Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Chapter the Twenty-seventh
The ceremony of the blessing on Mount Garizim, and of the cursing on Mount Hebal, to be performed, is prescribed: namely, first, that all the people, as well Israelites as proselytes, as well men as women and children, go to these mountains. Secondly, that they raise an altar on Hebal. Thirdly, that they set up stones, and plaster them with lime. Fourthly, that they inscribe the law on them. Fifthly, that they sacrifice on the altar. Sixthly, that six tribes stand on Garizim, the other six on Hebal. Seventhly, that in the midst of these mountains, in the very valley, the priests of the Lord stand with the ark. Eighthly, that by these, with a loud and clear voice, the formula of blessing and cursing here prescribed be recited, to which the people answer: Amen.
1. And Moses with the ancients of Israel commanded the people, saying: Keep every commandment that I command you this day. 2. And when you shall have passed over the Jordan, into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, thou shalt set up great stones, and shalt plaster them over with plaster, 3. that thou mayest write on them all the words of this law, when thou shalt have passed the Jordan: that thou mayest enter into the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as he swore to thy fathers. 4. When therefore you shall have passed over the Jordan, set up the stones, which I command you this day, in mount Hebal, and thou shalt plaster them over with plaster: 5. and thou shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy God, of stones which iron hath not touched, 6. and of stones not hewn and unpolished; and thou shalt offer upon it holocausts to the Lord thy God, 7. and shalt immolate peace victims, and shalt eat there, and feast before the Lord thy God. 8. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law plainly and clearly. 9. And Moses and the priests of the Levitical race said to all Israel: Attend and hear, O Israel: this day thou art made the people of the Lord thy God: 10. thou shalt hear his voice, and do the commandments and justices which I command thee. 11. And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying: 12. These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when you are passed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13. And over against them shall stand upon mount Hebal to curse: Ruben, Gad, and Aser, and Zabulon, Dan, and Nephthali. 14. And the Levites shall pronounce, and say with a loud voice to all the men of Israel: 15. Cursed be the man that maketh a graven and molten thing, the abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of artificers, and setteth it up in a secret place! and all the people shall answer, and say: Amen. 16. Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother! and all the people shall say: Amen. 17. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmarks! and all the people shall say: Amen. 18. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way! and all the people shall say: Amen. 19. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the fatherless, and the widow! and all the people shall say: Amen. 20. Cursed be he that sleepeth with his father’s wife, and uncovereth the covering of his bed! and all the people shall say: Amen. 21. Cursed be he that lieth with any beast! and all the people shall say: Amen. 22. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or of his mother! and all the people shall say: Amen. 23. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law! and all the people shall say: Amen. 24. Cursed be he that secretly killeth his neighbour! and all the people shall say: Amen. 25. Cursed be he that taketh gifts to kill an innocent person! and all the people shall say: Amen. 26. Cursed be he that abideth not in the words of this law, and fulfilleth them not in work! and all the people shall say: Amen.
Vers. 2.—2. AND WHEN YOU SHALL HAVE PASSED OVER THE JORDAN, ETC., THOU SHALT SET UP GREAT STONES,—twelve in number, namely for the number of the twelve tribes; for as many Moses also had set up when he was about to recite the law to the Israelites, Exodus xxiv, 4. Hence Moses’s disciple, Josue, is commanded to imitate the same, say Masius and Serarius.
Note: Although Josephus seems to say that these stones were the same as the stones of the altar, which is here commanded to be built, yet it is truer that they were different, as Scripture here sufficiently signifies. So Cyril in the Glaphyra, Cajetan, Masius, Serarius, Abulensis and others.
2. AND THOU SHALT PLASTER THEM OVER WITH PLASTER (that is, as the Hebrews have it, thou shalt smear or incrust them with lime, and that to this end, that, as is said vers. 8, thou mayest write upon them) ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW PLAINLY AND CLEARLY,—that is, say the Jews, with the points, which are to the Hebrews like vowels; for these, they, with Cevallerius, think, were already then given to Moses as vowels. But this is a fable. For it is certain that the Hebrew points were invented long after Christ, nay after the times of St. Jerome, as the Latins most skilled in the Hebrew tongue teach, nay Rabbi Elias Levita himself.
“Plainly and clearly,” then, is the same as clearly and distinctly; whence the Hebrew is, explaining well. Hence it is plain that on these stones on both sides, in small characters, this whole law was inscribed, that is, the whole of Deuteronomy, both for the stirring up of those present and for the memory of posterity, that they themselves might be able to read the precepts of God, clearly inscribed on these stones: whence for this ceremony, and this inscription of the law, not one but several days were spent: for not only the Decalogue, as Lyranus and Cajetan will have; nor only the curses and blessings, of which vers. 15, as Masius will have; nor only the precepts of the law, affirmative and negative, as Aben-Ezra will have, were inscribed on these stones, but the whole of Deuteronomy, as is plain from this, that he commands to be inscribed on them “all the words of this law,” that is, of Deuteronomy: and so Josue actually did, chap. viii, vers. 32.
Whence it is plain that these stones were large, although Deuteronomy was inscribed not properly on the stones, but on the lime spread on the stones. So Abulensis and Serarius, who shows how that could be done, Question xx on chap. viii of Josue.
Mystically, Cyril in the Glaphyra takes by the twelve stones the twelve Apostles, on whom the law of God was inscribed, so that all could read it in their words and manners.
12. THESE SHALL STAND UPON MOUNT GARIZIM TO BLESS THE PEOPLE, ETC.: SIMEON, LEVI, JUDA, ISSACHAR, JOSEPH (namely Ephraim and Manasses: for these were the sons of Joseph; these two tribes are therefore here called one, namely Joseph) AND BENJAMIN. Mount Garizim.—Note: Mount Garizim overhangs the city of Sichem, as is plain from Judges ix, 7, on which, in the time of Alexander the Great, Sanaballat, prefect of Samaria, built a temple, and set over it Manasses, brother of the high priest Jaddus: to which the Samaritans and others cast out by the Jews flocked together, as Josephus witnesses, book xi Antiquities, chap. vii: of which temple the Samaritan woman speaks, conversing with Christ, John iv, 20. Wrongly, therefore, does Andreas Masius place Garizim not near Sichem but near Hai, whose reasons Nicolas Serarius refutes at length in Josue, Question xiv.
13. AND OVER AGAINST THEM SHALL STAND TO CURSE (that they may applaud the priests cursing the people who keep not the law of God, and answer: Amen) UPON MOUNT HEBAL: RUBEN, GAD, AND ASER, AND ZABULON, DAN, AND NEPHTHALI.—Mount Hebal is near Mount Garizim: for only a valley lies between them.
Note: By this ceremony and pomp the Lord willed to rouse the rude people to remember the law and to fulfil it: whence the Levites, that is, the priests, by proclaiming the blessings and curses, like heralds, renewed and confirmed the covenant between God and the people. The whole matter, then, seems to have been performed in this order and manner. First, in the valley itself, between the two mountains, Garizim and Hebal, stood the priests who bore the ark of the covenant, as is plain from Josue viii, 33. Secondly, around these stood the other priests, and all the Levites; thirdly, around these stood the ancients, the leaders and judges of the people. Fourthly, next all the tribes, so that six designated tribes stood ascending toward Mount Garizim, six others toward Mount Hebal. Fifthly, Josue, either himself, as a Prophet, or through the priests, blessed the people, as is plain from Josue viii, 34. Sixthly, some priests, who seemed the most clear-voiced, recited the law.
if any forgetfulness of the law should afterwards occur, it, found by some chance, might become known to men as if anew. So he who built the Pharos is said to have inscribed the name of King Sostratus in the plaster, but to have carved his own in the stone covered with plaster, that many years after, when the plaster covering had fallen away, he himself might be renowned with posterity.
Vers. 4. For Hebal the Samaritan codex gives Garizim, but Gesenius rightly observes in his Thesaurus that the genuine reading has been adulterated by the Samaritans, to seek a colour and authority for their new worship.
Seventhly, the same ascended the summit of Mount Garizim, as Abulensis will have, or rather, standing in the valley beside the ark, as the Hebrews, Masius, Serarius and others teach, from a higher place or platform, turning toward Mount Garizim, pronounced the blessings; then turning to Mount Hebal, pronounced the curses: and that fittingly to the condition of the mountains. For Garizim is fertile and pleasant, and therefore blessings, that is, prayers for all felicity, were rightly conceived toward it; but Hebal is barren and unpleasant: imprecations and detestations, therefore, it rightly received. Vers. 5. This command does not seem new, different from the former; but Moses teaches that the stones, which he before said were to be set up and covered with plaster, must be put together into the form of an altar.
Rabbi Solomon thinks that the priests, after each blessing to which six tribes answered, pronounced a curse, to which the other six tribes answered Amen, in alternate voice, as it were in chorus; for this seems more fitting and neat. Others, however, as Andreas Masius and Abulensis, no less probably think that the priests at first pronounced all twelve blessings together at Garizim, six tribes answering Amen to each; then after them pronounced in order the twelve curses at Hebal, the other six tribes answering Amen.
Moreover these blessings are not described here, but from the curses of vers. 15 it is allowed to gather that they were these: First, blessed be he who maketh not a graven thing, but worshippeth the one true God! Second, blessed be he who honoureth father and mother! Third, blessed be he who removeth not his neighbour’s landmarks, and so of the rest down to twelve, namely for the number of the twelve tribes. Lastly, these blessings are more fully set forth in the next chapter, vers. 28: whence it is likely that Josue, who executed this command of blessing and cursing, at the same time likewise had this chapter xxvii read again to the people and promulgated. So Andreas Masius.
15. AND ALL THE PEOPLE SHALL ANSWER, AND SAY: AMEN. Vers. 15.—Hence some, as Masius, think that all twelve tribes with a common voice cried out Amen to each of the blessings and of the curses. But it is truer that only the six designated tribes cried out Amen to the blessings: the other six cried out Amen only to the curses; for this is plainly said, vers. 13.
Note: The six nobler tribes answered Amen to the blessings; but to the curses the six less noble tribes answered Amen; namely the four born of the sons of the handmaids, Gad, Aser, Dan and Nephthali, to whom is added Ruben, because he by his incest defiled his father’s bed; and Zabulon, because he was the last son of Lia. So Rabanus and Theodoret, Question xxxiv.
Note secondly: Each in so great a throng answered Amen here; for although those further from the valley did not hear the priests’ voice well enough, yet the very reason of the ceremony, and the shouting of those in front, admonished them, and all expressed a notable Amen, says Serarius.
AMEN.—“Amen,” says St. Jerome to Marcella, epistle 137, and at the end of the Commentary on Galatians, … are nobler than these. But Josue stationed them near these mountains, because Jesus calls and leads his elect to salvation, either by hope of reward or by fear of punishment; so far Origen and Rabanus.
Anagogically Rupert, book ii, chap. v: There is signified here, he says, the universal judgment; for these two hills, looking opposite each other, namely Garizim and Hebal, signify the two orders and two stations of those to be judged: for Garizim, that is, division, signifies the sheep, which will be on the right hand of Christ, divided from the goats, namely the elect. Hebal, that is, old, signifies the goats, which will be on the left of Christ, namely those to be damned to hell. Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion render it “faithfully,” that is, “truly”; the Septuagint renders it “so be it.” Amen therefore signifies “truly,” and also “firmly”; for the root aman means to make firm, to establish, whence the noun Amen means firmness, stability, truth. Amen, then, is not a particle of swearing, as the common people think, but of affirming and confirming. It is affirming when it is placed before a saying, as: “Amen, amen, I say to you”; it is confirming when it is placed after it. And when it is placed after, it signifies the consent of the hearer, now asserting and granting, now wishing. It may be taken either way here: for the people, answering Amen, approved the blessing or the curse pronounced by the Levites, that is, the priests, and at the same time wished that it be so, to this end, says Cajetan, that they might always remember, if they did well or ill, those who were blessed by their blessing and those who were accursed by their cursing.
Tropologically. Origen, homily 9 on Josue, and Rabanus here:
Those who go up beside Mount Garizim to bless are moved not by fear of punishment but by the hope of the heavenly promise and eternal blessing, and are kindled with love, and tend toward salvation. The others, who go beside Hebal, on which the curses were pronounced, are those who fulfil the law not from love of the promises but from fear of punishments, that they may be saved. All these, however, move about the ark, because they do not depart from the bosom of the Church, though they are differently placed. Six tribes of the children of Israel stood on Garizim to bless, and six on Hebal to curse: so in the judgment six works of mercy will be put forward, for which those on the right hand will be blessed, and six works of unmercifulness, for which those on the left will be cursed; whence the latter will hear: “Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,” and the former: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And all the people, that is, all, reprobate as well as elect, will answer silently: Amen. But the twelve seats also, of which Matthew xix, 28, are not wholly silent here: for twelve curses are set forth here, and as many blessings, as if each were pronounced from each seat. So far Rupert.
Vers. 16. HE THAT HONOURETH NOT (in the Hebrew, he that despiseth) HIS FATHER.
Vers. 17. HE THAT REMOVETH LANDMARKS, of fields, so as to enlarge his own estates by deceit and injustice.