Deuteronomy 27:15

Ver. 15. Cursed be the man that maketh, &c.— The people being to bless, as well as to curse, the Mischna seems very justly to explain it thus: that first the priests, turning their faces towards mount Gerizzim, proclaimed aloud, Blessed be the man that maketh not any graven image; upon which the people standing by that mountain answered, Amen: then turning towards mount Ebal, they said, Cursed be the man that maketh, &c. to which they who stood by that mountain answered, Amen likewise: and so it is to be understood of all the rest. We may just observe, that, as be is not in the original, it might be as well rendered, cursed is the man; that is, he thus renders himself obnoxious to the divine malediction. If we examine the twelve curses, says Dr. Kennicott, they will appear to contain a strong enforcement of the ten commandments; and it is highly probable, that they were here proclaimed principally to secure obedience to them. The first curse included in this verse seems meant to answer to the four commandments of the first table, which enjoin the worship of the true God, and forbid idolatry; that in ver. 16 enforces the fifth commandment; those in ver. 18. 24 and 25 the sixth commandment; those in ver. 20, 21, 22, 23 enforce the seventh commandment, and guard the Israelites from the several species of obscenity in vogue among the Egyptians; ver. 17 establishes the eighth; ver. 19 relates to the ninth; and ver. 26 being a guard to all the precepts of God in general, is, in some measure, coincident with the tenth commandment: for that likewise is a guard to the preceding commandments, forbidding even to meditate injustice, or to entertain such desires as it would be criminal to indulge to the prejudice of our neighbour. Dissert. 2: p. 85. For explications of these several curses, we refer to the passages in the Margins of our Bibles. If it be asked, why a curse is denounced against the crimes here mentioned, where others no less atrocious are omitted,—one reason may be drawn from the preceding part of this note; and another may be, that these were the crimes most frequent among the Canaanites and their neighbours. The word amen, or so be it, has sometimes the force of an oath: sometimes it only declares consent and approbation; and sometimes it is used for confirmation. It is used in the first sense, Numbers 5:22 in the second, in this place, and in the third, Jeremiah 28:6. The secret place, mentioned in this verse, implies, that if a man was only a private worshipper of images, and did it ever so closely, yet was he subject to the malediction of that GOD to whom the secrets of all hearts are open. Public idolatry was punished with death.