terror before them, that no one should be able to stand against them. (On Deu 11:23, cf. Deu 7:1-2; Deu 9:1, and Deu 1:28.) The words, “every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours,” are defined more precisely, and restricted to the land of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan by the boundaries which follow: “from the desert (of Arabia on the south), and Lebanon (on the north), and from the river Euphrates (on the east) to the hinder sea” (the Mediterranean on the west; see Num 34:6). The Euphrates is given as the eastern boundary, as in Deu 1:7, according to the promise in Gen 15:18. (On Deu 11:25, cf. Deu 7:24; Deu 2:25, and Exo 23:27.)
verses 26-30
Concluding summary. “I set before you this day the blessing and the curse.” The blessing, if (אשׁר, ὅτε, as in Lev 4:22) ye hearken to the commandments of your God; the curse, if ye do not give heed to them, but turn aside from the way pointed out to you, to go after other gods. To this there are added instructions in Deu 11:29 and Deu 11:30, that when they took possession of the land they should give the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal, i.e., should give utterance to them there, and as it were transfer them to the land to be apportioned to its inhabitants according to their attitude towards the Lord their God. (For further comment, see at Deu 27:14.) The two mountains mentioned were selected for this act, no doubt because they were opposite to one another, and stood, each about 2500 feet high, in the very centre of the land not only from west to east, but also from north to south. Ebal stands upon the north side, Gerizim upon the south; between the two is Sichem, the present Nabulus, in a tolerably elevated valley, fertile, attractive, and watered by many springs, which runs from the south-east to the north-west from the foot of Gerizim to that of Ebal, and is about 1600 feet in breadth. The blessing was to be uttered upon Gerizim, and the curse upon Ebal; though not, as the earlier commentators supposed, because the peculiarities of these mountains, viz., the fertility of Gerizim and the barrenness of Ebal, appeared to accord with this arrangement: for when seen from the valley between, “the sides of both these mountains are equally naked and sterile;” and “the only exception in favour of the former is a small ravine coming down, opposite the west end of the town, which is indeed full of foundations and trees” (Rob. Pal. iii. 96, 97). The reason for selecting Gerizim for the blessings was probably, as Schultz supposes, the fact that it was situated on the south, towards the region of the light. “Light and blessing are essentially one. From
