Pemikiran Yahudi Ulangan 27:5: Guide for the Perplexed

The commandment that the stones of the altar shall not be hewn and that no iron tool shall be lifted up upon them (Deut. 27:5), has been explained by our Sages as follows: It is not right that the tool that shortens man’s life should be lifted up upon that which gives length of life. As an Agadic explanation this is good: but the real reason is this: the heathen used to build their altars with hewn stones: we ought not to imitate them. For this reason we have to make an altar of earth: “Thou shalt make unto me an altar of earth” (Exod. 20:24); if it should be impossible to dispense altogether with stones, they must not be hewn, but employed in their natural state. Thus the Law also prohibits from worshipping over painted stones (Lev. 26:1), or from planting any tree near the altar of the Lord (Deut. 16:21). The object of all these commandments is the same, namely, that we shall not employ in the worship of God anything which the heathen employed in the worship of their idols. In general terms this is repeated in the following passage: “Take heed, that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise” (Deut. 12:30), the Israelites shall not do this, because—as is expressly added—“every abomination unto the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods.”