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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 27

1 Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Pay attention to all the commandments I am giving you today. 2 When you cross the Jordan River to the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must erect great stones and cover them with plaster. 3 Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to you. 4 So when you cross the Jordan you must erect on Mount Ebal these stones⁠ about which I am commanding you today, and you must cover them with plaster. 5 Then you must build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones—do not use an iron tool on them.⁠ 6 You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 Also you must offer fellowship offerings and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God. 8 You must inscribe on the stones all the words of this law, making them clear.”⁠ 9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel: “Be quiet and pay attention, Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 You must obey him and keep his commandments and statutes that I am giving you today.” 11 Moreover, Moses commanded the people that day: 12 “The following tribes must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these other tribes must stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 “The Levites will call out to every Israelite with a loud voice: 15 ‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or metal image—something abhorrent to the Lord, the work of the craftsman—and sets it up in a secret place.’⁠ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 16 ‘Cursed is the one who disrespects his father and mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 17 ‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’⁠ 18 ‘Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 19 ‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 20 ‘Cursed is the one who goes to bed with his father’s former wife, for he dishonors his father.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 21 ‘Cursed is the one who commits bestiality.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 22 ‘Cursed is the one who goes to bed with his sister, the daughter of either his father or mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 23 ‘Cursed is the one who goes to bed with his mother-in-law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 24 ‘Cursed is the one who kills his neighbor in private.’⁠ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 25 ‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’⁠ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 26 ‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 27:5 and 1 Kings 6:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

1 Kings 6 echoes Deuteronomy 27 by describing the use of unworked stone in the temple, alluding to the rules that forbid the use of iron tools. Requirements first applied to altars were later extended to the temple itself.

Passages

Deuteronomy 27:5

Hebrew Bible
3 Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to you. 4 So when you cross the Jordan you must erect on Mount Ebal these stones about which I am commanding you today, and you must cover them with plaster. 5 Then you must build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones—do not use an iron tool on them. 6 You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 Also you must offer fellowship offerings and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

1 Kings 6:7

Hebrew Bible
5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and Holy Place and constructed side rooms in it. 6 The bottom floor of the extension was 7½ feet wide, the middle floor 9 feet wide, and the third floor 10½ feet wide. He made ledges on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls. 7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built. 8 The entrance to the bottom level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up to the middle floor and then on up to the third floor. 9 He finished building the temple and covered it with rafters and boards made of cedar.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

References

"... The closest similarity to Exodus 20:24–26 lies in the instructions regarding the use of unhewn, or whole, stones (the opposite of the hewn stones of Exodus 20:25) and the prohibition against using a metal tool on the altar. Deuteronomy and Joshua also speak of offering whole burnt offerings and peace offerings, as in the Covenant Code ... This is carried out in Joshua 8:30–35, in which the altar is built, the ceremony is performed, the laws of Moses are read out loud from a book of the Law, and a copy is inscribed on the plastered stones. Deuteronomy 27, in its final form, and Joshua 8:30–35, which is directly dependent upon this final form, are post-Deuteronomistic additions ... It is within this larger comparative context that one must consider the specific detail about making the altar of unhewn stones. In a recent study, S. M. Olyan proposes that the concern for building an altar of whole, or unhewn, stones so that the sacred place would not be defiled is an “extension” of the notion that sacrificial animals are to be without mark or blemish when offered to the deity. He admits that the earliest evidence of this is Deuteronomy but suggests that the belief is earlier. Olyan fails to make clear the relationship of Deuteronomy 27:5–7 and Joshua 8:30–35 to their larger Deuteronomistic context, but Anbar, in an earlier study cited by Olyan, has argued that both texts are later additions to Deuteronomy. Olyan also connects the concern for whole stones in altar building with the remark in 1 Kings 6:7 that the Temple was also built of “whole quarry stone” so that no tool was heard in the Temple while it was being built. This is also viewed as an “extension” of the altar requirements to the whole Temple. There are, however, two major problems with the text of 1 Kings 6:7. The first is that it clearly contradicts the statements about the use of hewn stone in the Temple’s construction (1 Kings 5:31; 6:36; 7:9–12), and it is difficult to imagine how it could have been otherwise. The second problem is that 1 Kings 6:7 looks like a late addition, so that the extension of the prohibition against using building stone that has been shaped by a tool to the Temple can merely limit this activity to the quarry and ban it only from the sacred site itself ..."
John Van Seters, A Law Book for the Diaspora: Revision in the Study of the Covenant Code (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 64–65.

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Deuteronomy 27:5 and 1 Kings 6:7

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