Albert Barnes Commentary Joshua 8:30-35

"Then Joshua built an altar unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man had lifted up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto Jehovah, and sacrificed peace-offerings. And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote, in the presence of the children of Israel. And all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, as well the sojourner as the homeborn; half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners that were among them." — Joshua 8:30-35 (ASV)

The account of this solemnity is very brief. An acquaintance with Deuteronomy 27 is evidently presupposed, and the three distinct acts of which the solemnity consisted are only named distinctly enough to show that the commands of Moses given there 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 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 dwelling among them (Joshua 8:35) were present at it.

The distance from Gilgal in the Jordan valley to Mount Ebal is fully 30 miles, unless—as is unlikely—another Gilgal (Deuteronomy 11:29, see note) is meant. So vast a host, with its non-combatant followers (Joshua 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 Joshua 9:6; Joshua 10:6; Joshua 10:15; and Joshua 10:43, the Israelites are spoken of as still encamped 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 Joshua 11. The “then” with which Joshua 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.

Regarding Joshua 8:32: See the marginal note.

Regarding Joshua 8:34: All the words of the law — See Deuteronomy 31:11 and following. It would seem that Joshua, on the present occasion, must have read at least all the legislative portion of the Pentateuch before the people . The terms of this verse cannot be satisfactorily explained as importing only the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 27–28.