Joshua 8:34

_AND AFTERWARD HE READ ALL THE WORDS OF THE LAW, THE BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS, ACCORDING TO ALL THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW._ Afterward he read ... the law - caused the priests or Levites to read it (Deuteronomy 27:14). Persons are often said in Scripture to do that which they only command to be done....

30-35 As soon as Joshua got to the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, without delay, and without caring for the unsettled state of Israel, or their enemies, he confirmed the covenant of the Lord with his people, as appointed, Joshua 8:11; Joshua 8:27. We must not think to defer covenanting with God till we are settled in the world; nor must any business put us from minding and pursuing the one thing needful. The way to prosper is to begin with God, Matthew 6:33. They built an altar, and offered sacrifice to God, in token of their dedicating themselves to God, as living sacrifices to his honour, in and by a Mediator. By Christ's sacrifice of himself for us, we have peace with God. It is a great mercy to any people to have the law of God in writi...

The account of this solemnity is very brief. An acquaintance with Deuteronomy 27 is evidently presupposed; and the three several acts of which the solemnity consisted are only so far distinctly named as is necessary to show that the commands of Moses there given were fully carried out by Joshua. It is difficult to escape the conviction that these verses are here out of their proper and original place. The connection between Joshua 8:29, and Joshua 9:1, is natural and obvious; and in Joshua 9:3, the fraud of the Gibeonites is represented as growing out of the alarm caused by the fall of Jericho and

EXPOSITION THE COPY OF THE LAW.— JOSHUA 8:30 THEN JOSHUA BUILT AN ALTAR UNTO THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL IN MOUNT EBAL. This passage has been pronounced to be an interpolation by Meyer, De Wette, Maurer, Rosenmuller, Knobel, and others. The LXX. does not introduce it here, but after Joshua 9:2. For other authorities see below. It is very easy to see why its genuineness has been disputed. The Book of Joshua has many marks of having been written not so very long after the events described in it. But it has been a favourite opinion with the school which disputes the authenticity of the books of the Bible, that Deuteronomy was a late revision by Ezra of the law of M

AND AFTERWARDS HE READ ALL THE WORDS OF THE LAW,.... Not the whole Pentateuch, nor the whole book of Deuteronomy, but either some parts of it, the decalogue, or whatsoever he had written on the stones, and as follows: THE BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS, ACCORDING TO ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW; Deuteronomy 27:14; Deuteronomy 27:11....

8. THE OVERTHROW OF AI CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The advance commanded (Joshua 8:1)_ 2. The strategy of Joshua (Joshua 8:3) 3. Ai's defeat (Joshua 8:14) 4. Joshua's obedience (Joshua 8:30) Sin confessed, judged and put away restored communion with the Lord. If any burden remained upon the mind of Joshua, it was removed by the repeated words of comfort and cheer. “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.” The failure is no longer mentioned, but instead, comfort and assurance is given and victory promised. He deals in the same gracious way with us, whenever we have failed and humbled ourselves before Him in self-judgment. H

ALTAR ERECTED ON EBAL, THE LAW INSCRIBED AND READ. This comes in a strange place. The middle of Canaan has not yet been conquered, so that such a proceeding was impossible if our narrative is complete. On this account most scholars take it that Joshua 8:30 is the end of an account which narrated the conquest of the middle of the country, and that for some reason or other the editor omitted it. The passage is Deuteronomic, and the objection that it violates the law of the single sanctuary rests on a misconception. According to the Deuteronomic view, the single sanctuary was to be set up when Yahweh hath given you rest from your enemies round about. This refers to the reign of Solomon: until then a multiplicity of altars was regarded as legitimate, as is seen from the fact that Samuel is not considered to have done wrong by sacrificing at various places, while the kings and people who did...

The Altar of Blessing and of Cursing 30. _Then Joshua built_ The passes being now secured, and the interior of the country rendered accessible, Joshua resolved to take advantage of the terror which the success of his arms had inspired in the hearts of the Canaanites, and to carry out the command of Moses respecting the ratification of the Law with solemn ceremonies (Deuteronomy 27:2-8). By a grand national act it was to be declared "in what character Israel meant to hold what it had received of God." This act was to consist of three parts: (_a_) The Law was to be inscribed on "great stones" (Deuteronomy 27:2) which had been "plaistered with plaister;" and these as Memorial Stones were to be set up on "mount Ebal" ...

_VER._ 34, 35. _AND AFTERWARD HE READ ALL THE WORDS OF THE LAW,_ &C.— i.e. _He caused to be read._ Houbigant. We have only a word to add to the remarks already made, respecting all these ceremonies, in the notes on Deuteronomy; which is, that the manner in which the sacred historian expresses himself in these two verses, appears much to favour their opinion, who think that only the _blessings_ and _curses,_ which Moses had commanded to be pronounced, were written upon the monument on mount Ebal: Joshua read, or caused to be read, all that he had written; or, as the text has it, _all the words of the law._ Now it is very evident, that he read only the _blessings_ and _curses_ above-mentioned; and not all the book of Deuteronomy, or the whole law, as many critics would insinuate. Thus it is evident, that he had only to write a duplicate of these blessings and curses, as they were contained...

_The Altar Erected on Mount Ebal Joshua 8:30-35_ 30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal, 31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And he wrote thereupon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. 33 And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had