Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 27:5
And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up [any] iron [tool] upon them.
5. no iron ] Exo 20:25, tool ( reb), which would have polluted the altar. The later D’s substitution of iron is striking. See on Deu 8:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5 7. Cp. E, Exo 20:24 f. with Driver’s notes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5-10. there shalt thou build analtar . . . of whole stonesThe stones were to be in theirnatural state, as if a chisel would communicate pollution to them.The stony pile was to be so large as to contain all the conditions ofthe covenant, so elevated as to be visible to the whole congregationof Israel; and the religious ceremonial performed on the occasion wasto consist: first, of the elementary worship needed for sinful men;and secondly, of the peace offerings, or lively, social feasts, thatwere suited to the happy people whose God was the Lord. There werethus, the law which condemned, and the typical expiationthe twogreat principles of revealed religion.
De27:11-13. THE TRIBESDIVIDED ON GERIZIMAND EBAL.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And there shall thou build an altar to the Lord thy God,…. On the same mountain, though not of the same stones. Jarchi’s note is,
“after that (the setting up of the plastered stones) thou shalt bring from thence (from Jordan) others, and build of them an altar on Mount Ebal;”
but Josephus t places this altar not on Mount Ebal, but between that and Gerizim. This altar, he says, was ordered to be built towards the rising sun, not far from the city of Shechem, between two mountains, Gerizim and Ebal; but the text is express, that it was to be built where the stones were set up, which was on Mount Ebal, and there it was built, Jos 8:30; an altar of stones; of whole stones, as in
De 27:6, not broken, nor hewed, but rough as they were when taken out of the quarry:
thou shalt not lift up [any] iron [tool] upon them; to hew them, and make them smooth; [See comments on Ex 20:25];
t Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 44.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 And there shalt thou build an altar. At their first entrance into the land, God commands that a sacrifice of thanksgiving should be offered to Him; and this Joshua performed, as is related in Jos 8:30
“Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron.”
First of all, then, this testimony of their gratitude is required, that the children of Israel, as soon as they have begun to set foot in the land of Canaan, might celebrate the praises of the Lord; secondly, he forbids all artificial work, because, if the altar had been permanent, it would have been an occasion of superstition, and this exceptional instance would have been more regarded than the perpetual Law of God. Hence the nine tribes and half were so greatly wroth against the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half Manasseh, on account of the altar which was built on the bank of Jordan, (Jos 22:0,) insomuch that they determined utterly to destroy their brethren, until they had cleared themselves by alleging that they had only built it as a memorial of their brotherly union, and not for sacrifice. Assuredly they were good expounders of the Law who accounted it an inexpiable crime, that an altar should be left for posterity, to withdraw the people from the one sanctuary, and thus to destroy the unity of faith.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) An altar of stones.Rashi propounds the theory that these stones were taken from Jordan. But there is nothing to countenance this theory in the words of the text.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. And there shalt thou build an altar The altar was to be built upon Ebal, the mountain from which the curses were to be proclaimed.
Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them Comp. Exo 20:25.
As at the conclusion of the covenant on Sinai (see Exo 24:11) burnt offerings and peace offerings were presented to Jehovah, so on the establishment of the people in the land they are solemnly to ratify anew their covenant with their God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 5. An altar of stones It does not seem probable, that the altar was built of the very same stones on which the law was engraven; for this evident reason, that the altar was to be built of stones, rough, unhewn, untouched by any tool; whereas some hard tool or instrument of metal was necessary to engrave the commandments: and as they could not have been engraved, so neither could they have been read easily, unless the surfaces of the stones were previously smoothed by art and labour. These stones are limited to two, according to Dr. Kennicott; because two large stones would be sufficient, and because it was most obvious for the Israelites to engrave the commandments upon two; in imitation of the two tables on which they had received them from God himself. It also appears clear, that only two were meant; the Hebrew word being frequently used in the plural, or, as some call it, the dual number, without the numeral for two being expressed at all. Thus it is used, Gen 27:36 and thus abanim gedoloth, the very words used in the 1st verse of this chapter, are in the Latin versions of the Samaritan text, Exo 20:18 translated TWO great stones. Kennicott. Diss. 2: See Houbigant on this verse.
See commentary on Deu 27:4
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I beg the Reader not to overlook the plainness to be observed in the building of this altar: nothing of human art or labour was to be joined with it, nor any human tool to pollute it. And as CHRIST is our altar, was not this manifestly teaching that his purity would be sullied, if we bring to it anything of our own to mingle with it? He is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands: Dan 2:34 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 27:5 And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up [any] iron [tool] upon them.
Ver. 5. Thou shalt build an altar. ] For burnt offerings, &c. Deu 27:6-7 God teacheth them thereby, that righteousness, impossible to the law, was to be sought in Christ, figured by that altar and those sacrifices. Thus the moral law drove the Jews to the ceremonial, which was their gospel, as it doth now drive us to Christ, who is indeed “the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Rom 10:4
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
iron. Probably a technical name for a chisel, as we now associate it with a laundry or a prison.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And there: Exo 24:4, Jos 8:30, Jos 8:31, 1Ki 18:31, 1Ki 18:32
thou shalt not: Exo 20:25
Reciprocal: 1Ki 6:7 – built of stone
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
27:5 And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up [any] {c} iron [tool] upon them.
(c) The altar should not be curiously wrought, because it would continue but for a time: for God would have only one altar in Judah.