not o.ppo.rent) ; o.nd Keil o.nd Biibr (' Sym. curses and blessings mentioned in Deut- bolik,' i. pp. 487,488),whothink tbo.t the altar xxvii. and xxviii. The formal setting up of ought (Exod. xx. 24) properly to be of ea.rib, this memorial was intended to remind the since eo.crifice is rendered necessary by Israelites, by a perpetual standing witness, of man's earthly or carno.1 nature, and that the conditions on which they held the land unhewn stone is the only substitute for of Canaan. And it is to be observed that earth which is allowed. But eurely man's the moral, rather than the positive, precepts handiwork is the offspring of hie unre- of the law were thus solemnly enjoined on generate nature, o.nd therefore may, from them, since neglect of the moral law of Goel this point of view, be rightly employed in is the invariable source of national degrada- sacrifice. Hengstenberg (' Gescbichte des tion and decay. Which he wrote. Namely, Reiches Gottes,' p. 223) thinks that the Joshua. reason of.the command was that, since only Ver. 33, -And all Israel (see eh. xxiii. one place of worship was permitted for all Israel, an altar had sometimes to be hastily 2; xxiv. 1, 2). The word ':,::, is used very thrown up. But when we consider the loosely in Hebrew (see Gen. iv. 14). We symbolic character of the Mosaic worship, need not, therefore, assume as a matter of we are compelled to reject this interpreta- course that the whole people, men, women, tion as unsatisfactory. Benjamin of Tudela and children, were taken up to Shechem to (see Dmsius in loc.) appears to have sup- behold this ceremony. It is quite possible that •during all Joshua's marches and cam- posed that these stones were those which paigns a large number of the people re- had been taken out of Jordan. Masius mained under guard at Gilgal (see eh. ix. devotes considerable space to the refutation 6), which remained tbe bead-quarters of the of this opinion (see also note on last Israelites until the country was subdued. verse). And they o1fered thereon. Delitzsch All that is here meant is that a very great remarks on the inversion of tbe order here, number of the people were gathered together, as compared with Deut. xxvii. But this is and that every tribe, every age, and eacb sex obviously the true order. The worship were largely represented at this important would naturally precede the ceremony ceremony. And oflicers. Sboterim (see rather than follow it. eh. i. 10). Half of them. Origen's explana- Ver, 32.-And he wrote there upon the. tion of the spiritual meaning of this passage stones; i.e., upon the plaster, as we read is noteworthy, even though somewhat far. in Deut. xxvii. 2, 4. " The wall destined fetched. He regards those of the tribes to receive the picture," and it was just who stood on Mount Gerizim to bless, as the same with inscriptions-was covered the type of those who are led, not by fear ol with a coating of lime and gypsum plaster. God's tbreatenings, but by a longing for The outline w~s then sketched with red God's promises and blessings ; those who chalk, and afterwards corrected and filled stood on Mount Ebal to curse, as the type of in with black (Kenrick's ' Egypt,' i., p. those wbo are driven by the fear of punish- 271). Thomson (' Land and the Book,' p. ment to obey tbe will of God, and these 471) says that he bas seen writings finally attain salvation. The former, he in plaster wbich could not have been adds, are the more noble ol the two ; but less than two thousand years old. This Jesus, who reads the hearts, gi,es each passage shows tbat our author ha.d Deut. their proper station, and places some on xxviii. 2, 3 in his mind. The stones Mount Ebal to curse, not that they them- of the altar, which alone have been men- selves may receive the curse, but, by regard- tioned, are clearly not mea.nt here, but the ing the curse pronounced on sinners, may erection of plastered stone on which the law learn thereby how to escape it. Over was to be written. A copy of the law of aga.lllst. ,~o·':,~ rather, " in the direction Moses, "Deuteronomium legis," Vulga.te. So also LXX. Not the whole law, nor yet of." The command in Deut. xxvii. 12 is the Book of Deuteronomy, for time would not that they shall stand upon the two moun- tains. No doubt certain representatives of permit, but the deca.logue, as the wordn;l?P? the tribes stood on the mountain, and the duplica.te, from whence the word Mishna rest of the people at the foot of the moun. comes, signifies. It is to be observed that tain, on either side of the valley, "crowding the word is definite, the copy, not a copy, the slopes,'' as Canon Tristram says. The of the law. This (Dent. v. 22) was what valley is narrow here, and the voice in was written on the two ta.hies of stone, mountainous regions, where the o.ir is rarer, which (Exod. xxiv. 12, xxxi. 18) God ga.ve carries far. Under special circumstances, to Moses. Yet it is possible that, as some such as frosty weather, the voices of men commentators suggest, and a.s ver. 34 ma.y crying their wares have been distinctly beard be held to imply, what is meant is ~be across the Humber in our own country. 142 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [ CH, VIII, 80-ali,
And in mountain passes, as any one who Ver. 34,-All the words of the lo.w, the has t!'RYelled in them may easily ascertain, blessings and the curses. The form of con,crsRtions may be can-ied on from this expression, combined with the words of opposite sides of a ,alley or ravine without the next verse, seems to inch1de not only the slightest difficulty. In this particular the special e1n-ses in Dent. xxvii., but oh. pla~e Canon Tristrnm tell us ('Land of Israel,' xxviii. at lea.et, a.ud possibly chs. xxix. a.nd pp. 149, 150) that when on Mount Gerizim xxx. e.s well. he heard every word uttered by a me.n who Ver. 35.-That were conversant with was then dri,ing his ass down Mount Ebal, them. Literally, who were going in the and that aft<:>rwards two of his party recited midst of them ; i.e., the strangers who had the commandments antiphonally from the atto.ched themselves to them, either at their two sides of the Talley "ithout the least departure from Egypt, or since their con- difficulty. quest of Eastern Palestine.