Uncut Stones - Deuteronomy 26 & 27

Chapter 26 is basically just Moses telling Israel that they are to sacrifice their first fruits when they settle in the land of Canaan and then to pay their tithing and they covenant with God to do all the things that He commanded them. The covenant that Moses puts them under is “this day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouch the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: And the Lord hath avouch thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God,.” That was long, but the IM explains, “After briefly reminding Israel of God’s goodness to her, Moses gave on of the finest statements of a covenant found anywhere in scripture. Israel promised to keep the Lord’s commandments, and the Lord ‘avouched’ (promised) to honor Israel and make of her a holy nation.”

Chapter 27 continues with this covenant, as Moses commands the elders of Israel that when they cross over the river Jordan and into the promised land they are to make an altar of uncut stones and write the words that Moses gives them onto the stones. On that altar they are to make burnt offerings and eat and “rejoice before the Lord thy God.” This is interesting because they have the altar of the tabernacle that they could use for this purpose, but they are commanded to create a whole new altar out of stones from the promised land. Maybe that is because the tabernacle altar is meant to be used only within the confines of the set up and fictional tabernacle and this was an indicator not to misuse sacred items without their proper context. It’s also important to remember that the uncut stones thing was so that the people wouldn’t focus on creating the perfects stones for the altar, wouldn’t focus on their own handiwork, but instead just use what God created.

The rest of chapter 27 is a rehashing of various commandments that we have already gone over, such as not making any graven images, honoring parents, doing right by your neighbor, caring for the vulnerable, the law of chastity is covered extensively, and being honest. Chapter 28 is quite a bit longer so it might take a bit more time to go over that one, and I’m off work for a few days, so I’ll get into that one when I get back.