DEUTERONOMY XI, 26 11 26. Behold, I set before you this day a 47 i~ 0 0 0 ~' blessing and a curse: 27. the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments :i;i;trM2$ ::,~7~, n~,~ ci:ti c;"'-~~ 1P~ ~?~~ nit-) ~~ of the LoRD your God, which I command you this day; 28. and the curse, if ye shall :-t)~~ "?,~~ ,w~ C~"j~~ :-1)~ :,~~-',~ 'r)~~l:' ,~~ not hearken unto the commandments of the LoRD your God, but tum aside out of the Mi~~--',2$ ~~~if>i:, .N~-c~ n'??i?::'.11 : oi~tt c~i:itt way which I command you this day, to go 28 after other gods, which ye have not known. ..,~~~ '?~~ TJ'10i~ c;;,i~, 0~"~~ ~i; 1 29. And it shall come to pass, when the ,w~ LoRo thy God shall bring thee into the land C"in~ c"rl,~ "iMN ~,, ow, C~MN I r,w~J '." •: -N, \,• •• -: whither thou goest to possess it, that thou J" ·:: , •• - ; 1- V V T A • i.,·, : -, shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, n}i~ "; 0 : 29 and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30. Are r,~ti-,t( 1"~'~ ~~";~ :,::,, opn: they not beyond the Jordan, behind the ;-,~i~n-MN :,r,z,j, :,r,~i', :,~~-N~ :,r,N--itDN 0 way of the going down of the suri, in the T T I • \ • "'' - IT I AT ~ • : T \,, T T JT • ·1 ~ land of the Canaanites that ·dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the ii~b-~6::, :,?~~ ,~~ rt77/Pti""M~1 c:rh.~ ~,-,,~ , . ' ' ' terebinths of Moreb? 31. For ye are to 11;~,,~rt N~;~ '11 . pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the r,~~ w~w;:, ,,1 ,r,,~ r.i~tt ~1.; land which the LoRD your God giveth you, er,~"~ :mb "j~,~ ,:lN ',~',~:, ,~ ~TC~:i 31 \" - "'' r,• J'" I'" ••• \. •• T : • - < n~,,~AT r.: If \." - and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set iiJ:i~-,w~ r-1*1,·zi~ ziw,~ ~~~ 1~::r-zi2$ c"j;~ before you this day. C~~W~ ::,;·cz:,;w~) :,pk cp~i~, C~? j~ c,;"::t7~ 32 12 CHAPTER XII i~ ~?.~~ iw~ c:~~ip~ti·M~j C"j?,~;:r,; M~ n,ti,~~ 1. These are the statutes and the ordinances, :c1~0 C?v"'-~~ which ye shall observe to do in the land which the LoRD, the God of thy fathers, hath CAP. XII. !l" :~ given thee to possess it, all the days that n~; n,~~ ri~if>t:i ,~~ c"~!t~~~ C"J?.~i' rl?i K IV. RE'EH (CHAPTERS XI, 26-XVI, 17) XI, 26-32. THE Two WAYS 29. set the blessing. To impress the truth of These seven verses form the peroration and the Two Ways more deeply upon Israel, Moses summing up of the Second Discourse; and, at was to arrange a symbolic representation of the the same time, are an introduction to the Code Blessing and Curse ; xxvn. itself, which begins with xn, 1 and ends with Gerizim ... Eba!. The two most prominent XXVI. It is an earnest appeal that a right choice hills on either side of what is the natural centre be made between the Two Ways now before of Palestine. Israel. The_ entire f~ture of the nation depends upon the nght choice. This theme is further 30. behind the way ... sun. What is here developed in xxvm-xxx. described is the main road running from north to south, and passing through the Plain, east of 26. I s~t before you. Both as individuals and Shechem. as a nation they were endowed with free-will Arabah. See on I, 1. a~d the choice between the Two Ways rested over against Gilga/. Not the Gilgal of Josh. with themselves. All that Moses could do was IV, 19, in the vicinity of Jericho. The word cle~rly to define the alternatives, and point out means 'a circle' (of stones). a cairn, and seems whither each of them led; cf. xxx, 15. to have been used to designate several localities. A Gilgal (Juleijil, the Arabic diminutive for 28. which ye have not known. Cf. xxxn, 17, Gilgnl) has been discovered near Shechem. 'new gods that came up of late, which your the terebiutl,s of Moreh. See Gen. xn, 6. fathers dreaded not': deities that have not shown The association of Moreh with the life of and, being dead, co~ld not show, the saving Abraham would have made it a well-known spot power they had expenenced at the hand of God. to the Israelites. 799 DEUTERONOMY XII, 2 · ~., ;,Ni C'liji ye live upon the e~rth. 2: Ye sh,\ll surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations Q'l~:::r-1,;, ~1'~,,7 ~~ - 11'~~ 'Id,~ ri~~; 11:l~ ittt th.at ye are to dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the -L,;•r,~ ~,~~:, ,~~ ! :,f:?1~Cf•',~ C~lj Ct,~~W 2 hills, and under every leafy lr.ee. 3. And ye shall break down their altars, and dash in cpN c.,~,~ cp~ iw~ c~~J::t ct-ii~~ it~ M~~:, pieces theµ- pillars, and burn their Asherim ..r,~ MMMi r,1,~1,-',::, Q.,~,:-r c.,,:i~~ c~~N-Z,K with fire~ and ye shall hew down the graven T -1ii,-: ,:- -:· TIT c; Tl• A" I VI Y images of their gods ~ and ye shall destroy their name out of that place. 4. Ye shall c~=~~-z,~ cz,~~1 c~h~i~-r,~ C!,j;-ttl~1 :iITT r1. 3 MOSES' SECOND DISCOURSE (Continued) :unclean, tithes, year of release, firstlings )_; • a~d (e) the Three Feasts. _ 2. THE REHEARSAL OF . THE CODE XII-XXVI (a) THE LA w OF THE CENTRAL SANCTUARY At this point we pass to the ·code of Laws. All that has gone before may be regarded as the XII, 1-28 religious and historical prelude to the rehearsal , When Israel is settled in the Land, sacrifices of the statutes and judgments which now follow. shall ·be offered only in --the spot to be chos_e,n So far Moses had been speaking in general terms by God. ··. of the necessity of•dbedience to the laws of God, reminding them of the Covenant of Horeb, and the funadmental' principles of Israel's Religion. -· .. 1. Jn the land. 'Laws that relate to the Land ' i He now proceeds to give detailed laws and pre- need be observed only,in the Land; all other laws .cepts that were to govern their lives in the Land must be. observed everywhere, in Palestine or of Promise. out of Palestine' (Sifri). These laws deal with 1 2. ye shJ!l ·surely dest;~j,; Better, ye ·sh~!/ (1) Religious - institutions and worship ,, (XII,' :. utterly destroy. Their first duty would be the 1-XVI, 17); eradication of every trace of heathenism. (2) Government of the people (XVI, 18-xvm); hills ... tree. Worship at these places was (3) Criminal law (XIX-XXI, 1-9); and accompanied by licentious rites ; see v. 31 and (4) Domestic life (XXI, 10-xxv). Hosea IV, 13. (5) Conclusion of Code: First-fruits, tithes, and accompanying prayers. (xxv1, 1-15.) 3. altars ... pillars. See on VII, 5. destroy their name. The very memory of the Some commentators detect in all these chapters local Baals is to cease. an elaboration of the basic laws contained in the out of that place. 'The injunction to destroy Decalogue. Thus XII-XIV deal with the worship of idolatrous images applies only to the HoI1 God, and are an expansion of the first three of Land, and not to those places outside it where the Ten Commandments. In xv-xvi, 17 we have Jews reside' (Sifri). an enumeration ·of Holy Festivals analogous to the Sacred Day of the week. Chaps. XVI-XVIII deal with civil and religious government, which 4. not do so. The Israelites were not like the plays the same part in the national life as !he Canaanites, to worship God on the 'high moun­ authority of parents plays in the life of the family. tains, and under every green tree', but were to The remainder of the section corresponds do so in a Central Sanctuary, as stated in the generally to the second half of the Decalogu~, , fo~owin~ v. Some Rabbis, however, connected and treats of the relationship of man to his this v. with the one immediately preceding, and fellow-man. -deduced therefrom the prohibition to obliterate in any way the Divine Name in a scroll or book. In later ages, it became customary to bury disused (1) RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND WoRSlilP Hebrew books, so as not to dispose of them XII, 1-XVI, 17 in any way that would involve destroying some­ thir1g containing a Divine Name. Hence the This section includes the laws (a) concerning institution of the Genizah in Eastern Jewish the Central Sanctuary; (b) distinctiveness in Communities, and the periodic burial of disused, worship; (c) against heathen rites _and religious tattered, and fragmentary books of Scripture and seducers; (d) of Holiness (concermng clean and devotion (ni~w) in Russo-Polish Jewries. 1 800 DEUTERONOMY XII, 5 ~., ,iNi c.,,~, not do so unto the LORD your God. 5. But c~-,~~,rr:t~r;, cr:rH'?tt :~,i;,~, ~~~ 1,!?i~r:, c::,,,~ unto the place which the LORD your God sh_all choose out of all your tribes to put N,-,::, cij?~;:rJ~ c~rntt 4 His habitation :-U~7 1~ ~~0~' : name there, even unto Hts ... I.. ' "' --1.. p -~ shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come· ~';j7)$.