“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal 3:13).
In our last study, we thought about the importance of writing down what God says to us. The children of Israel were to copy all the commands on “large stones” (Deut 27:2) once they had crossed over the Jordan River. But they weren’t just to do it anywhere. Right in the middle of the country was the perfect natural amphitheater for the nation to meet. “When you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones” (v 4). To this day, Mount Ebal, the mount of cursing, to the northeast of the Vale of Shechem, is almost bereft of trees. Say, that’s easy to remember! Ebal is bald. So on a mountain covered with stones there was more than enough writing material. But something else was to be done with the stones. “There you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them” (v 5). What were they to do there? “Offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God” (vv 6-7). What did the burnt offering say? We are all for God; we are holding back nothing in our commitment to Him. And the peace offering? We delight to be in happy fellowship with Him; we love Him and can’t think of anyone better to have as our Best Friend. Imagine that! Surrounded by rocks covered by those curses, they would be impervious to all God’s judgments against sin, in fact rejoicing in His presence by simply cooperating with Him and obeying the divine guidelines. Yes, that’s the happy way, wrote J.H. Sammis: “Then in fellowship sweet We will sit at His feet, Or we’ll walk by His side in the way; What He says we will do; Where He sends, we will go, Never fear, only trust and obey.”