Joshua 8:32–35

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

"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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

No one was exempt from hearing this discourse. Women, little children and strangers living among them had to be included too.

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.

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.

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.