turn away from their covenant agreement! I really want to move on to a better chapter!

Some Random Thoughts

Notice how strongly the culture of the ancient Near East (ANE) permeates the blessings at the top of this chapter! What was important to the people? Abundant crops, abundant flocks, abundant wombs, tables blessed with bread and fruit! This ANE view of prosperity -- and also of the opposite, of devastation -- continues throughout the passage.

Correct interpretation of the Old Testament requires that we keep in mind the ANE culture in which it swims.

First published May 18, 2023; updated May 18, 2026

The Appearance of Particular Numbers in the Old Testament

In any brief reading through chapters of Genesis, one notes the common occurrence of certain numbers.  There are seven Days of Creation and repeatedly, after that, the number seven appears in the text.  For example, before Mt. Sinai, YHWH makes seven speeches.

7

The number seven represents completion and rest. The Hebrew for seven (sheba, שֶׁבַע) has the same consonants as the Hebrew word for completeness (saba, שָׂבַע). And, as pointed out in the Bible Project podcast on seven, the number seven can also represent the travel from 1 to 7, the pilgrimage to completion.  There are seven Hebrew words in the first verse of the Torah, in Genesis 1:1. The statements about the Seventh Day in Genesis 2:2 are three lines each of seven Hebrew words, says the Bible Project podcast.

If seven is "completion" then 3 1/2 if a broken seven, breaking down the completion. This number appears in the visions of Daniel.

In some of the genealogies, the seventh in the list is the main subject of the genealogy, the person of honor. Indeed, in the gospel of the Jewish writer Matthew, the genealogy of Jesus is given in two sevens from Abraham to David, two sevens from David to the Babylonian exile and then two sevens to Jesus.  Thus there are three doublets of sevens to reach this person of greatest honor.

The ancient Hebrews had a base ten numerical system and so 7 x 10 = 70 also had significance, it was a "big seven".  So there are 70 people or people groups described in Genesis 10, in the Table of Nations.  There are 70 people in Jacob's journey from Canaan to Egypt in Genesis 46. If 7 x 10 is important then so, as an emphasis, would be 70 + 7 or 70 x 7.

The number seven can be decomposed into 3+3+1, into two copies of 3, along with a final, Sabbath number.  In the first three Days of Creation, God makes light/dark, sky/sea and sea/and.  In the second three Days, He fills those dominions.  Since He rests on the Seventh Day, we have 3+3+1=7. In some places (as the BibleProject podcast emphasizes) we might view 7 as 3+1+3 with an emphasis on the middle word in a string of seven.

This emphasis on numbers continues, of course, in the Jewish writings that make up the New Testament.  There are seven churches in the book of Revelation, for example.

3

And so the number 3 is also significant and appears throughout the Old Testament. Indeed, in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus, Joshua, we have "three day journeys". It is possible that sometimes "three days" had the same meaning as "a couple of days" has in modern English -- it can be a short, indeterminate time.

Genesis tells us the story of three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

12

Jacob had twelve sons. So did Esau. Thereafter we see an emphasis, at times, on the number twelve. Throughout the Old Testament, there must always be twelve tribes of Israel. If we cannot count the priestly tribe of Levi then we must replace Joseph by the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph.

And of course, later on, Jesus had twelve close disciples and the early church took time, in Acts 1, to replace Judas so that the number remained at twelve.

40

Another number we will often see if the number 40. The Great Flood begins with 40 days of rain. Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai. Moses was 40 years old when he left Egypt and he returned another 40 years later. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years before entering Canaan. David and Solomon each reigned over Israel for 40 years. The number of years of a generation is sometimes described as 40 years and at times the expression "40 years" appears to be an approximate length of time, possibly a generation, just as one might casually use the English word "decade" for "about 10 years". According to John D. Currid, in his commentary on Deuteronomy (p. 437), the number 40 often represents, in the Old Testament, a period of testing. (See Genesis 7:17, I Samuel 17:16, indeed even, Matthew 4:1-2, for a testing period in days.)

As we read through the Old Testament, be alert for occurrences of these numbers and note their significance.

First published March 12, 2023; updated May 17, 2026

Deuteronomy 27, Ceremony on Mounts Ebal and Gerizim

Moses has reviewed the Law, listing a variety of decrees that appear to come out of principles undergirding the Ten Commandments. Now we have a passage, says Currid, that elaborates on the sanctions, both blessings and curses, that follow from obedience and disobedience to the covenant. 

Deuteronomy 27:1-8, Set up a pile of stones

Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: "Keep all these commands that I give you today.

When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool upon them. Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.

Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the LORD your God. And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up."

The Israelites are to create a pile of stones on Mount Ebal, on which the words of the covenant will be written. The command to not use tools on the stones may be related to Canaan altars, which involved finished stones, or, says Currid, the command might prevent one from working the stones into some type of idol. The final form of the stones is not the issue here.

The sacrifice is there are to be a celebration. The fellowship offering will lead to a feast, and the people are to rejoice in the presence of God.

Deuteronomy 27:9-10, Now the covenant is in effect

Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, "Be silent, O Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God. Obey the LORD your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today."

This moment marks the beginning of the covenant. Currid sees in this chapter the standard ceremony for ratifying an ancient Near East covenant between a king and his people. This  ratification ceremony will eventually take place after the conquest of the land, see Joshua 8:30-35.

Deuteronomy 27:11-13, Mount Gerizim

On the same day Moses commanded the people: When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.

The people, once in Canaan, are to stand in two groups, one on Mount Gerizim and the other on Ebal (above Shechem.) They are to recite the following prohibitions:

Deuteronomy 27:14-25, Cursed is the man

The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

"Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol--a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of the craftsman's hands--and sets it up in secret." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
 

"Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
  

"Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor's boundary stone." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
 

"Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
 

"Cursed is the man who sleeps with his father's wife, for he dishonors his father's bed." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who sleeps with his mother-in-law." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who kills his neighbor secretly." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

"Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

The people are to agree that these violations, all of which were listed previously, will bring curses on the people who commit the violations. The word "Amen" indicates agreement and affirmation.

Deuteronomy 27:26, Uphold the words of the Law!

"Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." 

Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

This last vow summarizes the previous ones. The total number of curses is twelve; some have called this section of curses the Dodecalogue (the twelve words) in analogy with the Decalogue (ten words.) There is considerable overlap here with the Ten Commandments, but, of course, the emphasis is negative, on things one should not do and the curses that might follow.

First published May 17, 2023; updated May 16, 2026

Deuteronomy 26, Arrival Offerings

The lectures on fine points and examples from the Law are at an end. Now Moses concentrates on the attitude of the Israelites as they enter the land of Canaan.

Deuteronomy 26:1-4, Finally arrived!

When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.

The Israelites are to give a thanksgiving offering once they enter the land. If this passage continues meditations on the Ten Commandments then we have, once again, the opposite of coveting, in this case, thanksgiving.

Deuteronomy 26:5-11, My father was wandering Aramean

Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.

"So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me." 

Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.

The Israelites are to recite a brief history of their nation, beginning with the identification of themselves as wanderers. Currid identifies the first part of this passage, the statement made before YHWH, as an early creed of the Israelites.

Who was the wandering Aramean?  Some say Abraham, some say Jacob.  Jacob seems to be the most natural answer.

Deuteronomy 26:12-15, Tithe for Levites, aliens, fatherless and widows

When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

Then say to the LORD your God: "I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them. I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything you commanded me.

Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey."
 

The Israelites are to give (in the third year) a special tithe to the Levites (who do not have a possession in the land) and the poor -- the fatherless and the widow. They are to publicly affirm that they have given this portion, as an act of obedience to YHWH. This tithe is in additional to their annual giving.

The farmer is to affirm that he has stayed away from the cultic practices of the Canaanites.

 

Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Treasured possession

The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him. And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.

He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.

The people are to consciously remember their role as a "treasured possession" of YHWH.

First published May 16, 2023; updated May 15, 2026

Deuteronomy 25, Miscellaneous Decrees

We continue to explore the Ten Commandments, focusing on the principles behind them.

Deuteronomy 25:1-3, Flogging

When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. 

If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and have him flogged in his presence with the number of lashes his crime deserves, but he must not give him more than forty lashes. If he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes.
 

Flogging was an ancient Middle Eastern punishment. Apparently a flogging of more than forty lashes endangered the life of the punished man. Later the Jews stopped floggings at 39 lashes, one lash short of forty, apparently to avoid accidentally doing more than forty. The apostle Paul reports (2 Corinthians 11:24) that he was flogged with 39 lashes five different times.

Deuteronomy 25:4, Let the ox feed!

Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

An ox treading grain should be allowed to feed as it works! (This is a metaphor for a greater principle; see the New Testament passages 1 Corinthians 9:7-12, 1 Timothy 5:17-18.)

Deuteronomy 25:5-10, Unsandaled

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.

The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

However, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me."

Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, "I do not want to marry her," his brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line."

That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

In the patriarchal ancient Near East, one's lineage and descendants were of critical importance.  If a man died before he had children, his brother was obligated to impregnate the widow. If he refused, there was a ceremony that dishonored the stubborn brother. An example of this type of emphasis on one's lineage occurs with the story of Tamar in Genesis 38. A modified version of the sandal ceremony appears in Ruth 4.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12, Don't grab a man's genitals!

If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.
 

What a strange decree! There is surely some unknown cultural taboo in the background of this statement. Presumably the woman did not grab the man's genitals by accident but is deliberately trying to humiliate the man or even injure him enough that he could not have children.

Deuteronomy 25:13-15, Differing weights

Do not have two differing weights in your bag--one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house--one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

For the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

The existence of differing weights would imply a type of deceit. In weighing out silver, for example, one might, with a sleight of hand, replace one weight with another and so deceive a partner in barter. An almost identical prohibition appears in Leviticus 19:35-36; later the nation of Israel is accused of this type of cheating by the prophet Amos (Amos 8:5.)

Deuteronomy 25:17-19, Remember

Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.

When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

Revenge is ordered on the Amalekites, who attacked Israel from behind when the Israelites were moving through their region. The Amalekites will be a persistent enemy throughout the early days of the nation of Israel.

First published May 15, 2023; updated May 14, 2026