NOTES for Deu 27:1-26
On the threshold of the Promised Land—as Israel crosses the Jordan—Israel must recall the terms of the Covenant once more. To the ritual curses upon those who break it, the whole people must answer “Amen,” meaning “Truly, it is so.”
There are things that cannot be taken into a new life in a new land. This is worth considering. We have heard that “neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor thieves will inherit the Kingdom of God,” and we are ready to repent when the Kingdom appears on the horizon. But the Kingdom begins right here, and many of us have already entered a new life (the first Christians understood the waters of the Jordan as the waters of baptism). Therefore, after repeating the solemn “Amen” after the Israelites, let us throw our heavy bundles into the water (they will not be needed in the new land) and continue on our way, without fear or heaviness of heart.