Ki Tavo opens with first fruits and the ancient creed, “My father was a wandering Aramean,” then moves to tithes for the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Finally, the covenant ceremony at Ebal and Gerizim resumes, raising thorny questions about the role of the Levites, the division of the tribes, and why the biblical accounts differ from one another—and from the Moses Scroll. What follows is even more puzzling: the text appears to outline the script for the blessings and curses ceremony, but the blessings are conspicuously absent. There are curses, and then we read a list of consequences for obedience, followed by a much longer list of consequences for disobedience. Why this imbalance? Why no blessings, and why is the list of negative consequences so much longer? Is this Mosaic instruction—or later history woven back into the text?

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