And Moses gave commandment to the people the same day, saying,
On that day Moses set up a ceremony for Israel to hold after they crossed the Jordan: half the tribes standing on the mountain of blessing, half on the mountain of curse. So why, when the day came, was only half of it ever heard?
The charge comes right after Moses and the priests spoke to Israel about who they now were.
Israel was to write the words of the law very clearly, so that there would be no mistake and no excuse for breaking the law (v.8). Then Moses and the priests spoke again to all Israel, urging them to pay attention and listen. They had become the people of God, therefore it was God they were responsible to obey (v.10).
The two mountains face each other, and the tribes split between them along family lines.
Gerizim and Ebal lay opposite one another in the middle of the land of Canaan. The mount of blessing stood to the south, the mount of cursing to the north. Ebal, they say, rises about a hundred feet above Gerizim, and is the steeper and more barren of the two... Half the tribes are to stand on the one mount, half on the other. They are not to speak the blessing and the curse, but to confirm them for themselves. The children of Leah and Rachel take the blessing. The children of the slave women take the curse, along with Reuben, the displaced firstborn, and Zebulun, Leah's youngest son.
This was not a ceremony for leaders only.
The twelve tribes held the steep mountain sides of Ebal and Gerizim, six on each mount. The Levites, we would suppose, filled the narrow plain between. In a loud voice they spoke to all the people both the curses and the blessings of God. (Deut. 27:11-14.) Infants as well as warriors were present, foreigners as well as those born in Israel; none were left out. And in the clear air of Canaan the words of the law would carry, rising from the valley up the slopes of the mountains.
Moses plans a balance. The history records something else.
But in the second half of our chapter we find something quite different. Moses appoints six tribes to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and six on Mount Ebal to curse. But sadly, when we come to the actual history, to the facts of the case, there is not a single syllable of blessing. There is nothing but twelve dreadful curses. The whole congregation confirmed each one with a solemn "amen."
The missing blessing is no accident.
It is impossible for man to find blessing from the law in the presence of God when we come to its actual application. Whatever the call may be, when we stand before the fact, there is nothing but a curse to speak of. It is hard to name a more solemn scripture, or one more typical of Deuteronomy.
The people did not protest the curses. They agreed to them, and the last one closed every gap.
Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth was this: "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them." It covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of. The blessings were read too (Joshua 8:33-34). But about any Amens from Mount Gerizim, Scripture is silent. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man.
Moses put the altar on Ebal, the mountain of curse, not on Gerizim.
Why was the altar not put on Mount Gerizim? Because God knew that Israel would not keep the law, and so were left under a curse (Gal. 3:10). God would meet them in the place they were, not where they ought to be. The altar tells us that God is able to redeem those under the curse by means of the sacrifice of Christ. This is pure grace.
How does God redeem people who are under a curse?
It is a wonderful thing to find that, just as 2 Corinthians 5 says Christ was made sin, so here Scripture says that "He is made a curse for us."... "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."
- Charged — Moses gives this order on the day Israel has become the people of God, responsible now to obey Him.
- Divided — Six tribes stand on the mountain of blessing, six on the steeper, more barren mountain of curse. They do not speak the words; they confirm them for themselves.
- Silent — When the day came, the record holds no blessing from Gerizim, only curses. Applied to real life, the law has only a curse to speak.
- Agreed — Twelve curses drew twelve Amens. The last one was wide enough to catch every failure, and no Amen ever answered a blessing earned by obedience.
- Answered — The altar stood on the mountain of curse. God meets people where they are, and Christ became a curse for us to redeem us.
These shall stand to bless the people upon mount Gerizim, when ye have gone over the Jordan Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
Moses splits the nation in two for the day they enter the land: six tribes on Gerizim to bless, and the six named here on Ebal to curse. Why these six, and why give a whole mountain to cursing?
Every Israelite had a place in this scene, and every Israelite could hear.
The twelve tribes held the steep mountain sides of Ebal and Gerizim, six on each mount. The Levites, we should suppose, filled the narrow plain between. They spoke out with a loud voice to all the people, giving them both the curses and the blessings of God (Deut. 27:11-14). Infants as well as warriors were there, "the sojourner as well as the native born"; no one was left out. And in the clear air of Canaan the words of the law carried easily, rising from the valley up the slopes of the mountains.
The two hills are not alike, and the tribes standing on them are not the ones speaking.
Gerizim and Ebal lay opposite one another — the mount of blessing to the south, the mount of cursing to the north, in the middle of the land of Canaan. Ebal is said to rise about a hundred feet above Gerizim, and it is the steeper and more barren of the two. The tribes are to stand half on the one mount, half on the other — not to utter, but to confirm for themselves the blessing and the curse.
The list is not random. It follows family lines.
These, with the exception of Reuben and Zebulun, are the sons of the maidservants. Reuben and Zebulun are the firstborn and lastborn of Leah: they surround the sons of Zilpah. It is as if the representatives of the whole line of the first wife, and of all that is born of the flesh, were pronouncing the curse.
Verse 12 names Gerizim first. Yet the curses are the words that actually get spoken, and that order was no accident.
The Levites, with the company on Mount Ebal, then had to proclaim many curses with a loud voice (v.14). Mount Gerizim with its blessings comes first in the record, yet the curses from Mount Ebal are spoken first, for God knew they would incur these curses.
Half of this arrangement is for blessing. Nothing ever comes of it.
Where are there words of blessing in connection with Gerizim? Not one. The law cannot give blessing. But the word "cursed" we find twelve times in this chapter. What a confirmation that the law holds out no blessing for man, but can do nothing but curse.
When the day came, the nation agreed out loud to every word — including the last one, which sweeps up every failure.
Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses spoken over them. The twelfth ran: "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them." That one curse covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of. They read the blessings too (Joshua 8:33-34). But about any Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim, Scripture is silent. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man.
Earlier in the chapter God commands an altar, and He places it on Ebal, not on Gerizim.
Why was the altar not put on Mount Gerizim? Because God knew that Israel would not keep the law, and so were left under a curse (Gal. 3:10). God would meet them in the place they were, not where they ought to be. The altar tells us that God is able to redeem those under the curse through the sacrifice of Christ. This is pure grace.
The curse gets an answer, and the answer is not a better performance. It is a substitute.
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'" It is a deeply blessed thing to see this. In 2 Corinthians 5 Scripture says that Christ was made sin. Here it says that He was made a curse for us.
- Divided — Six tribes stood on Ebal, six on Gerizim, the Levites in the valley between. Everyone heard the law, children and foreigners included.
- Chosen — Four of the six on Ebal are sons of the servant wives, with Leah's oldest and youngest on either side. They stand for all that is born of the flesh.
- Spoken — The curses come first, and come twelve times over. God already knew which side of the valley Israel would end up on.
- Silent — Gerizim never speaks its blessing in this chapter. The law can only curse; it holds out no blessing for man.
- Answered — God set His altar on the mountain of the curse, meeting His people where they were. It points to Christ, who was made a curse for us.
And the Levites shall declare and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination to Jehovah, a work of the craftsman's hand, and putteth it up secretly! And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
Israel was to shout twelve curses across a valley in the promised land, and this one comes first: a hidden idol, not open rebellion. Why start with a sin no neighbour would ever see, and why must all Israel say "Amen" to the curse on it?
Israel stood on two facing hills: blessings from Gerizim, curses from Ebal. The law was tied to only one of them.
Mount Ebal is the mountain where the curses of the law were to be proclaimed, and Mount Gerizim the mountain of the blessings. How telling this is of the law's true power, that it was to stand there tied for good to the curse and not to the blessing! "As many as are of works of law are under the curse" is here the language of the law itself... Men try to reverse that sentence, and so the law loses its power, for its true power is to destroy self-righteousness and humble men to the gospel.
The list starts with a man who carves or casts an image and then hides it.
The first curse (v.15) is against anyone who makes a carved or molded image which the Lord abhors, and sets it up secretly. Of course, if he did it in the open, the curse was just as effective. But God sees what is done in secret too, even though people may feel they can get away with such hidden evil. When the curse was pronounced, all the people had to say "Amen."
Open, gross sins already carried a penalty. The curse reaches further, and it aims straight at the man with a respectable face.
The whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, and so is the inward, distinctive nature of the examples chosen. Gross sins bring the penalty, but the more secret and refined ones meet with the curse. This shows that God will deal with such sinners in any case, and it fills the hypocrite with terror at his works of darkness.
The verse calls the image an abomination to the LORD. In the Old Testament one thing above all carries that name.
In the Old Testament the word "abomination" covers any wrongdoing as a holy God sees it... But idolatry was the special thing declared to be an abomination to the LORD. The idols themselves are called by this name. Ezekiel 8 shows idolatry going on in secret, and it shows the "greater abomination" of bringing it right into the inner court of the Lord's house, between the porch and the altar!
An idol needs no workshop. One writer takes the search into the heart itself.
If you shrink from God's searching light, it may be a sign that your conscience is bad, because your heart is not upright before God, and you keep some part of it shut up from Him. You do not want the light of God's presence to enter that dark chamber of your heart, because it is a secret idol-shrine. You do not want the idol exposed to the light of a God who is rightly jealous, and who says, "I am the LORD your God. You shall have no other gods before me." And remember, an "idol" is anything preferred to Christ and allowed to slip in between Him and the soul.
Israel did not just listen. Each curse came back from their own mouths — and what they never said is just as telling.
The Levites read the curses out loud. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal answered together with Amens. Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth was this: "Cursed be he who does not confirm all the words of this law to do them." It covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of. Blessings were read too. But Scripture says nothing about Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man.
The curses at Ebal are not the last word. One writer ties them straight to the cross.
This terrible conclusion of the law, which Israel could not escape, God has brought to nothing by the cross of Christ. Christ bore on the cross the curse pronounced at Ebal on man as a responsible being, to redeem us from it... we see all the curse under which we lay at Ebal gone for ever in the actual judgment of Him who took that place for us.
- Secret — the list opens with an idol set up where no one can see it. God sees in secret, and hidden evil does not slip past Him.
- Searching — the quiet, refined sins are named on purpose, to leave the hypocrite with no shelter for his works of darkness.
- Shrine — an idol is anything preferred to Christ. A corner of the heart shut off from God is that same sin without the workshop.
- Said — Israel answered "Amen" twelve times to the curses, and Scripture records no answering Amen at all to the blessings.
- Substitute — Christ bore the curse pronounced at Ebal, so the curse we lay under is gone for ever.
Cursed be he that slighteth his father or his mother! And all the people shall say, Amen.
The words fall as the second of twelve curses read aloud from Mount Ebal, with the whole nation answering "Amen" to each one. Why does contempt for a father or mother come straight after idolatry? And why did Israel agree out loud to a sentence it would go on to earn?
The curse names an attitude, not only an act.
The second curse would fall on anyone who treated his father or mother with contempt (v.16). This is just the opposite of honoring father or mother, which is the positive command of the law. Again, the people were to fully concur as to such a curse.
Two mountains had a part in that day. Only one of them left a record of the people's answer.
The Levites read the curses in a loud voice. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered at Mount Ebal all answered, "Amen." Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth one — "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them" — covered every neglect or failure they could be capable of. The blessings were read too (Joshua 8:33-34), but Scripture says nothing about any Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man. Man may justly agree to all "the rules" (Ex. 24:3) of God's law, but those who remain under the law must remain under its curse (Gal. 3:10).
The curse before this one falls on the man who makes an idol in secret. The order matters.
First place goes, fittingly, to terrible rebellion against Jehovah, whether by an Israelite or by a foreigner living among them. Then comes a very dark list of enormous wickedness, and it opens with reviling one's father and mother. Setting up your own will against a parent's authority is akin, in a lower way, to renouncing the true God for a false one.
God's law set a clear reward and a clear penalty. Israel's own elders found a way around both.
For the obedient, the word of God declared long and prosperous days in the land. For the disobedient, it declared a criminal's death (compare Lev. 20:9; Deut. 27:16; Prov. 20:20; Prov. 30:11). And the solemn charge from Mount Ebal was, "Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother."
Their own teachers said something different.
But what did the elders say? They contradicted both the letter and the spirit of the law of God. In the name of piety they invented a wicked scheme. It let a man release himself from every obligation towards his parents. He could dedicate to the temple whatever benefits he owed his father and mother. The Jewish council would then release him from all his duties as a son.
The law is not the only place where Scripture treats this sin as serious.
The value God sets on a child's obedience may be gathered from His estimate of disobedience. So in the law we read, "Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother" (Deut. 27:16; see also Exodus 21:17; Deut. 21:18-21; Proverbs 30:11, 17). The apostle also brands disobedience to parents as one of the marks of the perilous times of the last days (2 Tim. 3:1-2), and of great moral corruption (Rom. 1:30). And even a little knowledge of real life shows it. The first step down a ruined path has often begun with disobedience to parents.
Israel's "Amen" could not be taken back. Paul preached to people who were still living under that sentence.
If they stayed under it on purpose — that is, kept to Judaism — their case was hopeless. No amount of devotion in the future could make up for failure in the past. So on that ground no one could get free from the curse. In the days of Joshua the Levites had spoken it aloud and solemnly, in the valley between Ebal and Gerizim. All Israel had answered it with a loud "Amen", standing half on the one mountain and half on the other. So they needed redemption from the sins committed under the first covenant. The death of the Mediator of the new covenant provided it. Paul could then say without hesitation that "by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses."
- Contempt. The curse falls on treating a father or mother with contempt — the exact reverse of the command to honour them.
- Rebellion. Setting your own will against a parent's authority is, in a lower way, like swapping the true God for a false one.
- Amen. Israel said "Amen" twelve times to the curses. Scripture records no such "Amen" to any blessing earned by obedience.
- Evasion. Later teachers found a religious-sounding way to release a man from every duty to his parents. It contradicted both the letter and the spirit of God's law.
- Release. No one under law could escape the curse pronounced in that valley. The death of the Mediator of the new covenant did what future devotion never could.
Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark! And all the people shall say, Amen.
Deuteronomy 27 sets the tribes on two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim. From Ebal the Levites call out twelve curses over the nation as it enters the land. The third of them falls on a man who quietly shifts a boundary stone — and the whole people must answer "Amen" to it.
A landmark was the marker that fixed where one man's land ended and his neighbour's began. Moving it was quiet theft. One writer sees the same theft repeated with the Word of God:
A third curse falls on the man who moved his neighbour's landmark (v.17). The aim would likely be to cheat a neighbour out of some of his property. That is an evil thing literally, and even worse spiritually. Many falsify the Word of God to cheat others out of the spiritual property God has provided for them. Again, the people had to back this up with their "Amen."
Those markers were not drawn by surveyors. God Himself had handed out every family's share, so the stone in the ground carried His care with it:
Jehovah had given the land to Israel. More than that, He had assigned to each tribe and each family their proper portion, marked off with perfect precision. The landmarks were so plain that there could be no confusion, no clashing of interests, no interference with one another, and no ground for a lawsuit or dispute about property... Each man held his land as a tenant under the God of Israel, who knew all about his little plot. Every tenant had the comfort of knowing that the eye of the gracious and Almighty Landlord was on his bit of land, and His hand over it to protect it from every intruder.
The curses of this chapter reach past the crimes anyone could prosecute. That is deliberate:
The whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical. So is the inward, particular nature of the examples chosen. Gross sins bring the penalty. But the more secret and refined ones meet with the curse. This shows that God will judge such sinners in any case, and it fills the hypocrite with terror about his works of darkness.
The man who edges a fence line picks a victim who cannot fight back. One writer names who takes up the case:
It does not matter which form the wrong takes. It may be the crafty move of removing the ancient landmark, or the open boldness of entering the fields of the fatherless. If they have no father, they need no lawyer, and they need not take the law into their own hands. Their Kinsman, their Redeemer, is strong; He will plead their cause against the rogue, high or low.
Israel did not just hear this sentence. They agreed to it out loud. And the silence from the other mountain speaks as loudly as the shouting:
The Levites read the curses aloud. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal answered with united Amens. Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses... Blessings were read too (Joshua 8:33-34). But about the Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim, Scripture is silent. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man. People may rightly agree to all God's rules (Exodus 24:3), but those who stay under the law must stay under its curse (Galatians 3:10).
The curse did not stay on the mountain. It came due on Judah's own leaders:
The law pronounces a curse on those who remove the landmarks (Deuteronomy 27:17). Judah did not take warning from the disaster coming on the northern kingdom, the ten tribes. Instead they sought gain by enlarging their own border. The princes of Judah did not weep over the disaster. They were glad Israel was removed, because it let them shift the boundary line and increase their estate. Wrath was in store for Judah.
The same words carry a spiritual meaning. One writer asks what the church's boundary stones are:
But it also has a deep spiritual meaning. Are there not spiritual landmarks for the church of God, and for each member of it? Do they not mark off with divine accuracy the boundaries of our heavenly inheritance? The apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus set up those landmarks long ago. There certainly are such landmarks, and God has His eye on them. He will not let anyone move them without consequence.
- Gift. Every boundary line in Israel came from God. He gave each family its portion and watched over it.
- Theft. Moving the marker stole what God had given. Men do the same when they twist the Word to rob others of what God provided for them.
- Secrecy. The curse falls on quiet sins that no human court would catch. God sees the hidden act.
- Defender. The victim of a shifted line often cannot fight back. His Redeemer takes up the case against the offender, high or low.
- Amen. Israel said Amen to twelve curses and never once answered a blessing. That is all the law can hand to fallen man.
Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way! And all the people shall say, Amen.
This curse sounds from Mount Ebal — and all Israel had to answer "Amen" to it. A blind man never sees who pushed him off his road. So who guards a man who cannot see?
These curses were not general warnings. Israel stood divided between two mountains to hear them.
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal were close to each other. When Israel came into their land, Moses instructed them to have six tribes stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curses. The blessings from Mount Gerizim depended on obedience, and the curses from Mount Ebal were against all disobedience. Mount Gerizim and its blessings came first in the account, yet the curses from Mount Ebal are spoken first, because God knew the people would bring these curses on themselves.
The chapter is striking for what is missing. Moses arranged for blessings, but the record holds none.
Where are the blessings? Nowhere. Nothing remains but the curses. Moses' word directs half the tribes to take one mountain and pronounce the blessing, and the other half to pronounce the curse. But when everything is done, Scripture has nothing to record but the curse, without a single word of blessing. It is not that God is unwilling to bless — far from it. He gave the charge to bless as much as to curse. But man was on trial under the law of God, and if it depends on man, the only thing he gets in the end is the curse.
Take the words at face value first. This is the fourth curse in the list.
The fourth curse falls on the one who makes the blind wander off the road. Taken literally, this is contemptible cruelty, and it is just as cruel spiritually. By teaching false doctrine, evil teachers will drive unsuspecting people away from the truth of God.
An earlier law forbids putting a stumbling block in front of a blind man. That God had to give such a law says something about us.
Laying a stumbling block in the way of a blind man is about the cruellest thing you can imagine. Yet man is capable of it, or he would not need the warning. No doubt this law, like many others, allows a spiritual application. But that in no way touches the plain, literal principle set out in it.
A blind man cannot see who misled him. A deaf man cannot hear who cursed him. So the law sets a different guard: the offender must answer to God.
This statute is a moving example of the tender care of the God of Israel. "You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD." Here God puts up a barrier against the rising tide of irritation that uncontrolled nature would almost surely show toward a deaf person's weakness.
Look at the company this curse keeps. Nothing in the list is random.
The whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, and so is the inward, personal nature of the examples chosen. Gross sins incur the penalty. But the more secret and refined ones meet with the curse. This shows that God will visit such sinners in any case, and it fills the hypocrite with terror at his works of darkness.
Misleading the blind has a spiritual twin: leading trusting souls away from what they believed. One writer describes the damage.
These false teachers turned souls aside from the truth. They led them away from what they had once professed to believe. It is not a question of salvation. But for the time, at least, these misguided people gave up the truth and became the prey of their deluded leaders. Can anything be sadder than for Satan to use you to lead the Lord's people astray?
Every curse ended with one word from the whole nation. That word already carried a settled meaning in Israel.
Amen is a strong statement of agreement and consent. The first time we read of its use, a woman suspected of unfaithfulness to her husband had to drink the bitter water. The priest pronounced a curse on her if she was guilty, and she had to answer, "Amen, Amen." So when the priest on Mount Ebal recited the various curses, it was added to each one: "And all the people shall say, Amen."
- Mountain — This is the fourth curse in the list shouted from Ebal. Gerizim stood ready to bless, yet Scripture records no blessing at all.
- Victim — Sending a blind man off his road is contemptible cruelty. God had to forbid it, which shows what man is capable of.
- Hidden — The curses single out secret, refined sins on purpose. God will visit such sinners, and the hypocrite should dread his works of darkness.
- Guard — The blind man cannot catch the offender, so the law sets another guard: "you shall fear your God"
- Today — False teaching does the same work: it drives trusting people away from God's truth. Nothing is sadder than becoming Satan's tool to lead the Lord's people astray.
Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow! And all the people shall say, Amen.
This is the fifth of twelve curses shouted from Mount Ebal as Israel entered the land. It falls on anyone who twists the law against a foreigner, an orphan, or a widow — and the whole nation had to say "Amen" to a curse that could fall on their own heads.
The three people named here share one thing: none of them has anyone to stand up for them. That is exactly what makes the offence so serious.
A fifth curse is against one who perverts justice in regard to the stranger, fatherless and widow (v.19). Such victims have no means of protecting themselves, and to take advantage of them is again cold hearted cruelty which God will judge.
The list of curses leans toward wrongs no witness is likely to report.
Obvious crimes bring the legal penalty, but the more secret and polished wrongs meet with the curse. This shows that God will visit such sinners in any case. It also strikes the hypocrite with terror about his works done in the dark.
Why these three? The answer is in what God Himself is like.
He is high over all — the great, the mighty, the One to be feared. But He has a heart for the widow and the fatherless: people left helpless, stripped of every earthly and natural support, the poor grieving, broken-hearted widow and the orphan left all alone. God thinks of such people and cares for them in a very special way. They have a claim on His loving heart and mighty hand.
Human courts often run the other way.
This great God of Israel shows no partiality and takes no bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and shows love toward strangers. Most rulers in the world today are the complete opposite! Law courts often show a sad disregard for justice. The poor usually suffer gross injustice, while the wealthy use their money to twist court rulings in their own favor.
Israel did not just listen. They agreed out loud, and their agreement covered more than they realised.
The Levites read the curses out in a loud voice. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal answered with one united "Amen." Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses, and the twelfth — "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them" — covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of. They read the blessings too (Joshua 8:33-34), but Scripture says nothing about any Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim.
Moses posted six tribes to bless and six to curse. Yet in the record, one side of that valley says nothing.
Where are the blessings? Nowhere. Nothing remains but the curses. Isn't that solemn?... Moses told half the tribes to take one mountain and pronounce the blessing, and the other half to pronounce the curse. But once it was all carried out, Scripture had nothing to record except the curse, without a word of the blessing. When we come to the law's actual working out, man cannot find blessing from it in God's presence.
Moses had also commanded an altar on that same hill, right beside the stones that carried the law.
So right beside this monument of the law — as if God would not have the connection mistaken even then — they were to build their altar. They were to offer their burnt offerings and their peace offerings, and to rejoice before God on that dreaded mountain itself. They could do this, because the law itself sanctified this worship: the death of the victim upheld the righteousness of the law.
The curse is not the last word:
Above all, Christ has redeemed us from the curse by being made a curse for us; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree" (Deut. 21:23). Christ bears our curse that we might receive blessing, and the promise of the Spirit, through faith in Christ.
- Defenceless. The stranger, the orphan and the widow have no way to protect themselves. Cheating them is cold-hearted cruelty, and God will judge it.
- Hidden. This curse sits among sins done in the dark. God curses what courts miss, so no one can treat secrecy as safety.
- His heart. The high and mighty God has a heart for the grieving and the alone. They have a claim on Him, whatever human judges do.
- Amen. Israel said "Amen" twelve times. The last curse swept in every failure they could commit, so they agreed to their own sentence.
- Silence, then the altar. Ebal spoke; Gerizim never did — law can only curse. Yet an altar stood on that same hill, and Christ, made a curse for us, is what it meant.
Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; for he uncovereth his father's skirt! And all the people shall say, Amen.
Earlier in this chapter six tribes stood on Mount Gerizim to bless and six on Mount Ebal to curse. Verse 20 is the sixth of the twelve curses read aloud that day. It names a sin inside the family — a man taking his father's wife — and it required the whole nation to answer "Amen."
Verse 20 is one line in a spoken list. The Levites called out each curse, and the whole nation answered.
The Levites read the curses with a loud voice. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal answered together with Amens. Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth one — "Cursed be he who does not confirm all the words of this law to do them" — covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of.
The other side of the ceremony stays silent. Six tribes stood ready to bless, but the chapter records no blessing.
In chapter 27:12 we get the six who were to bless, but no blessing. Then in verse 13 we get the six to curse, and then follows: "The Levites shall speak and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice: Cursed be he," and so on... So those who are of the law are under the curse.
The woman in view is the stepmother, not the man's own mother.
The one who has sexual intercourse with his father's wife is put under the sixth curse (v.20). This would of course be his stepmother, as in the revolting case of the man in 1 Corinthians 5:1, who was put out from Christian fellowship for this evil.
The ban held whether the father was alive or dead, and it was not a standard peculiar to Israel.
A man was not to take his father's wife, that is, his stepmother. This was forbidden whether his father had died or not. Even the Gentile nations saw this as completely wrong (1 Cor. 5:1). How much more so for Christians! Yet a man in the church at Corinth was guilty of this evil and had to be put out (1 Cor. 5:1-13).
The verse says the man has uncovered his father's nakedness. The shame runs deep because the tie is close.
In these near relationships marriage was unnatural and dishonourable in proportion to the nearness. The intercourse that belonged to the married tie was forbidden in every case outside it. Here it was sinful and shameful in the highest degree... It is the man who is forbidden here, but surely the woman is forbidden just as much. The prohibition also goes beyond blood relations. It extends in the same degree to those related by marriage. It was very important to cultivate the warmest affection between all who stood in near kinship or connection. It was even more essential that they keep their love for one another pure.
The sin in this verse happens in private. So do others in the list, and the choice looks deliberate.
The whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, and so is the inward, distinctive nature of the examples chosen. Gross transgressions incur the penalty, but the more secret and refined ones meet with the curse. This is to show that God will visit such sinners in any case, and to fill the hypocrite with terror at his works of darkness.
Ebal was the mountain of the curse. It was also the mountain of an altar.
It says a great deal about the true power of the law that on Mount Ebal it stood permanently identified with the curse and not with the blessing. But side by side with this monument of the law, they were to build their altar and offer their burnt offerings and their peace offerings. It was as if God would not have the connection mistaken even then. On the dreaded mountain itself they were to rejoice before God. They could do so, because the law sanctified this worship, and the death of the victim maintained the righteousness of the law.
The curse was not cancelled. Someone took it.
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." How blessed it is to see this! In 2 Corinthians 5 Scripture says that Christ was made sin. Here it says that "He is made a curse for us."
Kelly quotes Galatians 3:13 from an older translation. The ESV reads, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us."
- Curse. Verse 20 is the sixth of twelve curses read from Mount Ebal, and Israel said "Amen" to every one of them.
- Silence. Six tribes stood on Gerizim to bless, yet the chapter records no blessing. The law could speak only curse.
- Secrecy. The sins chosen are hidden ones. God reaches what no human court can reach.
- Nearness. The closer the tie, the deeper the dishonour. That is why the verse names the father.
- Altar. On the mountain of cursing God commanded an altar. Christ, made a curse for us, is where the whole list comes to rest.
Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast! And all the people shall say, Amen.
This is the ninth of twelve curses shouted from Mount Ebal, and the whole nation had to answer "Amen" to it. Why did Israel enter the land under curses, and why is no matching blessing recorded?
This curse sits in a group dealing with the same kind of evil, and the people were not just listening:
The seventh, eighth and ninth curses are all connected with sexual evil. For each of them the people had to agree that the curse was completely righteous.
Such sins were common among the nations Israel was replacing:
These unnatural brutalities are plain enough. But many do not know how shamelessly the nations practised them, even the Greeks and the Romans. What an abomination! It is confusion, says Jehovah. Israel was not to become unclean through any of these things. The nations of Canaan did all of them, and He drove those nations out before Israel. How much guiltier, then, would Israel be! These sins made the very land unclean… Receiving the good that comes from God — His word and above all His Christ — is what keeps souls from evil.
Many of these curses name sins a person can hide and still keep his good name. One writer says that is exactly why God chose them:
The whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, and so is the inward, particular nature of the examples chosen. Open, gross sins incur the penalty. But the more secret and refined sins meet with the curse too. This shows that God will visit such sinners in any case, and it fills the hypocrite with terror at his works of darkness.
"Amen" means "so be it". The people's own voice sealed each curse against themselves:
The Levites read the curses out loud. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal answered with united Amens. Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth — "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them" — covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of. The blessings were read too (Joshua 8:33-34); but about any Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim, Scripture is silent. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man.
That silence was not an accident. One writer applies it far beyond Israel:
Nor could it be otherwise. Argue for it as people will, nothing but a curse can come on "all who rely on works of the law." It does not only say, "as many as fail to keep the law," though that is true. As if to set the truth before us in the clearest and strongest way, the Holy Spirit declares this: for all, no matter who — Jew, Gentile, or nominal Christian — all who stand on the ground or principle of works of law, there is, and can be, nothing but a curse.
Ebal carried more than the curse. God commanded an altar on that same mountain:
But side by side with this monument of the law they were to build their altar. It was as if God would not let them miss the connection even then. They were to offer their burnt offerings and their peace offerings, and rejoice before God on the dreaded mountain itself. They could do so, because the law itself sanctified this worship: the death of the victim upheld the righteousness of the law. For faith, this completes the testimony.
What the altar pictured, the cross carried out:
We were powerless to redeem ourselves. We had brought the curse on ourselves, but we had no way to escape it… The law had no claim against Him. The law could not curse Him. He had never broken it… But of His own free will He went to the gallows for us. Of His own free will He became a curse to buy you and me out from the curse that lay on us.
- Cursed — the ninth of twelve curses, part of a group aimed at sexual sin, and each one needed the people's spoken agreement.
- Hidden — the sins chosen are ones a man could conceal from his neighbours; God names them aloud to show He will deal with what no court sees.
- Amen — Israel sealed every curse with its own voice; Scripture records no Amen for the blessings from Gerizim.
- Silent — that missing blessing is the point: anyone standing on law-keeping is under curse, not Israel only.
- Altar — on the very mountain of cursing God commanded burnt offerings and joy, pointing to Christ, who became a curse to buy us out of it.
Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother! And all the people shall say, Amen.
Deuteronomy 27:22 is the eighth of twelve curses that the Levites shouted from Mount Ebal as Israel entered the land. It names a sin done behind closed doors, inside a family. Why does a national list of blessings and curses stop to name a man and his sister? And why must the whole nation answer "Amen"?
Moses arranged for half the tribes to bless from Gerizim and half to curse from Ebal. Scripture records only one half of that arrangement, and commentators fix on the silence.
How does this come about? Where are the blessings? Nowhere. Nothing remains but the curses. Is this not solemn? ... It is impossible for man to find blessing from the law in the presence of God when we come to its actual application. ... It is not that God is unwilling to bless — far from it; the charge was given to bless as much as to curse. But man was under probation by the law of God, and if it depends on man, the only thing he gets is the curse.
The twelve curses are not the worst crimes imaginable. They are, for the most part, sins nobody sees — things done in secret that no court would ever hear about.
The whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, and so is the inward, particular nature of the examples chosen. Gross transgressions incur the penalty, but the more secret and refined ones meet with the curse. This is to show that God will visit such sinners in any case, and to fill the hypocrite with terror at his works of darkness.
The verse covers a sister by the same father and a sister by the same mother. The law in Leviticus treats both cases the same way.
Incest with a half sister was exactly the same as with a full sister: it demanded death.
The law is not only banning an act. It guards the difference between family trust and marriage.
Leviticus 18 keeps the people from dishonouring themselves in the things that belong to nature itself. It holds them to what man ought to be in his natural relations, so that he would not dishonour himself. ... Verse 6 is the great principle the chapter insists on: do not confuse the intimacies of marriage with the trust of a natural family relationship.
Each curse ended with the whole nation agreeing out loud. That agreement was a sentence they pronounced on themselves.
The Levites read the curses out loud. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal answered with united Amens. Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth — "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them" — covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of. The blessings were read too (Joshua 8:33-34), but Scripture says nothing about Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man.
Israel later saw this sin at the very top of the nation. David's son Amnon assaulted his half sister Tamar.
His oldest son and Tamar, a daughter of David and half sister to Amnon, are the main actors in the first tragedy. Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite. He grew up surrounded by scenes of licence, as it must have been in David's harem. The lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and he commits the terrible deed, a direct transgression of the law (Lev. 20:17).
The chapter leaves Israel under a sentence with no way out. Commentators point to the one place where another bore that sentence.
Here the people must stand themselves on Mount Ebal, where God pronounces His curse on them. Israel could not escape this terrible conclusion of the law. But God has brought it to nothing by the cross of Christ. Christ bore on the cross the curse pronounced at Ebal on man as a responsible being, to redeem us from it.
- The mountain. Moses arranged blessing from Gerizim and cursing from Ebal, but Scripture records only the curses. On the ground of law, nothing else can be said.
- The secret. These twelve curses target sins done out of sight, so the man who thinks he has got away with it has no cover left.
- The sin. A sister by the father or by the mother is a sister just the same. The sin confuses family trust with the intimacy of marriage, and dishonours the man who does it.
- The Amen. Twelve times the nation agreed out loud to its own sentence, and Scripture records no answering Amen for any blessing.
- The cross. Christ bore the curse Israel stood under at Ebal, to redeem those who could never escape it.
Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law! And all the people shall say, Amen.
As Israel entered the land, twelve curses rang out from Mount Ebal, and the whole nation answered each one aloud. This curse names a sin done inside the family, where a man is trusted and nobody is watching.
The place chosen for the reading carried a message of its own. Israel had two mountains before them, and only one of them carried the curses.
Mount Ebal is the mountain where the curses of the law were to be announced, and Mount Gerizim the mountain of the blessings. How telling it is of the true power of the law, that it was to stand there permanently tied to the curse and not to the blessing! "All who rely on works of the law are under a curse" — that is the language of the law itself here. … So the power of the law is lost, because its true power is to destroy self-righteousness and humble people to the gospel.
after_reason_check: keeps author's argument
A mother-in-law is family by marriage, not by birth. One writer shows how far these laws reached, and why.
In these close relationships marriage was unnatural and shameful, and the closer the tie, the worse it was. … The ban also goes beyond blood relations. It reaches just as far to those joined by marriage. It mattered greatly to grow the warmest affection between all who stood close as kin or by connection. But it mattered even more that their love for one another be kept completely pure.
The twelve curses do not cover every crime. They pick out sins a person can keep out of sight, like this one inside the home.
The whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, and so is the inward, unusual nature of the examples chosen. Open, gross crimes carry the legal penalty. But the more secret and refined sins meet with the curse. This shows that God will judge such sinners anyway, and it fills the hypocrite with terror at his own works of darkness.
This verse is one of a run of curses on sexual sin, and each one required the nation's spoken agreement.
The seventh, eighth and ninth curses are all connected with sexual evil too. In every one of them the people were to agree fully that the curse was completely righteous.
Israel said "Amen" to every curse. One commentator notes what Scripture never records them saying.
Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth one — "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them" — covered every possible neglect or failure they could be guilty of. The blessings were read too (Joshua 8:33-34), but Scripture says nothing about any "Amen" sounding from Mount Gerizim. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man (Deut. 27). People may rightly agree to all the rules of God's law, but those who stay under the law must stay under its curse (Gal. 3:10).
If the law can only curse, how does anyone escape? Writing on Galatians 3, one commentator shows where the curse fell.
In verse 10 we read that we are "under the curse." Then in verse 13 we read that He became "a curse for us." This literally means "over" or "above" us. So think of the curse as a great sword hanging by a thread over my head. It may fall at any moment and destroy me. Christ came above me, between me and the sword. The sword fell on Him; He received the blow that must have taken us down to hell; He took us out from under the curse.
- Curse chosen. God set His law on Ebal, the mountain of cursing. The law can only condemn anyone who stands on his own record.
- Curse hidden. These are sins a man can keep out of sight. God cursed secret sin to fill the hypocrite with terror.
- Curse near. This one reaches a bond made by marriage, not blood. Every close tie had to stay pure.
- Curse owned. Israel said "Amen" twelve times and agreed the sentence was righteous. Scripture records no such answer to the blessings.
- Curse borne. The sword hanging over the guilty fell on Christ instead. He became a curse and bought us out from under it.
Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly! And all the people shall say, Amen.
Deuteronomy 27:24 is one of twelve curses proclaimed from Mount Ebal, and it names a crime no court can reach. Why single out the hidden blow, and why did a whole nation answer "Amen" to it?
Moses planned this ceremony to run both ways. The event itself did not.
But in the second half of our chapter we find something quite different. Moses appoints six tribes to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and six on Mount Ebal to curse. But when we come to the actual history, the facts of the case, there is not a single syllable of blessing. There is nothing but twelve dreadful curses, each confirmed by a solemn "Amen" from the whole congregation.
This is the tenth curse in the list. Who sees a crime designed not to be seen?
The tenth curse is against one who attacks his neighbour secretly. A person may cover up his bad actions toward another, but God discerns such underhand activity and puts the offender under a curse.
The examples in this list were chosen with care. Open crimes already carried a penalty; these curses reach further.
The whole ceremony and the special form of the curses are practical, and so is the inward, distinctive character of the examples chosen. Gross transgressions bring the penalty, but the more secret and refined ones meet with the curse. The purpose is to show that God will visit such sinners in any case, and to fill the hypocrite with terror at his works of darkness.
Israel's own history gives this crime a face.
Amasa suspected nothing… Joab wore battle armour. He had a sword in his left hand, but Amasa did not even notice it, all the more because Joab greeted him in friendly terms, "Is it well with you, my brother?" and came close to kiss him. But "the kisses of an enemy are deceitful" (Prov. 27:6, older translation). At that same moment Joab plunged his sword into Amasa's chest, making sure he killed him with one stroke.
Every curse called for the people's own agreement. In giving it, they signed their own sentence.
The Levites read the curses with a loud voice. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal responded with united Amens. Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth — "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them" — took in every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of. The blessings were read too (Joshua 8:33-34). But about any Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim, Scripture is silent. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man. A man may rightly agree with all "the judgments" of God's law. But those who remain under the law must remain under its curse (Gal. 3:10).
Ebal was not left bare. The monument of the law stood there, and so did an altar.
But side by side with this monument of the law, they were to build their altar. It was as if God would not have the connection mistaken even then. There they were to offer their burnt offerings and their peace offerings, and rejoice before God on the dreaded mountain itself. They could do so, because the law itself set this worship apart, and the death of the victim maintained the righteousness of the law. For faith, this completes the testimony.
So who stands under this curse, and how does anyone get out from under it?
The curse is not said to fall on those who have broken the law, but on everyone who takes his stand on legal ground. Whoever tries to please God on this principle has fallen under it… It is a great blessing to find that, as 2 Corinthians 5 says Christ was made sin, so here it says, "He is made a curse for us."… Christ came and redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
- Secret. The sin here is a blow struck at a neighbour in secret. No witness saw it and no court could punish it.
- Seen. God reaches where human justice cannot. The curse names the hidden and refined sins, so the hypocrite finds no shelter in the dark.
- Sworn. The people answered "Amen" twelve times. They agreed the sentence was right, and so bound it on themselves.
- Silent. Gerizim gave no answering blessing. Standing on the ground of law can produce only curse.
- Substituted. An altar stood on the cursed mountain, and Christ was made a curse for us — the one way out from under the Amen.
Cursed be he that taketh reward to smite mortally [shedding] innocent blood! And all the people shall say, Amen.
The eleventh of the twelve curses at Mount Ebal names a crime that hides behind a payment: money changes hands, and an innocent person dies. Every Israelite had to answer it out loud with "Amen."
The curse names only the one who takes the money. One commentator points out that the guilt does not stop there.
The eleventh curse is against one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person. We often hear of people hired to kill someone. When a court proves it, it finds both of them guilty of murder. The curse here speaks only of the one who takes the bribe, but before God both are surely guilty.
The list keeps returning to sins arranged in secret, where no witness stands. The choice is deliberate.
Gross transgressions bring the penalty, but the more secret and refined ones meet with the curse. The purpose is to show that God will visit such sinners in any case, and to strike the hypocrite with terror at his works of darkness.
A bribe looks like a private deal between two men. One writer weighs what that secrecy is worth.
A gift that twists the course of judgment blinds the eyes. It marks out as a wicked man the one who takes it, no less than the one who gives it. No other human eye sees, but God, who hates the wrong, is not mocked.
The danger reaches further than open bribery.
The law forbids every form of bribery. A bribe appeals to the feelings of the person who takes it. Where bribery runs wild, justice all but disappears. "A bribe blinds the clear-sighted." Let us read that law in its spirit as well as its letter. Self-interest can blind the eyes of a sincere Christian who would never for a moment consider accepting a bribe.
The nation was not just listening. Each curse required a spoken answer.
The Levites read the curses aloud. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal answered with one voice: "Amen." Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth — "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them" — took in every possible neglect or failure they could be guilty of. Blessings were read too, but about any "Amen" sounding from Mount Gerizim, Scripture is silent. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man.
Centuries later a man took money and handed over someone innocent. He confessed it in the words of this curse.
Judas brings the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. He confesses, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." They could not deny that this was true. But with complete heartlessness, more hardened if possible than Judas' own heart, they say, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." Many a person sells Jesus in effect, if not literally. Let every soul make sure his sin is not in some way like the sin of Judas.
The curse was assigned to Ebal, and not the blessing. One writer draws out what that says about the law itself.
Notice what this says about the real power of the law! It was to stand there tied for good to the curse and not to the blessing. "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse" — that is the law speaking about itself. Break that link, and the power of the law is lost. Its true power is to destroy self-righteousness and humble people so they receive the gospel.
But God set something else on that same mountain.
Side by side with this monument of the law, they were to build their altar. There they were to offer their burnt offerings and peace offerings, and rejoice before God on the dreaded mountain itself. It was as if God would not have the connection missed even then. They could do so, because the law itself made this worship holy: the death of the victim upheld the righteousness of the law.
- The bribe. The curse falls on the man who takes money to kill. Before God, the man who pays is just as guilty.
- The dark. These curses reach sins arranged in secret. The hypocrite who escapes human courts has nothing left to hide behind.
- The blindness. A gift that bends justice condemns the giver as much as the taker. Plain self-interest can blind a sincere person who would never touch a bribe.
- The Amen. Israel said "So be it" twelve times to the curse and never once to the blessing. They agreed out loud to their own sentence.
- The altar. On the cursed mountain God set an altar. There a victim died, the law's righteousness stood, and a cursed people could still rejoice before God.
Cursed be he that confirmeth not the words of this law to do them! And all the people shall say, Amen.
Moses ends the twelve curses at Ebal with one that gathers up every other, and the whole nation must answer "Amen" to it. Paul quotes it in Galatians 3 to show that everyone who relies on keeping the law stands under a curse.
This last curse names no particular sin, and that is its terror:
The Levites read the curses out loud. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal answered together with united Amens. Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses, and the twelfth covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of… Man may rightly agree with all the judgments of God's law, but those who remain under the law must remain under its curse.
Six tribes stood on Gerizim to bless, six on Ebal to curse. Look for the blessings in this chapter and you will not find them:
In chapter 27:12 we get the six who were to bless, but no blessing. Then in verse 13 the six to curse. Then follows: "The Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice: Cursed be he," and so on — and at the end, the words quoted by the apostle Paul. In the following chapters we get God's ways with Israel in the land of Canaan. But it all stands under the solemn declarations of what comes from being put under the law, and no blessing appears there. So those who are of the law are under the curse.
That silence raises a question about God Himself.
It is not that there is the least unwillingness on God's part to bless — far from it; and the charge was given to bless as much as to curse. But the creature, the first man, was under testing by the law of God. The result is, and can only be, this: if it depends on man, the only thing he gets in the end is the curse.
Paul's quotation reaches further than the lawbreaker:
It does not merely say "as many as fail to keep the law," though that is true. The Holy Spirit sets the truth before us in the clearest and strongest way. He declares that all who stand on the ground or principle of works of law — Jew, Gentile or nominal Christian, no matter who — are under a curse. For them there is, and can be, nothing else.
Law can state a demand. It cannot produce the man who will meet it.
Clearly no one has continued to do all the things the law demands. So the testimony of Moses can lead to only one conclusion: to go back to the law for blessing is to come under the curse. It has been said, "The law demands; it insists that men keep it; it must have obedience. But it gives neither a nature that wants to keep it, nor the strength to do it."
Deuteronomy 28 also lists curses, yet Paul reaches back to this verse. The two chapters are not interchangeable:
Of what is the apostle treating? Not merely of that which belongs to the present life. He is looking at law as that which brings in the curse for ever. So it is not a question of present things, but of a curse in the sight of God. This gives the true key to the passage compared with the next chapter. The blessings and the curses of Deuteronomy 28 belong strictly to the curse man actually lives under here on earth.
One detail earlier in the chapter refuses to fit the gloom. God told Israel to build the altar on Ebal — the cursing side, not the blessing side:
Why was the altar not put on Mount Gerizim? Because God knew that Israel would not keep the law, and were therefore left under a curse (Gal. 3:10). God would meet them in the place they were, not where they ought to be. The altar tells us that God is able to redeem those under the curse by means of the sacrifice of Christ. This is pure grace.
What the altar pictured, the cross carried out.
Christ bore on the cross the curse pronounced at Ebal on man as a responsible being, to redeem us from it… The curses at Ebal close with these words, but the apostle adds: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'"
- Ebal speaks. Israel answered twelve curses with "Amen"; the last one swept in every failure the first eleven had not named.
- Gerizim is silent. God commanded the blessing, yet no blessing was ever recorded. He was willing to bless; man on trial gave Him nothing to bless.
- The curse widens. Paul applies the verse not only to those who break the law but to everyone who takes law as the ground of blessing.
- The law cannot help. It demands obedience without giving either the desire or the strength to obey.
- The altar stands on Ebal. God met His people on the cursing side of the valley, where Christ was made a curse for us.