Then Joshua built an altar to Jehovah the God of Israel, in mount Ebal,
After Ai fell, Joshua stopped the campaign. He turned the nation to worship instead. Two questions follow. Why pause a war to build an altar? And why build it on Ebal, the mountain of the curses?
The altar was not Joshua's idea. It obeyed a command God had already given. The timing shows what God wanted from a people fresh from victory.
It is refreshing to see how quickly Joshua obeyed God's command in Deuteronomy 27:2-8. He built an altar on Mount Ebal, an altar of whole stones... God did not have Israel rush at once into further conquests. He wanted them to think carefully about their relationship to Him, to give Him the worship due His name, and to be found depending on Him and obeying His law.
One mountain carried the blessings, the other the curses. Joshua built on the mountain of curses.
All of this is very striking. Verses 12 and 13 tell us where the words would come from: blessings for the people from Mount Gerizim, and curses from Mount Ebal. Why was the altar not put on Mount Gerizim? Because God knew that Israel would not keep the law, and so were left under a curse (Gal. 3:10). God would meet them in the place they were, not where they ought to be. The altar tells us that God is able to redeem those under the curse by means of the sacrifice of Christ. This is pure grace.
One writer links the curse spoken at Ebal with the cross, through two verses in Galatians.
At Ebal the curse fell on man as a responsible being. Christ bore that curse on the cross to redeem us from it... Galatians 3:10 and 13 show the same blessed connection between Ebal and the cross. "For it is written" (Deut. 27:26), "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." The curses at Ebal close with these words. But the apostle adds: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'"
Discipline came before this altar. That order still holds for Christians.
Discipline had a further result. Israel was now humbled and ready to worship... It is the same with us. There can be no communion without self-judgment, and no worship without communion. The altar in Mount Ebal was the provision in grace for the curse of the law on transgressors. In the altar we have propitiation, which is the basis of all true worship.
Joshua built this altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, from stones no tool had shaped. One writer finds meaning in both facts.
The altar was set up to the LORD, the God of Israel. Israel recognised Him as the Lord God of the nation, and in this way owned their relationship with Him. Around this altar the entire nation gathered. Christ is the altar and the centre of the circle of God's people, and the saints gather around Him. It was "an altar of whole stones, over which no man has lifted up any iron," so that no human tool ever touched that sacred altar. To shape its stones by human hand was to "pollute" it. Christ is the altar, and He is perfect. The work of man's hands, man's thoughts about Him, only produce unbelief and dishonour to His Name.
This altar received burnt offerings and peace offerings. One writer notes what the list leaves out.
The altar here is for burnt offerings and peace offerings — sin offerings are not considered. This was worship in the true sense... Again, the altar on Mount Ebal was an altar for offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, and for rejoicing. But only the curse followed on failure.
- Victory first: after Ai fell, Joshua built an altar instead of marching on. God stopped the campaign so Israel would weigh their relationship with Him and depend on Him.
- Self-judgment first: discipline came before the altar. Only a humbled people can worship, because there is no communion without self-judgment.
- Grace first: the altar stood on the mountain of cursing, not blessing. God meets people where they are, not where they ought to be.
- Christ first: no tool shaped the stones, because human hands add nothing to Him. Christ is the altar, and God's people gather around Him.
- The curse answered: Christ became a curse for us, and the cross settled the sentence Ebal spoke.
as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which iron had not been lifted up. And they offered up burnt-offerings on it to Jehovah, and sacrificed peace-offerings.
Joshua has just taken Jericho and Ai, and before pressing on with the conquest he stops to build. He follows Moses' command to the letter, and every detail carries meaning: the uncut stones, and the offerings laid on them.
The altar was not Joshua's idea. It answered a command Moses had already given. The timing matters too.
It is refreshing to see how quickly Joshua obeyed God's command in Deuteronomy 27:2-8 and built an altar on Mount Ebal, an altar of uncut stones... God did not have Israel rush at once into further conquests. Instead He wanted them to weigh their relationship to Him carefully, to give Him the worship His name deserves, and to be found depending on Him and obeying His law.
Victory over the two cities cleared the ground for something else.
The judgment and overthrow of the pagan powers brought in God's worship and His rule.
There was a reason no tool could touch the stones.
If men were to lift up their tools upon the stones to shape them according to their thoughts, they would pollute it. An altar of earth or of rough, unshaped stone might look very crude and ugly to a trained eye. But it was a picture of death — the death of Christ. So God meant it to stay rough as it was, with no art or human invention added to it.
Applied to this altar, the rule guards the person of Christ Himself.
"An altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool," was set up. No human tool was to touch that sacred altar, for to shape its stones with human hands was to "pollute" it. Christ is the altar, and He is perfect. The working of man's hands — man's thoughts about Him — only produce unbelief and dishonour to His Name.
The altar went up on the mountain of curses, not the mountain of blessings.
We are told that blessings for the people were to be proclaimed from Mount Gerizim and curses from Mount Ebal. Why was the altar not put on Mount Gerizim? Because God knew that Israel would not keep the law, and were thus left under a curse (Gal. 3:10). God would meet them in the place they were, not where they ought to be. The altar tells us that God is able to redeem those under the curse by means of the sacrifice of Christ. This is pure grace.
That placement also sets the order of true worship.
With us too, there can be no communion without self-judgment, and no worship without communion. The altar in Mount Ebal was the provision in grace for the curse of the law on transgressors. In the altar we have propitiation, and propitiation is the basis of all true worship. Here, though, it stands in front of a people threatened by the curse if they do not obey. The cross which has put an end to the curse for us is the starting-point or centre of our worship.
Burnt offerings come first in the verse, then peace offerings. The order matters.
Our first thoughts about the sacrifice of Jesus come from our sense of need of Him. But God's first thoughts are about the perfection of the Lord's work, and about what He is to God and the Father. This is wholly a sweet savour to Him.
The second offering brought the worshipper in.
The fire consumed the burnt offerings completely... But the one who brought a peace offering ate part of it, for in the peace offerings he had communion with God. In them man had his portion to feed on; he ate of the animal that had been sacrificed.
Commentators differ on the mood of this scene. One writer weighs what the record does not say.
The people heard every word of the law read out, the blessings and the curses. Yet there is no word of their rejoicing before the Lord. How could there be any real rejoicing with the curses of the law read to them? The altar of Ebal was a witness to Israel's bondage to a law. They could not keep it, and they could not free themselves from it. Only what the sacrifices pointed to, the death of Christ, could free them from this bondage.
- Altar first. Joshua stopped the conquest to build. Israel had to weigh their relationship to God before taking more ground.
- Altar untouched. No iron on the stones: man's shaping would pollute what stands for the death of Christ.
- Altar on Ebal. God set the place of sacrifice on the mountain of the curse. He meets people where they are, not where they ought to be.
- Altar as worship. Burnt offering speaks of what Christ is to God; peace offering gives the worshipper a portion to feed on.
- Altar and freedom. The law read at Ebal left Israel in bondage. Only the death of Christ, which the sacrifices pointed to, could break it.
And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written before the children of Israel.
After Ai fell, Joshua paused the war and gathered Israel at Mount Ebal to cut the words of Moses' law into stone. Why write a law on rocks in the middle of a war, and why choose that mountain?
The writing was not Joshua's idea. He was obeying a command God had already given.
It is refreshing to see how quickly Joshua obeyed God's command in Deuteronomy 27:2-8. He built an altar on Mount Ebal, an altar of whole stones... Besides this, Joshua wrote a copy of the law of Moses (v. 32). God did not have Israel rush straight into more conquests. He wanted them to think carefully about their relationship with Him, to give Him the worship His name deserves, and to live in dependence on Him and obedience to His law.
The timing matters. Israel had just destroyed two cities, and this was their first formal act on conquered ground.
After the record of the end of the king of Ai comes the great event: the land is placed under the law of the Lord... This action means a great deal, coming as it does after the overthrow of Jericho, Ai, and their kings. The judgment and overthrow of the pagan powers brought in God's worship and His rule.
Two mountains had roles in the law. Gerizim was for blessings, Ebal for curses — and the stones went on Ebal.
Mount Ebal, as we already know, and as the text says again, is the mountain where the curses of the law were to be announced. The blessings were to be announced on Mount Gerizim. How telling about the true power of the law, that it was to stand there tied for ever to the curse and not to the blessing!... Reverse that, and the power of the law is lost, for its true power is to destroy self-righteousness and humble people to the gospel.
The blessing mountain carried no such stones, and Ebal carried more than stones.
On Gerizim there were no stones with the law written on them. How strikingly this shows the true work of the law! It cannot give blessing; it must curse man. But, thank God, on Mount Ebal there stood more than the great plastered stones with the words of the law on them. There was also an altar to the Lord, for burnt offerings and peace offerings, for rejoicing before the Lord. And this speaks of Christ, who has redeemed us from the curse of the law.
The altar beside the writing used whole stones that no tool had shaped.
"An altar of whole stones, over which no man has lifted up any iron," was set up. That sacred altar was not to carry the touch of man's tool, for to shape its stones by human hand was to "pollute" it. Christ is the altar, and He is perfect. The work of man's hands, and man's thoughts about Him, only produce unbelief and dishonour to His Name.
Israel did not keep the law as a private memory. Joshua carved it where anyone could see it, then read it aloud.
"It is written" was the banner of victory that Israel raised in the centre of the land of Canaan. The words of the Lord stood carved on the stones for all eyes to see. The written word was read aloud for all ears to hear, and the nation agreed to it.
Joshua's own writing says something about the books he was copying.
Joshua also was a writer. "And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written." Afterward he read out all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses. It is hard to imagine a clearer testimony to the inspiration and divine authority of the books of Moses.
One thing is missing from the record of that day.
All the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, were read to the people, but there is no word of their rejoicing before the Lord. How could there be any real rejoicing with the curses of the law read to them? The altar of Ebal was a witness to Israel's bondage to a law they could not keep and could not escape. Only what the sacrifices pointed to, the death of Christ, could free them from this bondage.
- Written — Joshua cut the law into stone, just as Moses had commanded. The war stopped so Israel could first face God.
- Planted — the stones put the conquered land under God's rule. Victory led straight to worship.
- Cursed — the stones stood on Ebal, the mountain of curses, not on Gerizim. The law's real work is to strip away self-righteousness.
- Covered — an altar of unshaped stone stood on that same mountain. It points to Christ, whom no human hand can improve.
- Freed — the law could bind Israel but never release them. Only the death the altar pictured could do that.
And all Israel, and their elders, and their officers and judges, stood on this side and on that side of the ark before the priests the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, as well the stranger as the home-born [Israelite]; half of them toward mount Gerizim, and the other half of them toward mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded, that they should bless the people of Israel, in the beginning.
Most of Canaan is still unconquered, yet the war stops and the whole nation gathers in a valley between two mountains to put itself under the words of God. Why these two hills, why the ark in the middle, why every child and foreigner present?
Israel came to this valley not to fight but to hold a ceremony. So what gave them the right to the land in the first place?
It was not war which drew them to the area of Shechem; it was the ceremony of taking formal possession of the land that had called them there, in obedience to the instructions Moses had given. But their right of possession was not dependent on conquest, though their enjoyment of it required warfare. Their right of possession rested on a gift, a grant by God centuries before to Abraham.
The site was no accident.
It was at Shechem under the oak of Moreh that God first promised to Abraham to give his descendants the land (Gen. 12:7). There, nearly five centuries later, the word of God gathered his descendants, as a sign that He had kept the promise to their father. He who promised was faithful. He had also done it, and their gathering there was the witness of it.
The priests carried the ark down into the valley, between the two halves of the nation. One writer compares this with where the ark had stood on earlier days.
Why was the ark there, with no mention of the tabernacle with it?... Its position changed here again. God was directing all that took place. At the Jordan it had gone before all Israel, and there it must have been alone. At Jericho it followed the armed men in their daily march round the doomed city. God was to be seen with His people in the war. How different it is here. It was in the valley, carried high on the shoulders of some of the priests.
The verse names two mountains with opposite roles. Ebal took the curse — and the law, and the altar.
A mountain in Ephraim. From it came the curses that would fall upon Israel if they disobeyed the Lord. Great stones covered with plaster stood on this mount, with the law written on them. So the law and the curse belonged to the same mountain... but along with these Joshua also erected an altar to the Lord God of Israel, before the blessings on Gerizim and the curses on Ebal were recited.
Why put the altar on the mountain of cursing? One commentator finds grace in that choice.
Why was the altar not put on Mount Gerizim? Because God knew that Israel would not keep the law, and so they were left under a curse (Gal. 3:10). God would meet them in the place they were, not where they ought to be. The altar tells us that God is able to redeem those under the curse by means of the sacrifice of Christ. This is pure grace.
The verse lists who stood where. The arrangement was practical as well as ceremonial.
The twelve tribes held the steep mountain sides of Ebal and Gerizim, six tribes on each mount. The Levites, we should suppose, filled the narrow plain between. They spoke with a loud voice to all the people both the curses and the blessings of God. Infants as well as warriors were present, "the sojourner as well as the native-born"; no one was left out. And in the clear air of Canaan the words of the law carried easily, rising from the valley up the slopes of the mountains.
Standing around the ark was an act of agreement. The people accepted the terms on which they would live in the land.
As a nation they said Amen to the commandments of God and His law. By their "So be it!" to its curses and its blessings they declared this: their prosperity, or their defeat, in the promised land depended on their obedience or disobedience to God. We may truly say that Israel's history, including their present condition, is simply a commentary on their Amens spoken at Ebal.
The altar itself was the bond in this transaction, and the possession was taken on stated terms.
They had taken possession of Canaan as a land set apart for God. Now they recognise Jehovah as the God of Israel by worshipping Him in the land. The altar was there as a witness, and as a bond between the people and Jehovah who had given them the land... They take the land in connection with Israel's responsibility under the law.
- Gift first. The land was theirs by God's grant to Abraham; conquest only decided how much of it they would enjoy.
- Place proves promise. Israel gathered at Shechem, where God first promised Abraham the land five centuries earlier.
- Curse answered. The law and its curse belonged to Ebal, and God put the altar there too. He meets people where they are, not where they ought to be.
- Nobody excluded. Tribes, elders, judges, children and the sojourner all stood around the ark, and every ear heard the law.
- Amen decides. Israel said "So be it" to both blessing and curse, tying its future to its obedience. Its whole later history reads as a commentary on that day.
And afterwards 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.
Israel gathered between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and Joshua read the whole law aloud to everyone there. Why read out the curses as well as the blessings, and why on that spot?
Joshua did not choose the place. One writer asks why that mountain:
You may ask why Moses chose Mount Ebal for this deeply impressive ceremony, and what it means. Moses picked the very spot, although he had never seen it: "beyond the Jordan, toward the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh." In Deuteronomy 27:1-7 Moses tells them what to do when they get there.
The same writer ties that ground to an older promise:
No other spot in all the land fitted the occasion so well, whether you look at its geography or its history. They stood on the one spot in all the earth that God had sworn to Abraham hundreds of years before to give to his offspring. Now, some five centuries later, they assemble there to read the title deeds of their inheritance.
The verse repeats one word: all. One commentator points them out:
Notice the emphatic "alls" connected with the Scriptures, recorded by the Holy Spirit in the scene now before us. All Israel heard all the words of the law read out, according to all that is written. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua failed to read before all the congregation of Israel. May every heart be stirred up to follow all the truth of the Scriptures.
The same writer compares Israel's reading with the way we pick and choose:
Joshua declared all the words of the Lord their God to the people. He did not give the blessings only, as we at times pick our favourite portions, but all the words of the Lord. Their whole prosperity in Canaan hung on their sticking to these words. They would go on enjoying the promised land, with its milk and honey, on one condition only: obedience. This should never be forgotten, for what we sow, we reap.
The reading went wider than threats:
Joshua now reads, before all the people, not only the curses attached to breaking the law. He reads all that made known the ways of God in His government of the people.
Israel answered out loud. One commentator notes which half drew the answer:
The Levites read the curses with a loud voice. As each curse for disobedience sounded in Israel's ears, the hundreds of thousands gathered on Mount Ebal responded with unanimous Amens. Twelve times they said "Amen" to the twelve curses. The twelfth was this: "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them." It covered every possible neglect or failure they could be capable of. They read the blessings too. But about Amens sounding from Mount Gerizim, Scripture is silent. It records not one answering "So be it" to blessings earned by the obedience of fallen man.
The altar stood on Ebal, the mountain of the curses, not on Gerizim. One writer asks what that teaches:
Christ has, by His death, made His people free, for they have died to the law in Him. His cross has cut them off from the law's power and rule, because the law makes no demands of men who are dead — "you also have died to the law through the body of Christ." The altar stood on Ebal, the mountain from which the Amens to the curses came. Can we doubt that it was placed there to teach that Christ has redeemed us by His sacrifice from the curse of the law?
Joshua read from a book that already existed. One writer draws a conclusion from that:
Joshua was also a writer. He wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the people of Israel. The account adds that "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." It is almost impossible to find a clearer testimony to the inspiration and divine authority of the books of Moses.
- Written — Joshua read from a book that already existed. He added nothing and left nothing out. That is a testimony to the inspiration and authority of what Moses wrote.
- All — The verse repeats "all": all the words, all that is written, read before all the congregation. Picking favourite portions is the opposite of what happened at Ebal.
- Both — Joshua read blessing and curse together. Keeping the land hung on one condition: obedience.
- Amen — Israel said "So be it" to the curses. Scripture records no answering Amen to the blessings.
- Altar — The altar stood on Ebal, the mountain of the curses. It points to Christ, who by His sacrifice redeemed His people from the curse of the law.
There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua read not before the whole congregation of Israel, and the women, and the children, and the strangers that lived among them.
Ai has fallen. Instead of marching to the next battle, Israel stops to hear Moses' law read out loud from start to finish. This verse closes that scene with two facts: Joshua left out no word, and the crowd left out no person.
Joshua could have read the parts that flattered a victorious nation. One writer notes what he read instead:
Joshua declared all the words of the Lord their God to the people. He did not give the blessings only, as we at times select our favourite portions, but all the words of the Lord. Their whole prosperity in Canaan hung on their holding to these words. Obedience was the one condition on which they would keep enjoying the land of promise, with its milk and honey. This should never be forgotten, for what we sow, we reap.
The repeated word in the verse is worth pausing over:
Notice the emphatic alls connected with the Scriptures, which the Holy Spirit recorded in the scene before us. All Israel heard all the words of the law read out, according to all that is written… May every heart be stirred up to follow "all" the truth of the Scriptures.
Israel had just been humbled. One commentator shows what that humbling produced:
Israel had learnt in the pathway of humiliation not to trust in themselves, and this at once bears fruit. From now on, if the word of God controlled them and they trusted its perfect guidance, they would escape further falls. In verses 27-35 we see Joshua and the people obeying the Lord's commandment and depending on what the book of the law says. Being humbled has this effect: Joshua and the people remember in their hearts the statutes laid down in Deuteronomy 27.
One commentator points out who had to be there:
No one was exempt from hearing this discourse. Women, little children and strangers living among them had to be included too.
The children were not there by accident. One writer finds the same pattern right through Israel's life:
We can safely say that the children were never forgotten in any important act or ceremony connected with the congregation of Israel… These passages make it plain that God gave the Jewish parent the responsibility of teaching his children to know His word, His work and His ways. The aim was that the children's hope might also be in God. They were to teach with the confident expectation that God would bless their work. They knew it was not His will that one of their little ones should perish.
The people did more than listen. They answered the blessings and the curses out loud, and that answer decided their future:
So "all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges" stood around the ark of God. They placed themselves under the commandments of the Lord, while Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses… As a nation they said Amen to the commandments of God and His law. By their "So be it!" to its curses and its blessings they declared that their prosperity, or their ruin, in the promised land depended on their obedience or disobedience to God. We can truly say that Israel's history, right up to their present condition, is only a comment on the Amens they spoke at Ebal.
The law read at Ebal still speaks to readers who live under grace:
But grace itself never weakens our responsibility as God's children. There are conditions for taking possession of the land… Joshua read this same law aloud "before all the assembly of Israel." Let us never forget that Jesus Christ is both our Saviour and our Lord. He is the One who has pardoned us, and the One who has every claim over us. The knowledge of His grace fills our mouths with praise in worship. The sense of our responsibility keeps us going in holiness and truth, to fight the good fight, to take possession of the promised land.
- All, after failure. Being humbled taught Israel to stop trusting themselves, and the fruit was a people who obeyed what the book of the law said.
- All the words. Joshua read the curses as well as the blessings, not just the favourite portions we tend to pick.
- All the people. Women, children and foreigners living in Israel all had to hear it. No one was excused.
- All the children. The little ones stood there because God gave parents the job of passing on His word, so the next generation's hope would rest in God.
- All the consequences. Israel's "So be it" at Ebal tied its future to obedience. Its later history reads like a comment on that answer.