Deuteronomy 11:29

And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath bought thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it,.... Which is often observed, as being near at hand; and when and where many things

And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

Thou shalt put the blessing, Heb. thou shalt give, i.e. speak or pronounce, or cause to be pronounced. So the word to give is used, ,2 Job 36:3 . This is more particularly expressed ,13 Jos 8:33, whither I refer the reader.

Deuteronomy 11:29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.Ver. 29. Put the blessing upon mount Gerizim.] That is, Pronounce it there. See Joshua 8:33. Hence the Samaritans built their temple on this mount as a blessed place, and there worshipped they knew not what calling themselves, Those that belong to the blessed mount.

(29) The blessing . . . and the curse . . .—The Targum of Onkelos says, “Those that bless,” and “those that curse.” (See Deuteronomy 27:12-13, and Note.[1]) [1] The other Targums say, “When they bless they shall turn their faces towards Mount Gerizim; and when they curse they shall turn their faces towards Mount Ebal.” This confirms the antiquity of the view taken in the Talmud.

Verse 29. Thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal.] The etymology of these names may be supposed to cast some light on this institution. גרזים gerizzim, from גרז garaz, to cut, cut off, cut down; hence גרזים gerizzim, the cutters down, fellers, and reapers or harvest-men, this mountain being supposed to have its name from its great fertility, or the abundance of the crops it yielded, which is a possible case. Of עיבל ebal or eybal the root is not found in Hebrew; but in Arabic [Arabic] abala signifies rough, rugged, curled, c. and [Arabic] abalo, from the same root, signifies white stones, and a mountain in which such stones are found; [Arabic] alabalo, the mount of white stones. See Giggeius and Golius. And as it is supposed that the mountain had this name because of its barrenness, on this metaphorical interpretation the sense of the passage would appear to be the following: God will so superintend the land, and have it continually under the eye of his watchful providence, that no change can happen in it but according to his Divine counsel, so that its fertility shall ever be the consequence of the faithful obedience of its inhabitants, and a proof of the blessing of God upon it; on the contrary, its barrenness shall be a proof that the people have departed from their God, and that his curse has in consequence fallen upon the land. See the manner of placing these blessings and curses, Deuteronomy 27:12, c. That Gerizim is very fruitful, and that Ebal is very barren, is the united testimony of all who have travelled in those parts. See Ludolf, Reland, Rab, Benjamin, and Mr. Maundrell. Sychem lies in the valley between these two mountains. THAT the land of Judea was naturally very fertile, can scarcely be supposed by any who considers the accounts given of it by travellers with the exception of a few districts, the whole land is dry, stony, and barren, and particularly all the southern parts of Judea, and all the environs of Jerusalem, most of which are represented as absolutely incapable of cultivation. How then could it ever support its vast number of inhabitants? By the especial providence of God. While God kept that people under his continual protection, their land was a paradise; they lent to all nations and borrowed from none. What has it been since? A demi-solitude, because that especial blessing no longer descends upon it. No land, says Calmet, was more fertile while under the benediction of God; none more barren when under his curse. Its present state is a proof of the declaration of Moses, Deuteronomy 28:23: "The heaven over their head is brass; the earth under their feet, iron." The land itself, in its present state is an ample proof of the authenticity of the Pentateuch. Should facts of this kind be lost sight of by any who read the sacred writings?

29–30. A return to the Sg. form of address, with phrases peculiar to that form (see Deuteronomy 6:10, Deuteronomy 7:1). Whether it is original here, or dependent on Deuteronomy 27:12 f. (cp. Joshua 8:33 f.), is doubtful. 29. shall bring thee unto the land, etc.] Son 7:1, q.v. the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal] The two most prominent hills on the Western Range, whether seen from the Mediterranean or from the E. of Jordan, on either side of what is not only the natural centre of Western Palestine, but the part most open to approach from E. Palestine. See the present writer’s HGHL, ch. vi., and pp. 335 ff. Gerizim lies to the S., or, according to Semitic orientation, the right hand and lucky quarter of the heavens; ‘Ebal on the N., the left or sinister quarter. But the visitor to the locality will also be struck by the sympathy between our verse and the contrasted aspects of the two hills as they face each other: the N. face of Gerizim, the mount of blessing, is the more fertile; the opposite face of ‘Ebal, the mount of curse, much the more bare. 30. A geographical gloss similar to those in Deuteronomy 1:2, and in chs. 2, 3, and introduced by are they not, as Deuteronomy 3:11. beyond Jordan] True to the speaker’s position on the E. of Jordan, so Deuteronomy 3:20; Deuteronomy 3:25. Contrast, as untrue to the speaker’s position, Deuteronomy 3:8 (part of Moses’speech), Deuteronomy 1:1; Deuteronomy 1:5, Deuteronomy 4:46-47; Deuteronomy 4:49 (all titles), and Deuteronomy 4:41 (a historical fragment). behind the way of the going down of the sun] Of doubtful meaning. Behind is, of course, west of (according to the orientation alluded to above). But what is the way? It has been understood by most as the great road traversing Western Palestine from N. to S., to the immediate west of which the two mountains lie (Dillm., who quotes Ritter, Erdkunde von Asien, xvi. 658 f. = Geog. of Pal. iv. 293 ff., Driver, Marti). Steuern. proposes, by the addition of one letter, to read west of it, i.e. the Jordan, and to translate the rest in the direction of the sunsetting; cp. the LXX ὀπίσωὁδὸν (not ὁδοῦ) δυσμῶνἡλίου ‘behind (it) towards the sunset.’ Such redundance is not uncharacteristic of the deuteronomic editors. in the land of the Canaanites] Not D’s usual name for the inhabitants of the land; see on Deuteronomy 1:7. which dwell in the Arabah] See on Deuteronomy 1:1 : the Jordan valley, not relevant to the position of ‘Ebal and Gerizim. The whole clause is very probably a still later addition, especially as the following clause connects naturally with that position. So, too, the Massoretic punctuation of the text implies. over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh] The Gilgal, i.e. stone-circle. There were several places of this name W. of Jordan and still marked by Arabic forms of it (see ‘Gilgal’ in E. B.

Thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim - literally, thou shalt give, i. e., “give” utterance to it. On the ceremony see Deuteronomy 27:14 ff.

29. Thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal — There were special reasons for selecting these mountains. They are almost at the geographical centre of the land.