Deu 27:9-26 | TNotes | STEP | 27:9 Today: The Israelites were already the Lord’s people prior to this moment, but each time Israel affirmed itself to be God’s people and renewed the covenant (as here), they became God’s people in a fresh, new way. Recommitment to the Lord is like beginning a new relationship with him.

27:9 ^a Today: The Israelites were already the Lord’s people prior to this moment, but each time Israel affirmed itself to be God’s people and renewed the covenant (as here), they became God’s people in a fresh, new way. Recommitment to the Lord is like beginning a new relationship with him.
Summary for Deut 27:12-26: 27:12-26 ^b Mount Gerizim lies just west of Mount Ebal (27:4 ^c), and Shechem lies in the valley between (see 11:29 ^d; Josh 8:30-35 ^e).

• proclaim a blessing: The tribes or their representatives were carefully placed so that as the Levites (Deut 27:14 ^f) read the covenant from the valley below, the other tribes antiphonally proclaimed their adherence to its terms by shouting Amen, a Hebrew term that means “May it be so.”
27:13 ^g proclaim a curse: By invoking curses on themselves if they disobeyed the terms of the covenant, these tribes served as witnesses and judges of their own future disobedience.
27:14 ^h The Levites as a group were stationed on Mount Gerizim (27:12 ⁱ). The Ark of the Covenant accompanied them, and they offered sacrifices (Josh 8:30-35 ^j). It was part of the Levites’ role to teach and proclaim the Torah (Deut 33:10 ^k; see study note on 6:8; see also Lev 10:11 ^l).
27:15 ^m 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 ⁿ).
27:16 ^o dishonors father or mother: In the various spheres of human relationships, duty to parents ranked just below duty to God (see 5:16 ^p). To disrespect and disobey parents was just short of disrespecting God.
27:17 ^q Moving a boundary marker to one’s own advantage is tantamount to theft and clearly violates the eighth commandment (see 5:19 ^r; 19:14 ^s).
27:18 ^t blind person: This curse would apply to treatment of physically disabled or disadvantaged people in general. Such a mean and callous act was not fitting of a member of the covenant community, in which all were to be treated alike.
27:19 ^u It would be easy to put foreigners, orphans, and widows at a legal disadvantage or to deny them justice altogether (see 10:18 ^v; 24:17 ^w).
27:20 ^x violated his father: See 22:30 ^y.
27:22 ^z whether ... the daughter of his father or his mother: Though this instruction concerns a relationship with a half sister or foster sibling, it precludes a sexual relationship with one’s full sibling as well (see Lev 18:9 ^aa; 20:17 ^ab).

Thematic note: Altars
The first recorded altar in Scripture was built by Noah (Gen 8:20-21 ^ac), though Cain and Abel gave God an offering (4:3-5 ^ad). The patriarchs built numerous altars (see 12:7-8 ^ae; 13:4 ^af, 18 ^ag; 22:9 ^ah; 26:25 ^ai; 33:20 ^aj; 35:1 ^ak, 14-15 ^al). These altars designated sacred sites of divine revelation and personal land claims in the Promised Land, both north (in Shechem) and south (in Beersheba). Altars were made of stone, earth, brick, or metal and wood. Their table-like form allowed smoke to rise unhindered. Intended as a memorial or a place for sacrifice, an altar was the most common image of worship in the Old Testament and in the wider ancient world. The typical altar was on a raised platform accessed by a ramp or stairway; this elevated the sacrificial worship toward heaven. The four horns on the corners of many altars (see Exod 27:2 ^am) marked off the sacred space of meeting between divine and human realms. Through sacrifice and burning, the offering was transferred from the visible to the invisible world.
Jesus unites the various aspects of the altar imagery in himself as high priest, sacrificial lamb, and altar (see Heb 4:14-15 ^an; 7:24 ^ao, 27 ^ap; 9:14 ^aq, 26 ^ar; 10:10 ^as; 13:10 ^at, 12 ^au). Jesus anticipated his own sacrifice in his reference to the blood of martyrs (see Matt 23:35 ^av; Luke 11:50-51 ^aw), and the cross serves as the final altar. Thus, the enthroned Lamb in Revelation removes the need for temple and altar (Rev 21:22 ^ax).

Passages for Further Study
Gen 8:20-21 ^ay; 12:7-8 ^az; 22:9-14 ^ba; 33:20 ^bb; Exod 20:24-26 ^bc; Josh 22:10-34 ^bd; 1 Kgs 18:20-40 ^be; Hos 8:11-13 ^bf; Matt 5:23-24 ^bg; Heb 13:10-14 ^bh; Rev 6:9 ^bi; 8:3-5 ^bj