Deuteronomy 27 - The Covenant Renewed | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Deuteronomy 27 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.In Deuteronomy 27 we now come to the sanctions of the covenant, and one of the saddest sections of the entire bible. Briefly Moses is now talking about himself in the third person. This isn’t a problem as some think, but done this way because of the formality of the covenant terms and sanctions in line with ancient treaties. It then outlines the building of an altar on Mt Ebal. Mt Ebal is still there naturally, but so is the altar.A simple flyover on Google Earth reveals a quite large non natural pile of rocks, left from this time. There are also many pictures on Google Images of this, even though the mountain is now off limits courtesy of the Israeli government. Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal are amazingly close together. They are perhaps only 4-500 feet apart at the base, but are substantial enough for a good amount of people to stand on each mountain. The view of these is worth a flyover on Google Earth.The city of Nablus is in between. Mt Gerizim is the mountain referred to in John 4 by the Samaritan woman. Samaritans only held to the Law, but not the rest of the Old Testament, so for her, “this mountain” was Mt Gerizim. God sends 6 tribes up the mountain of curse, and six up the mountain of blessing.This prompts a question. Did God curse 6 tribes and bless 6 tribes? No, the blessing and cursing of the covenant was by obedience, not by birth. This is always the way in God’s system. Nevertheless it is interesting that on Gerizim only tribes of Jacob’s wives are chosen, and on Ebal, tribes of Jacob’s servants, plus the oldest and youngest of the wives’ children are chosen.There is a pattern there, but what does it mean? And now we begin the sanctions proper, with the worst of them to come in the next chapter. Here the people agree to the terms by saying Amen repeatedly offering proof that amen isn't always used as you think.