At this stage in Deuteronomy there’s an anticipation building for the Israelites to enter the promise land. Therefore, Moses commands that when they do cross the Jordan to enter Canaan…

“you shall build an alter to the Lord your God, an alter of stones” (Verse 5).

Moses is looking ahead to a covenant ceremony upon arrival in the land of Shechem, the place where God first made the promise of the land to Abram. The instructions also highlight Mount Ebal (on the north side of Shechem) and Mount Gerizim (on the south side of Shechem) as the two places where the Levite priest will announce the stipulations for receiving blessing and curses in the promise land.

However, I want to focus on mainly one of the curses announced from Mount Gerizim, which comes from verse 15…

“Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.”

When reading the Ten Commandments not only does the first Commandment deal with the worship of no other gods before the LORD. But the second commandment piggybacks off the first, going into further detail by stressing the importance of not creating any other carved images for worship. God stresses that he is a jealous God and demands/expects our full devotion to him.

However, it’s the second part of verse 15 that is even more interesting when it discusses the idea of setting the carved/metal image up in secret. The listing of the laws in Deuteronomy 27 not only lift up the level of punishment for disobedience for breaking any of the laws that aren’t followed. But also showcases that even if a person’s sin may go undetected on a human realm (when in secret), that person is still accountable for their actions under God.

So often as sinners we get caught up in comparing ourselves to the sinners around us. We compare our strengths vs. others weaknesses and end up seeing ourselves in a pretty good light. However, when compared to the expectation that God puts before us, only than do we realize how potent our sinful nature is and that we do in fact deserve to be condemned to hell forever based on simply our own warrants.

Thankfully, we can look to the grace of Jesus Christ, knowing that he bore the punishment that we as sinners rightfully deserve.

His Humbled Servant,

W.H. Carston