Deuteronomy 27:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Deuteronomy 27:15
Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
to execrate · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
man
הָאִ֡ישׁha.'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
maketh
יַעֲשֶׂה֩ya.'a.Seh
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
graven
פֶ֨סֶלFe.sel
H6459
an idol · noun, common masculine singular absolute
image
וּמַסֵּכָ֜הu.ma.se.Khah
H4541
properly · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
abomination
תּוֹעֲבַ֣תto.'a.Vat
H8441
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
work
מַעֲשֵׂ֛הma.'a.Seh
H4639
an action (good or bad) · noun, common masculine singular construct
hands
יְדֵ֥יye.Dei
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders dual construct
craftsman
חָרָ֖שׁcha.Rash
H2796
a fabricator or any material · noun, common masculine singular absolute
putteth
וְשָׂ֣םve.Sam
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
secret
בַּסָּ֑תֶרba.Sa.ter
H5643
a cover (in a good or a bad · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
people
הָעָ֛םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
answer
וְעָנ֧וּve.'a.Nu
H6030
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
say
וְאָמְר֖וּve.'a.me.Ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
Amen
אָמֵֽן'a.Men
H543
sure · interjection
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or th…
Leviticus 19:4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 26:1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land,…
Deuteronomy 5:8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is…
Exodus 20:23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.
Deuteronomy 4:16-23 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Hosea 13:2-3 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 27:11–end
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,…
THE TRIBES DIVIDED ON GERIZIM AND EBAL. (Deu 27:11-13)
These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people . . . these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse--Those long, rocky ridges lay in the province of Samaria, and the peaks referred to were near Shechem (Nablous), rising in steep precipices to the height of about eight hundred feet and separated by a green, well-watered valley of about five hundred yards wide. The people of Israel were here divided into two parts. On mount Gerizim (now Jebel-et-Tur) were stationed the descendants of Rachel and Leah, the two principal wives of Jacob, and to them was assigned the most pleasant and honorable office of pronouncing the benedictions; whi…
Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image,.... The blessings and the form of them are not recorded, because they were not to be had from the law, and through obedience to it; and therefore there is a profound silence about them, to put men upon seeking for them elsewhere, and which are only to be had in Christ, especially spiritual ones; but we may suppose they were delivered in the same form, and respecting the same things as the curses, only just the reverse of them; as, "blessed is the man that maketh not any graven image", &c. The order of both is given in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; See Gill on Deuteronomy 11:29. This curse respects the breach of the first tabl…
The Church Fathers
[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.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Amen — This Hebrew word means firm, and hence also faithful (Rev. 3:14). In Isa. 65:16, the Authorized Version has “the God of truth,” which in Hebrew is “the God of Amen.” It is frequently used by our…
Curse — Denounced by God against the serpent (Gen. 3:14), and against Cain (4:11). These divine maledictions carried their effect with them. Prophetical curses were sometimes pronounced by holy men (Gen.…
Gerizim — A mountain of Samaria, about 3,000 feet above the Mediterranean. It was on the left of the valley containing the ancient town of Shechem (q.v.), on the way to Jerusalem. It stood over against Mount…
Graven image — Deut. 27:15; Ps. 97:7 (Heb. pesel), refers to the household gods of idolaters. “Every nation and city had its own gods...Yet every family had its separate household or tutelary god.”
Idol — (1.) Heb. aven, “nothingness;” “vanity” (Isa. 66:3; 41:29; Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13; Ps. 31:6; Jer. 8:19, etc.). (2.) ‘Elil, “a thing of naught” (Ps. 97:7; Isa. 19:3); a word of contempt, used of…
Abomination · .Idolatry — .Idolatry
Amen · A word used to reenforce a statement — A word used to reenforce a statement
Curse · CURSES OF THE MOSAIC LAW — CURSES OF THE MOSAIC LAW
Idolatry · Objects of described as: Molten images — Objects of described as: Molten images
Responsive Religious Service · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Reward · A MOTIVE TO FAITHFULNESS — A MOTIVE TO FAITHFULNESS
Deuteronomy 27:11-26
11. And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,
11. Praecepitque Moses populo eo die, dicendo:
12. 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.
12. Hi stabunt ad benedicendum populo super montem Garizim, quando transieris Jordanem, Simon, et Levi, et Juda, et Issachar, et Joseph, et Benjamin:
13. And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Ashur, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
13. Isti vero stabunt ad maledictionem in monte Ebal, Ruben, Gad, et Aser, et Zebulon, Dan et Nephthali.
14. And the Levites shall speak, and say unto…
In Deu 27:15-26 there follow twelve curses, answering to the number of the tribes of Israel. The first is directed against those who make graven or molten images of Jehovah, and set them up in secret, that is to say, against secret breaches of the second commandment (Exo 20:4); the second against contempt of, or want of reverence towards, parents (Exo 21:17); the third against those who remove boundaries (Deu 19:14); the fourth against the man who leads the blind astray (Lev 19:14); the fifth against those who pervert the right of orphans and widows (Deu 24:17); the sixth against incest with a mother (Deu 23:1; Deu 18:8); the seventh against unnatural vices (Lev 18:23); the eighth and ninth…
carves or casts an idol: Such behavior would strike at the very heart of the covenant ideal by violating the second commandment (see 5:7-10).
Rashi on Deuteronomy 27:12
לברך את העם [THESE SHALL STAND UP …] TO BLESS THE PEOPLE — The procedure was as is found in Treatise Sotah 32a: Six tribes ascended the top of Mount Gerizim and the other six the top of Mount Ebal, the priests, the Levites and the Ark remaining below in the midst (i.e. in the valley between). The Levites turned their faces towards Mount Gerizim and began to recite the blessing: “Blessed be the man that does not make any graven or molten image etc.”, and both these and those (the tribes on Mount Gerizim and those on Mount Ebal) answered “Amen”! Then they turned their faces towards Mount Ebal and began to recite the curse, saying: “Cursed be the man who maketh any graven [or molten image]” — a…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
