
Text -- Joshua 8:31 (NET)




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collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
JFB: Jos 8:30-31 - -- (See on Deu 27:11). This spot was little short of twenty miles from Ai. The march through a hostile country and the unmolested performance of the reli...
(See on Deu 27:11). This spot was little short of twenty miles from Ai. The march through a hostile country and the unmolested performance of the religious ceremonial observed at this mountain, would be greatly facilitated, through the blessing of God, by the disastrous fall of Ai. The solemn duty was to be attended to at the first convenient opportunity after the entrance into Canaan (Deu 27:2); and with this in view Joshua seems to have conducted the people through the mountainous region that intervened though no details of the journey have been recorded. Ebal was on the north, opposite to Gerizim, which was on the south side of the town Sichem (Nablous).


JFB: Jos 8:31 - -- That is, iron tool. The reason for this was that every altar of the true God ought properly to have been built of earth (Exo 20:24); and if it was con...
That is, iron tool. The reason for this was that every altar of the true God ought properly to have been built of earth (Exo 20:24); and if it was constructed of stone, rough, unhewn stones were to be employed that it might retain both the appearance and nature of earth, since every bloody sacrifice was connected with sin and death, by which man, the creature of earth, is brought to earth again [KEIL].

JFB: Jos 8:31 - -- This had been done when the covenant was established (Exo 24:5); and by the observance of these rites (Deu 27:6), the covenant was solemnly renewed--t...
This had been done when the covenant was established (Exo 24:5); and by the observance of these rites (Deu 27:6), the covenant was solemnly renewed--the people were reconciled to God by the burnt offering, and this feast accompanying the peace or thank offering, a happy communion with God was enjoyed by all the families in Israel.
TSK -> Jos 8:31
TSK: Jos 8:31 - -- as it is : Jos 8:34, Jos 8:35, Jos 1:8; 2Ki 14:6, 2Ki 22:8; 2Ch 25:4, 2Ch 35:12; Ezr 6:18; Neh 13:1; Mat 12:26
altar : Exo 20:24, Exo 20:25; Deu 27:5,...

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Jos 8:30-35
Barnes: Jos 8:30-35 - -- The account of this solemnity is very brief. An acquaintance with Deut. 27 is evidently presupposed; and the three several acts of which the solemni...
The account of this solemnity is very brief. An acquaintance with Deut. 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 Jos 8:29, and Jos 9:1, is natural and obvious; and in Jos 9:3, the fraud of the Gibeonites is represented as growing out of the alarm caused by the fall of Jericho and Ai. It is, moreover, extremely unlikely that a solemnity of this nature in the very center of the country should be undertaken by Joshua while the whole surrounding district was in the hands of the enemy; or that, if undertaken, it would have been carried out unmolested. "And the strangers that were conversant among them"Jos 8:35, were present at it. The distance fromm Gilgal in the Jordan valley to Mount Ebal is fully 30 miles, unless - as is unlikely - another Gilgal (Deu 11:29 note) be meant; and so vast a host, with its non-effective followers Jos 8:35, could certainly not have accomplished a march like this through a difficult country and a hostile population in less than three days. Moreover in Jos 9:6; Jos 10:6, Jos 10:15, Jos 10:43, the Israelites are spoken of as still encamping at Gilgal.
It is on the whole likely that, for these and other reasons, this passage does not, in our present Bible, stand in its proper context; and it has been conjectured that the place from which these six verses have been transferred is the end of Josh. 11: The "then"with which Jos 8:30 opens in our present text may well have served to introduce the account of the solemnity on Gerizim and Ebal at the end of the record of Joshua’ s victories, to which indeed it forms a suitable climax.
See the note marginal reference.
All the words of the law - See Deu 31:11 ff It would seem that Joshua, on the present occasion, must have read at least all the legislative portion of the Pentateuch before the people (compare on Deu 27:3). The terms of this verse cannot be satisfactorily explained as importing only the blessings and curses of Deut. 27\endash 28.
Haydock -> Jos 8:31
Haydock: Jos 8:31 - -- Iron. Spencer complains that the Protestants have not translated barzel, "iron tool," as [in] Deuteronomy xxvii. 5. This translation is found in ...
Iron. Spencer complains that the Protestants have not translated barzel, "iron tool," as [in] Deuteronomy xxvii. 5. This translation is found in their more ancient editions of 1537-49, &c. (Kennicott) ---
But the difference is very unimportant. The reason of this prohibition is given, Exodus xx. 25. ---
He offered; so we read that he wrote, blessed and cursed, &c., because these things were done at least by his authority. It is not necessary to suppose that he engraved the words of the law with his own hands, or that he passed from Garizim, where he had been pronouncing the blessings, to Hebal, in order to denounce the curses. (Haydock) ---
He probably commissioned some of the princes on Hebal to perform the office of cursing, after he had repeated the blessings himself from Garizim; and the select company of Levites before the ark, having answered or repeated the words, the whole multitude stationed at the foot of Hebal, giving their consent that the transgressors should be cursed. (Kennicott) ---
Hence Josue must have sacrificed by the hands of the priests. (Haydock) ---
Various instances are produced to show that princes and prophets have, on extraordinary occasions, performed this office themselves, 1 Kings vi. 15., and vii. 9., and 3 Kings xviii. 32. (Calmet) ---
But these must have either received a dispensation from God, or they must have employed the ministry of the legal priests; or, in fine, their actions, like that of Saul, (1 Kings xiii. 9,) of Absalom, (1 Kings i. 9,) Herod, &c., may have been deserving of blame. (Haydock) ---
The Jews assert that in the desert no one was permitted to sacrifice, except in the tabernacle; but that this prohibition ceased at Galgal, as the ark had no fixed abode, and thus Josue might offer sacrifice himself. Afterwards the law was enforced, while the ark was at Silo. But upon its being removed to Nobe, Maspha, and Gabaon, people resumed their former liberty; and hence there was nothing to hinder Samuel, Saul, and David from offering sacrifice, till the temple was erected. (Outram de Sac. i. 2; Grotius in Deuteronomy xii. 8.) This sacred office was formerly exercised by kings, particularly at Athens, where, after the people became more numerous, Theseus appointed the king of sacrifices to keep up the memory of the ancient practice. (Demost. c. Neream.) (Calmet) The like was done at Rome under the republic. (Haydock)
Gill -> Jos 8:31
Gill: Jos 8:31 - -- As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses,.... Deu 27:5,
an altar of whol...
As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses,.... Deu 27:5,
an altar of whole stones, on which no man hath lift up any iron; See Gill on Exo 20:25; see Gill on Deu 27:5, and; see Gill on Deu 27:6,
and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings; by way of thanksgiving for the good land they were introduced into, and this was what they were ordered to do by Moses, Deu 27:6.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Jos 8:1-35
TSK Synopsis: Jos 8:1-35 - --1 God encourages Joshua.3 The stratagem whereby Ai was taken.29 The king thereof is hanged.30 Joshua builds an altar;32 writes the law on stones;33 an...
MHCC -> Jos 8:30-35
MHCC: Jos 8:30-35 - --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 con...
Matthew Henry -> Jos 8:30-35
Matthew Henry: Jos 8:30-35 - -- This religious solemnity of which we have here an account comes in somewhat surprisingly in the midst of the history of the wars of Canaan. After th...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Jos 8:30-35
Keil-Delitzsch: Jos 8:30-35 - --
Blessings and Curses upon Gerizim and Ebal. - After the capture of Ai, Israel had gained so firm a footing in Canaan that Joshua was able to carry o...
Constable -> Jos 5:13--13:1; Jos 8:30-35
Constable: Jos 5:13--13:1 - --C. Possession of the land 5:13-12:24
Before Israel entered the land of Canaan, God had been preparing fo...
