translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DEU

label: NET study note

text: Dathan and Abiram . These two (along with others) had challenged Moses’ leadership in the desert with the result that the earth beneath them opened up and they and their families disappeared ( Num 16:1-3, 31-35 ).


text: From the beginning to the end of the year . This refers to the agricultural year that was marked by the onset of the heavy rains, thus the autumn. See note on the phrase “the former and the latter rains” in v. 14 .


text: The autumn and the spring rains . The “former” ( יוֹרֶה , yoreh ) and “latter” ( מַלְקוֹשׁ , malqosh ) rains come in abundance respectively in September/October and March/April. Planting of most crops takes place before the former rains fall and the harvests follow the latter rains.


text: A blessing and a curse . Every extant treaty text of the late Bronze Age attests to a section known as the “blessings and curses,” the former for covenant loyalty and the latter for covenant breach. Blessings were promised rewards for obedience; curses were threatened judgments for disobedience. In the Book of Deuteronomy these are fully developed in 27:1 – 28:68 . Here Moses adumbrates the whole by way of anticipation.


text: Mount Gerizim…Mount Ebal . These two mountains are near the ancient site of Shechem and the modern city of Nablus. The valley between them is like a great amphitheater with the mountain slopes as seating sections. The place was sacred because it was there that Abraham pitched his camp and built his first altar after coming to Canaan ( Gen 12:6 ). Jacob also settled at Shechem for a time and dug a well from which Jesus once requested a drink of water ( Gen 33:18-20 ; John 4:5-7 ). When Joshua and the Israelites finally brought Canaan under control they assembled at Shechem as Moses commanded and undertook a ritual of covenant reaffirmation ( Josh 8:30-35; 24:1, 25 ). Half the tribes stood on Mt. Gerizim and half on Mt. Ebal and in antiphonal chorus pledged their loyalty to the Lord before Joshua and the Levites who stood in the valley below ( Josh 8:33 ; cf. Deut 27:11-13 ).


text: Gilgal . From a Hebrew verb root גָלַל ( galal , “to roll”) this place name means “circle” or “rolling,” a name given because God had “rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you” ( Josh 5:9 ). It is perhaps to be identified with Khirbet el-Metjir, 1.2 mi (2 km) northeast of OT Jericho.