 | Ki Tavo |  |
|
| | 27:4 |
When you cross the Jordan, you shall set up the stones that I am now describing to you on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with lime.
Vehayah be'ovrechem et-haYarden takimu et-ha'avanim ha'eleh asher anochi metsaveh etchem hayom behar Eyval vesadeta otam basid. |
| 27:5 |
There you shall then build an altar to God your Lord. It shall be a stone altar, and you shall not lift up any iron to it.
Uvanita sham mizbe'ach l'Adonay Eloheycha mizbach avanim lo-tanif aleyhem barzel. |
|
Commentary:
on
(Septuagint). Or, 'near' (cf. Rashi).
| Mount Ebal
See Deuteronomy, 11:29. This was the mountain of the curse, and the stones were placed there as a consolation for the tribes associated with this mountain (Chizzkuni). They were also to indicate that the curse would come for violating the Torah (Abarbanel).
| plaster
Some say that they were plastered after having been written on (Sotah 35b; see Deuteronomy 27:2). Others maintain that they were re-plastered (Malbim).
| you shall then
Some say out of different stones (Malbim), while others maintain that the altar was made out of the stones with the writing (Lekach Tov; Ralbag; Bachya; Abarbanel). Both opinions are found in Talmudical sources (Tosefta, Sotah 8:5; Yerushalmi, Sotah 7:5; Tosafoth, Sotah 35b, s.v. Ketza). See Joshua 8:32.
| not lift up any iron...
See Exodus 20:22, Joshua 8:31.
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