What Does Deuteronomy 27:1 Mean?

XXVII. THE LAW TO BE ESTABLISHED IN CANAAN AS THE LAW OF THE LAND. (1) **Moses with the elders.**—Here joined in exhortation for the first time in this book. **Keep.**—Literally, *to keep. *Possibly we are intended to connect the two verses. In order to keep them, ye shall write them. Deuteronomy 27:2-4 (2) **Set . . . up great stones, and plaister them with plaister.**—The idea is to make a smooth surface, on which the Law could be inscribed. “Plaister” only here and in Isaiah 33:12; Amos 2:2. In both those places it is rendered “lime.” (3) **Thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in.**—Again it is evident that the “going in” to the land and the “passing over” Jordan are not identical. The “Law of God” was to be set up in the heart of the country, as soon as Israel had entered it, in order that they might complete the conquest of it. It is abundantly clear that Israel’s title to Canaan was dependent upon their maintaining the Law of Jehovah as the law of the land. For the fulfilment of this precept, see Joshua 8:32-35. The words of this verse are an additional reason for the view taken in the Note on that passage, that the Law was set up on Ebal immediately after the capture of Ai, without waiting for the completion of the conquest (as some suppose).