Part II: Another Layer

Jesus pronounces eight blessings to an audience on one mountain, eight curses to an audience on a different mountain. His blessings are spoken to the masses in the Sermon on the Mount; His curses are spoken to the Pharisees on the Temple Mount. These blessings and curses parallel each other in a symmetric way, like the left and right side of a menorah: one half is a mirror image of the other, the same but opposite. To see how the blessings and curses correspond, visit this post before continuing. 

Jesus intentionally creates symmetry between His blessings and curses. And actually, His doing so resolves a riddle that had gone unanswered since the days of Moses and Joshua. Let’s go there for a moment. 

In Deuteronomy 27, Moses looks ahead to the promised land. When the Israelites enter the land, Moses commands them to complete a special, one-time task that involves all tribes and people of every status. He tells them to coat stones with plaster, and into the plaster write the words of God’s law. These stones are to be erected on a particular mountain, and there on that mountain, the people are also to build an altar to God, bring fellowship offerings, and rejoice in the presence of the Lord. Moses names the mountain; it’s a mountain he mentioned previously in Chapter 11.  

Earlier, in Deuteronomy 11, Moses tells the Israelites: “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of God . . .  When the Lord your God has brought you into the land . . . you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses” (11:26-29). 

These mountains, Gerizim and Ebal, stand side by side about a mile apart. Associate Mount Gerizim with the blessings; you can remember this by remembering Gerizim – Good. Associate Mount Ebal with the curses; you can remember this by remembering Ebal sounds like evil. 

The instructions in Deuteronomy 11 are vague and broad. Deuteronomy 27 revisits the instruction but with more detail. Returning to Deuteronomy 27, we encounter something unexpected. The question is, on which mountain (Gerizim or Ebal) does Moses tell the Israelites to 1) Erect the stones upon which God’s Word is written; 2) Bring fellowship offerings; 3) Rejoice in the presence of the Lord? 

Gerizim – good, right? The natural answer is Mount Gerizim. After all, Paul tells us later that the law is holy, righteous and good. Our sacrifice and rejoicing should occur in the shadow of God’s Word and blessing, right? But wait! Moses tells them to erect the stones, build the altar, bring the offerings and rejoice not on Gerizim but Ebal, the mountain associated with curses! But then, like, what the what?

Put yourself in the shoes of a priest that day. You are taking questions from the Israelites like the White House Press Secretary. They are asking you, “Are you sure this is right? Are you sure we don’t have the mountains backward?” The priests are turning the map upside down, squinting at the instructions so to speak, trying to make it make sense of which is which. 

As counterintuitive as it would seem, Joshua is faithful to direct the blessings and curses toward their respective mountains. Joshua 8 preserves the story: When they reach the two mountains, Joshua stations half the people on the hillside of one mountain and half the people on the hillside of the other. Standing between everyone, Joshua and the priests pronounce the blessings and curses, the blessings toward Gerizim and the curses toward Ebal. On Mount Ebal the stones are erected, the sacrifices are brought, and the rejoicing is lifted. Moses’ commandment is thus satisfied. 

Long-held Jewish family history colors in parts that are otherwise left blank. The Mishnah documents what transpired that day. Written between 200-300 AD, the Mishnah seeks to put in writing the ancient stories that had been passed down orally, from teacher to student, generation to generation, up until that point. Many if not most stories recorded in the Mishnah would’ve existed in oral form during the time of Jesus. The Mishnah’s telling of Joshua 8 (found in Tractate Sotah 32a), as ancient as it is, lives on in modern Jewish circles. I can throw it back to the renown Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch who retells the story in his great work from the 1800s which I own (Bereshis Chumash, pg. 656-657). All to say, ask a religious Jew about the events in Joshua 8 and they will retell it as follows: 

Standing between the mountains, Joshua and the priests turn toward Gerizim and shout a blessing: “Blessed is the one who honors his father or mother!” The people on Gerizim respond, “Amen!” Joshua and the priests then face the other mountain, shouting, “Cursed is the one who dishonors his father or mother!” Those on Ebal respond, “Amen!”

Turning back to Gerizim, Joshua and the priests call out the next item on Moses’ list: “Blessed is the one who does not move his neighbor’s boundary stone!” Those on Gerizim respond, “Amen!” Then turning toward Ebal, Joshua and the priests proclaim the same truth in the opposite direction: “Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary stone!” “Amen!” comes the response from Ebal. Then so on and so forth in this succession of call-and-response until the Israelites have vocalized every curse written by Moses in Deuteronomy 27, beginning with its inferred counterpart, a blessing. 

Stepping back, what’s the big idea? We have Joshua pronouncing blessings and curses in the context of two mountains. According to ancient tradition, each blessing and curse is a mirror image of one another. Jesus then comes to fulfill the law and the prophets. By pronouncing blessings and curses in mirror image, He fulfills this story in the eyes of a Jewish audience. He also resolves the riddle. 

Why are the curses pronounced toward Mount Ebal (the mountain on which the stones are built up, the Torah goes forth, the altar stands and the sacrifices are brought with rejoicing)? The answer becomes apparent by the First Century. Jesus goes to the Temple Mount where the stones are built up, the Torah goes forth, the altar stands, the sacrifices are brought and rejoicing occurs. It is here that Jesus pronounces His curses to the Pharisees who are pious by all appearances.

God knows the end from the beginning. It is prophecy when Joshua pronounces the curses toward Mount Ebal and its trappings. Meanwhile Gerizim, void of any holy marker, stands as a mountain of blessing. It makes sense that the mount on which Jesus’ marquee teaching is delivered is a humble mountain that accepts no title. 

In the next section, let’s explore one more layer.  

Part I: The 8 Blessings, The 8 Curses & Their Symmetry

Have you ever connected the blessings and curses pronounced by Jesus on two mountains? The blessings are found in Matthew 5; the curses are found in Matthew 23. If you put them side by side, it’s like hearing a truth in stereo. Let’s run through them in order as they were written by Matthew. 

Blessing and curse #1:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Woe to you, Pharisees . . . For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor do you allow those who would enter to go in.

To the poor in spirit belongs the kingdom of heaven. But the Pharisee shuts up the kingdom of heaven! The Pharisee isn’t poor in spirit. He exalts himself behind closed doors; his humility is a choreographed performance.

 

Next: 

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Woe to you, Pharisees! For you devour the house of the widow, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore, you shall receive greater condemnation.

A widow is one who mourns. But cursed are those who devour the house of the widow. From God the Pharisee finds not comfort but great condemnation because, as he prays, he preys on the weak and vulnerable. 

 

Next:  

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Woe to you, Pharisees! For you travel across sea and land to make a single convert, and when he becomes one you make him twice as much a child of Gehenna as yourselves.

The meek inherit the earth, but the Pharisee inherits Gehenna because he is a child of Gehenna. The Pharisee travels to the ends of the earth to exert his influence and expand his name. But the meek have no such self-interest at heart. The meek are freely given the very domain that the Pharisee works so hard to possess. 

Next:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,  for they shall be satisfied.

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ You blind fools! For which is greater: the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ You blind men! For which is greater: the offering or the altar which sanctifies the offering?

The appetite is in focus, as in where do your values lie? The Pharisee hungers for superficial trappings. Instead of valuing God’s temple, he values its gold which impresses foreign dignitaries. Instead of valuing God’s altar, he values its meat which he can eat. For the Pharisee, the physical elements from which he benefits are of more desire than the intangible world. But those who hunger and thirst after righteousness crave the spiritual world, so God sees to it that they experience fullness in both. 

Next:

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Woe to you, Pharisees! For you tithe [the smallest of the spices] but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

The Pharisee neglects the weightier matters of the law, like mercy. But blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Of note, a gnat and a camel are both unkosher; a Jewish audience would consume neither creature. However, eating a gnat might happen on accident or without notice. A camel––quite the opposite. So here he is, straining out gnats (criticizing others for wrongs done perhaps on accident or without realizing it) while the Pharisee partakes in enormous wrongdoing as he criticizes others to bolster his own ego. Where is his mercy to extend graciousness and forgive? Has he no sense of justice, applying grace to myself but none to others? 

 

Next:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Woe to you Pharisees! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence . . . Blind Pharisees! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate so that the outside may also be clean.

To be pure in heart is to have integrity and character. Integrity and character are expressions of the internal man. But the Pharisee obsesses over the externals. He focuses on maintaining appearances while the purity within falls by the waste side. Consequently, he cannot see God. He is a blind guide who cannot see the One he claims to be guiding others toward. But the pure in heart can see God. 

 

Blessing & curse #7:

 

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Woe to you, Pharisees! You’re like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but inside you’re full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. You outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you’re full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Peacemakers are the first to admit their faults and shortcomings. For the sake of restoring peace, they’ll lay down a win. They’ll look for opportunities to ask for forgiveness. But the Pharisee sweeps such inclinations under the rug because “maintaining appearances” has all the priority. In so doing, he is not a peacemaker called the son of God. He is a pious-looking individual who murders the Son of God! 

 

Blessing & curse #8: 

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Woe to you, Pharisees! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate their monuments, saying ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have taken part in their murder.’ Thus you witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

The persecuted are rewarded with heaven; the persecutor is sentenced to hell. The persecuted fill up the measure of their fathers (the prophets); the persecutor fills up the measure of his father (the serpent). The persecuted receive a portion in God’s kingdom; the persecutor receives a measure from the original serpent.

 

There you have it: the eight blessings and curses pronounced by Jesus on two mountains. You can sense their symmetry, and I believe their connection wasn’t missed by Matthew, a tax collector who must have had a knack for detail. When you hear them together, what seems to be at their core is the principle found in 1 Samuel 16:7. Nevertheless, questions remain: Why does the greatest rabbi of all time draw such symmetry between His blessings and curses? Is it just a teaching device or is there something more here? And what is the importance of these blessings and curses being pronounced on two mountains (i.e., the Sermon on the mount and later the Temple Mount)? 

Let’s leave that for another time, but the answer is found in Joshua.