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Commentary on Deuteronomy 27 verses 11–26
When the law was written, to be seen and read by all men, the sanctions of it were to be published, which, to complete the solemnity of their covenanting with God, they were deliberately to declare their approbation of. This they were before directed to do (Deu 11:29, Deu 11:30), and therefore the appointment here begins somewhat abruptly, Deu 27:12. There were, it seems, in Canaan, that part of it which afterwards fell to the lot of Ephraim (Joshua's tribe), two mountains that lay near together, with a valley between, one called Gerizim and the other Ebal. On the sides of these two mountains, which faced one another, all the tribes were to be drawn up, six on one side and six on the other, so that in the valley, at the foot of each mountain, they came pretty near together, so near as that the priests standing betwixt them might be heard by those that were next them on both sides; then when silence was proclaimed, and attention commanded, one of the priests, or perhaps more at some distance from each other, pronounced with a loud voice one of the curses here following, and all the people that stood on the side and foot of Mount Ebal (those that stood further off taking the signal from those that stood nearer and within hearing) said Amen; then the contrary blessing was pronounced, "Blessed is he that doth not so or so," and then those that stood on the side, and at the foot, of Mount Gerizim, said Amen. This could not but affect them very much with the blessings and curses, the promises and threatenings, of the law, and not only acquaint all the people with them, but teach them to apply them to themselves.
I. Something is to be observed, in general, concerning this solemnity, which was to be done, but once and not repeated, but would be talked of to posterity,. 1. God appointed which tribes should stand upon Mount Gerizim and which on Mount Ebal (Deu 27:12, Deu 27:13), to prevent the disputes that might have arisen if they had been left to dispose of themselves. The six tribes that were appointed for blessing were all the children of the free women, for to such the promise belongs, Gal 4:31. Levi is here put among the rest, to teach ministers to apply to themselves the blessing and curse which they preach to others, and by faith to set their own Amen to it. 2. Of those tribes that were to say Amen to the blessings it is said, They stood to bless the people, but of the other, They stood to curse, not mentioning the people, as loth to suppose that any of this people whom God had taken for his own should lay themselves under the curse. Or, perhaps, the different mode of expression intimates that there was to be but one blessing pronounced in general upon the people of Israel, as a happy people, and that should ever be so, if they were obedient; and to this blessing the tribes on Mount Gerizim were to say Amen - "Happy art thou, O Israel, and mayest thou ever be so;" but then the curses come in as exceptions from the general rule, and we know exceptio firmat regulam - the exception confirms the rule. Israel is a blessed people, but, if there be any particular persons even among them that do such and such things as are mentioned, let them know that they have no part nor lot in the matter, but are under a curse. This shows how ready God is to bestow the blessing; if any fall under the curse, they may thank themselves, they bring it upon their own heads. 3. The Levites or priests, such of them as were appointed for that purpose, were to pronounce the curses as well as the blessings. They were ordained to bless (Deu 10:8), the priests did it daily, Num 6:23. But they must separate between the precious and the vile; they must not give that blessing promiscuously, but must declare it to whom it did not belong, lest those who had no right to it themselves should think to share in it by being in the crowd. Note, Ministers must preach the terrors of the law as well as the comforts of the gospel; must not only allure people to their duty with the promises of a blessing, but awe them to it with the threatenings of a curse. 4. The curses are here expressed, but not the blessings; for as many as were under the law were under the curse, but it was a honour reserved for Christ to bless us, and so to do that for us which the law could not do, in that it was weak. In Christ's sermon upon the mount, which was the true Mount Gerizim, we have blessings only, Mat 5:3, etc. 5. To each of the curses the people were to say Amen. It is easy to understand the meaning of Amen to the blessings. The Jews have a saying to encourage people to say Amen to the public prayers, Whosoever answereth Amen, after him that blesseth, he is as he that blesseth. But how could they say Amen to the curses? (1.) It was a profession of their faith in the truth of them, that these and the like curses were not bug-bears to frighten children and fools, but the real declarations of the wrath of God against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, not one iota of which shall fall to the ground. (2.) It was an acknowledgment of the equity of these curses; when they said Amen, they did in effect say, not only, It is certain it shall be so, but, It is just it should be so. Those who do such things deserve to fall and lie under the curse. (3.) It was such an imprecation upon themselves as strongly obliged them to have nothing to do with those evil practices upon which the curse is here entailed. "Let God's wrath fall upon us if ever we do such things." We read of those that entered into a curse (and with us that is the usual form of a solemn oath) to walk in God's law Neh 10:29. Nay, the Jews say (as the learned bishop Patrick quotes them), "All the people, by saying this Amen, became bound for one another, that they would observe God's laws, by which every man was obliged, as far as he could, to prevent his neighbour from breaking these laws, and to reprove those that had offended, lest they should bear sin and the curse for them."
II. Let us now observe what are the particular sins against which the curses are here denounced.
1.Sins against the second commandment. This flaming sword is set to keep that commandment first, Deu 27:15. Those are here cursed, not only that worship images, but that make them or keep them, if they be such (or like such) as idolaters used in the service of their gods. Whether it be a graven image or a molten image, it comes all to one, it is an abomination to the Lord, even though it be not set up in public, but in a secret place, - though it be not actually worshipped, nor is it said to be designed for worship, but reserved there with respect and a constant temptation. He that does this may perhaps escape punishment from men, but he cannot escape the curse of God.
2.Against the fifth commandment, Deu 27:16. The contempt of parents is a sin so heinous that it is put next to the contempt of God himself. If a man abused his parents, either in word or deed, he fell under the sentence of the magistrate, and must be put to death, Exo 21:15, Exo 21:17. But to set light by them in his heart was a thing which the magistrate could not take cognizance of, and therefore it is here laid under the curse of God, who knows the heart. Those are cursed children that carry themselves scornfully and insolently towards their parents.
3.Against the eighth commandment. The curse of God is here fastened, (1.) Upon an unjust neighbour that removes the land-marks, Deu 27:17. See Deu 19:14. Upon an unjust counsellor, who, when his advice is asked, maliciously directs his friend to that which he knows will be to his prejudice, which is making the blind to wander out of the way, under pretence of directing him in the way, than which nothing can be either more barbarous or more treacherous, Deu 27:18. Those that seduce others from the way of God's commandments, and entice them to sin, bring this curse upon themselves, which our Saviour has explained, Mat 15:14, The blind lead the blind, and both shall fall into the ditch. (3.) Upon an unjust judge, that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow, whom he should protect and vindicate, Deu 27:19. These are supposed to be poor and friendless (nothing to be got by doing them a kindness, nor any thing lost by disobliging them), and therefore judges may be tempted to side with their adversaries against right and equity; but cursed are such judges.
4.Against the seventh commandment. Incest is a cursed sin, with a sister, a father's wife, or a mother-in-law, Deu 27:20, Deu 27:22, Deu 27:23. These crimes not only exposed men to the sword of the magistrate (Lev 20:11), but, which is more dreadful, to the wrath of God; bestiality likewise, Deu 27:21.
5.Against the sixth commandment. Two of the worst kinds of murder are here specified: - (1.) Murder unseen, when a man does not set upon his neighbour as a fair adversary, giving him an opportunity to defend himself, but smites him secretly (Deu 27:24), as by poison or otherwise, when he sees not who hurts him. See Psa 10:8, Psa 10:9. Though such secret murders may go undiscovered and unpunished, yet the curse of God will follow them. (2.) Murder under colour of law, which is the greatest affront to God, for it makes an ordinance of his to patronise the worst of villains, and the greatest wrong to our neighbour, for it ruins his honour as well as his life: cursed therefore is he that will be hired, or bribed, to accuse, or to convict, or to condemn, and so to slay, an innocent person, Deu 27:25. See Psa 15:5.
6.The solemnity concludes with a general curse upon him that confirmeth not, or, as it might be read, that performeth not, all the words of this law to do them, Deu 27:26. By our obedience to the law we set our seal to it, and so confirm it, as by our disobedience we do what lies in us to disannul it, Psa 119:126. The apostle, following all the ancient versions, reads it, Cursed is every one that continues not, Gal 3:10. Lest those who were guilty of other sins, not mentioned in this commination, should think themselves safe from the curse, this last reaches all; not only those who do the evil which the law forbids, but those also who omit the good which the law requires: to this we must all say Amen, owning ourselves under the curse, justly to have deserved it, and that we must certainly have perished for ever under it, if Christ had not redeemed us from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for us.
[Daniel 9:11] "'And (the curse) has come upon us drop by drop.'" That is, Thou hast not poured out upon us all of Thy wrath, for we should not have been able to bear it, but Thou hast poured forth a mere droplet of Thy fury, in order that we might return unto Thee once we have been immeshed in Thy snare.
"'The malediction and the curse which were written in the book of Moses, the servant of God...'" In Deuteronomy we read the curses and blessings of the Lord (Deuteronomy 27:11-28:14), which were afterwards uttered in Mount Gerizim and Ebal upon the righteous and upon the sinners.
[Daniel 5:4] "They were drinking wine and praising their gods of gold, of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone." How great was their folly! As they drank from golden vessels, they were praising gods of wood and of stone. As long as the vessels had been in the idol-temple of Babylon, God was not moved to wrath, for they had evidently consecrated the property of God to divine worship, even though they did so in accordance with their own depraved views of religion. But after they defiled holy things for the use of men, their punishment followed upon the heels of their sacrilege. Moreover they were praising their own gods and scoffing at the God of the Jews, on the ground that they were drinking from His vessels because of the victory their own gods had bestowed upon them. Applying this figuratively, we should have to say that it applies to all the heretics or to any doctrine which is contrary to truth but which appropriates the words of the Biblical prophets and misuses the testimony of Scripture to suit its own inclination. It furnishes liquor to those whom it deceives and with whom it has committed fornication. It carries off the vessels of God's Temple and waxes drunken by quaffing them; and it does not give the praise to the God whose vessels they are, but to gods of gold and silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone. I think that the golden ones are those which consist of earthly reason. The silver gods are those which possess the charm of eloquence and are fashioned by rhetoric. But those which bring in the fables of the poets and employ ancient traditions containing marked divergences from one another in respect to good taste or folly, such are described as bronze and iron. And those who set forth sheer absurdities are called wooden or stone. The Book of Deuteronomy divides these all into two classes, saying: "Cursed is the man who fashions a graven image and a molten image, the work of the hands of an artificer, and sets it up in a secret place" (Deuteronomy 27:15). For all heretics operate secretly and disguise their fallacious teachings, in order that they may from concealment shoot their arrows against those who are upright in heart.
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SUMMARY
Deuteronomy 27:15 inaugurates a series of solemn curses pronounced from Mount Ebal, serving as a foundational declaration within the covenant renewal ceremony for Israel on the cusp of entering the Promised Land. This verse specifically targets the insidious sin of idolatry, pronouncing a divine curse upon any individual who crafts or possesses a graven or molten image, unequivocally labeling such an act as an "abomination" to the LORD, particularly when done in secret. The verse culminates with the corporate affirmation of "Amen" from all the people, underscoring their collective understanding, agreement, and commitment to uphold this fundamental prohibition against false worship, thereby acknowledging the severe consequences of violating God's exclusive claim to their devotion.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Deuteronomy 27 marks a climactic moment in Moses' final address to Israel, immediately preceding their entry into Canaan. Following the extensive review of the Law in previous chapters, Moses commands a grand covenant renewal ceremony to take place upon crossing the Jordan. This ceremony involves dividing the tribes between Mount Gerizim (for blessings) and Mount Ebal (for curses), with the Levites reciting specific curses. Verses 11-14 detail the tribal arrangements and the Levites' role. Deuteronomy 27:15-26 then presents twelve distinct curses, each followed by the people's resounding "Amen." The curse against idolatry in verse 15 is strategically placed as the very first, signaling its paramount importance and the foundational nature of exclusive worship within the Mosaic Covenant. Its position emphasizes that idolatry is the primary affront to Yahweh's sovereignty and the most direct violation of the covenant relationship.
Historical & Cultural Context: The ancient Near East was a polytheistic landscape, where the worship of numerous deities, often represented by physical idols, was deeply ingrained in daily life and state religion. Israel's call to monotheism was a radical departure from these prevailing cultural norms. The prohibition against "graven or molten images" was not merely a theological statement but a direct challenge to the pervasive idolatrous practices they would encounter in Canaan. The term "abomination" (Hebrew: to'ebah) carried immense theological weight, denoting practices utterly detestable to Yahweh, frequently associated with pagan rituals, sexual perversions, and social injustices that defiled the land and violated the covenant. The specific mention of a "secret place" acknowledges the insidious nature of idolatry, which could be practiced clandestinely, away from public scrutiny, yet never hidden from the omniscient God of Israel. This context underscores the constant temptation Israel faced to assimilate with surrounding cultures and the absolute necessity of maintaining a distinct, exclusive devotion to Yahweh.
Key Themes: Deuteronomy 27:15 powerfully contributes to several overarching themes central to Deuteronomy and the entire Pentateuch. It unequivocally reinforces the theme of exclusive worship and monotheism, echoing the foundational first and second commandments found in Exodus 20:3-5 and reiterated in Deuteronomy 5:7-9. The corporate "Amen" highlights the theme of covenant fidelity and corporate responsibility, signifying the people's solemn agreement to the terms of the covenant and their collective accountability for upholding it. This verse also underscores the holiness of God and His absolute intolerance for anything that diminishes His glory or substitutes Him with created things. Furthermore, the emphasis on the "secret place" introduces the profound theme of divine omniscience, reminding Israel that God sees all, even hidden sins and the innermost intentions of the heart, a truth beautifully articulated in Psalm 139:7-12.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Deuteronomy 27:15 is rich in literary devices that amplify its message. The most prominent is Covenant Formula, where the structure of a pronounced curse followed by the communal affirmation of "Amen" creates a powerful, ritualistic binding of the community to the law. This reciprocal declaration underscores the solemnity and binding nature of the Mosaic Covenant. There is a strong element of Antithesis, contrasting the public, communal declaration of "Amen" with the private, hidden act of placing an idol in a "secret place." This highlights the tension between outward conformity and inward rebellion, emphasizing that God's law penetrates beyond public performance to the hidden recesses of the heart. Furthermore, the phrase "an abomination unto the LORD" functions as a form of Hyperbole, emphasizing the extreme detestability of idolatry to God, elevating it beyond mere transgression to an act of profound spiritual offense against His very nature. The description of the idol as "the work of the hands of the craftsman" employs Irony, subtly mocking the utter futility and absurdity of worshipping something fashioned by finite human hands, which is inherently inferior to the infinite, uncreated divine Creator.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Deuteronomy 27:15 serves as a foundational declaration against idolatry, echoing the very first principles of the Mosaic Covenant and God's absolute demand for exclusive worship. It establishes God's unique sovereignty and His intolerance for anything that diminishes His glory or substitutes Him with created things. The "abomination" language connects idolatry to other deeply offensive practices in the Old Testament, underscoring its severe spiritual defilement and its capacity to corrupt the covenant community. The emphasis on secret sin highlights God's omniscience and the comprehensive nature of His moral law, which penetrates beyond outward actions into the hidden motives and allegiances of the heart. This verse sets the stage for Israel's ongoing struggle with idolatry throughout its history, demonstrating the constant temptation to replace the true God with tangible, controllable deities, and the severe consequences that inevitably follow such spiritual infidelity.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
While the overt worship of physical idols may seem distant to many in contemporary society, the principle of Deuteronomy 27:15 remains profoundly relevant. Modern idolatry often takes more subtle, insidious forms, manifesting as anything that occupies the primary place in our hearts and lives that rightfully belongs to God. This could be the insatiable pursuit of wealth, status, power, comfort, relationships, career success, or even self-image and personal desires. The warning against placing idols "in a secret place" is particularly poignant, reminding us that God sees not only our public actions but also the hidden allegiances and affections of our hearts. This calls for a rigorous self-examination: What do we truly worship? What do we trust in for security, identity, or fulfillment? Do our private thoughts and desires align with our public profession of faith? Just as the Israelites corporately affirmed their commitment with "Amen," believers today are called to a wholehearted, public, and private devotion to the one true God, guarding against any subtle replacement of His rightful place and actively dismantling any "secret places" where rival gods might reside.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is idolatry considered such a severe sin in the Old Testament?
Answer: Idolatry is considered a profoundly severe sin because it directly violates the very first commandments given by God, challenging His unique identity, sovereignty, and holiness. It is an act of spiritual adultery, substituting the uncreated Creator with created things and diminishing God's glory. The term "abomination" (Hebrew: tôwʻêbah) used in Deuteronomy 27:15 signifies something utterly detestable to God, as it fundamentally misrepresents His nature, leads to moral corruption within the covenant community, and breaks the exclusive covenant relationship He desires with His people. It is a rejection of God's authority and a betrayal of trust, inviting severe divine judgment.
What is the significance of the "secret place" in this verse?
Answer: The "secret place" (Hebrew: çêther) emphasizes that God's moral law applies not only to public actions but also to private intentions and hidden practices. It highlights God's omniscience—He sees what is concealed from human eyes and knows the innermost thoughts of the heart. This aspect warns against the insidious nature of sin, particularly idolatry, which can begin subtly in the heart and in private before manifesting openly. It underscores that true devotion to God requires integrity in both public and private life, as no sin, especially one so directly against God's nature, can remain hidden from Him. As Psalm 139:7-12 beautifully illustrates, there is no place one can flee from God's presence or His all-seeing eye.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Deuteronomy 27:15 pronounces a severe curse upon those who engage in idolatry, its ultimate fulfillment and resolution are found in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament curses, including this one, serve to highlight humanity's inherent inability to perfectly uphold God's righteous law and the dire consequences of sin. Jesus Christ, however, perfectly fulfilled the law in every respect, living a life of absolute and exclusive devotion to the Father, never harboring any "graven or molten image" in His heart or life. He then bore the full weight of the law's curse on our behalf, becoming a curse for us on the cross (Galatians 3:13). Through His atoning sacrifice, believers are freed from the condemnation of the law and empowered by the Holy Spirit to worship God "in spirit and truth" (John 4:24), no longer needing physical images or harboring secret allegiances to anything but the living God. The call to abandon idols, whether overt or subtle, finds its ultimate motivation and enablement in the liberating grace of Christ, who draws us into true, unadulterated worship of the Father, making us new creations who reflect His glory.