March 10 Daily Devotional

Deuteronomy 27–28, Joshua 8

After the victory of Ai Joshua led the people farther north until they came near unto the city of Shechem, the place where many years before Abraham had built an altar and worshipped the Lord. There in the center of the land of Canaan they found a beautiful valley, shaped like a bowl, lying between two mountains, the mount Ebal on the north and mount Gerizim on the south. All the men and women of Israel with their sons and daughters gathered here for a memorable occasion, which Moses had arranged for before his departure. On this sacred spot they were to hold a divine service after their entrance into the promised land, to remind them, “look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.” The Lord had promised Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.”

According to the command of Moses six tribes (Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin) should stand on the slope of mount Gerizim, while the other six (Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulon, Dan, and Naphtali) should stand on the slope of mount Ebal. In the valley between the two groups they were to erect an altar of unhewn stone and offer sacrifices to God. After this the law of God should be read in a loud voice to all the people gathered on the mountain slopes.

And so it was done. A solemn service was held. Burnt offerings and peace offerings were offered, and then Joshua and the Levites brought the law before the people–the blessings and the cursings. “And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out … And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods … The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand … But if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God … curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee … cursed shalt thou be in the fields … Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out … and the Lord shall scatter thee among all nations.”

When Joshua and the Levites read the law about the blessings, the people from Gerizim answered “Amen”; when the law about the curses was read, the people from Ebal answered, “Amen.”