Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 27:1-10
Here is, I. A general charge to the people to keep God's commandments; for in vain did they know them, unless they would do them. This is pressed upon them, 1. With all authority. Moses with the elders of Israel, the rulers of each tribe (Deu 27:1), and again, Moses and the priests the Levites (Deu 27:9); so that the charge is given by Moses who was king in Jeshurun, and by their lords, both spiritual and temporal, in concurrence with him. Lest they should think that it was Moses only, an old and dying man, that made such ado about religion, or the priests and Levites only, whose trade it was to attend religion and who had their maintenance out of it, the elders of Israel, whom God had place…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 27:3
thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law--It might be, as some think, the Decalogue; but a greater probability is that it was "the blessings and curses," which comprised in fact an epitome of the law (Jos 8:34).
John Gill on Deuteronomy 27:4
And therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan,.... Some time after they had passed that river:
that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal; a mountain near Shechem in Samaria, and was, as Benjamin of Tudela says (r), dry as stones and rocks itself, and perhaps had its name, as some think (s), from the root in the Arabic language which signifies to strip a tree of its leaves, and a derivative from it, white stones and a mountain in which such are found. Hither the stones commanded to be set up were to be brought, and fixed here; from whence it is not certain; it may be from some part of the mountain. Here the Samaritan version has Gerizim instead o…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Deuteronomy 27:1-4
Deuteronomy 27:1-4, 8
1. And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.
1. Et praecepit Moses et seniores Israelis populo, dicendo, Custodi omnia praecepta quae ego praecipio vobis hodie.
2. 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.
2. Erit, quo die transieritis Jordanem ad terram quam Jehova Deus tuus dat tibi, statues tibi lapides magnos, et lines calce.
3. And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over; that thou mayest go in unto th…
