Charles Ellicott Commentary Joshua 8:30

"Then Joshua built an altar unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal," — Joshua 8:30 (ASV)

THE LAW SET UP IN THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY.

Then Joshua built. —The word then is not “and” in the Hebrew, as is too often the case where “then” occurs in our English Old Testament. It is a note of time. Josephus places this transaction later. The Septuagint places Joshua 8:1-2 of Joshua 9:0 before this passage. But there seems no reason for moving the transaction from the place where we find it in the text.

By the capture of Ai, Joshua had obtained command over the road to Shechem. We hear of no strong place north of Beth-el in that part of the country. From other passages , there seems reason to think that a large part of this district was wooded and uncleared.

The confederacy of the southern kings had its centre far to the south of this, and there was a considerable distance between Shechem and the strong places to the north. It is in keeping with what we have already observed regarding the purpose of the conquest of Canaan, that the law of the God of Israel should be proclaimed and set up as soon as possible in the heart of the country, to be henceforth the law of the land.

For the enactment that was carried out here, see Deuteronomy 11:26-30 and Deuteronomy 27:2 and following. Observe also that the command given there required the work to be done as soon after the passing of Jordan as possible. The possibility of reading the law from this position, so as to be heard by the whole congregation, has been proved by actual experiment.