Wesley Corpus

Chapter XXVII A command to write all the law upon stones, ver. 1 - 8. A charge to Israel, to obey God, ver. 9 - 10. To pronounce a blessing on mount Gerizzim, and a curse on mount Ebal, ver. 11 - 13. To the Levites, to pronounce the whole curse, ver. 14 - 26. On that day - About that time, for it was not done 'till some days after their passing over. This law - The law properly so called, that is, the sum and substance of the precepts or laws of Moses, especially such as were moral, particularly the decalogue. Write it, that thou mayest go in - As the condition of thy entering into the land. For since Canaan is given only by promise, it must be held by obedience. Mount Ebal - The mount of cursing. Here the law is written, to signify that a curse was due to the violators of it, and that no man could expect justification from the works of the law, by the sentence whereof all men are justly accused, as being all guilty of the transgression of it in one kind and degree or other. Here the sacrifices are to be offered, to shew that there is no way to be delivered from this curse, but by the blood of Christ, which all these sacrifices did typify, and by Christ's being made a curse for us. Whole stones - Rough, not hewed or polished. By the law written on the stones, God spake to them: by the altar and sacrifices upon it, they spake to God: and thus was communion kept up between them and God. The people of the Lord - By thy solemn renewing of thy covenant with him. Upon mount Gerizzim - These words may be rendered beside or near to mount Gerizzim. There were in Canaan two mountains that lay near together, with a valley between, one called Gerizzim, the other Ebal. On the sides of these which faced each other, all the tribes were to be drawn up, six on a side, so that in the valley they came near each other, so near that the priests standing between them, might be heard by them that were next them on both sides.