Deuteronomy 27:4-8
Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them
The altar must be unworked stone, and the law is written very plainly on plastered stones next to it.
Places of the Bible
Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim
Two hills facing each other across a valley, used once as a room with the acoustics built in.
The instruction is given by Moses long before the land is entered, and it is unusually architectural. Six tribes shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, and six shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse. The two hills stand on either side of the pass at Shechem, and the valley between them is narrow enough that a voice carries. The nation is arranged into a building it did not have to build.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim
- 01
- 02
Deuteronomy 27:11-13
These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless
The tribes are divided by name between two hills. The geography does the work of a public address system.
- 03
Deuteronomy 27:15-26
And all the people shall say, Amen
Twelve curses, most of them about things done where nobody is watching, and the whole nation agreeing aloud to each.
- 04
Joshua 8:30-35
There was not a word which Joshua read not
It is carried out immediately after Ai, and the account notes who was present: the women, the little ones, and the strangers among them.
Why it matters
An altar of unhewn stones goes up on Ebal, with the specific instruction that no iron tool is lifted upon them, and the words of the law are written on plastered stones very plainly. Then the Levites recite twelve curses and the whole people answer amen to each one. What is striking is the content: most of the twelve are about things done in secret, moving a landmark, misleading a blind man on the road, taking a bribe. The public ceremony is mostly about what nobody would see.
1 song
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
