Deuteronomy 27:4
Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.
Therefore when Israel had gone over Jordan into the promised land they were to set up large stones on Mount Ebal and coat them with plaster so that the words of God's law could be written on them plainly and read publicly. The plastered rock was to bear the law, including the Ten Commandments and the laws Moses had written in a book. The instruction belongs to a solemn gathering at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim to renew the covenant and publicly recognize God's law, including the whole people of men, women, children and resident strangers, and it took priority over taking possession of the land.
The set-up and plastered stones made the covenant's terms visible to all, enabling the people to accept its conditions and assent to the blessings for obedience or the curses for neglect. The verse belongs to the command to write God's words in a book and proclaim them from a raised place where Moses would stand, repeating them at almost every stopping place so Israel would not forget. The commandments were to be kept constantly before the people as children repeated them and sang while marching in order.
The proclamation warned of the destruction that came on those who did not keep the commandments, with transgression openly proclaimed and those who did not repent punished with death, to impress that God was watching and to keep the people familiar with His requirements and the victories set before them. The command shows how particular and careful God was in providing reminders of His commands and merciful blessings for a forgetful people. The command stands with the two mounts, the mount of blessings and the mount of curses, from whose prominent positions the advantages of the blessing and the disadvantages of the curse were pronounced in repetition.
The altar beside the stones stood on the mountain associated with the curse, showing that Israel's transgression of the law deserved God's wrath, which the sacrifices represented as averted through Christ's atonement. The directions were uttered with Christ's own voice enshrouded in the pillar of cloud as a precaution and practical demonstration to remind that obedience is for present and future good. The instruction belongs to the charge to keep and obey God's commandments, statutes, commands and judgments wholeheartedly, expressing the principles of the law of the kingdom of God clearly and specifically so that minds are not left in ignorance and uncertainty about continuing obligations to Him. The verse states plainly the blessings of obedience and the curse of disobedience, where obedience brings prosperity and disobedience results in a curse. The verse shows the never-ceasing obligation of all whom God has blessed with life, health, and temporal and spiritual advantages, that when the Lord in a special manner favors His people He expects them to publicly acknowledge it, so the name of God will be glorified as a testimony that His Word is verity and truth.