to grave · definite article + verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
book
בְּסֵ֥פֶרbe.Se.fer
H5612
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
law
הַתּוֹרָֽהha.to.Rah
H8451
a precept or statute · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Nehemiah 8:2-3 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the firs…
Deuteronomy 31:10-12 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
Nehemiah 13:1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite s…
Leviticus 26:1-46 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land,…
Deuteronomy 27:14-28:68 And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
Deuteronomy 29:20-21 The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are writt…
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do accord…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 8:30–end
This religious solemnity of which we have here an account comes in somewhat surprisingly in the midst of the history of the wars of Canaan. After the taking of Jericho and Ai, we should have expected that the next news would be of their taking possession of the country, the pushing on of their victories in other cities, and the carrying of the war into the bowels of the nation, now that they had made themselves masters of these frontier towns. But here a scene opens of quite another nature; the camp of Israel is drawn out into the field, not to engage the enemy, but to offer sacrifice, to hear the law read, and to say Amen to the blessings and the curses. Some think this was not done till af…
afterward he read all the words of the law--caused the priests or Levites to read it (Deu 27:14). Persons are often said in Scripture to do that which they only command to be done.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 8:33
Half of them over against Mount Gerizim - See the arrangement of the whole of this business in the note and observations on Deu 27:26 (note). And see also the notes on Deuteronomy 28:1-68 (note).
John Gill on Joshua 8:34
And afterwards he read all the words of the law,.... Not the whole Pentateuch, nor the whole book of Deuteronomy, but either some parts of it, the decalogue, or whatsoever he had written on the stones, and as follows:
the blessings and cursings, according to all that was written in the book of the law; Deuteronomy 27:14; See Gill on Deuteronomy 27:11.
John Calvin on Joshua 8:30–end
Joshua 8:30-35
30. Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
30. Tunc aedificavit Josue altare Jehovae Deo Israel in monte Ebal,
31. As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man has lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.
31. Quemadmodum praeceperat Moses servus Jehovae filiis Israel: sicut scriptum est in libro legis Mosis, altare ex lapidibus integris, super quos non levaverant ferrum: et immolaverunt super illud holocausta Jehovae, et sacrificaverunt hostias prosperitatum.
32.…
The Church Fathers
"After these things" it is related that "Jesus read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law; nor was there any word out of all that Moses commanded which Jesus did not read in the presence of the whole assembly of the children of Israel." Easy indeed is the explanation of the history, how the son of Nave "read all the words of the law which Moses wrote, in the presence of the whole assembly of the children of Israel"; but how our Lord Jesus does this for his people, it does not seem to me idle to show. And I for my part judge that, "whenever Moses is read" to us and, through the grace of the Lord, "the veil of the letter is removed" and we begin to understand that "the law is spiritual," and that, for example, the law when it says "you shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain" said this not about oxen, but about the apostles, and again, when it is said in the law "that Abraham had two sons, one of the handmaid and one of the free woman," I understand in these that there are two testaments and two peoples: this law, which is thus understood — which Paul names "spiritual" — "Jesus" the Lord "reads," and it is he who recites these things in the ears of the whole people, charging us not to follow "the letter that kills," but to hold to "the spirit that gives life." "Jesus," then, "reads" the law to us, when he reveals to us the hidden things of the law. For we who are of the catholic Church do not despise the law of Moses, but receive it, provided that "Jesus reads" it to us. For thus we shall be able rightly to understand the law, if "Jesus reads" it to us, so that, with him reading it, we may grasp its sense and understanding. Or is it not to be thought that he had conceived his understanding from thence, he who said: "But we have the mind of Christ, that we may know the things that have been given to us by God, which things also we speak," and those who said: "Was not our heart burning within us, when he opened the scriptures to us on the way?" — when, "beginning from the law of Moses down to the prophets, he read to them all things, and revealed the things that were written concerning himself"? Yet a marvelous figure of speech is shown in these things which are written, when it says: "There was not a word out of all that Moses commanded which Jesus did not read in…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ebal — Stony. (1.) A mountain 3,076 feet above the level of the sea, and 1,200 feet above the level of the valley, on the north side of which stood the city of Shechem (q.v.). On this mountain six of the…
Gerizim — A mountain of Samaria, about 3,000 feet above the Mediterranean. It was on the left of the valley containing the ancient town of Shechem (q.v.), on the way to Jerusalem. It stood over against Mount…
Heap — When Joshua took the city of Ai (Josh. 8), he burned it and “made it an heap [Heb. tel] for ever” (8:28). The ruins of this city were for a long time sought for in vain. It has been at length,…
Tabernacle — (1.) A house or dwelling-place (Job 5:24; 18:6, etc.). (2.) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24) containing the image of Moloch (Amos 5:26; marg. and R.V., “Siccuth”). (3.) The human body (2 Cor.…
Commandments · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Curse · CURSES OF THE MOSAIC LAW — CURSES OF THE MOSAIC LAW
Law · .Engraved upon mo — .Engraved upon mo
Law Of Moses, The · Publicly read: By Joshua — Publicly read: By Joshua
Strangers In Israel · Laws respecting: To have the law read to them — Laws respecting: To have the law read to them
Word Of God · To be read publicly — To be read publicly
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Blessings and Curses upon Gerizim and Ebal. - After the capture of Ai, Israel had gained so firm a footing in Canaan that Joshua was able to carry out the instructions of Moses in Deut 27, that, after crossing the Jordan, he was to build an altar upon Mount Ebal for the setting up the covenant. The fulfilment of these instructions, according to the meaning of this solemn act, as a symbolical setting up of the law of the Lord to be the invariable rule of life to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan (see at Deut 27), was not only a practical expression of thanksgiving on the part of the covenant nation for its entrance into this land through the almighty assistance of its God, but also a…
To bless the people of Yisroel first. To pronounce the blessings before the curses,12When all the tribes were assembled (as described in Devorim 27:12,13,) the Levi’im began to recite the blessings and the curses. Although the Torah mentions only the curses, each curse was actually preceded by a corresponding blessing. (See Rashi to Devorim 27:12). “Blessed is the man who will not make a statue or a molten image.”
