"And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying,
'Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall
be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones,
and plaster them with plaster; and thou shalt write upon them all the
words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in
unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth
with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised
thee. Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall
set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, and
thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there shalt thou build an
altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift
up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy
God of whole stones; and thou shalt offer burnt-offerings thereon unto
the Lord thy God; and thou shalt offer peace-offerings, and shalt eat
there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon
the stones all the words of this law very plainly.' And Moses and the
priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, 'Take heed, and
hearken, O Israel; _this day thou art become the people of the Lord
thy God_. Thou shalt _therefore_ obey the voice of the Lord thy God,
and do His commandments and His statutes, which I command thee this
day.' And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, 'These shall
stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over
Jordan: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and
Benjamin. And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad,
and Asher and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.'" (Ver. 1-13.)
There could not be a more striking contrast than that which is
presented in the opening and close of this chapter. In the paragraph
which we have just penned, we see Israel entering upon the land of
promise--that fair and fruitful land flowing with milk and honey, and
there erecting an altar in Mount Ebal, for burnt-offerings and
peace-offerings. We read nothing about sin-offerings or
trespass-offerings here. The law, in all its fullness, was to be
"written very plainly" upon the plastered stones, and the people, in
full, recognized, covenant-relationship, were to offer on the altar
those special offerings of sweet savor so blessedly expressive of
worship and holy communion. The subject here is not the trespasser _in
act_, or the sinner _in nature_, approaching the brazen altar with a
trespass-offering or a sin-offering; but rather a people fully
delivered, accepted, and blessed--a people in the actual enjoyment of
their relationship and their inheritance.
True, they were trespassers and sinners, and as such, needed the
precious provision of the brazen altar,--this, of course, is obvious,
and fully understood and admitted by every one taught of God; but it
manifestly is not the subject of Deuteronomy xxvii. 1-13, and the
spiritual reader will at once perceive the reason. When we see the
Israel of God, in full covenant-relationship, entering into possession
of their inheritance, having the revealed will of their covenant-God,
Jehovah, plainly and fully written before them, and the milk and honey
flowing around them, we must conclude that all question as to
trespasses and sins is definitively settled, and that nothing remains
for a people so highly privileged and so richly blessed but to
surround the altar of their covenant-God and present those sweet-savor
offerings which were acceptable to Him and suited to them.
In short, the whole scene unfolded to our view in the first half of
our chapter is perfectly beautiful. Israel having avouched Jehovah to
be their God, and Jehovah having avouched Israel to be His peculiar
people, to make them high above all nations which He had made, in
praise and in name and in honor, and a holy people unto the Lord their
God, as He had spoken,--Israel thus privileged, blessed, and exalted,
in full possession of the goodly land, and having all the precious
commandments of God before their eyes, what remained but to present
the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, in holy worship and happy
fellowship?
But in the latter half of our chapter, we find something quite
different. Moses appoints six tribes to stand upon Mount Gerizim to
bless the people, and six on Mount Ebal to curse; but alas! when we
come to the actual history--the positive facts of the case, there is
not a single syllable of blessing, nothing but twelve awful curses,
each confirmed by a solemn "amen" from the whole congregation.
What a sad change! what a striking contrast! It reminds us of what
passed before us in our study of Exodus xix. There could not be a more
impressive commentary on the words of the inspired apostle in
Galatians iii. 10.--"For as many as are of the works of the law"--as
many as are on that ground--"are under the curse; for it is
written,"--and here he quotes Deuteronomy xxvii.--"Cursed is every one
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the
law to do them."
Here we have the real solution of the question. Israel, as to their
actual moral condition, were on the ground of law; and hence, although
the opening of our chapter presents a lovely picture of God's
thoughts respecting Israel, yet the close of it sets forth the sad and
humiliating result of Israel's real state before God. There is not a
sound from Mount Gerizim, not one word of benediction; but, instead
thereof, curse upon curse falls on the ears of the people.
Nor could it possibly be otherwise. Let people contend for it as they
will, nothing but a curse can come upon "as many as are of the works
of the law." It does not merely say, As many as fail to keep the law,
though that is true; but, as if to set the truth in the very clearest
and most forcible manner before us, the Holy Ghost declares that for
_all_, no matter who--Jew, Gentile, or nominal Christian--all who are
on the ground or principle of works of law, there is and can be
nothing but a curse.
Thus, then, the reader will be able intelligently to account for the
profound silence that reigned on Mount Gerizim in the day of
Deuteronomy xxvii. The simple fact is, if one solitary benediction had
been heard, it would have been a contradiction to the entire teaching
of holy Scripture on the question of law.
We have so fully gone into the weighty subject of the law in the first
volume of these Notes that we do not feel called upon to dwell upon it
here. We can only say that the more we study Scripture, and the more
we ponder the law question in the light of the New Testament, the more
amazed we are at the manner in which some persist in contending for
the opinion that Christians are under the law, whether for life, for
righteousness, for holiness, or for any object whatsoever. How can
such an opinion stand for a moment in the face of that magnificent and
conclusive statement in Romans vi.--"YE ARE NOT UNDER LAW, BUT UNDER
GRACE"?