Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
27:1 VA YETSAV MOSHEH VE ZIKNEY YISRA-EL ET HA AM LEMOR SHAMOR ET KOL HA MITSVOT ASHER ANOCHI METSAVEH HAYOM
וַיְצַו מֹשֶׁה וְזִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הָעָם לֵאמֹר שָׁמֹר אֶת כָּל הַמִּצְוָה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם
KJ (King James translation): And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.
BN (BibleNet translation): And Mosheh and the elders of Yisra-El instructed the people, saying: Keep all the instructions which I am giving you today.
Who is the narrator? This is supposed to be written by Mosheh himself. Even post-modernists don't generally write about themselves in the third person in this manner.
But at last we can write what might have been written at the beginning, if this had been done in modern times: the screenplay: thus:
Location: a plateau in the Mo-Avi hills, overlooking the Dead Sea and Yericho (see Deuteronomy 1:1 ff for the precise geographical detail).
Scene: a vast crowd of Beney Yisra-El are gathered for a covenant renewal ceremony. The crowd is beneath, but fully surrounding, the high point of the plateau, which has been laid out formally, a stage at the centre where Mosheh is seated, his appointed successor Yehoshu'a on his right, the Kohen Gadol on his left, and six tribal princes on either side. On a small table made of acacia wood, immediately in front of Mosheh, the two Tablets of the Law are laid out. Behind Mosheh stand two senior military guards, known for the occasion as Bo'az and Yachin; one holds Mosheh's banner, Nechushtan, the other his sceptre of office.
Scene 1 (Hollywood version): Mosheh is somewhat taken by surprise by the opening ceremony, which is not at all as he had rehearsed it the day before. The prayers of the Kohen Gadol, as practiced; the calling of Yehoshu'a, so that he could be acclaimed by all the people, and not just the smaller gathering of chieftains and senior clergy at his inauguration several days before. But then, as Mosheh waits to be called, Yehoshu'a launches into an impromptu speech, an honouring of the great leader, which leads to adulatory cheers so loud, and going on so long, the armies of Kena'an and Mo-Av and Edom and Amon would have been quaking in their boots, while simultaneously anticipating a quaking in their volcanoes. At last Mosheh's two raised hands - no need for Yehoshu'a and Chur to hold them up on this occasion - gesture to the crowd to quiet, and he launches into the speech he has prepared (the synapses are failing and he is far from certain he will remember all of it, let alone in the right order, or even get the facts correct), to complete the pilgrimage that began in Mitsrayim and is ending now, with YHVH formally installed on his throne in the Mishkan, which has been placed, surrounded by a guard of priests, and with the choir and orchestra behind it, on the highest point above them...
27:2 VE HAYAH BA YOM ASHER TA'AVRU ET HA YARDEN EL HA ARETS ASHER YHVH ELOHEYCHA NOTEN LACH VA HAKEMOTA LECHA AVANIM GEDOLIM VE SADETA OTAM BA SID
וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר תַּעַבְרוּ אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ וַהֲקֵמֹתָ לְךָ אֲבָנִים גְּדֹלוֹת וְשַׂדְתָּ אֹתָם בַּשִּׂיד
BN: And it shall be, on the day when you pass over the Yarden into the land which YHVH your god is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves great stones, and plaster them with plaster.
We have been told repeatedly that there will be a place that YHVH will choose, but it has never been named, or even situated. And now, here, it is. And not the Temple. A shrine. And not a Gil-Gal either (see Joshua 4), because that would have been left in its natural state, and not "plastered with plaster"; though it may well have been the stones that were used to take the Mishkan over the Yarden that then provided the base-stones for the shrine. An obselisk-stele is the most likely, given the following verse. A monument - though not a carved tree, which would be a type of Asherah, and not like the one in the illustration, because that includes natural images, which are prohibited. The other ancient law-code of which we have knowledge, the Code of Hammurabi, was inscribed on such a stele, about seven feet high and made of basalt, but the Beney Yisra-El don't need that, as they already have the Tablets of the Law, boxed in the Edut.
וְכָתַבְתָּ עֲלֵיהֶן אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת בְּעָבְרֶךָ לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר תָּבֹא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֶיךָ לָךְ
KJ: And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.
BN: And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over; that thou may go in to the land which YHVH your god is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as YHVH, the god of your ancestors, has promised you.
VE CHATAVTA: As indeed Yehoshu'a did, in Joshua 8:32, some time after Gil-Gal. The text there tells us that "There, in the presence of the Beney Yisra-El, Yehoshu'a wrote on stones a copy of the law of Mosheh", a task which, if it included the entire Torah, or even just those chapters and verses containing laws, would have taken a man with a hammer and chisel many days; yet the description finds the people standing there watching him do it, and it appears to take very little time at all. Did he then only carve the Ten Commandments? Had he perhaps arranged a team of carvers over many weeks beforehand, and his was the ceremonial last chip? The text there then tells us that he read out all the curses and blessings - which have not yet been given; they are coming in the next chapters - as well as insisting, in an awkward double-negative, that "not a word of all that Mosheh had commanded did Yehoshu'a not read to the whole assembly of Yisra-El, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them". (Joshua 8:35)
What is then missing is an answer to the question: what happened to those stones afterwards? Are they the ones that would be kept in the Ark from now on? And if so, alongside the ones Mosheh had already carved and placed there, or... they never get mentioned again, even as lost objects, a fact which leaves me to wonder, not for the first time, if Mosheh and Yehoshu'a really were two different people, or both different tribal legends of the same original man, one the religious leader of this pilgrimage, the other the military conqueror Ach-Mousa, remembered differently because the priorities of the rememberers were very different; or perhaps both were Ach-Mousa, but one at the time of driving out the Hyksos, and the other after he was installed as Pharaoh back in On, and led his people to this covenant renewal ceremony.
27:4 VE HAYAH BE AVRECHEM ET HA YARDEN TAKIMU ET HA AVANIM HA ELEH ASHER ANOCHI METSAVEH ET'CHEM HAYOM BE HAR EYVAL VE SADETA OTAM BA SIYD
KJ: Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.
BN: And it shall be that, when you have crossed over the Yarden, that you shall set up these stones, as I am instructing you today, on mount Eyval, and you shall plaster them with plaster.
Do we ever hear of them completing this task? I don't believe we do. Yehoshua's altar on Mount Eyval, yes, that's the one in chapter 8 beside which he carved these stones - but is that this? No, because in the very next verse of this chapter Mosheh will instruct the building of that altar, and it is clearly a second item.
וְהָיָה בְּעָבְרְכֶם אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן תָּקִימוּ אֶת הָאֲבָנִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם בְּהַר עֵיבָל וְשַׂדְתָּ אוֹתָם בַּשִּׂיד
KJ: Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.
BN: And it shall be that, when you have crossed over the Yarden, that you shall set up these stones, as I am instructing you today, on mount Eyval, and you shall plaster them with plaster.
Do we ever hear of them completing this task? I don't believe we do. Yehoshua's altar on Mount Eyval, yes, that's the one in chapter 8 beside which he carved these stones - but is that this? No, because in the very next verse of this chapter Mosheh will instruct the building of that altar, and it is clearly a second item.
And why isn't Mount Eyval more important in Jewish memory, liturgy, tourism - I doubt whether one in a thousand Jews around the world have even heard of it, let alone be able to tell you where in Israel it is located (Shechem, which is today's Nablus, has Mount Eyval on one side and Mount Gerizim on the other); and even the fanatics of Gush Emunim, settlers in the West Bank who are pushing for Israel to annexe it and make it part of mainland Israel, even they, who talk about the significance of Chevron, never so much as mention the two mountains. (And perhaps that is because they were the holy mountains of the Shomronim, the settlers from Padan Aram at the time of Nebuchadnezzar - and we have seen in the last few chapters what look like several attempts by the Ezraic Redactor to include the Shomronim in the new national identity; so perhaps this chapter is still one more).
It is also somewhat odd, especially when we get to verse 12, that he sets up the altar on mount Eyval, but doesn't even mention the other mountain, Gerizim, let alone require an altar there as well.
27:5 U VANITA SHAM MIZBE'ACH LA YHVH ELOHEYCHA MIZBACH AVANIM LO TANIPH ALEYHEM BARZEL
KJ: And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.
BN: And there you shall erect an altar to YHVH your god, an altar of stones; you shalt lift up no iron tool upon them.
I questioned earlier the difference between a MIZBACH and a MIZBE'ACH; here we have the same Yehudit word twice in the same sentence, and yet the Yehudit versions which include pointing render the first as MIZBEYACH, the second as MIZBACH. I would be grateful to any scholar who can explain this.
In Joshua 8:30, when this is fulfilled, the word used is MIZBE'ACH.
27:5 U VANITA SHAM MIZBE'ACH LA YHVH ELOHEYCHA MIZBACH AVANIM LO TANIPH ALEYHEM BARZEL
וּבָנִיתָ שָּׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ מִזְבַּח אֲבָנִים לֹא תָנִיף עֲלֵיהֶם בַּרְזֶל
BN: And there you shall erect an altar to YHVH your god, an altar of stones; you shalt lift up no iron tool upon them.
I questioned earlier the difference between a MIZBACH and a MIZBE'ACH; here we have the same Yehudit word twice in the same sentence, and yet the Yehudit versions which include pointing render the first as MIZBEYACH, the second as MIZBACH. I would be grateful to any scholar who can explain this.
In Joshua 8:30, when this is fulfilled, the word used is MIZBE'ACH.
And why stones? Every piece of Mishkan furniture until now that could be has been made of acacia wood - cf Exodus 26:15, 37:1, or click here - or of mud, as in Exodus 20:20.
LO TANIPH: So they will be unhewn stones - natural materials kept in their natural state. The same will apply when the Temple is built later on. The law for this is adjacent to the mud-altar, Exodus 20:21, and reaffirmed below.
LO TANIPH: So they will be unhewn stones - natural materials kept in their natural state. The same will apply when the Temple is built later on. The law for this is adjacent to the mud-altar, Exodus 20:21, and reaffirmed below.
27:6 AVANIM SHELEMOT TIVNEH ET MIZBACH YHVH ELOHEYCHA VE HA'ALITA ALAV OLOT LA YHVH ELOHEYCHA
אֲבָנִים שְׁלֵמוֹת תִּבְנֶה אֶת מִזְבַּח יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וְהַעֲלִיתָ עָלָיו עוֹלֹת לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ
BN: You shall build the altar of YHVH your god of unhewn stones; and you shall offer burnt-offerings on it to YHVH your god.
27:7 VE ZAVACHTA SHELAMIM VE ACHALTA SHAM VE SAMACHTEM LIPHNEY YHVH ELOHEYCHA
KJ: And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the LORD thy God.
BN: And you shall sacrifice peace-offerings, and shall eat there; and you shall rejoice before YHVH your god.
וְזָבַחְתָּ שְׁלָמִים וְאָכַלְתָּ שָּׁם וְשָׂמַחְתָּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ
KJ: And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the LORD thy God.
BN: And you shall sacrifice peace-offerings, and shall eat there; and you shall rejoice before YHVH your god.
27:8 VE CHATAVTA AL HA AVANIM ET KOL DIVREY HA TORAH HA ZOT BA'ER HEYTEV
וְכָתַבְתָּ עַל הָאֲבָנִים אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת בַּאֵר הֵיטֵב
BN: And you shall write all the words of this law very clearly on the stones.
Does the writing on stones, rather than parchment, allow us to confirm the belief that all this was in fact carved in Egyptian hieroglyphs and not written in Yehudit letters?
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27:9 VA YEDABER MOSHEH VE HA KOHANIM HE LEVIYIM EL KOL YISRA-EL LEMOR HASKET U SHEMA YISRA-EL HA YOM HA ZEH NIHEYEYTA LE AM LA YHVH ELOHEYCHA
וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה וְהַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם אֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר הַסְכֵּת וּשְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה נִהְיֵיתָ לְעָם לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ
BN: And Mosheh and the Kohanim - the Leviyim - spoke to all Yisra-El, saying: Sit quiet and listen, Yisra-El; this day you have become a people to YHVH your god.
HASKET: Sheket with a Sheen (ש) is usually used for "silence", but this is SEKET with a samech (ס). An error from Seen to Samech would be understandable (aurally they are identical; Samech is usually used to indicate foreign words, Seen for native Yehudit words), but SHEKET has a Sheen, so it would have to be a double-error. No other use of this root is known, so all we can do is point out the error, and translate it incorrectly for lack of anything better to offer.
27:10 VE SHAMATA BE KOL YHVH ELOHEYCHA VE ASITA ET MITSVOTO VE ET CHUKAV ASHER ANOCHI METSAVECHA HAYOM
וְשָׁמַעְתָּ בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת מִצְוֹתָו וְאֶת חֻקָּיו אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם
KJ: Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.
BN: Listen to the voice of YHVH your god, and carry out his commandments, and obey his laws, as I am instucting you today.
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27:11 VA YETSAV MOSHEH ET HA AM BA YOM HA HI LEMOR
KJ: And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,
BN: And Mosheh instructed the people that same day, saying:
27:12 ELEH YA'AMDU LEVARECH ET HA AM AL HAR GERIZIM BE AVRECHEM ET HA YARDEN SHIMON VE LEVI VE YISSACHAR VE YOSEPH U VIN-YAMIN
KJ: These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:
BN: These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Yarden: Shim'on, and Levi, and Yehudah, and Yisaschar, and Yoseph, and Bin-Yamin.
Interesting that he selects Yosephhttp://thebiblenet.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/yoseph-joseph.html, which supposedly doesn't exist as a tribe; does he mean Ephrayim and Menasheh but is using their father's name for convenience; or does he really mean Yoseph?
27:11 VA YETSAV MOSHEH ET HA AM BA YOM HA HI LEMOR
וַיְצַו מֹשֶׁה אֶת הָעָם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר
BN: And Mosheh instructed the people that same day, saying:
27:12 ELEH YA'AMDU LEVARECH ET HA AM AL HAR GERIZIM BE AVRECHEM ET HA YARDEN SHIMON VE LEVI VE YISSACHAR VE YOSEPH U VIN-YAMIN
אֵלֶּה יַעַמְדוּ לְבָרֵךְ אֶת הָעָם עַל הַר גְּרִזִים בְּעָבְרְכֶם אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן שִׁמְעוֹן וְלֵוִי וִיהוּדָה וְיִשָּׂשכָר וְיוֹסֵף וּבִנְיָמִן
KJ: These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:
BN: These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Yarden: Shim'on, and Levi, and Yehudah, and Yisaschar, and Yoseph, and Bin-Yamin.
Interesting that he selects Yosephhttp://thebiblenet.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/yoseph-joseph.html, which supposedly doesn't exist as a tribe; does he mean Ephrayim and Menasheh but is using their father's name for convenience; or does he really mean Yoseph?
Interesting that Levi is included, which he couldn't be if Mosheh wanted twelve and was treating Menasheh and Ephrayim as Yoseph, and which he probably wouldn't be if the Levites were already separated as the priestly caste - which in theory they have been, though the modern scholars of Deuteronomy would insist that the separation didn't happen until Second Temple times...
And why these six? Is it better to be in the group that makes the blessing, rather than the one who makes the curse? It isn't alphabetical order, or birth-order, and it doesn't reflect the groupings around the Mishkan or the later tribal regions. Did he draw lots, and it just came out that way?
The last verses of Joshua 8 tell us that Yehoshu'a undertook this, but give no detail; simply:
27:13 VE ELEH YA'AMDU AL HA KELALAH BE HAR EYVAL RE'U-VEN GAD VE ASHER U ZEVULUN DAN VE NAPHTALI
KJ: And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
BN: And these shall stand upon mount Eyval for the curse: Re'u-Ven, Gad, and Asher, and Zevulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
As per my screenplay at the top of this chapter, what is being choreographed here is the formal processes of an official ceremony, Mosheh or the Kohen stating the laws, and the people giving their assent one by one, using the word "Amen" in the same way that a bride and groom might say "I do". Sa'i, the running between Safa and Marwa (sadly now down indoors, in what looks like a railway station cum shopping mall) as a key ritual of the Moslem Hajj probably comes from a similarly ancient source.
All this seems to reflect in some obscure manner the prophecies of Bil'am in Numbers 22 ff, which also involved curses and blessings, and which also took place on these mountains. At the time, I wondered if the somewhat satirical, or at least picaresque tale of Bil'am were not in fact a parody or pantomime of some actual liturgical or ceremonial event; the evidence to support that hypothesis is in the chapter we are examining now.
27:14 VE ANU HA LEVIYIM VE AMRU EL KOL ISH YISRA-EL KOL RAM
KJ: And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
BN: And the Leviyim shall speak, and say to all the men of Yisra-El in a loud voice...
The last verses of Joshua 8 tell us that Yehoshu'a undertook this, but give no detail; simply:
33 And all Yisra-El, and their elders, their officers, their judges, as well as the stranger who was born among them, stood some on this side some on that side of the Ark, in front of the Kohanim and the Leviyim, who carried the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH; half of them on the Mount Gerizim side, and half of them on the Mount Eyval side, as Mosheh the servant of YHVH had instructed previously, so that they should bless the people of Yisra-El.
34 And afterwards he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, according to all that is written in the Bbook of the Law.
27:13 VE ELEH YA'AMDU AL HA KELALAH BE HAR EYVAL RE'U-VEN GAD VE ASHER U ZEVULUN DAN VE NAPHTALI
וְאֵלֶּה יַעַמְדוּ עַל הַקְּלָלָה בְּהַר עֵיבָל רְאוּבֵן גָּד וְאָשֵׁר וּזְבוּלֻן דָּן וְנַפְתָּלִי
BN: And these shall stand upon mount Eyval for the curse: Re'u-Ven, Gad, and Asher, and Zevulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
As per my screenplay at the top of this chapter, what is being choreographed here is the formal processes of an official ceremony, Mosheh or the Kohen stating the laws, and the people giving their assent one by one, using the word "Amen" in the same way that a bride and groom might say "I do". Sa'i, the running between Safa and Marwa (sadly now down indoors, in what looks like a railway station cum shopping mall) as a key ritual of the Moslem Hajj probably comes from a similarly ancient source.
All this seems to reflect in some obscure manner the prophecies of Bil'am in Numbers 22 ff, which also involved curses and blessings, and which also took place on these mountains. At the time, I wondered if the somewhat satirical, or at least picaresque tale of Bil'am were not in fact a parody or pantomime of some actual liturgical or ceremonial event; the evidence to support that hypothesis is in the chapter we are examining now.
27:14 VE ANU HA LEVIYIM VE AMRU EL KOL ISH YISRA-EL KOL RAM
וְעָנוּ הַלְוִיִּם וְאָמְרוּ אֶל כָּל אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל קוֹל רָם
KJ: And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
BN: And the Leviyim shall speak, and say to all the men of Yisra-El in a loud voice...
And what an amazing theatrical event it must have been, the whole of Mount Eyval and Mount Gerizim thronging, with something around one and a half million people, the voice of Yehoshu'a surely unheard beyond the front ranks, but the responses from those who can hear echoed behind them, a slow "Mexican wave" of sound reaching the back probably half a minute later, and then the next, and the next... to anyone living within a mile or two, they would have thought the volcano was starting to erupt again! Surprising then that the Book of Joshua merely tells us that it happened, without any description.
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27:15 ARUR HA ISH ASHER YA'ASEH PHESEL U MASECHAH TO'AVAT YHVH MA'ASEH YEDEY CHARASH VE SAM BA SATER VE ANU CHOL HA AM VE AMRU AMEN
KJ: Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be the man who makes a graven or a molten image, an abomination to YHVH, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say: Amen.
Mosheh has told the people to conduct this ceremony when they cross into the land; the ceremony is not actually taking place now. What is about to be given is a script, with stage directions, and not an account of a historical event. At the same time, however, Mosheh has said that he will give them the laws, and the script is those laws.
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27:15 ARUR HA ISH ASHER YA'ASEH PHESEL U MASECHAH TO'AVAT YHVH MA'ASEH YEDEY CHARASH VE SAM BA SATER VE ANU CHOL HA AM VE AMRU AMEN
אָרוּר הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה פֶסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה תּוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי חָרָשׁ וְשָׂם בַּסָּתֶר וְעָנוּ כָל הָעָם וְאָמְרוּ אָמֵן
BN: Cursed be the man who makes a graven or a molten image, an abomination to YHVH, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say: Amen.
Mosheh has told the people to conduct this ceremony when they cross into the land; the ceremony is not actually taking place now. What is about to be given is a script, with stage directions, and not an account of a historical event. At the same time, however, Mosheh has said that he will give them the laws, and the script is those laws.
ARUR: The same word used for the serpent in Eden at Genesis 3:14, and three verses after that for Adam as well. I point it out, as much for the literary-etymoogical as for the religious-symbolic: because that same serpent is visible, now elevated to Mosheh's personal symbol, on the banner being held beside him as he speaks: Nechushtan.
BA SATER: Is the secrecy the issue, or the image?
The only other use of the word AMEN in the Torah is in Numbers 5:22. It occurs as an affirmation, usually but not always at the end of prayer, in 1 Kings 1:36, Jeremiah 11:5 and 28:6 and Nehemiah 5:13 and 8:6, 1 Chronicles 16:36 and Psalm 106:48; on two occasions the Amen is either repeated, or said with Hallelu-Yah in addition. Three verses of the Septuagint add it, Jeremiah 3:19 and 15:11 at the beginning of the verse, Isaiah 25:1 at the end. There is much dispute among the scholars as to whether Amen was a part of First Temple liturgy, Second Temple liturgy, both, or neither, or whether various phrases commencing Baruch (blessed) were preferred.
VE AMRU AMEN: This is simply stage direction.
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27:16 ARUR MAKLEH AVIV VE IMO VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
KJ: Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who dishonours his father or his mother. And all the people shall say: Amen.
MAKLEH: Complicated word. The root is KAL, which means "light", as in "not heavy", rather than "not dark". And yet the second type of light does get into its meaning, from the flames on the barbecue when meat is being roasted - Leviticus 2:14 and Joshua 5:11 both providing instances of this. But clearly that is not the intention here.
BA SATER: Is the secrecy the issue, or the image?
The only other use of the word AMEN in the Torah is in Numbers 5:22. It occurs as an affirmation, usually but not always at the end of prayer, in 1 Kings 1:36, Jeremiah 11:5 and 28:6 and Nehemiah 5:13 and 8:6, 1 Chronicles 16:36 and Psalm 106:48; on two occasions the Amen is either repeated, or said with Hallelu-Yah in addition. Three verses of the Septuagint add it, Jeremiah 3:19 and 15:11 at the beginning of the verse, Isaiah 25:1 at the end. There is much dispute among the scholars as to whether Amen was a part of First Temple liturgy, Second Temple liturgy, both, or neither, or whether various phrases commencing Baruch (blessed) were preferred.
VE AMRU AMEN: This is simply stage direction.
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27:16 ARUR MAKLEH AVIV VE IMO VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר מַקְלֶה אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
KJ: Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who dishonours his father or his mother. And all the people shall say: Amen.
MAKLEH: Complicated word. The root is KAL, which means "light", as in "not heavy", rather than "not dark". And yet the second type of light does get into its meaning, from the flames on the barbecue when meat is being roasted - Leviticus 2:14 and Joshua 5:11 both providing instances of this. But clearly that is not the intention here.
Things being "light" and things being treated lightly is not a great distance to travel linguistically, and we can see evidence of this at Isaiah 16:14, or the next stage of derogation, of things being treated "despicably", or people being regarded as "worthless", at 1 Samuel 18:23, or even worse, "dishonoured" or "humiliated", as we witnessed just two chapters back, at Deuteronomy 25:3.
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27:17 ARUR MASIG GEVUL RE'EYHU VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
KJ: Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who removes his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say: Amen.
MASIG GEVUL: See Deuteronomy 19:14 - all of these blessings and curses relate to laws already given. The ones in verses 15 and 16 shouldn't require me to link them for you.
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27:17 ARUR MASIG GEVUL RE'EYHU VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר מַסִּיג גְּבוּל רֵעֵהוּ וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
BN: Cursed be he who removes his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say: Amen.
MASIG GEVUL: See Deuteronomy 19:14 - all of these blessings and curses relate to laws already given. The ones in verses 15 and 16 shouldn't require me to link them for you.
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27:18 ARUR MASHGEH IVER BA DARECH VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
KJ: Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who makes the blind go astray along the road. And all the people shall say: Amen.
Cf Leviticus 19:14.
27:18 ARUR MASHGEH IVER BA DARECH VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר מַשְׁגֶּה עִוֵּר בַּדָּרֶךְ וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
BN: Cursed be he who makes the blind go astray along the road. And all the people shall say: Amen.
Cf Leviticus 19:14.
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27:19 ARUR MATEH MISHPAT GER YATOM VE ALMANAH VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר מַטֶּה מִשְׁפַּט גֵּר יָתוֹם וְאַלְמָנָה וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
KJ: Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who perverts the justice due to the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. And all the people shall say: Amen.
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27:20 ARUR SHOCHEV IM ESHET AVIV KI GILAH KENAPH AVIV VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר שֹׁכֵב עִם אֵשֶׁת אָבִיו כִּי גִלָּה כְּנַף אָבִיו וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
KJ: Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who lies with his father's wife; because he has uncovered his father's skirt. And all the people shall say: Amen.
Leviticus 18 through 20; ditto for the next three verses. What any culture or society places on its list of curses tells us a hug amount about their values and priorities; interesting then than four out of twelve (note that number!) should be related to sexuality, and even more interesting which aspects do and do not get pointed to.
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27:21 ARUR SHOCHEV IM BEHEMAH VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר שֹׁכֵב עִם כָּל בְּהֵמָה וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
KJ: Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who lies with any kind of animal. And all the people shall say: Amen.
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27:22 ARUR SHOCHEV IM ACHOTO BAT AVIV O VAT IMO VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר שֹׁכֵב עִם אֲחֹתוֹ בַּת אָבִיו אוֹ בַת אִמּוֹ וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
BN: Cursed be he who lies with his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter. And all the people shall say: Amen.
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27:23 ARUR SHOCHEV IM CHOTANTO VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר שֹׁכֵב עִם חֹתַנְתּוֹ וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
BN: Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law. And all the people shall say: Amen.
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27:24 ARUR MAKEH RE'EYHU BA SATER VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר מַכֵּה רֵעֵהוּ בַּסָּתֶר וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
KJ: Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who smites his neighbour in secret. And all the people shall say: Amen.
A rather more satisfactory statement than the mere LO TIRTSACH of Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16, though we already witnessed its better elaboration, albeit in a different context, at Deuteronomy 13:10.
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27:25 ARUR LOKE'ACH SHOCHAD LEHAKOT NEPHESH DAM NAKI VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר לֹקֵחַ שֹׁחַד לְהַכּוֹת נֶפֶשׁ דָּם נָקִי וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
KJ: Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN:Cursed be he who takes a payment to kill an innocent person. And all the people shall say: Amen.
SHOCHAD: Most translations render this as "bribe", but that cannot be what it means. I have gone for "payment". Essentially this is about "contract killers".
The verse could be regarded as a further elaboration of LO TIRTSACH, or it could be regarded as the only one of these curses that does not have a precedent in the texts. The SHOCHAD can be found, eg in Exodus 23:8 and Deuteronomy 16:19, but for an altogether different reason.
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27:26 ARUR ASHER LO YAKIM ET DIVREY HA TORAH HA ZOT LA'ASOT OTAM VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
KJ: Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.
BN: Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law and commit to keeping them. And all the people shall say: Amen.
And this does not require a precedent, though it has innumerable, because this is the final consummation of this part of the rite, the Law as an entity.
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27:26 ARUR ASHER LO YAKIM ET DIVREY HA TORAH HA ZOT LA'ASOT OTAM VE AMAR KOL HA AM AMEN
אָרוּר אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָקִים אֶת דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם וְאָמַר כָּל הָעָם אָמֵן
BN: Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law and commit to keeping them. And all the people shall say: Amen.
And this does not require a precedent, though it has innumerable, because this is the final consummation of this part of the rite, the Law as an entity.
All of these curses define the prohibitions. The blessings, which will follow, define the obligations and responsibilities. Very few law systems anywhere in history have included obligations and responsibilities, making this one of the truly significant achievements of the Mosaic Law, regardless of whether it was truly Mosaic, or a later development or modification given his name.
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Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
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